"We finally made it..." Ash said, relief threading the thirteen-year-old trainer from Pallet Town's tone as he gazed up at the sign above the welcoming arch. "I didn't think it'd take so long for us to get to Vermillion City."

"And whose fault is that?" Gina said, standing next to him. "I honestly forgot how bad your sense of direction was until you led us all the way up to Bill's place."

Ash shrugged. "Well, you could have said we were going the wrong way earlier."

He wasn't exactly wrong. Gina noticed that they were heading towards Bill's Lighthouse because the route they'd taken was the one she'd used prior when she still had her bike. But she figured that Ash was going there intentionally, since Bill had one of the foremost databases of pokémon in the Kanto region and Ash mentioned that one of the pokémon he'd spotted on the day he left wasn't registered to his Pokédex—which he named Dexter for some reason.

Gina had checked his Pokedex's image database to see it for herself, of course. Every time they used the device to scan a pokémon, it copied an image of them and saved it to be used for future reference and analysis. That golden flying pokémon wasn't one she'd ever seen before, and when they called her Grandfather after Ash caught his seventh pokémon—a fact that she did not let him live down considering she had already caught five times that number before the issue with the Squirtle Squad—he stated it likely wasn't a pokémon native to the region.

"Still," Ash continued, "You can't say the trip wasn't worth it considering we got to see that giant Dragonite. I didn't even know Pokémon could get that big."

"Me either," Gina admitted. She had known Bill was making preparations for doing something while she visited him earlier, but she had no idea his intention was to bait a giant Dragonite that was the size of a small mountain as far as she was concerned. The fog being so dense made it hard to see, but once they put its cry through the Pokédex and registered the outline it cast, they found the data matched. "I wish that I'd tried to catch it. I could have easily beaten the Champion with a pokémon like that."

"Oh, where's the fun in that?" Ash asked. To him part of the fun was in the challenge. "Besides, could you imagine if you sent that to Professor Oak and he had to take care of it? He'd have a fit trying to feed it every day."

Gina would disagree. If they'd caught a pokémon that size, then her Grandfather could petition for a larger grant to study into it. "I'm still scratching my head figuring out how it got so large. The only thing I can think of is what the Pokédex stated about it being known to live for a long-time."

"It's entirely possible that particular one has been around for over a millennium to have grown so large," Brock mused, joining in. "Goes to show that you never know what you'll run across while on a journey. I'm glad I decided to come along as well."

"Well, I'll be glad when I can get my bubble bath," Misty said. "We've been traveling for two weeks now without a town in sight. I want to head to the Pokémon Center, kick up my feet, and just lay down for a while."

"We should restock our traveling supplies while we're here too," Brock conceded. "Since Vermillion City is a port city, they'd likely have some spices and ingredients that we can use on the road. I'll hit the Market and then the Laundromat."

The prospect of a market brought a smile to Gina's face. "Then maybe they'll have some of the ingredients that Ash can use to cook with. No offense, Brock. Your food is better than the travel food I usually ate when not in town, but I do miss some of my favorites."

Brock only shrugged. "No offense taken. I'm used to making different foods on a budget because of my siblings' different tastes, but I didn't travel much so what I can make does have limitations."

"I didn't even know Ash could cook," Misty commented. "Before Brock we only ate travel rations and the pre-made meals we picked up before heading into the Viridian Forest."

"He learned some stuff from helping out Miss Ketchum with her restaurant," Gina said. "Granted, he's not great at it. But he can at least make some things well."

"Still better than you," Ash mumbled. He'd admit he wasn't as decent a cook as his Mother, and he was only familiar with a couple of dishes that required ingredients he didn't bring along since he didn't originally plan to go traveling with others. But at least he could cook without burning everything to a crisp—unlike her.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn't as quiet as he thought given the pointed look Gina gave him. "What was that?"

"N-Nothing… anyway, all of that can wait until we hit the Gym!" Ash clamored, slamming his fist into his palm excitedly as he wisely changed the topic. "It's time we get our third badge. Right, Pikachu?"

The only answer he got was a worn whimper as the Electric Mouse curled up and nuzzled its head into its arms. "Pika…chaa…"

"Hey, don't fall asleep on me now," Ash said, picking his Starter up. Pikachu immediately turned in his grasp and instead got comfortable in his arms, closing its eyes. "Oh come on, we haven't been walking for that long today. And we ate this morning too."

