Finally! Finally! A face to face with… the Blackthorn gym! “After winning this gym’s badge, I will finally see Charles!” “Jiggly!” They entered. Clair, the leader, was stading there, in front of them. “Do you wish to challenge me for a two on two battle?” “Yes!” “Allow me to introduce myself first, I am Clair. What is your name?” “Chavella.” Clair looked surprised! “Chavella!” “What?” “It is… a very beautiful name… Now, can we battle? I choose Dragonair!” “Drrrra!” “I choose Rosa!” “Jiggly!” “Draonair, hyper beam!” “Hang on, Rosa and then use Ice Punch!” “Jiggly… PUFF!” “Way to go!”, Chavella exclaimed. “Now, it can’t move, use another Ice Punch!” Both pokemon received heavy damage, but when Dragonair had finished recharching from its hyper beam, it used twister and Rosa was knocked out. “Rosa, return!”, Chavella called. “You did great, thank you! Now, go, Minnie!” “Azuuuuuuu!” “Use ice beam!”, Chavella told her Azumarill. “Azuuuu!” Dragonair fainted. “Dragonair return! You did a great job! Go, Kingdra!” “Drrrrra!” “Darn… I’ve heard that Kingdra are almost unbeatable! But you can do it, Minnie! Use ice beam!” “Big mistake. Kingdra, use dragonbreath!” “Aaaaaazuuu!” She was paralysed and greatly damaged by the critical hit dragonbreath. “Kindgra, hyper beam!“ Minnie tried to hangout, but she couldn’t. Minnie, Rosa and Chavella lost. “Oh, no… I really have to win!” “I know, you must miss Chuck a lot.” “Huh? How come you know that?” “Nick is a good friend of mine and he told me everything about your Chuck story. I’m gonna call him, he really wants to see you! I’ll ask him to bring Chuck along!” “Really! Great! Thank you very much!!” While Clair was on the phone, Chavella went to the pokemon center to heal her wounded pokemon. She couldn’t believe it! Chuck will be there soon! “Jiggly!” Rosa and all the other pokemon were happy for their trainer. They were even happier when they saw, right in front the gym, their friends Elektron, Trevor, Shadow, Wilson, Daredevil and Pyro! Rosa sang a love song to Elektron, Cindy hugged Trevor, Eleonore licked Shadow, Marilou flew beside Wilson and Ida bitted Daredevil playfully. Pyro saluted all of Chavella’s pokemon. Minnie was too depressed to see that everyone, except Pyro and her, had someone to love so she just said a weak salutation “Zu…” “I’m so happy to see you, guys!” , Chavella told the pokemon. “I missed you so much.”, Nick told Chavella. “Nick! Nice to see you.” He was standing there, looking very happy. “It’s nice to see you too. I have a gift for you.” “You shouldn’t have…” “It’s ok, it’s my pleasure. Here you go.” Nick showed that he was holding a magnificent Moon Stone. “Whoa! A Moon Stone! Thanks a lot, Nick, it’s very nice of you!” She hugged him. Nick was enjoying that moment till the very last second. “You’re welcome. Seeing you happy is the most precious gift I could receive.” “That’s why you were nice enough to come here to see me with Chuck!” “Speaking of Chuck…” “Yes, where is he?” “Huh… He couldn’t come. Still busy.” “What? Not again…” Chavella cried. She had to wait again… “I’m sorry, but there’s something I really need to tell you…”, Nick said. “Minnie!”, Chavella exclaimed. “:Zu…” “You really looked depressed, is that because we lost?”, Chavella asked her pokemon. Minnie nodded and she also showed the 5 couples of pokemon, looking happy. “I see, you would like to have a boyfriend too.” Minnie nodded. “Yeah, you like Pyro, but you can’t really be his girlfriend.” Pyro and Minnie nodded. Pyro looked sad, he didn’t like to see her friend Minnie unhappy. Clair had observed the whole scene by looking through her window. She came out and talked to Chavella. “My grandfather has a male Azumarill, maybe Minnie is the right mate for him.” “Really?”, Chavella replied. “Cool! Hear that, Minnie?” “Zu!” She looked delighted. “Let’s go, I’ll show you were my grandfather is…”, Clair said. A few minutes later, Chavella, Nick, Clair and Minnie were in the Dragon shrine, where Clair’s grandfather was. “Grandfather, sorry for disturbing you.” “Another trainer to test, I