In the middle of the winter storm, Tangrowth tried to use Sunny Day to change the field in her favor.

  A ball of fire shot upwards from her heavy arms, only to fizzle out uselessly before it could even reach its apex.

  This wasn’t a new phenomenon, but certainly a first for Erika and her team. In matches with great disparity between pokemon capabilities, it wasn’t uncommon for the weaker pokemon’s move to be overwhelmed by their opponent’s.

  It baffled Erika at first, but she told herself this wasn’t altogether surprising. Tangrowth, for all her longstanding position in Erika’s personal team, wasn’t known for her ability to set up moves.

  The tanky pokemon was famed for being a defensive tank in the team, so it had been some time since they worked on Tangrowth’s ability to set up.

  “Whips, Tangrowth,” said Erika, choosing to pivot from the problem.

  From the jumble of coils that made up her body, tendrils of Vine Whips erupt. Tangrowth was the best at this in Erika’s team, her natural biology making her Vine Whips the most masterful among them. She prepared her larger hands to follow up her Vine Whips with a Power Whip, hoping to overwhelm her opponent with sheer volume before the true, heavier hit came at them in surprise.

  Ninetales looked at the coming barrage fearlessly. She focused her energy in increasing the intensity of the snow, causing the Vine Whips to freeze and drop in their places.

  The colder terrain did little to stop the Power Whip though, Tangrowth’s arms too heavy and strong to be hindered by the weather.

  Eyes growing purple, Ninetales stared the Power Whip down. The appendage managed to graze her before her body disappeared in a flurry of snow and hail.

  Ninetales reappeared right beside Tangrowth before a Dazzling Gleam hit her opponent point blank.

  Blinded by the searing move, Tangrowth had to blink back into focus, only to be met by nothing but desolate fields when she managed to regain her sight. She screamed in pain when an Ice Beam crashed into her undefended side, though she once again found nothing when she rounded back in that direction.

  Ninetales appeared again from a blind spot, her lithe fox body engulfed by an intense white Ice type energy.

  Managing to sense her opponent then, Tangrowth whipped backward and readied a Power Whip to smack the annoying fairy away. To her surprise, the Power Whip fizzled out of existence. Because the move failed, Tangrowth was only able to hit Ninetales with an unpowered arm.

  Ninetales tanked the weak slap with a devilish grin, the Ice type energy around her doubling and becoming more opaque the moment she got hit.

  She fearlessly tackled Tangrowth with her whole body’s momentum, the Avalanche doubled in power thanks to Tangrowth’s weak slap.

  The grass type stumbled in pain, only to grumble again when she was buffeted with a Blizzard for good measure.

  “Are you not able to use Power Whip?”

  Tangrowth immediately tried to use the move after her trainer’s question, surprised that the move ended up fizzling uselessly after her attempt.

  “It’s been disabled. No Power Whips for the rest of the match.” Erika calmly concluded.

  This was bad for them. While Tangrowth had more tricks underneath her tentacled body, Ninetales evasion and speed made it much too difficult for the slower grass type to land a hit.

  Concluding that it was in her best interest to switch out Tangrowth, Erika moved to try and recall her pokemon. Just as she managed to feel for Tangrowth’s pokeball, the snowstorm on the field picked up speed.

  The gym leader was forced to cover her eyes to protect them from the frosty wind. Like her pokemon before her, her line of sight was met by a fierce storm when she finally managed to open her eyes, Tangrowth no longer in sight.

  On top of the snowstorm billowing in front of Erika’s eyes, Ninetales was able to summon a localised storm around Tangrowth.

  “Switch, Tangrowth!” said Erika, trying to squint through the snow to try and find her pokemon.

  Tangrowth tried to stumble towards her trainer who was still audible thanks to the mic. However, no matter how much she walked, the snowstorm around her refused to let up, confusing her sense of direction.

  Confused and lost, she tried to pick another direction only to be rendered confused when the scenery remained unchanged no matter how much distance she covered.

  Outside, the crowd watched in awe. Though difficult, they were still able to make out the general happenings on the field. Ninetales stood on her trainer’s side of the field, concentrating on maintaining the weather.

