Diary of a Champion (Part B) by Exodus  

I’d recently discovered another League which would fit perfectly into my 
schedule if I was successful in it.  
The Rainbow League up north was due to begin in less than a month, on a small 
circular island with seven Gyms to beat to gain access to the League 
Tournament.  
Each city was positioned near the edges of the island to effectively form a 
ring; each one could be visited by taking a route around the island, ending as 
soon as that path was altered towards head to the centre of the island where 
the League was held.  

Day 462 (Amber Town, Rainbow Island):  

My first Rainbow League Gym Battle and I don’t think it could have gone worse, 
the Amber Gym specialised in dazzling Pokémon of mostly Electric and Psychic-
types, using mostly energy attacks or the sort that blinded.  
There were several Gym Leaders but an undefeated one called Cordelia who wore 
green robes and a patterned black and white mask opted to face me, I remember 
the end of the fight clearly:  

“Electrode! ELECTRODE!” called out Cordelia’s oldest Pokémon as it bounced 
itself backwards firing electricity in a downward arc against my pursuing 
Eevee.  
It slowed down, its electricity running on low, I reacted immediately, “Take 
Down!!!”  
“Eeeee-VEE!!!” he cried out, slamming into the foe and causing me to smile.  
But as I faced the girl, a sudden glare towards the battlefield told me it 
wasn’t over, “Now.”  
“TRODE!!!” the Pokémon’s voice echoed out as electricity virtually filled a 
huge part of the arena, and my Eevee dropped lifeless-like.  
“Slade!!!” I shouted, seeing to it, it was breathing but completely knocked 
out.  
“That’s just pathetic.  You don’t deserve the Bright Badge.  Why don’t you go 
play with the other Gym Leaders for a while, I’m sure they’re more charitable 
with their badges.” smirked the Gym Leader.  
“I will win all six other badges, but I’ll be back to face you.” I replied 
before leaving.  

Day 463 (Amber Town, Rainbow Island):  

After my defeat, I felt kind of miserable, and remained in Amber Town trying 
to figure out a way for my agile Eevee to beat Cordelia’s strategy.  
I was greeted by two familiar faces that day, Veronica, formerly a Rocket but 
now a reformed trainer, and Carrie, an old friend that had seemingly fallen 
for my buddy Scott.  
Both were competing and had just won at the Amber Gym, that didn’t make me 
feel any better until I was informed that Cordelia wasn’t who they beat, and 
that for some reason, Cordelia only battled those she chose to, and I somehow 
stood out from other trainers, but that still didn’t explain why she acted so 
mean if she chose to battle me.  
The girls decided it’d be nice to travel together and I wasn’t going to 
decline, we set out to battle the other Gym Leaders but I would return here 
and beat Cordelia the next time.  

Day 465 (Mandarin City, Rainbow Island):  

I met Fletcher (a tall dark haired man in a long orange trenchcoat) at his Gym 
in Mandarin City and this field battle was extremely difficult, above a pit of 
purple slime, the arena consisted of several floating discs, coin-shaped and 
fixed in place in the air but easily tipped over, and Pokémon that could fly 
weren’t allowed to participate.  
I needed a mix of powerful but light Pokémon, and started with my Gengar, who 
didn’t seem to weigh too much being a ghost.  
Its opponent, a turquoise Bug-type called Pineco was light and nimble but that 
wasn’t everything as Spectre proved by blasting it from its platform with 
Night Shade.  
The next Pokémon was Graveler, who although seemed unsuitable, was skilled in 
bouncing from platform to platform, Spectre’s attacks missed and it was 
quickly hit by a small rock hurled in mid-air by the Graveler.  
Spectre fell but teleported back up which resulted in its disqualification and 
for me to have to recall it, but this only went for Spectre’s match, not the 
overall battle, so I could continue with another Pokémon and did so with my 
Eevee, who kept leaping to the next available flat platform while the Graveler 
hit them so hard that they remained in a continual spin.  
There were soon only three platforms left and the Graveler soon took one out 
before diving at my Eevee, obviously to drop it while leaving itself one 
platform, I had Slade take a risk and leap in an arc to slam down on the 
Graveler’s face and blind it, it dropped towards the final platform with the 
intention of not spinning it to recover but Slade dived first, deliberately 
hitting the side of the platform to spin it and diving to one of the rotating 
platforms.  
Slamming against the spin sent Slade into the air but the platform to stop 
suddenly, my Pokémon landed safely while the blinded Graveler hit the tip of 
its platform and fell into the sludge.  
Fletcher admitted the Graveler’s technique was a first and last for him since 
it was a tad unfair, but he was all the more impressed by my success over it.  