"Hmm…" Brock leaned down and checked on Pikachu for a moment. "Now that I think about it, most of the food that we've given our pokémon has been the standard travel chow at the usual servings. But that was under the assumption that the pokémon wouldn't be outside of their balls constantly. Since Pikachu never goes back into his ball, he burns more energy to keep up with us. It's likely he might need to eat more frequently, and have his food supplemented with Oran Berry Powder for a little energy boost too."

Taking that into consideration, Ash sighed and changed his plans. There wasn't any point in challenging the Gym if Pikachu wasn't at full strength. "I suppose we should head to the Pokémon Center first then. We could all use a quick nap and snack before we challenge the Gym Leader."

Their path decided, the group moved towards the Pokémon Center. The ever-present giant 'P' served as the best landmark possible, allowing them to find the building despite none of them having traveled the city before. However, unlike the others they'd ventured into, this one seemed far busier.

There were trainers of all ages within the lobby, many sitting around with downcast and beaten looks on their faces. Some of the younger ones were even crying quietly. And there was the scent of ozone hanging faintly in the air, wafting on the breeze as a boy who barely came up to their chest ran past them and towards the counter with a Poké Ball clutched between his fingers.

"You have to help my Pidgey!" the boy cried out as he held the ball up to a Nurse Joy and Chansey. "The Gym Leader hurt him real bad!"

"It'll be all right, there's no need to worry," Nurse Joy told the boy in as gentle a tone as she could while taking his pokémon and placing it into the scanner. It would be able to tell the extent of the injuries, though she had her suspicions that it'd be similar to the others—electrical damage causing temporary paralysis to the muscles and nerves. "We'll have your Pidgey good as new within a day."

"Hmph… he must be just starting out to have chosen so poorly," Gina said, her tone lacking in sympathy as she watched the exchange along with the others. "A Pidgey is a horrible match for this Gym Leader."

"Why's that?" Ash asked, Pikachu still cradled in his arms. He noticed some of the other trainers giving them glares but didn't really focus on that. Instead, he was focused on the fact that the Electric Mouse seemed to be sniffing the air and his tail was rigid.

Gina could only shake her head and sigh. "Ash, the Gym Leader here uses Electric Pokémon like Pikachu. The only thing worse than using a Water-Type Pokémon would be to use a Flying-Type Pokémon. Especially considering electric attacks can mess with their motor control, leaving them paralyzed and crashing to the ground."

"So that must be what Pikachu's sensing now," Ash figured, before immediately perking up as he looked down to his Starter. "Well, at least that makes it easier for us. You can handle another Electric-type without any problems, right?"

Gina's brows rose as she watched him head to the counter to speak to Nurse Joy about giving Pikachu and his other pokémon a quick look over. Then she considered what she knew of his pokémon and figured his only real options were Pikachu, Charmander, and Bulbasaur. She could probably make it work if they were her pokémon, but Ash's lack of planning and foresight didn't exactly inspire confidence.

Turning her gaze to Brock, Gina asked a simple question. "You've been traveling with him longer than I have, so how do you think he'll stack up?"

"I honestly can't say until I see the match, but…" Brock rubbed his chin in thought as he looked around the room. "It might not be a bad idea since most Electric-Type Pokémon can either metabolize electricity or aren't harmed as much by attacks of that nature. But from the looks of it this Gym Leader isn't pulling punches when it comes to people who don't even have badges. I doubt he'll just hand over his without winning entirely, so Ash might be in for a real challenge."

That last part caught her interest. "You can just hand someone a badge?"

"Yes, but it's not commonly done these days," Brock explained. "You see, back in the early days of the Pokémon League it was difficult to get enough participants to reach the Indigo Conference because a lot of trainers hadn't gotten used to traveling to different Gyms and the Badge Scaling system wasn't put into practice. That meant Gym Leaders would simply use what pokémon we thought were best and set a specific condition to determine whether they should get a badge or not, since the number who could actually beat us would be few and far between."

Gina supposed that made sense. She went after Brock's Gym because it was the second closest one to where she lived. If she'd gone to other Gyms first and won her badges, then walking all over the ones he sent out against her would have been too easy. "Okay, so it's an artifact rule that hasn't been phased out yet?"

Brock nodded. "That's true, but there's a limit to the number that can be freely handed out these days. If the League suspects that Gym Leaders aren't doing their job and simply sending in unqualified contestants, a Pokémon Gym Inspector could be sent out to determine if they should either revoke the Gym Leader's qualifications or even shut the Gym down. So, like I said, these days it's pretty rare for it to happen."

