A/N: So... I'll try my best to go in the best order possible. Nothing is really certain but nonetheless... I want to go in order of whom I think got their titles in order, as well as go by games, and maybe bits and pieces from the anime.

Chapter 2- Pryce

Pryce Rimbach thought the League Numbering System was flawed, but he didn't care about it.

It didn't matter presently, because he's twenty years-old and he's ready to knock out this Magmar in front of him with his favorite Pokemon - Piloswine. His father had found it for him back when it was a Swinub in the Ice Path connecting to Blackthorn City when he was young, and it was a gift for his tenth birthday. Swinub had eventually evolved into Piloswine, and his Piloswine was, frankly, a beast. He knew that Agatha of the Elite Four valued beasts, it's why Indigo was the best. His Piloswine could knock out any Pokemon with an ice fang, he was sure of it.

That's what Pryce was going to do with this Magmar, and it didn't matter that Magmar was a fire type. Piloswine was family. Piloswine could do anything. Piloswine comforted him when his family couldn't, like when his mother left home shortly after his twelfth birthday causing his father to go into a depression. Pryce really didn't have a lot of thoughts regarding his mother, she was never mentally there when she was physically around, anyway. Johto's Mental Health System was subpar at best, so Pryce couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, and his father was certainly no help after she fled. Piloswine comforted him when he was alone in a house with a father that was too distraught.

Pryce competed in the Kanto-Johto tournaments with his Piloswine, where he mostly came out victorious. He was currently in one now, against that Magmar that was about to go down. Type-advantages be damned. Pryce opened his mouth to command his Piloswine to use that famous, ice fang attack-

...and then Pryce woke up in a hospital.

That's when the memories came flooding back. The Magmar was poorly trained and had a powerful flamethrower that not only hit his Pokemon, but himself. Realizing this, Pryce screamed and demanded to see his Piloswine, and the nurse frantically tried to explain that his Piloswine was in the other wing of the hospital that treated Pokemon. Pryce didn't care. He screamed, and screamed, and screamed - because there were marks on his body that he hadn't seen before, burn marks, and then he was forced into sedation.

The pain meds are calming him down, but barely, and the nurse tried to reassure him that Piloswine was fine - but was also left with severe burn marks. Piloswine would live. They would be released from the hospital when their injuries would heal. Little did Pryce know, that was only the start of his troubles.

When they're released from the hospital, it's during a particularly harsh blizzard. Normally, Pryce would relish in it, because he liked the cold as well as ice-types. Other than Piloswine, his Seel and his Dewgong were like family to him. It's all he had really, it's not like his parents visited him in the hospital, or tried to pick him up. They hadn't a clue.

Pryce and Piloswine were still healing from their injuries, but they were well enough to leave the hospital. The nasty weather was actually beneficial for an ice-type like Piloswine, so Pryce kept him out of his Old Ball as they walked. Though this weather was awful for Pryce, it helped Piloswine, and that's all Pryce cared about. That was the last time a Pokemon of Pryce's would be out of its ball unless it was for battling.

Because without any warning whatsoever, Piloswine left. Pryce had turned his back for just a second, and just like that, Piloswine was gone.

In later years if asked, Pryce would deny he felt anything in the moment when his first Piloswine left him even though everyone in Mahogany Town knew that was a lie. It was an open secret that Pryce was absolutely devastated, but what they didn't know (and what they would never know) was that it was the last time Pryce had cried.

After Pryce was finished crying, he was left with fury as he stormed into the nearest Pokemon Center. His Seel and Dewgong tried to comfort him, but Pryce had snapped:

"I don't want to hear it, just leave it."

But don't leave me like Piloswine did, was what Pryce almost added. Pryce figured they understood without him saying it, but he found that maybe he didn't care if they left. He remembered hearing Agatha's opinions on the radio about Pokemon, that they were meant to battle - so maybe they weren't his friends, after all. It's not like his Piloswine gave a damn about friendship. Agatha was dominating the LNS, bringing in big numbers defeating the trainers in Hoenn, Unova, and Sinnoh - so she had to be right.

