It was sudden and terrifying. A fire broke out by the recently robbed house, that family was unharmed, as Misty evacuated them earlier. The gym leader called out her underlings to aid in the putting out of the fire. One of the pre-teens found two bodies at the scene of the fire, a boy and a Rune.

The Rune’s body was burned beyond all recondition; maybe some teeth could be used to tell who this poor man once was. The boy on the other hand was lucky to be alive in such a fire; he was seriously injured with a few light burns.

Misty recognized the boy as Brass and immediately rushed him to the hospital; one of her underlings ran his pokémon to the pokecenter. Frantically the trainer explained what happened best to their abilities, which with much misfortune, Galvin and Steel overheard.

Leading us to where our heroes are.

“Brass, explain to me what the hell you were thinking!” Brass opened his mouth to speak only to be immediately denied of that chance. “Oh wait I know! You weren’t thinking! Why else would you do a stunt like that?!”

“Galvin stop yelling…” He cringed at the tone his friend was giving him while staring down with the utmost rage.

“Do you not realize the grief this has caused us all!? Even you father?!” Brass’s eyes went wide. His father knew of what happened?!

“D…dad knows…?”

“He called us! Apparently this whole incident is all over the news and reached Pallet Town! He called out freaking out and wanted to know how you were but the hospital wouldn’t let us see you until now. Do you realize how long we waited to get the okay to visit you? Three days.” Brass flinched. So that meant that his dad was worrying, probably wheeling around the house impatiently, for three whole days.

“I…I’m sorry. I just wanted to help…” In truth that was just what Brass wanted to do. The brunet boy looked at his bandaged hands with a dishearten look on his face. Galvin sighed. Maybe he was being a little rough with Brass, but he did give everyone a scare.

Steel was crying on hours on end, his father was having a panic attack (and he was sure the other parents of Pallet Town were doing the same thing.) and Galvin himself was mad at himself for just blowing off the fact that Brass was missing for most of the time yesterday. If he actually stopped and searched for him the whole thing could have been easily avoided.

“Brass, you’re just a kid. We both know we are lucky to be alive, especially after running into Rune twice. It took all three of us to do that alone and one kid can’t take on a Rune, especially you since you are a new trainer.”

“…”

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“The door is open,” Brass mumbled. The door opened wide to show Steel with a bouquet of daisies and Brass’s pokémon. The boy brightened up at the sight of them Clefa Star jumped right onto the bed to cuddle with his master and Flaming Billy wagged his tail delightfully at the bedside. Steel threw her arms around her friend, effectively trapping him in a hug and Clefa in a choke hold.

“Are you okay?! I was so worried!”

“Yeah… I’m fine…” He mumbled into her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” she pulled away from Brass, taking steps to Galvin’s side.

“We should go.” the two exited the room, and halfway down the hall Steel burst into tears. She was so glad her friend was alive and well. Galvin threw an arm around her and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. The two of them walked back to the pokémon center, returning to their rented room.

“The doctors said he could check out tomorrow.”

“That’s… that’s nice.” she sniffled. Galvin reached for the box of tissues on the nightstand and placed it down next to Steel. There was a moment of silence as Galvin rummaged through his bag for his book. “I got my butt handed to me by Misty, she was really strong… and I lost my cool.” Steel brought up in a try to change subjects, which seemed to fly over Galvin’s head.

“Maybe you were thinking about Brass during the battle.” He replied absent mindedly as he flipped to his booked marked page. Steel pouted as she fell onto her back, resting her head against her pillow. “Well you shouldn’t worry, the faster you go to bed and the sooner you can see him.”

“Fine… good night Galvin.”

“Night Steel.”

+ + +

Galvin woke up early that morning to pick Brass up from the hospital and when Steel woke up, seeing neither of her friends around, she decided that she should train to battle Misty. Not before long Steel trained her pokémon so hard that Bubbles evolved into a Wartortle, she congratulated her pokémon and they head back to the pokémon center where the two of them were healed.

After healing up she reunited with Galvin and Brass, who she captured in a gigantic bear hug. The trio then left for the Gym together.

Brass and Galvin took a seat in the stands by the pool, with Galvin assisting Brass though, with Steel’s bag in their possession. Steel then dived into the pool with Bubbles and Seaa leading her. One by one they took out an underling of Misty and the loser took a seat on the stands with Steel’s friends. The two made quick work to reach the other end of the pool where Misty waited; Steel pulled herself out of the water and twisted her long hair, wringing the water out of it, while Bubbles kept his eyes on his target.