Misty looked away at that considering her sisters attempted to simply to hand Ash a badge when he arrived at the Cerulean Gym. The justification they gave to her was that the pokémon they had left were too strong to be used against a rookie trainer with only a single badge. But Misty knew that could have been remedied by taking their pokémon to the Pokémon Center like a normal trainer would.

They were slacking on the job and taking shortcuts, but Misty couldn't exactly blame them for it since they didn't originally want to be Gym Leaders. It was something they inherited from their parents who abandoned them, due to when the regulations that Brock mentioned were initially put into place. That ironically put them in a similar situation to Brock, in that they had to shoulder the responsibility before they were ready to do so. That was part of why Misty was traveling to get more experience as Water Pokémon Specialist.

She wanted to take over the Gym someday from her sisters before they lost it.

Brushing her forehead in thought for a moment, Gina sighed and shrugged. "Well, I suppose we'll see soon enough. If he can't cross this hurdle, then what comes afterwards will be impossible."

"What about you?" Misty asked. "Are you going to challenge the Gym too?"

Gina nodded. "Of course. But I'm going to contact my Gramps first to send me one of the pokémon I left in his care so I can have at least one decisive advantage."

[-oOo-]

Once their pokémon had been tended to, and her choice for the Gym was sent over from her Grandfather, Gina followed the others to Vermillion City Gym. The Gym Leader was… irritating, to say the least. Lt. Surge was a mountain of a man, towering over them enough that he cast a shadow upon them. The fact that he called them babies on the presumption that they were going to lose was more insulting than anything.

Gina wanted nothing more than to put him in his place for looking down on her. But the moment Surge claimed Pikachu was a baby pokémon and called out his Raichu, Ash's hot-bloodedness took over. He insisted on battling first and wouldn't budge on it.

That would have been fine, if Ash hadn't let himself be baited into a disadvantageous match by agreeing to a one-on-one challenge for the badge after the two had an argument on whether or not to evolve a pokémon as soon as you catch them. Like Brock had suggested earlier, using Pikachu wasn't a bad idea in itself since he could mitigate the worst of the electric attacks and avoid the effects of paralysis from them in specific. But they hadn't taken into account the fact that it was Pikachu's evolved form they'd be facing.

A Raichu was naturally capable of handling more electricity than a Pikachu, so the fact that it could overpower Pikachu's natural resistance to electricity was expected. Especially with an attack as strong as Thunderbolt. But they might have still had a chance given that Pikachu managed to weather the first hit well enough, if not for the fact that Surge actually had the foresight to teach his Raichu non-electric attacks.

If not for those softening Pikachu up for the decisive blow, he might have lasted longer.

"Told ya," the Gym Leader said with a smirk as he watched Ash scoop up his defeated Starter. "If you wanna play in the big leagues, come back with a stronger pokémon."

Ash scowled but said nothing as he immediately hurried Pikachu out of the Gym. Brock and Misty followed after him. Gina stayed behind.

"What, did you get so scared you can't move your legs to follow your friends?" Lt. Surge asked, condescending humor thick in his tone. "I know Gym Battles can be a little shocking, but that's how the big leagues work."

"I was simply waiting for his match to end so I could have mine," Gina said nonchalantly. She wasn't all that worried about Pikachu, considering he would probably be better off than most of the other pokémon who'd been sent to Nurse Joy due to his typing. If anything, those punches did more damage overall than the electricity.

Besides, as close as she was to Ash, Gina was first and foremost his rival. And while she wouldn't mind lending him a hand on their way towards the league, she still intended to win. Slowing down to console him over a loss that was due to his own decisions wasn't something she would do.

"Oh, you still think you can beat my Raichu?"

"Easily," Gina said factually. "That Raichu of yours might be good enough to beat down on inexperienced trainers, but I earned my two badges by beating the Gym Leaders using my head. Your Raichu's defeat can wait for when Ash comes back, so give me a real challenge instead."

"You got moxie, girlie," he told her, before recalling Raichu back into its ball. "But let's see if you can back that up in a two-on-two match instead. I'll warn you now, if you can't keep up your pokémon will be in for the shock of their lives."

"Fine by me." She pulled out a Poké Ball and tossed it out. "Here's my first choice. Come out, Geodude!"

The ball burst open and out came her own Geodude, captured during her trip through Mt. Moon after defeating Brock. She'd left it with her Grandfather since she had other priorities, but she recalled it specifically because of how useful it could be here. Even though it was nowhere near as battle-hardened as Brock's, it spoke to how much Gina believed that her skills as a trainer could make up the difference.