Pryce developed a reputation in the tournaments, dubbed by the nickname "Icy Pryce." Pryce didn't care about such a tacky nickname, nor did he confront those that called him that behind his back. He had no time for such a thing, because he had to win tournaments with a new Piloswine that couldn't even produce a proper ice fang like his old one.

Pryce thought he lost his touch. One day he was doing well in a competition, and then, the trainer sent out his last Pokemon. It's a different Magmar from a different trainer, and Pryce knew that logically, but he couldn't help but think this was done intentionally to throw him off, and it worked.

He lost against the trainer, but at least he doesn't have any new burn marks. Still, that doesn't stop Pryce's heart acceleration that night he lost, trying to catch his breath as the vivid image of what once was entered his mind. He gripped the bedsheets as he tried to steady his breathing. He knew his Pokemon were concerned, but he shooed them away. Being too attached to his Pokemon was what started this whole mess, and he wasn't about to make that same mistake twice.

Agatha let out a string of profanities. That stupid, idiotic, psychic-type gym leader from Mahogany Town had gotten himself into a bind. The champion had no choice but to fire him (the champion, whom, was several years older than Agatha) and now they had to find a replacement. One of her colleagues, a psychic-type elite named Gerald, had been assigned to the task. Though the gym leader of Mahogany Town had gotten into a scandal, he was still a very good battler in comparison to the others in Johto, and now Johto would be weaker unless they found a suitable replacement.

Now, you may be wondering: Johto was dragging them down, then why didn't Kanto simply just drop them? Let them make their own league and let them crawl for their lives until they would wither away. Let them try making their own league again. Well, it was far more complicated than that.

Agatha had a theory. It's not one she liked or even wanted to entertain. Though Johto had some shoddy battling techniques with Pokemon, they somehow acquired to have the best military defense out of all the regions regarding humans. It's how Kanto won the war from long ago against Sinnoh, and part of their agreement was to have Johto join their ranks despite their bad numbers. Unova had tried to aide Sinnoh, despite both of their military defenses being subpar at best. When Unova was getting hit, they backed out at the last minute. Hoenn had swiftly stayed out of the whole thing, because Kanto and Sinnoh had been arguing with each other for centuries on how to go on about things politically and whatnot. Sinnoh went down hard; they had suffered the most tragedies out of all the five, and they're paying the price by being ranked last in the system.

Call it paranoia. Call it being threatened. Agatha didn't care; but she suspected that if Kanto dropped Johto, it wouldn't be long until the other regions tried to slither in to try and get Johto on their sides and send Kanto into another war like the last one. Yes, Agatha loved to fight - there was no question about that, but this was a fight she just wasn't willing to risk. It was unlikely, but still - it weighed heavily in the back of her mind. If the four regions went up against Kanto, there was no way Kanto come back unscathed.

It's not like it mattered right now, because Indigo is way, way ahead of everyone else despite Johto's mediocrity. They were friendly with the elites and gym leaders from the other regions currently (sometimes a bit passive aggressive, however they got along with each other) but Agatha doesn't know if that would last if Johto would separate. Agatha hadn't been in the league for a long while yet, but she studied battling not only regarding Pokemon, but humans as well. She knew how they thought. She understood war.

It's also exactly what Agatha would've done if she was in the other region's shoes.

They also didn't have time for wars against those regions, because right now, Johto was in the midst of a war with Alola. Alola wanted to secede from the League of Regions which included more regions that wasn't just the five in the LNS. They wanted to secede because they didn't have gym leaders. This was fine, up until they wanted everyone else to follow suit to get rid of their gym leaders. It was kind of a cold-shoulder-type-of-war, then Alola decided to drop a bomb in the Whirl Islands. A terrible mistake on Alola's end. Johto's military complex was lethal, and at this point they didn't need the help of Kanto - though Kanto had offered their assistance. When Johto's soldiers got involved, the other regions stayed out of it. It was objectively the smartest thing to do, which was precisely why Agatha refused to drop Johto out of the LNS with them.