suppose…”, he answered. “No, not this time! It’s about Chavella’s Azumarill, she looks depressed, because she can’t find a mate.” “Great, my Azumarill was feeling the same way, go, Mickey!” “How cute, Mickey and Minnie!”, Chavella exclaimed. “Them seem to like each other already!”, the Dragon den master noticed. “Zu.” “Zu, zu!” Mickey smiled and hugged Minnie. “Azuuuu!” “Great!”, Chavella exclaimed. “I’m so happy for you, Minnie! I really love to see you happy!” “By the way, Clair, I can make Chavella pass the test right now, so you won’t need to come back twice.”, the grandfather told Clair. “Good idea, grandfather, good luck, Chavella…”, Clair responded. “Do all your challengers have to past this test?”, Chavella asked the leader. “Well, I just want to make sure that my challengers are worthy of a badge…” “Chavella you’ll have to answer only a few questions.”, the elder said. “First, what are pokemon to you?” “Great friends!” “Who do you wish to battle?” “Anybody that I need to battle to see Charles again.” “I understand… Strong or weak pokemon, which is more important?” “Only what’s in their heart counts. Strong, but cold-hearted pokemon is a thousand times worst than weak, but nice pokemon.” “Oh, I understand… What is the most important thing when you raise pokemon?” “Giving them all the love they need.” “So cute, I wish I would have answered this when I passed the test…”, Clair sighed. “But, you, Chavella, have passed!”, the elder announced. “Really?”, Chavella replied. “No, I’m just joking!” “Huh?” “No, I’m not! You really passed! When you spoke, I felt that you were honest. I felt that you really love your pokemon.” “I’m so happy! Thank you!” “Zu!” “By the way, Minnie, you look so happy, I think it’s best for you that you stay here with Mickey, do you mind, master?” “No problem, they look so well together.”, he answered. Minnie’s eyes began to water. “I’ll miss you too, but I’ll visit you often, I promise!”, Chavella sweared. They both cried and said goodbye. All of Nick and Chavella’s pokemon went out of their balls to hug Minnie and they said goodbye to her too. Their trainers recalled them and they left, with Clair following. When they arrived in front of the gym, Clair handed Chavella a risinbadge. Chavella was very surprised. “What!”, Chavella exclaimed. “I haven’t won a battle!” “How you acted with Minnie and how you answered the test was enough to prove me that you were worthy of this badge.” “Thank you. The way you battled was great, congratulations!” “Don’t congratulate me, I haven’t passed my grandfather’s test…” “I’m sure you will someday…” “Hopefully… Anyway, it was nice metting you! By the way, here’s the phone number of the Elite Four reunion place, where Chuck is. But please don’t show this number to anybody. Only trainers approved by me or an elite can have it!” “It’s ok! Thanks!” “I have to go, goodbye! ” “Bye!” Clair left in her gym and Chavella sent out Marilou. “Chavella!”, Nick told her. “I really need to tell you something!” “What is it?” “Huh… Well, when I called Chuck… well, I told you he said that he couldn’t come, well that was not true… Huh… He could, but didn’t want to.” “How come?” “Well, huh… He told me that he didn’t want to see you…” “What? How can he do that to me… Why?” Chavella cried again. “I know, I think that’s terrible too. It’s like that he didn’t care of what you went through…” “I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it… I, I, I… I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!” Chavella’s expression changed, she didn’t look sad, but angry! “LIAR!”, she screamed. “What?” “You’re lying, because you’re jealous! Yes, you’re jealous, because I love him and not you!” “It’s possible… Ok, I AM jealous, but what I am saying is true! He really said that he didn’t want to see you!” “Impossible! Charles loves me! And I will find him!” Nick grabbed Chavella’s arm! “No, please don’t!”, he pleaded. “Get your hands off me!” Nick obeyed. Chavella left, riding Marilou. “I know Charles is missing me a lot! Indigo Plateau, here we come!” “Pidjeooooooooot!”