A New Line Through The Lives Of Kanto

Round Three: Preventing The Inevitable

"You know, a win isn't just a win. That's not the way I'm trying to beat the Pokemon League!" Gary scolded.

Hitmonchan mumbled under his breath, his arms crossed, glaring at the ground with his back to his Trainer.

"All of our hard work for you to come out, uncalled, and start rampaging for absolutely no reason? Can you even answer what was the point of that?? What did I do? What if you had lost from a bad type matchup??"

"Hitmonchan." Hitmonchan looked up to the sky.

"I'm sure you think you're Mister Bad Ass and can handle any Pokemon out there, but one, that's not true." Gary paused. No, that's not the right attitude, now is it? Gary considered.

Hitmonchan looked over his shoulder to Gary.

"Alright, that's not true. Of course you can beat anything you fight if you give it your all. That's not what I meant. But not like that. You cannot just take it upon yourself to do things like that! I'm the Trainer! You listen to me!"

"Hitmonchan!!" Hitmonchan said loudly, facing Gary. "Hitmonchan!"

"Rather than training, we're here fighting over nonsense! Over things that are avoidable and that you shouldn't be doing to begin with! Now, I'd like to consider using you on the Rock Field next, but not if you're being disobedient! I told you about being impulsive!"

"Chaaaaan," Hitmonchan growled.

"Grrrr right back atcha," Gary responded.

"Okay, okay, I think you both get the message, right?" June walked in between them and placed a hand on each one's shoulder. "Gary, let's take it easy."

"Me?! I'm the one-!"

"And Hitmonchan, we all know you're just showing how much you care," June continued. "I think enough has been said, and we should be preparing for the next battle."

"Well, I think getting control of my Pokemon is one important step of that."

"And I think there's no real problem. The way you and that... princess were talking, you were bound to lose with such a lack of concentration," June rolled her eyes, sneering.

"Lack of concentration?? I was killing it!" Gary burst out. "Sabrina went in! And I was gonna send out Charizard to wrap up the match! No way that Pumpkinboo was gonna survive!"

"Assuming she wasn't going to just send out a Blastoise or something, Gary," June stared at him expectantly.

Gary waved her off and looked away.

"I'm just saying, you two seemed awfully comfortable with each other. Who knew you were such a smooth talker?" June was now eyeing the grass below.

"A smooth talker? What are you talking about?" Gary could feel his face heating up now.

"You haven't spoken to the princess since? I was sure one of you would have looked each other up on the database and tried to track each other down. I'd be very surprised if she's not in the audience at your next match."

"Will you shut up?!" Gary barked at her.

June just closed her eyes and raised her shoulders. "I'm just trying to help you control your Pokemon. Understanding what happened is an important step."

"I don't think you understand anything about what happened." Gary returned Hitmonchan. "Just cut your crap," he said to the Poke Ball.

"So are we battling?" June asked.