  The other side, however, was completely buried under layers of white. The winds and snow billowed without reprieve, and the crowd could see a localised storm moving along the field.

  They saw the storm move slowly around, and it was only when Tangrowth’s frustrated bellow from inside did they realise that Erika’s pokemon was within it.

  Erika’s immediate line of sight was also covered by raging white, preventing her from finding Tangrowth, much less recalling her. “Tangrowth, to me!” she commanded again. She squinted her eyes, trying to look for a hint of blue from all the white.

  Not content to simply separate trainer and pokemon, Ninetales began to mix Dazzling Gleams into the storm around Tangrowth.

  The freezing snow around Tangrowth began to burn. She panicked, assuming that the snow had suddenly decreased in temperature to the point where the ice had seeped into her susceptible body to cause a burning pain.

  Ninetales looked to her trainer for instruction, blood victoriously pumping in her body at how well she had managed to trap her opponent thus far.

  Gray, unbothered and still boneless on his trainer box railings propped one hand and rested his cheek against his palms. He smiled at Ninetales indulgingly, open to letting her do whatever her savagery called upon.

  The fairy-ice type took a few steps forwarded, building energy inside her as she did so.

  With some of Ninetales' concentration dedicated to her next move, the storm around Tangrowth began to recede. Exhausted and confused, Tangrowth finally began to see light at the end of her predicament. She used Ancient Power to break through the last of the snowstorm, finally freeing herself and seeing the field again.

  As she did so, she found herself face to face with Ninetales, who gave her a pleasant smile, as if they were companions who had simply frolicked in the snow together.

  A wall of white and pink was the final thing Tangrowth saw.

  Erika, whose own wall of ice had faded thanks to Tangrowth’s Ancient Power, did not have the time to raise her pokeball to recall Tangrowth.

  When Tangrowth regained her vision, she was powerless against Ninetales’ Dazzling Gleam empowered Blizzard colliding with her to knock her out. Erika recalled her downed pokemon ironically, exactly as she had hoped for some time now.

  Only this time, Tangrowth was fainted. Erika took some time to steady her breathing, trying to reign in the vestiges of calm within her that was racing into panic. She felt the eyes around her, startling and reminding her that her struggles against the challenger she had badmouthed was being watched and televised in her home turf.

  She kept her head steady as her eyes surveyed the gym.

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  The pressure mounted as she felt the heavy pity and searing contempt in everyone’s eyes, as if their view on the situation from the outside was clearer than her own that was directly involved.

  “Nine!” With an opponent yet to reappear on the field, Ninetales used Aurora Veil, drawing attention away from Erika that she couldn’t help but feel grateful.

  Ninetales’ move caused an aurora to appear on the field, a stunning blend of light and intrigue that eventually settled into her pearl-like body, reducing the damage Ninetales would take in the future.

  The audience sighed at the image she created, the falling snow reflecting light against the auroras to create an iridescent image. Pink mists rose from the ground to meet the falling snow, creating an Icy-Fairy terrain that served a stunning background against the Aurora Viel.

  She was a clear diamond in the snow, a perfect encapsulation of her types — beautiful but deadly when crossed.

  Erika felt inadequate. She, who had prided herself for her beauty and prowess, had dawdled enough to allow her opponent to steal the show.

  Ninetales felt the admiring stares all around her, pleased with her stellar performance thus far.

  Her previous match against Lt. Surge’s Luxray had left a lingering Toxic in her body, and it was only now that she felt its stranglehold on her began to dissipate. That brute may have painted her in a poor light, but now that she gotten her second chance, she had given them a more accurate picture of herself.

  Even if her journey to now had only been a few days, it was filled with so much frustration. Her illusions rendered useless had given her a crisis, so she had taken advantage of the training leading to the Celadon battle to turn her frustration into fuel. Building up power was a tough ordeal, and although she was far away from touching Sylveon’s mastery of energy manipulation, she was definitely on the right track.

  More importantly, against an opponent like Erika, it had proved sufficient.

  Ninetales didn’t know that it was her own mindset shift that led to her results thus far. Her fairy pride in her illusions had been a crux that hindered her, clinging into the stubbornness that set her apart from the rest of the team became a dead weight when proven not infallible.