Day 469 (Ruby Town, Rainbow League):  

In Ruby Town I faced off against a young fiery red head called Stacey and her 
Fire Pokémon, a type I’d not faced in a Gym Battle previously due to the 
fiasco on Cinnabar Island, the arena was on a sandy floor with occasional jets 
of fire shooting up at random.  
Twinkill easily dealt with the third unknown Pokémon to my Pokédex, a lava 
slug called Slugma (the first was a yellow striped Pokémon called Ampharos in 
Amber Gym), though in the battle, the Slugma deliberately threw itself at 
Twinkill and left remnants of itself on my Pokémon, leaving it burnt early in 
the battle, Twinkill’s Water Gun assaults missed most of the time since this 
Pokémon was a quick mover (apparently its kind solidified if they every 
stopped completely), but after dodging several Flamethrower assaults, Twinkill 
managed to hide from the attack when a wall of flame jets rose up, Twinkill’s 
Surf attack not only extinguished the Slugma’s strength, but all of the hot 
jets.  
A Flareon was next, and having seen them quite often I completely 
underestimated this one, Twinkill’s drawn out battle coupled with the burns 
made it too weak for another fight, so I had my Lickitung take over, using 
physical attacks instead of type, Snack’s body weight not only helped its 
physical attacks but gave it a little defence against many kinds of 
temperatures.  
The Flareon’s last ditch attempt consisted of an inferno of flames but Snack 
simply thought about spicy food and used its tongue as a half effective fan as 
it slammed into the opponent, it might have had one more shot but the jets 
managed to start again and the Flareon was blasted while Snack used its tongue 
to lift and propel itself away by hitting the ground like a pole vault, the 
taste of the sand was bitter and horrid but he needed anything to cool off.  
With my Blaze Badge and the girls following a little later as they had done 
before, we set out for our next destination.  

Day 473 (Amethyst Town, Rainbow Island):  

The creepy apparently ever nocturnal town of Amethyst and the Gym Leader 
worryingly nicknamed the ‘Dark mistress’ Delilah (a dark skinned Goth in even 
darker clothing) challenged me in a flat octagon arena supported by chains and 
hanging over a dark pit.  
After this I wasn’t hugely surprised at the enemy Pokémon, the unique new 
kind; Dark-types.  
Delilah started with a crow-like Pokémon called Murkrow, who I battled with my 
own Flying Pokémon, Whirlwind.  
The two floated above the arena using Flying and physical attacks as they 
effectively jousted by each other.  
It didn’t end particularly well, as the Murkrow was quick and nimble, plus 
Delilah had taught hers some unique moves, one with properties of another 
brand new type to me called Steel Wing and an Ice attack; Icy Wind which 
damaged my Pidgeot highly.  
It attempted a Sky Attack but cancelled as an attack was shot off in defence 
by the enemy, but this was a trick as Night Shade couldn’t affect Normal 
Pokémon, which Whirlwind was in part.  
Icy Wind was used again but my Pidgeot retreated, just as the Murkrow 
performed something called Pursuit, a Dark attack which increased dramatically 
in strength if used on a retreating Pokémon.  
It was replaced by my Lickitung, who made short work of the enemy with Ice 
Beam, but the next opponent, a tough dark dog called Houndour, using Fire 
attacks left Snack feeling sore and poorly.  
It was then bitten and damaged (I soon discovered that the attack Bite was and 
had always been a Dark-type move) and then got worse with Smog to distract and 
Faint Attack to charge past and damage my Lickitung, and Flamethrower left it 
rather fatigued, Delilah was confident and announced the weaknesses I could 
have used, Houndour was part Fire and part Dark-type, meaning aside from its 
Water, Ground and Rock weaknesses, it was susceptible to Fighting and Bug 
attacks.  
I lit up then, as I’d recently bumped up Snack with as many different kinds of 
attacks possible, including Fighting ones.  
The Houndour charged and attempted to use the most devastating Dark attack 
Crunch, but Snack distracted it with a powerful Bubblebeam, it didn’t stop the 
Houndour so Snack charged and dived forward to bounce upwards with his stomach 
and then came down behind the enemy with Submission followed by Seismic Toss.  
The Houndour fell to the ground, and attempted a small Ember attack, it was 
all it could manage now which could still wipe out Snack, but my Lickitung 
crashed to the ground first with Earthquake attack to finish the battle.  
Delilah learned a lesson in getting too confident, and happily handed over 
the ‘Evil Badge’ to me.  

