"Gosh, I still can't get used to the weather here!" Sip slightly complained as we entered the Lavaridge Gym. Even with the air conditioner, the heat was still noticeable at certain areas of the lobby.

"Well, it is a Fire type Gym, after all." I shrugged as we waited for my turn to challenge the Gym Leader.

Sip seemed to be even more nervous compared to me, worrying about my performance in the upcoming battle. It was understandable as the previous experiences had helped me to handle these situations much better than before. Shortly, the receptionist called my name as I headed towards the battlefield room, while Sip headed towards the spectator area to find a seat for himself.

I took another deep breath, preparing myself mentally before heading into the room.

Guess it's time... Let's have some confidence in ourselves.

"Welcome, challenger!" A slender, medium height girl greeted from the further side of the battlefield. She had straight crimson red hair that was tied up in a high, spiky ponytail with a blue band with a side fringe at the front. She seemed used to the much higher temperature in the battlefield room as she remained energetic and eager to battle.

As expected from Flannery, the Lavaridge Gym Leader. She is most known for her beauty and strength, after all. She has gained a large following from trainers around the world due to the combination of both factors. I should be careful in this battle.

I nodded politely and went to my side of the battlefield. The referee showed up between us and explained the rules as always, "This match will be a three on three singles battle. The challenger is able to switch his Pokémon and have the first move. The winner is decided when all the opponent's Pokémon are unable to battle. Do you understand and agree with the rules, Lows from Pallet Town?"

I nodded once again, this time to the referee. The referee smiled and announced, "The match between Flannery and Lows will now begin! Trainers, please send out your first Pokémon."

"Let's show them what we got, Grace!" I started off with my Psychic type as she landed on the battlefield and calmly awaited her first opponent.

"Kaen, burst the flames!" Flannery sent out a Slugma of her own who looked way stronger than Sip's Magma.

"The battle between Kaen and Grace will now begin!"

"Grace, use Psybeam!" Grace nodded and launched the psychic rings of energy towards Kaen, but Flannery remained unfazed.

"As expected from a special attack Pokémon! We know how to counter these. Kaen, use Light Screen!"

The Slugma quickly formed a barrier of green light in front of him as the rings passed through it and hit the Fire type. However, the impact was heavily reduced and did almost nothing to Kaen.

Light Screen completely nerfs Grace's attacks... Grace doesn't have any physical attacks, so we just have to wait it out, I suppose.

"Grace, Shadow Ball!" Grace formed the black and purple ball with much ease and released it towards the Slugma.

"This won't do much to Kaen. Time for a set-up! Kaen, Sunny Day!" Kaen focused its energy as a warm and bright light appeared in the sky, making the temperature even higher than it already was.

This is going to be a huge advantage for her.

"Kaen, the advantage is now all ours! Smog!" Kaen immediately released a purple gas towards Grace as I countered, "Grace, Teleport away from Smog!"

Grace was able to teleport away from the first attack, but the Slugma never stopped releasing the smog, forcing Grace to constantly teleport away from the attacks. As Grace continued to teleport, Flannery's eyes seemed to be tracking her movements and became deep in thought.

Suddenly, her eyes sparkled as she commanded, "Kaen, use Smog at your three o'clock direction!"

Kaen released the purple gas while Grace was in the middle of her teleportation. As Grace finished the teleportation, the smog hit Grace directly as she was forced to inhale some of the gas before being able to take a step back from it. However, it was more than enough as signs of poison were immediately shown from Grace.

Teleport won't work on Flannery anymore... I concluded as I saw Grace struggling to maintain her position as the poison started to take over her.

My heart ached slightly seeing her in that condition, and I immediately made a decision, "Referee... I'll be withdrawing Grace from the battle."

The referee nodded and announced, "Lows had chosen to withdraw Grace from the battle. Kaen wins!"

I ran towards Grace, who finally collapsed upon hearing the announcement. She used her remaining energy to apologize, "Lows... I'm sorry."

"You did what you could, Grace. Get some rest." I reassured her and returned her back to her Pokéball.

Immediately, I threw the second Pokéball into the air, "You got this, Surfer!"

Surfer was more than eager to avenge his teammate as he landed on the battlefield, "Time to ride the waves and win again!"

Seeing that Flannery chose to keep battling using Kaen, the referee continued, "The battle between Kaen and Surfer will now begin!"

"Surfer, use Water Gun!" I commanded.