  Luxray’s natural ability to see through illusion had given her a crisis, forcing her out of her comfort zone to try and build up power within her instead.

  Her way of fighting had been strong, but now that she wasn’t overly reliant on it, she was able to blossom into an even more robust flower.

  Gray smiled knowingly.

  Erika released Victreebel, who gave off an ugly shriek as soon as she appeared on stage. The gym turned silent at her release.

  “Sorry, Miss Erika. But we will be moving on to our first break now that three of your pokemon have fainted.”

  The referee fought to keep their calm, knowing that this was entirely their fault. Despite knowing that it was time to call for the break, they had been to dazzled by Ninetales to react on time.

  Frustrated, Erika recalled her pokemon before striding off. She resolved herself to deal with the gym staff that was refereeing the match. How could that idiot forget the rules? Could they not have spoken up before she had released Victreebel?

  Nevermind that Erika herself had been so caught up in the fight that she had released her pokemon unknowingly.

  The Celadon gym leader spent the entirety of the assigned break stewing in anger. By the time she was back on stage, her calm demeanor was a thing of the past. She released Victreebel again in the hopes that her half poison type could give her the breakthrough she desperately needed.

  Victreebel’s angry shriek once again silenced the whole gym. The crowd couldn’t help comparing Erika’s pokemon to Gray’s graceful one. Unbeknownst to Erika, the two opposing pokemon made for an awkward comparison. Erika, who had been famed for her beauty, had released an unappealing pokemon against an extremely beautiful one.

  They asked themselves, was this really the famed beauty of Celadon?

  Victreebel used Sunny Day to try and control the terrain from the start. For a few precious moments, the blazing sun bathed the field in its fiery rays. Unfortunately, Ninetales snow storm soon overpowered the move, recreating the desolate and cold field from the match up before.

  Victreebel valiantly tried to resummon the Sunny Day, only to fail like Tangrowth failed before.

  Gray watched on pleasantly. Ninetales' work ethic the past few days had produced commendable results, her ability and Hail proving to be much more powerful now compared to before. Knowing that Erika had a tendency to rely on weather control in her battles, Ninetales had worked towards ensuring her own control of snow would be unshakeable.

  As embarrassing her previous showing was, Gray doubted that Ninetales would be as motivated as she was now if it had not happened.

  Erika swallowed. How did Victreebel fail too? It was easy enough to write off Tangrowth due to her role as a tank, but her Victreebel had never faltered before. Was Gray’s Ninetales that much more powerful than her pokemon?!

  “Sludge Wave,” said Erika as she tried to pivot her focus.

  Victreebel’s pitcher body comically enlarged before she spat out a huge Sludge Wave, immediately staining the immaculate snow purple. The wave built and crashed towards Ninetales, who stared at the oncoming attack unfazed.

  Just as the move was about to hit her, Ninetales’ body disappeared in yet another flurry of snow, reappearing back where she previously stood once the wave of poison had passed.

  Unseen to an untrained eye, Ninetales had used her increased evasion under the snow to dodge beyond the Sludge Wave’s diameter, carefully crafting an illusion to feign being rooted in place. She returned back in place with an unbothered look to replace her illusion.

  Sure enough, the illusion of being untouchable was a hit with the crowd, and had even rendered Victreebel uncertain.

  Taking advantage of her opponent’s surprise, Ninetales stomped one foot, causing the poison beneath her feet to freeze. She began to pepper Victreebel with Blizzard, the icy sludge’s Super Effective damage causing significant damage.

  “Ingrain, Victreebel!”

  The grass type dug in roots deep into the ground, bypassing the icy wonderland and accessing the nutritionally dense soil far below. In exchange for mobility, which was already compromised by the slippery frozen poison, Victreebel was able to recover vitality faster than she was attacked.

  Pleased by the sufficient counter, Erika began to finally breathe a bit easier. Just before she could command Victreebel to fire back with long range poison attacks, Ninetales snapped into action.

  She fearlessly leaped into the frozen poison, moving quickly against the slippery ground by ice skating against it.