"So, you think that pokémon will be enough to get my badge, huh?" He let out a chuckle before tossing out his own choice. "Ten-hut, Voltorb!"

From the ball emerged a second ball, one larger with eyes adorning it that were narrowed into an angry glare. An electronic, metallic voice rang out as it shook in place while facing Geodude. "Volllltorbbb…"

Geodude clenched its fists and put them up as if taking on a fighting stance. "Dude."

As the match began, both Trainers gave the order to attack. "Tackle, now!"

The Ball and Rock Pokémon hurled themselves towards their opposition without hesitation. Living rock and lightweight metal met in the middle of the battlefield with a hard crash, stone chipping and metal scraping in the process. Yet neither yielded as they struggled to push the other back.

"Grab him!" Gina ordered, taking advantage of the fact that her pokémon had limbs while the other didn't. Geodude obeyed, clenching tightly so it couldn't escape. Tendrils of electricity sparked off it in response almost reflexively, yet Geodude only smirked.

"Screech!" Lt. Surge commanded. Immediately afterwards the Voltorb vibrated in the stony grasp, releasing a horrendous, ear-ringing noise. The fingers clutching it in place shot towards the orifices that allowed it to hear, leaving Geodude open for a follow-up attack. "Now, knock that pebble away!"

Voltorb bounced forward, knocking Geodude right in the face and sending it spiraling backwards. The stone had faltered first, leaving it clutching where it'd been hit. The Ball Pokémon made a mirthful sound. "Torb."

Angrily gritting its teeth, Geodude reared its arms back as dust pooled between its fingers, molding together with a luminous sheen of Rock-Type energy to become palmfuls of stone. It then flung them as hard as it could at the living orb—a Rock Throw attack.

They struck it head on, its mirth ending as it was pelted by the stone. Even if they were fragile compared to the Geodude itself they still battered its shell and sent it rolling back. Rattled and hurt, the Voltorb's glee turned to ire.

"Take Down!" Gina ordered. The Rock Pokémon slapped it hands on the ground and used them to spring itself forward. The mass and momentum would surely be enough to finish things if it could get a clean hit—

"Big mistake," Lt. Surge said with a smirk. "Sonic Boom!"

—and suddenly the Ball Pokémon vibrated in place even faster, releasing a tightly woven ring of sound waves. They flew forward and slammed into Geodude, knocking it out of the air. The Rock Pokémon was left on the ground, befuddled at the damage that had passed through its body.

"Don't just sit there," Gina commanded. "Keep moving while using Rock Throw or you'll get hit again!"

Her pokémon obeyed, springing off the ground with its hands to escape the follow-up Sonic Boom and then throwing a fistful of dust-molded stone. They only clipped the Ball Pokémon as it rolled out of the way but succeeded in buying time for Geodude to get floating a few inches off the ground again. The two then settled for exchanging volleys at range, strafing one another.

"Bet you didn't expect that," Lt. Surge said smugly. "You're not the first Rock-Type user who came in here thinking that type of advantage alone would win."

Sonic Boom ignored the exterior durability because it used sound waves. So long as they had a medium to travel through, they could pass through the stony exterior of Geodude and damage its insides. For a Geodude that was inexperienced and relied on its shell alone to protect itself, that was more than enough to knock it out if it took too many hits.

"It isn't that much of a surprise," Gina said without so much as flinching while Geodude kept tossing small stones at Voltorb, who was forced to roll out of the way to avoid further damage. It was probably trying to preserve itself for next match. "If you couldn't deal with a pokémon that has type-advantage then I wouldn't consider you competent enough to be a Gym Leader."

"You talk big, but those stones are getting flimsier," he pointed out. "Soon you won't even be able to fling any more of 'em."

He was right. Geodude could only use that attack a few more times before it became unable to gather the energy to do so. And between the Screech and now Sonic Boom, she could only believe he was training the Voltorb to be used against Rock and Ground types.

But we were prepared for that, she thought to herself before speaking out loud. "Geodude, Plan B!"

The Rock Pokémon gathered and bound enough dust to form a larger stone in its chambered hand for the assault. Yet when it flung the rock that was such a large size, it moved slow enough that the Voltorb rolled to the side to easily avoid its path and readied a Sonic Boom. It was then that Geodude flung a smaller stone at the bigger one and it came undone on impact, turning into a plume of sand that washed over the Voltorb's unprotected eyes—blinding it and throwing its attack off.