"You forgot that we had a defense for that? Kaen, use Light Screen!"

Just as I thought, that attack fished out the Light Screen set-up by the Fire type. Taking the chance while it was busy, I hurriedly commanded, "Surfer, remember the new move you just learned? Use Sand Tomb!"

Surfer nodded and quickly created wisps of sand that surrounded Kaen. Then, the sand turned into a tornado, trapping Kaen in it for a moment before releasing it, the super effective attack taking a toll on the Fire type.

"Surfer, follow up with Water Pulse!"

Flannery knew Kaen's time on the battlefield was close to over as she commanded, "Kaen, one last Flamethrower!"

As the blue ball of energy was formed and launched by Surfer, Kaen was able to release a stream of fire towards him. The two attacks passed through each other as the Water type attack went through the Light Screen and hit Kaen first, knocking it out despite the damage reduction. Meanwhile, despite the buff from Sunny Day, the type resistance helped Surfer to endure the Flamethrower attack. As the two attacks ended, the warm light disappeared from the sky, implying that the duration of Sunny Day was over.

"Kaen is unable to battle! Surfer wins!"

"Good work, Kaen." Flannery remained unfazed as she returned Kaen and took out her second Pokéball and threw it into the air, "Hanabi, burn the stage!"

A bipedal, chicken-like Pokémon appeared in the battlefield. Most of its upper body was yellow, while most of the lower body was orange. It had orange eyes, a short beak as well as a feather crest on top of its head.

[Combusken, the Young Fowl Pokémon. It is the evolved form of Torchic. It boosts its concentration by emitting harsh cries. Its kicks have outstanding destructive power.]

"The battle between Hanabi and Surfer will now begin!"

"Surfer, use Water Pulse!"

"That's not going to be enough for us! Hanabi, dodge and use Jump Kick!"

Hanabi rushed towards Surfer almost immediately after the command was issued as it leaped over the blue ball of energy and landed with a powerful kick towards Surfer. Surfer winced in pain while I was amused with the skills that Combusken had.

"Surfer, use Sand Tomb!"

"Nice try, Lows. Hanabi, kick through the sand and use Low Kick!"

Hanabi rushed forward, facing directly towards the wisps of sand and spun around, performing a spinning kick to create an impact that prevented itself from getting trapped in the sand. Then, it did a low kick at Surfer, causing my Kanto starter to fall over, but he quickly recovered from the attack.

Hanabi is going to be a pain to deal with...

I decided to go with another plan, "Surfer, use Water Pulse!"

"Have you not learned your lesson? Hanabi, you know what to do."

As the Combusken readied itself and leaped over the blue ball of energy, ready to unleash another kick again, I quickly countered, "Now's the time, Surfer! Use Water Gun right at Hanabi!"

Surfer smiled, knowing that he would be able to release the spiral of water just in time as Hanabi got closer. Hanabi noticed what he was doing and tried to retrieve, but it was to no avail as it kept moving forward mid-air, taking the super effective attack directly.

That seemed to help the situation become more even for both Pokémon. I sighed in relief as Flannery said, "You might have found a counter to Hanabi's attacks, but we won't give up! Hanabi, go for a head on Fire Punch!"

"Surfer, counter with Bite!"

Surfer waited for Hanabi to get closer to him and braced for impact. Once the distance was closing in, he used his teeth to bite Hanabi on its body. Although its expression showed signs of pain, it endured the impact and unleashed its attack, its fist ignited with flame as it punched Surfer right in the chest.

The attack sent Surfer flying towards the air as he landed on the battlefield, no longer able to get up. Hanabi's time in the battlefield seemed to have been over as well, with it finally collapsing on the ground out of exhaustion,

"Both Hanabi and Surfer are unable to battle! This battle is a draw!"

As both Flannery and I thanked our Pokémon for their hard work, I returned Surfer and took out my last Pokéball for the battle.

I guess.. it's all up to him again.

I looked towards Flannery, who was still energetic to keep the show going. Then, I noticed Sip, who was cheering for me to win the match. I nodded and smiled, not planning to back out until the very end.

I threw my final Pokéball into the air, "I believe in you, Ziggs!"

Out of all the Pokémon, Ziggs was undoubtedly the one with the most trouble improving and becoming stronger. He could never seem to catch a break and even had a heartbreaking losing streak that was just broken recently against the Willpower Admin, Peggy due to his evolution.