“Seems like you’re back again Steel and you brought a little cheer squad for yourself!” Misty grinned with her arms crossed, examining her friends. “Oh hey Brass!” She called recognizing one of them, she waved at the boy and he awkwardly waved back.

“Hey! I’m over here!! Let’s fight!” Steel pouted. That woman was supposed to pay attention to her not Brass. Brass was not the challanger! She was!

Misty nodded.

“Right, right, let’s begin.”

Lass Steel vs. Gym Leader Misty!!

The gym leader grabbed a pokeball from her jacket pocket and threw it into the pool. A flash of light came from under the water, illuminating the pool, and a tan star shaped pokémon with a red gem at the center of its body burst from the water.

“STARYU!!!”

“Seaa, you’re up!” Steel’s Horsea peeked out the water and happily cried its name. Bubbles looked at her questioningly. “Don’t worry Bubbles, you’re my secret weapon!”

“He isn’t quite secret since I can see him.” Steel and her two pokémon glared at the woman.

‘Urggg. I’m SO kick Misty’s butt this time! Nothing will stop me! Steel Selma of Pallet Town!!’

“Seaa, use agility!”

“Counter with camouflage Staryu!” diving under the water the sea horse’s speed increased, he charged for the star only for it to vanish from sight. Startled, Seaa excreted a messy cloud of black ink causing a seeing disability for both sides of the battle field.

“Staryu use Rapid Spin to get rid of the ink in the water!” following commands the water spired around its creator, making a whirlpool of sorts, that started to pull Seaa towards it. Steel bit her lip. Maybe, just maybe, they could use this to their advantage.

“Seaa! Let it suck you in!” her pokémon looked at her if she was insane. “Just trust me!!” Seaa made the choice to be pulled in instead dive right into it. “Now, focus energy!” A golden light enveloped the Horsea, knowing Misty; she would try to prevent the usage of the focus energy by disrupting Seaa’s concentration.

“TACKLE!!”

“AURORA BEAM!!” Misty’s eyes went wide, an attack like that could only be learned through breeding. Maybe this girl was more tactical then she originally let on. The gym leader smirked as her pokémon sank, frozen solid, to the pool floor.

“Congratulations Steel, you defeated one of my pokémon…” Suddenly Staryu shattered its ice prison; it burst from the water and struck down Seaa with a powerful rapid spin. Seaa floated at the pool surface and Steel gasped horrified. “Or so you thought.”

Steel quickly recalled Seaa and let Bubbles swim into center field, the Wartortle bared it’s fangs as a warning to its foe. Staryu laughed at the turtle and attacked with another rapid spin and Bubbles quickly withdrew into his shell, taking no damage.

“Staryu, use swift!” the red gem in the center of the pokémon flashed brightly and golden stars shout out from it, pelting Bubbles. The turtle pokémon did all it could to withstand it and dove under the water waiting for its next command.

“Bubbles, bite it!” Grinning, he snapped his jaws and burst from the waters, smashing its body against the star and bit it right on the red gem. Now it was Misty’s turn to gasp horrified. It wasn’t known to many trainers but the Staryu’s red gem was a valuable and powerful source of attack but also its weak point. Staryu quickly slapped Bubbles away and attacked with another rapid spin, catching him off guard. Bubbles crash landed into the water once more but he now seemed aware that that gem must be destroyed.

“Bubbles!? Bubbles where are you?!” Steel called. Her pokémon resurfaced underneath its target, assaulting it with another bite attack, although this time critical. Taken off guard the attack caused great damage for the star pokémon, but Bubbles did not stop there. Following up with a rapid spin he smashed the star to the bottom of the pool. Finally defeated, the star floated upwards to the top of the pool.

“…”

“…”

“Staryu is unable to battle; Steel Selma of Pallet Town is the winner!!” Steel let out a gleeful squeal and dived into the pool, giving Bubbles a back breaking hug.

“We did it buddy! We won!!!”

“War.” He replied with a cocky grin and a nod of the head. Misty returned her pokémon and joined Steel in the pool. She extended a hand to her.

“Congratulations.” Steel took her hand and shook it excitedly. Misty chuckled; reaching into her pockets she pulled out her badge and placed it into Steel’s open palm. “That’s the Cascade badge and pokémon up to level thirty will obey you, even the traded ones.”

“This is so cool!!!!” then a thought occurred to her. “Oh, Galvin and I already defeated you so now it looks like it’s Brass’s turn!” Brass groaned in the stands. He could never win could he…? Misty on the other hand laughed and waved once more.

“I guess I’ll be seeing you soon Brass!”