Sand-Attack, when used without a readily available source, was done by gathering the dust in the air and binding enough together to form particles of sand. Rock Throw was much the same, only to a higher degree. Meeting halfway so that it could come undone when hit by a harder object was a simple task.

"Let's see your Voltorb hit a target when it can't see anything." Gina declared, confident in victory as Geodude threw its body forward with the intention of delivering the decisive blow—

"Voltorb, Self-Destruct."

—and thus it had no escape as the Voltorb glowed ominously a split-second before impact. The resulting explosion released a massive bloom of smoke and force that forced Gina to cover her eyes as her clothing billowed wildly. And by the time she opened them again and the dust settled both pokémon were unconscious.

Rather than risk Geodude hanging around for the next match he decided to end it right then and there, she mused to herself. Then she saw his expression and realized otherwise. "No…I just forced your hand earlier. You intended to do that with my second choice right from the start, didn't you?"

He didn't deny it as he recalled Voltorb. "Like I said before, this is the big leagues, girlie. Taking out your opponent's pokémon at all costs is the name of the game. Now send out your next one."

After a moment to reconsider her options, Gina decided on the pokémon she got from Bill and sent it out. The ball burst open in midair and out came a spear of light that fell onto the battlefield before taking shape. The Evolution Pokémon had a sheen to its brown coat and its brown eyes were large and excited.

It pounced up and down eagerly, filled with anticipation. "Vee! Ve!"

"You can play later, Eevee," Gina told the female Eevee. "We've got a match to win first."

"Another baby pokémon," the Gym Leader said. "You started out promising, girlie. But now you're going to end up learning the same lesson as your friend about evolution."

He chose a second ball and threw it out. The pokémon that took shape on the opposite side was easily predictable. For Lt. Surge, who believe in evolving a pokémon as soon as you caught it and brute strength, his choice would naturally be one that could evolve with an easily accessible Thunder Stone. And the only other one in Kanto that could was naturally an evolved form of Eevee—the Lightning Pokémon, Jolteon.

"Jolteon, show that baby what a real pokémon can do!" Lt. Surge ordered. "Thunderbolt!"

"Jooooooolll—" Electricity crackled off the yellow hairs coating its body as it built up a powerful charge and then sent it surging towards Eevee. "—teeonn!"

"Double Team!" Gina commanded upon seeing the bolt rushing towards her Eevee, causing the Evolution Pokémon's tiny body to split apart as the electricity scorched the ground upon hitting one of the copies. But the rest remained, surrounding the Jolteon while wearing a chipper smile. "Now use Swift!"

"Vee!" The clones let loose a barrage of star-shaped projectiles that sailed towards the Lightning Pokémon from all angles. Which ones were real and which ones were fake didn't matter in the end since the stars would hit the mark without fail. But the confusion it offered would allow Eevee to continue without being revealed and thus unharmed, making it easier to win.

"Bunker down and use Pin Missile!" However, before Jolteon could be overwhelmed, it curled up and the hairs of its fur stood on end. Then they all went flying out, a spray of needles that broke through the illusionary stars and clones, dissipating their hollow forms. The real ones were peppered by the hairs, unraveling the constructs enough that they barely harmed the Lightning Pokémon.

So much for that plan. Clenching her teeth, she shifted priorities. "Take Down, Eevee!"

"Eeeee!" Eevee rushed towards it, bringing her might to bear and delivering a devastating hit that struck so hard that her evolved form was sent skirting along the ground. But it came with a cost as she was left brushing her paws against her forehead from the recoil damage.

"No more games!" The Gym Leader declared as Jolteon managed to get back onto its feet, looking far worse for wear. That had been a clean hit. "Thunder Wave!"

"Look out!" Gina cried, but it was too late. The Jolteon released a series of electric rings that slammed into Eeeve before she could get over the recoil of using Take Down, encasing her in a dome of electricity before they wormed their way into her body. Tendrils of lightning began to dance across her small frame, leaving her face pained as she began struggling to move while small convulsions wracked her body—paralysis was setting in.

"Now, let's show them the terror of what it's like to be paralyzed on the battlefield!" Lt. Surge's smile turned predatory. He had the advantage now and he knew it. "Thunderbolt again!"

Eevee saw it coming as the Lightning Pokémon obeyed the command and discharged another Thunderbolt. She even tried to dodge, but her muscles locked into place as the persistent current running through them fought against her control. In the end, she took the full brunt of the attack and was left whimpering once the voltage finished surging through her tiny body, leaving her beautiful brown fur smoldering and her legs shaking before giving out. "…Vv-veee…"

"Stand tall!" Gina ordered. "I know it'll take more than that to bring you down!"