However, he did not want to give in to others' perceptions and continued training. When he was told to battle against Flannery's Pokémon, it inspired him to train even more.

The day before the Gym Battle, we were training at a spot near the town with Sip helping us out. What surprised me was not seeing Ziggs and Woody near my sight during the entire training session.

As the session ended, I gathered everyone but the two were still nowhere to be seen. I looked around and eventually found them behind a bush.

But the next scene that caught my eyes made my heart ache.

"Woody, hit me with Bullet Seed!" Ziggs yelled.

"You sure? We have been doing this for a while now." Woody hesitated.

"Just do it!" The Normal type grumbled.

Woody sighed as he released four seeds from his mouth, hitting Ziggs directly. Ziggs let out a small cry of pain and collapsed onto the ground, "O-Ow..."

Woody ran over to his side and said, "...Ziggs, let's just end it here. Lows was calling everyone to gather around as well."

"But I don't feel ready yet for the battle tomorrow! I gotta keep going with this endurance training."

"...Ziggs, you've done this for more than three hours. It's more than enough."

"I don't wanna let the team down, Woody. I've not contributed as much for the past few battles."

"I'm sure no one in the team thinks that way. Besides, you saved us all in the battle against Team Willpower." Woody replied.

"...Just consider it as a drive for me to improve. Maybe if I worked hard enough, my anxiety will be no more and I'll actually do well in the future!"

"I wish things were that easy sometimes..." Woody sighed before helping Ziggs up, "But I admire your perseverance anyway."

I wiped the tears forming in my eyes before pretending I just found them, "Oh, there you two are! Everyone's waiting to head back to the PokéCentre."

They nodded and finally finished their training. It was at this moment I decided...

I'm not the most helpful trainer, but I'm going to try my best to help you. I'm going to make sure you don't think of yourself that way ever again...

Just like how I always thought about myself.

"Inferuno, destroy your opponent!" Flannery threw her Pokéball shortly after, revealing a tortoise-like Pokémon in front of us. I immediately recognized it as Torkoal, a Pokémon that my rival, Harry had.

I see Ziggs slightly trembling in nervousness, but I petted him lightly to comfort him before the referee announced, "The battle between Inferuno and Ziggs will now begin!"

"Ziggs, use Dig!"

"Inferno, counter with Body Slam!"

As Ziggs dug a hole and jumped into it, Inferuno readied itself to attack any moment from there. When Ziggs came out of the hole and attacked Inferuno, it endured the damage and gave Ziggs a strong slam, sending Ziggs back to my side with the impact as he winced in pain.

Inferuno knew its strength is stronger compared to Ziggs, so it's willing to take some damage just to deal stronger attacks at him.

"Ziggs, are you good?" I asked.

"Yeah, but that was way stronger than I thought..."

"Let's try something else." I was not willing to give up, "Ziggs, use Headbutt!"

Flannery commanded, "It's gonna take more than that to bring us down! Inferuno, use Flamethrower!"

Ziggs rushed forward as Inferuno prepared the stream of fire in its mouth. Ziggs was able to headbutt his opponent just in time, but it also resulted in him taking the hot stream of fire directly. It was definitely taking a toll on him, but he still tried his best to hold on.

The advantage is definitely at Flannery's side right now. I need another plan...

"Ziggs, use Dig again!" I was hoping this plan would work.

Flannery sighed at my repeated commands and said, "Inferuno, you know what to do."

Just according to plan, Inferuno used Body Slam on Ziggs, this time before Ziggs could even attack. However, that was still fine as sparks started emitting from Ziggs just as I hoped for.

I smirked as Flannery showed an expression that exposed her realization of my plan. Regardless, I quickly commanded, "Ziggs, use Facade!"

The secret weapon was finally revealed as Ziggs became surrounded in an orange aura as he rushed towards Inferuno with much faster speed despite the paralysis. He then tackled the Fire type with seemingly much more power, causing it to wince in pain.

"As I thought... Ziggs has the ability Quick Feet, which increases its speed upon having a status condition. With the combination of Facade... this is a set-up to change the battle!"

"That's right! We're going to do our best to win the badge for our team." I said.

"I like your spirit, but we'll still prevail! Use Flamethrower!" Flannery smiled.

"Ziggs, dodge and use Swift!" Thanks to the buff from the ability, Ziggs was able to barely dodge the stream of fire released by the Fire type. Then, the yellow stars were fired from Ziggs, hitting the vulnerable Fire type almost immediately. Both Pokémon were panting, implying that the battle was coming to an end.

