***AUTHORESS NOTES***

Blah, I have been putting off this part for SOOOO long... Because I
don't want to write it! I have total interest in this still, but I hate
doing gym leader battle scenes and since this one battle will take up
3/4 of the chapter, I've been procrastinating...

     By flirting with cute neighbor boys. But now that I've been chased
around by a 9 year old with no pants (please... Do NOT ask), I'm back to
writing!

Aren't YOU lucky?

     A quick reminder by the way... My 3 year anniversary here is June
28th!!! Can you believe it's been so long?

     We're going to have a big, blow-up online party for my 5th
anniversary, just to warn you in advance! LOL

     So here is the part I've been avoiding for quite a while... I just
can't wait till the end of the chapter (I LOVE what I have planned!).

     Look forward to part 24... It's exciting!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 22: Jenn Versus Norman


My father was standing in the middle of the room.

     His voice was loud in a room that was normally quiet. "Jenn, I was
expecting you!" he called. "Since I saw Nathan last night, I figured
you'd be around today!"

     "Well, I'm here!" I hoped I didn't sound nervous.

     "Are you sure you two aren't going out?" he asked with a grin. I
wasn't blushing. I hoped.

     "No! Of course not!" I cried. What had they said about me the night
before? I pushed that out of my mind. I didn't want to know. I had to
focus while I still had nerve.

     Speaking of Nathan, he had been in an awful mood since that
morning. The fact that someone else had given me confidence was killing
him. I knew it! He couldn't stand other people making me happy.

     "Enough chatter, more battle," I said abruptly. I was focused. I
had to battle that minute, before I lost my nerve.

     My father looked surprised for a moment and then his face grew
serious. "Okay, Miss Frost. 2 on 2, no help, no items. Any breaking of
those rules and the battle ends. Is that clear?"

      He was not going to treat me different than how he would treat
Nathan or any other challenger, and maybe that was what I liked best
about him. His job was his life and he didn't play favorite. "That's
clear, Dad. Are you ready to begin?"

     "Yes, of course. Call out your first Pokemon, Jenn."

     "So you can choose a Pokemon with either a type or a move
advantage? I'll pass. I insist that you choose first." He may have been
the gym leader, but he was my father, and as always, if we were going to
do this thing, it would go how I wanted it to.

     "If you must," he said with a roll of his eyes. He grabbed a
Poke'Ball on his belt and enlarged it. Out came a Slaking. It had to be
the largest thing I had ever seen, and I wanted to cry when I brought it
out.

     I thought of what Nathan had told me. Slakings only moved every
other turn. I could use that to my advantage. 

     "Muffin!" I called out, releasing my Kadabra. My dad gave me a
weird look. I had no clue why I had called it Muffin. It was the first
word that came to my mind when I was naming him and that was it.

      "You move first," he told me but I shook my head. A plan was
forming in my mind.

     "Feel free," I said with a grin. 

     "Okay... If you insist," Dad said skeptically. "Slaking, Facade!"
(Authoress note: Torchick has no clue what moves Slaking has so bear
with her.)

     "Muffin, Teleport!" Norman, the great gym leader, winced. He hadn't
seen that one coming.

     Slaking couldn't move for his next turn. "Future sight!" I called
out.

     "Focus punch!"

     "Teleport!"

     "Crap!"

     "Psychic!" I commanded and Muffin hit it dead on in the face.
Ooh... What now?

     Slaking was weakened, but not severely. "Focus punch!"

     "Teleport!"

     "Crap!"

     "Metronome!"

     "What?"

    I smiled innocently. "You heard me." Metronome had turned out to be
Double Kick. Lucky choice for me, not so much for dear old Dad.

      Now Slaking was starting to get down there, healthwise. I was
actually having a blast. Why had I worried? Sam was right. People
believed in me, and I just needed to have confidence in myself.

     "Facade!"

     "Teleport!"

     "Is Slaking supposed to glow when Muffin teleports?" asked Josh
with fascination. I smiled brightly and Josh smiled back. He still liked
me, I knew, and I had Vicky ask him and he confirmed it. I was just
keeping my distance, that was all.

     "Nope! Future sight at it's best!" I glowed.

     "What?!" cried my father.

     "Yep, that's right!"

And then Slaking collapsed.

      "All right!" I cheered.

     "It won't be so easy this time, Miss Frost," my father smirked and
with that he let out a strange monkey thing that I had never seen
before.

     "What is it?"

     "Vigorith. The preevolved form of Slaking."

     "Oh I see. Than this should be a sinch! Psychic!"

     "Facade!"

     "Teleport!"

     "Facade!"

    "What?!" I cried dejectedly. The monkey had not skipped it's turn.

      "It uses all it's turns, buddy," said Zach and I felt my face
flush. How blonde of me.

     "Oh, great! Future sight!" That move was growing on me. I loved it
like a puppy.

     "Crap!" moaned Norman. "Slash!"

     "Crap!" Being a weak defensed Pokemon, it collapsed, being already
tired from teleporting. I bit my lip. Who to send out... 

     "Torch! Go!" My beloved Combusken would do me well. 

     "Double kick!"

     "Slash!"

    Torch fell back a few feet, wounded, but not severely. Vigorith was
in worse health than Torch, that was for sure. But that could change.

     It was time to use my finale move. It would finish Vigorith for
sure, and I was growing impatient. I wanted my new badge.

     "Overheat!" I said triumphantly. It was a spectacle of heat, and
flames, and power, and I was loving every minute.

Vigorith was the first to fall.

     My father's mouth dropped open as far as it could go. He was in
denial, in disbelief, and in his mind, his thirteen year old daughter
had NOT won.

     It took him a moment to realize the reality and he pulled out
something that glinted off the light. The Balance Badge. I was now more
than half way through the badges.

      "Congratulations, Jenn." Dad had tears in his eyes. He was proud
of me, and I was proud of myself. My vision was blurred, and I must've
been crying too.

     He handed the badge to me. "Use it well. Go to Fortree, and battle
Winona. I believe you can win. Good luck."

     I was ahead of the game and I skipped out of the city in front of
my friends. Sam caught up to me before the rest. They were far behind
us.

     "You did good," he told me and I realized that after I left, I had
thought that I would never talk to him again and then I didn't really
care.

     "Thank you." I looked back at my friends- OUR friends- and smiled.
They all meant so much to me now.

     "He likes you, you know," Sam said casually and I looked at him
weirdly.

    "Who?" 

    "Josh," he said simply. 

    "I know." I hadn't yet told a soul that he had kissed me, and I
probably never would. Maybe someday, but not anywhere in the near
future.

     "I don't blame him," Sam said, looking me straight in the eyes. I
raised my eyebrows.

     "What do you mean?"

     "I know how he feels," he sighed.

     "From before?"

     "No, Jenn. Not at all. Now."

     "What are you trying to say?" I wanted to cry. Were half of the
boys I travelled with insane? Josh, and now Sam? How could this be
happening?

      "I am trying to say," he started, but then realized how loud he
was and lowered his voice, "That I really like you."

      "You can't like me!" I protested.

      "I'm sorry," he said, but I knew he didn't mean it.

     All I wanted to do was complain to someone, but I didn't want them
to think it was my fault. I tend to think in these situations that
people will blame me. 

How do I do this to myself?