  The crowd murmured in amazement, shocked that Ninetales could even ice skate in the first place.

  Gray’s lips rose in amusement, reminded of why Ninetales even bothered to learn such a skill. Back in Kalos, Siebold had been a frequent sparring partner for his team. Annoyed by the flooding that always happened whenever Ninetales fought any of the water master’s pokemon, she and Gray trained this skill to catch their opponent off guard. Gray could remember soundly beating Siebold that day, the novelty of his water being used against him in this way too much to counter on the spot.

  Unfazed by the change in movements, Ninetales moved with a quick pace on the frozen poison, coming at the grass type with a barrage of Triple Axels and Play Roughs.

  With an immobile opponent, Ninetales was able to guarantee the maximum number of hits with Triple Axel, increasing damage against Victreebel.

  Victreebel tried to batter Ninetales with a Vine Whip, but the ice type skated away far too quickly to land a decent hit. She tried to shore up her defenses with Stockpile, hoping to recover more vitality by pairing it with Swallow later.

  Unfortunately, when she was attempting to use Swallow, Ninetales’ eyes turned a violent purple and he found himself unable to use the move through the Disable.

  As a sitting Psyduck, Victreebel was eventually battered down. Unlike with Tangrowth where Erika’s vision was compromised, Erika had full view of her pokemon being whittled down by Ninetales. She felt powerless, as if every move she made in retaliation had a waiting counter from Gray Oak and his pokemon.

  She didn’t even have the grace of withdrawing Victreebel thanks to her own Ingrain preventing switching, so she had little choice but to have front row seats to her pokemon's demise.

  Just as Victreebel lost her last slivers of vitality, Erika looked up to steal a glance of Gray. The fairy trainer met her eyes from afar and gave her a placid smile, completely relaxed.

  Erika was no idiot. She knew that Gray had come into this match well-prepared. He had likely looked up her battling style and specifically came with a strategy to beat. She felt a grim amusement that Gray Oak would consider their match up worthy of deep research and creating counters, but the fact that Gray did all this whilst barely commanding his pokemon rattled her.

  This battle was a statement, Gray told Erika with his actions that he was the better trainer.

  Victreebel, long exhausted by the constant hits, finally fainted.

  Ash, Gary and Daisy watched their uncle sweep the floor with Erika, giddy in happiness at their uncle’s dominant showing.

  As the eldest among them, Daisy had tried her best to project maturity. But seeing the ongoing battle, she couldn’t help but be equally excited for a family member, that was practically a stranger, beat Erika so well.

  The years spent with her mom in Celadon gym had made Erika and her prowess familiar to Daisy.

  In her eyes, Erika was untouchable. She battled with her family history as her foundation. Over the years, she had consistently proved herself to be mightier than the oldest trees and more dazzling than the most exotic flowers.

  Yet, in one afternoon, she was humbled by her Uncle Gray. It was so shocking, so against the purview she had developed growing up that it recalibrated her thinking.

  Furthermore, she couldn’t help the blossoming of desire and awe in her heart as she watched Ninetales. The beatdown, the battling and tactics called to something deep in her soul that she didn’t even know existed.

  She wanted that too.

  Daisy Oak wanted to disregard her mother’s wishes, go out and be a proper pokemon trainer too. She technically should already have gone on her pokemon journey. Her mother, however, had disagreed and delayed it. Leaf insisted that there was more to learn from direct contact with Erika.

  Instead of finding her own way in the unknown world, she could stay in Celadon gym and keep watching, learning from Erika who was amongst the best of the best as a major gym leader. Daisy had agreed, thinking that it was a rare opportunity to be in close proximity with Erika, and learning from the grass expert would be a better trade off.

  But now, seeing the disparity between Erika and her uncle, she couldn’t help but doubt her previous thinking. Erika, who was a top tier trainer in Kanto, was forced to dance to Gray Oak’s drum.

  Daisy’s mother, who had insisted that Erika was powerful, seemed to be in the wrong. And if her mother was fallible in this, what else could she have been wrong about?

  The embers of ambition burned in Daisy Oak as she considered her future.