"Looks like the battle is closing to its end. Let's make this one count! Inferuno, use Overheat, full power!"

I could see Ziggs trembling slightly at having to take another Overheat attack, as the last time did not go quite well for him. I reassured him, "Ziggs, you're much stronger than before. I believe in you, fight through the pain and use Facade, full power!"

Ziggs nodded as the orange aura surrounded him before he started charging towards the Fire type. Inferuno on the other hand, started charging its power as its whole body turned bright red. Ziggs slightly outsped Inferuno, attacking first before trying to dodge the white flame with a red-orange flame spiraling around it fired by Inferuno. He was unable to dodge the attack completely, but he managed to take less damage from the powerful move.

As both attacks ended, Flannery and I anticipated the final results. Ziggs struggled to stand still, but his remaining energy was still clearly visible on the battlefield. Inferuno however, collapsed onto the ground out of exhaustion, unable to battle anymore.

Ziggs and I smiled in unison upon hearing the referee announce, "Inferuno is unable to battle! Ziggs wins! The winner is Lows, the challenger from Pallet Town!"

I ran towards Ziggs, who was obviously delighted that his efforts did not come to waste and petted him. Flannery walked towards us and complimented, "Through the battle, I can see the burning passion of you and your Pokémon to give it all in every battle. Not only that, your bond and support towards each other earned you all the win at the very end. You definitely deserve the Heat Badge."

She took out a badge shaped like a wisp of fire before handing it to me, to which I happily accepted and put it into the Badge Case.

"This battle is scorching! It reminded me of someone I battled years ago..." Flannery said.

"Hmm?"

"That's right! You reminded me of Charmaine, the current Slateport Gym Leader. She battles with almost the same passion as well. Have you battled her yet?"

"Not yet..." I briefly replied.

"She's an optional Gym Leader, but you should definitely give it a try to increase your experience! You'll see what I mean once you decide to do so." Flannery smiled.

I nodded before exchanging Pokégear numbers with her and walked out of the battlefield room. The contrast of the temperature between the lobby and the battlefield room made me come back to reality and sigh in relief that it all went well in the end.

I saw Sip walk out of the spectator room, who immediately congratulated me after noticing my presence, "That was amazing, Lows! You and Ziggs really prevailed through the end!"

"It's nothing. You'll be able to do that as well once you train hard enough."

"Hopefully!" He rubbed the back of his head and stayed silent before finally saying, "Watching your battle... It gave me one final push to start my journey. I'm going to be leaving later today."

I nodded, "I believe you'll do great out there, Sip."

"Of course! I don't plan on finishing my journey empty-handed." He smiled in excitement, "Now, let's make sure I brought everything before leaving."

"Yeah, let's!"

Sip, his parents and I were outside his home. It was nearing the moment of farewell, and for Sip to start his journey as a trainer.

"Mom, Dad... I guess it's time for me to go." Sip said.

"You'll do great out there!" His mother exclaimed.

"Make us proud, Sip. Even if it doesn't go your way... just remember everything that happened will be an experience for you to learn and grow." His father advised.

"Definitely! I'm not going to give up that easily." Sip grinned, before looking at me and said, "Once again, thanks for inspiring me to do this."

"Don't thank me. You still have a long way to go! There's not much time for you to collect the badges right now."

"No worries, I'll be able to catch up." Sip was confident, "Who knows? Maybe we'll even... no, we'll definitely see each other again in our journeys. I'm positive about it."

We chuckled before shaking hands and wishing each other the best in the future. With that, he left home and started a new chapter for himself.

I looked at his back until he disappeared out of sight.

Even though we have to say goodbye right now, the separation is not going to last forever.

Sip, I believe in you... you got this.

Let's work hard... for an even better encounter next time.

Lows' Pokémon Team:

Surfer (Wartortle, Male) Jolly Nature, Moves: Bite, Water Gun, Water Pulse, Sand Tomb

Ziggs (Linoone, Male) Naive Nature, Moves: Dig, Headbutt, Swift, Facade

Grace (Kirlia, Female) Calm Nature, Moves: Teleport, Magical Leaf, Shadow Ball, Psybeam

Woody (Grovyle, Male) Lonely Nature, Moves: Pursuit, Leaf Blade, Bullet Seed, Rock Throw

Power (Machop, Male) Timid Nature, Moves: Fling, Focus Energy, Karate Chop, Low Kick