The Evolution Pokémon's legs buckled, but she didn't falter. Forcing herself to try and stand tall, Eeeve fought against the tendrils of electricity nipping at her muscles as they thrashed against her body. "Eee…eee…"

"You fought well for a baby trainer, girlie," the Gym Leader said. "But like I said before, taking out your opponent's pokémon is the name of the game. We're not going easy even if it's a sitting Ducklett like that. Right, Jolteon?"

"Joooolllll—" The Lightning Pokémon began building a stronger electric charge as the cells in its body began releasing all the electricity they had stored for what was clearly a decisive blow. An attack as strong as that would finish the match. Or even do some lasting harm to Eevee.

Should I call her back? Gina hated entertaining the thought of surrendering now when she was so close to winning. Not to mention how embarrassing it'd be to face Ash after he lost. No, retreating wasn't an option in the end.

We can still win this. Gina was certain that if they timed it right they could end it with a decisive blow of their own. She'd just have to gamble on that. "Eevee, get ready to put everything in your next attack! Don't hesitate for even a second, no matter how much it hurts! Got it?"

"Vee-veee…" It seemed to hurt Eevee to even nod her head as the tongues of electricity continued to writhe over her. But she forced herself to remain on her feet, eyes locked with the dark gaze of the Jolteon as the electricity that it was accumulating reached its peak.

Lt. Surge observed them for a moment with an expression that was hard to read. But then he pushed that expression back. Fulfilling his role as a Gym Leader, he gave the execution order. "Finish it, Jolteon!"

"—TEON!" With a shout, the Lightning Pokémon released its strongest attack. The voltage sent towards Eevee was nothing short of an all-out attack meant to decide the outcome in a manner that would allow for no second chances. The bolt of lightning cut through the space between them—

"Now, Quick Attack!"

—as a streak of light ran parallel and opposite to the dense bolt of lightning that scorched the air. Pushing off the ground as a shroud of energy wreathed her, Eevee turned herself into running light and shot forward with the acceleration of the attack in the blink of an eye as the devastating Thunderbolt sped towards the ground back where she once was. By the time it hit the ground with enough heat and force to scour the earth black, she'd struck the source of the lightning head-on.

Jolteon saw the attack coming at the absolute last moment, but it was far too late. The fastest route between two points was a straight line, offering no chance to retaliate as the blow came in a space of time shorter than a second. There was nothing it could do as Eevee slammed into it at full force.

Won over, Eevee struck the Lightning Pokémon hard enough that it was torn from its grounded position. The momentum flung it haphazardly though the air until it hit the metal wall past the edge of the battlefield. Bouncing off the cold, metallic surface with a pained sound, it crumpled into a heap at the base and whimpered in agony. "…Joo…llltt…"

Lt. Surge looked shocked for a moment as he registered what happened. But, watching Jolteon trying to stand back up with its legs shaking only to collapse on its side, he decided he'd seen enough. Giving a hard sigh and recalling it into its ball, he pressed it against his forehead and said, "At ease, Soldier."

It was then that the referee over the announcement system called the match. "The Winner is the Challenger, Gina Oak of Pallet Town."

Gina felt an immense sense of satisfaction and relief at that. She'd won despite things not going quite to plan. But whatever joy that she should have felt wavered the moment she saw that her pokémon collapse right afterwards, leaving her to run onto the battlefield to check on the Evolution Pokémon. "Eevee, are you okay!?"

Her pokémon whimpered between heavy pants as the paralysis lingered and left her body to twitch. The electricity that hampered her movements hadn't gone away even now, and it was still causing her muscles to go out of control. And yet she'd fought against all of that, pouring as much strength as she could into her legs that it even took some effort to breathe.

"Put it back in its ball." She looked up as Lt. Surge approached her. "You earned my badge fair and square, but I'll tell you now that victory came at a cost. You pushed it too far by having it trying to do something so gutsy while paralyzed, so don't be surprised when Nurse Joy tells you that it won't be battling for a few days."

"…You did well," Gina told her pokémon as she hugged her closely. Then she returned Eevee into her ball, claimed her badge from the Gym Leader and departed the Gym. She was a step closer to the Indigo League, and a step closer to becoming a Pokémon Master. Yet, the badge in her hand…

It felt heavy compared to the last two.