Speaking of her colleagues, Gerald had walked into the League Office and let out a sigh. "Nothing so far. Nothing whom could replace him."

Agatha gritted her teeth. "Where's our flimsy champion?"

"The champion that beat you seventeen times," reminded Gerald.

"Do not test me today," snapped Agatha. Their champion had beaten Agatha actually only sixteen times, thank you very much. At that point, the champion just offered her a position as the top of the Elite Four and she accepted it. She booted out a veteran, and it wasn't a pretty scene when her colleagues had been moved down. "Where is he?"

"He's also been trying to scout," said Gerald. "We have Roland and Bolt searching as well, even if I'm technically the only one that should be doing this task." Roland specialized in the steel type, and Bolt specialized in the electric-type. Agatha also thought the two were the most useless oafs she's ever met.

"And why wasn't I asked if I had any ideas?"

"Do you?"

"Maybe I do. Just because I'm new compared to you lot, doesn't mean I don't have anything of value to say. It was me that decided to open up new training centers in Johto, and because of that, we widened the gap slightly then. So you're welcome, by the way."

"But now it's going down," argued Gerald. "It's going to continue to go down unless we find a suitable replacement for Mahogany. So I repeat... do you have any ideas?"

"Why don't you check the tournament logs?" Agatha inquired coldly. "I've done it." She had taken it upon herself to try to find someone that could replace the psychic gym leader, and there was a name that came to mind, but now she was feeling particularly spiteful. "How about you take a look? Whichever name you like, there's your gym leader."

"Rather reckless of you, Agatha."

"The Mahogany gym is in a crisis. We can't continue to have that stupid gym trainer." In a dramatic fashion, Agatha slammed the large book of names that had taken hours upon hours of reading on the table, and let out a grim smile. "Check the logs, and tell me what you find."

Gerald gaped. "I thought you wanted to be apart of the search?"

"Mm, I've decided that if you didn't think to consult me, then perhaps you don't deserve my help."

Gerald shook his head. "You're insane, Agatha." But still, he took the heavy book and stormed off.

Though Pryce swore off having friends that were Pokemon, that didn't necessarily pertain to humans. Case and point, a few days after the tournament he traveled to Azalea Town to meet with a friend of his from childhood.

"Have I come in at a bad time?" Pryce asked politely.

Kurt shook his head. "No, actually. I was wondering when you'd stop by." Pryce took a seat across from him. Kurt had once been someone who competed in tournaments like himself, but had left in favor of research. It was similar to what allegedly happened between Agatha and Oak, except Pryce still remained good friends with Kurt. Pryce hadn't met either of the two personally, but Kurt had spoken to them on occasion. Never together though, because for some reason, Agatha refused to be in the same room with him.

"How are you feeling?"

"Terrible, thank you for asking."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Mind your tongue, you don't get to be nasty to me because your life has been so shit." It was another thing Pryce appreciated, in a way, that he was one of the few people that didn't look at him with pity after his incident with his burns. Pryce could always use the normalcy. "I heard what happened. With the last tournament."

Just because Pryce appreciated the normalcy, did not mean he wanted a reminder of the incident. "It's nothing concerning. I had... just frozen in the moment."

"Yes, more than your Pokemon."

Pryce didn't appreciate that. "You know, you're cruel."

"Not crueler than you," remarked Kurt. Pryce scowled at him. "Listen, I know you've had a lot happen to you in the past few years..." Understatement of the century. "...but you don't need to be like this; you've changed, Pryce, and not necessarily in the best of ways. You're like..." Here, Kurt hesitated: "...like an old man, except you're twenty-three."

"Pffft. In that case, call me up in fifty years and tell me you're not bitter."

"I'm not planning on it." Funny how things change. "Did you hear that Mahogany Town's gym leader got fired?"

Pryce's eyebrows shot up. "Really, now? That's the... sixth one in the past two years?"

"Seventh."

Even better. "How'd he get fired?"

