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Chapter 19 - The Feels

"You always challenge the gym leader first! I wanna go first this time!" I huffed angrily. I had been argueing with Brandon for about 10 minutes now, about who was going to challenge Erika first.

"Well I won our battle yesterday so it's my turn!" he wailed. I made a puppy dog face at him, attempting to use it to get what I wanted. "That's not gonna work, Katrina." He crossed his arms & looked away from me. Adriana was glancing at us, awkwardly, unsure to but into our arguement or not.

A thought came to my mind & sly grin spread on my face. "Well... Okay then..." I slowly made my way to the door. "First one to the gym challenges Erika!" I yelled & burst out of the door.

Seconds later I heard the door open & looked back to see Brandon running with a smirk on his face. The gym was a bit far from the house, so after a minute of running, I stopped. I was panting heavily & so was Brandon as he stopped beside me. "You... You... Challenge Erika first..." he barely managed to say.

I smirked. "Thank you." We walked the rest of the way to the gym. There were five challengers in front of us, so we had to wait.

Fortunately for us though, we were able to see them battling, so it wasn't horridly boring. I saw a girl with a Flareon squash Erika's pokemon like they were Weedle's. That Flareon was very powerful. The girl confidently strode off & I actually recognized her face.

"Brandon... That's that girl remember? The one that approached us at the Pokemon Center after we rescued the Aerodactyl fossils from the museum?" I pointed at her & he thought for a moment. "Amy?" he questioned. "Yeah! Her!" I said a little too loudly. The other trainers in front of us looked back & sneered at me.

"Hey, you're the girl that saved the Aerodactyl fossils right?" Amy said as she walked toward us, her Flareon by her side, looking tough as ever. "That's me," I found myself smiling sheepishly.

"Here to get your badge?" We engaged in conversation as the next challenger, with a Meowth, who wasn't doing as well as Amy, was now battling Erika's Gloom.

"Yes," I answered. "Well, good luck guys. She's not that difficult. I now have every badge in Kanto," she bent down to pet her Flareon, who was sort of purring with delight at Amy's touch. I cocked my head to the side, confused. "I went backwards," she explained, resolving my confusion. "Oh," I muttered.

"So now I have no choice but to wait the next five months out for the Pokemon League to begin," she frowned. My heart skipped a beat nervously. "Only five months?" I asked with disbelief. "Yeah, are you two almost done with collecting your badges?" she brought a light warm smile on her face. "Uhh... At the moment we have two..." Brandon sighed. Her eyes went wide. "We kinda started off late, about three months late actually..." I scratched my neck nervously. "So in the first three months of the Kanto Circuit we only got two badges..." Brandon added, obviously emberrassed.

"Well pick up the pace, I'll see you two at the Pokemon League," she smiled & her Flareon snuggled against the legs of Brandon & I, as if saying bye to us. I pet the unbelievably soft fur of hers, & whispered,"Bye."

By the time our conversation was up, we were next in line. Currently a boy with an Oddish was battling, & he wasn't doing well. Erika knocked out his Pokemon & motioned for the next person to come foward.

It was me. I walked over to her with determination in my eyes. I had to beat her! I couldn't allow to waste any more time, with the Pokemon League five months away & I still had six badges left to win! The rules of the battle were recited. 'This will be a two on two battle... Yadadada... No substitutions... First trainer to lose two Pokemon loses...' I tuned it out the best I could & thought of who I would use against Erika. I had five Pokemon with me. I didn't have Jolt, he was still at the house, & I was letting him enjoy his last days as a spoiled house pet, even though he desperately wanted to come with me to battle Ericka.