"Public intoxication. He also asked one of the Kimono Girls for a lap dance."

"Ah..." Pryce paused thoughtfully. "Who's going to replace him?"

"Hell if I know. But Agatha has been raving and ranting about it to me for three whole days. I'm sick of it. The champion hasn't made his decision on who he wants as the gym leader. I was thinking..." Kurt gave Pryce a look. "...you could take it off their hands."

Beat.

"What?"

"Come off it," waved off Kurt, scoffing. "I could recommend you to Agatha. It's a steady paycheck, you get to face off against stronger trainers, and you would be just as strong as the gym leader before - I remember battling with you, you know. You'd always beat me."

"I..." Here, Pryce tried not to grimace. "...may have lost my touch."

"If you really think that, then here's a way to get it back," advised Kurt.

"The gym leader is a psychic-type," argued Pryce. "The trainers there would be out of a job, unless everyone becomes okay with ice-types very quickly. And that's not going to happen. Surely the league has better choices..."

"Oh come on, Pryce," groaned Kurt. "This self-deprecating bit is not going to work on me. They do not have better choices, and you know it. You'd make a damn good gym leader. You're the person that Agatha would look for."

"Let me guess: cold, icy, overall terrible..."

"Strict," corrected Kurt. "I'll go talk to Agatha."

"I'm not going to get picked."

Kurt let out a smile; it was almost unsettling, but not quite - it was more like he was hiding something. "I think you will."

Pryce said nothing else, only rolling his eyes.

Three hours later at the Indigo League, Gerald appeared in front of Agatha with the tournament log book, with heavy bags under his eyes - his eyes, that were strained. Agatha knew why; because though he had called her insane, she knew that Gerald was going to look through the book. "So," he began, "I think I have an idea of who to pick."

Agatha smiled knowingly. Then, she spoke tauntingly: "Do you, now?"

"Yes I do," huffed Gerald, then flipped to a page. "Pryce Rimbach. He's an ice-type specialist, but we can close the gym down for a couple of more days to find trainers that specialize in that type. His stats went down, but he was very strong when he was a teenager. I think he's the boy that got burned by a Magmar. Maybe this would get him back."

Agatha continued to smile, and only smiled even more when Gerald looked unsettled by it. She's unsurprised, it's a natural gift she had. "So you're going to let the champion know that Pryce is your decision?"

"Yes, I am."

Hook, line, and sinker. "I know. I've had him in mind for a while now."

Beat.

Gerald looked furious. "How long?"

"Mm, about four hours now. I just received call from Kurt that Pryce was willing to do it."

Staggering silence followed.

"I asked you then if you had any ideas," snapped Gerald. "You had a name this entire time? I looked through that log for hours, Agatha!"

"Next time you should consult me instead of leaving me in the dust," was Agatha's cold response. Gerald was rendered speechless, then he shook his head and stormed off. Agatha could only smile watching him go, taking a sip of her coffee - black, with no sugar.

Pryce was handed a set of keys to his new gym in Mahogany Town three days later, and to be frank, he doesn't really know how to feel about it. He supposed that it was a good paycheck, that it certainly beat having to constantly fight trainers for money - but there was a matter of whipping these supposed new ice-type specialists into shape.

He wouldn't physically whip them. Mentally, however...

He recognized a few of the trainers - most of them had been ones he had beaten long ago, he had beaten their ice-types with his own. It was back when he had his first Piloswine, and that ice fang attack that would make them victorious... but that didn't matter anymore. He had something to prove, and he almost grinned at the thought - he had become a gym leader without that first Piloswine, he would surely show him. They would all know about what his first Piloswine did, everyone in Mahogany would.

But what these trainers didn't know was that there were still a few nights where Pryce would have nightmares, a few times where he would be slightly fearful of when a Magmar would come face-to-face with him in a battle, and that (more than anything else) he would still have the same question in regards to his first Pokemon.

Why?

That was the question. Pryce would never find out what caused his Piloswine to leave, and he never would. It would still haunt him until he would take his last breath.