Day 477 (Magenta City, Rainbow Island):  

Magenta City; and the Gym Leader here was Nathan, an apparent Poison Master 
and a wise professor in a smart turquoise suit.  

I first faced off against a Muk, and with my Exeggutor Scramble, made fairly 
short work of it, but was poisoned in the process.  
Next was yet another new Pokémon called Ariados, a red evil-looking spider of 
the Poison variety.  
Because of its Bug aspects, our attacks and types weren’t as well matched up, 
and so I called out my Magmar for the task.  
String Shot didn’t bother us, as simple Ember was enough to melt the otherwise 
tight binding technique, but this was only a distraction for Toxic attack.  
Night Shade attack burst right through our Psychic one, right before the 
exclusive attack Spider Web was used to form a huge web net behind Lavos, and 
a Fury Swipes attack pushed him into it.  
It let him stew a while, his energy dripping away cumulatively from the poison 
before the Ariados leapt back and used Screech to unnerve Lavos and then 
charge forward for a Leech Life to drain him down.  
Lavos recovered and let loose with Flamethrower but the Ariados dodged the 
thin lines of fire in its charge, I then ordered an Ember attack upwards, and 
as planned, the specs of fire floated back down and slowly affected the web.  
The Ariados landed over Lavos but by that time, the fires grew on the 
flammable netting which made it instinctively jump, Lavos’s Fire Blast that 
followed easily hit the overhead Ariados, and a Psychic attack brought it 
crashing down through a key part of the web to collapse it which allowed Lavos 
to free himself after his successful battle.  
The Toxic Badge was given to me for my win, which was a change given the last 
Poison Gym I won at.  

Day 481 (Prussian Pier, Rainbow Island):  

A small setting known as the Prussian Pier, and I battled the mellow Gym 
Leader Undine (a serene girl who wore long flowing robes with watery shades) 
in shallow water leading out towards the ocean.  
She started out strong with a Gyarados, but my Starmie fought in an aerial 
battle against the savage serpent, the most powerful attacks like Hyper Beam 
were used a lot, so much so that provided Twinkill dodged, it had time for one 
or two Thunderbolts in retaliation, but I swear we must have used about ten or 
more.  
Twinkill started to tire of this, especially after being blasted by one of the 
Hyper Beams, but with all it had it unleashed a Thunder as the final blow.  
Next was a new Pokémon to me, a blue oblivious looking otter-like Pokémon 
called Quagsire, the first thing I attempted was another Thunderbolt, but the 
Pokémon charged right through it, slammed into Twinkill and crushed it beneath 
a leaping Earthquake attack.  
I was surprised at first but the Earthquake was a dead giveaway, this Pokémon 
was a Ground-type, and coupled with Water, this made it really susceptible to 
Grass attacks and so my Vileplume was called upon.  
With a combination of Petal Dance and Solar Beam attacks, we managed to damage 
the enemy and fly up to dodge the powerful Ground attacks, until an attack 
called Mud Slap was used to blind my Vileplume with dirt and sand, which meant 
I had to be precise in guiding my Pokémon with the clock direction system I’d 
recently taught it.  
Pollen was literally spun by a Hydro Pump attack but charged energy during, 
and while the enemy surfed forward on the waves to slam its hard body into 
Pollen, I had to have the quickest of reactions since as soon as Pollen 
stopped; I had to take its new direction on board to point him towards the 
enemy.  
He was looking away from the enemy, and so I quickly called for him to turn 
towards 5 o’ clock, we’d both performed swiftly and this last Solarbeam wiped 
out the Quagsire and its health.  
I received the Trident Badge and thanked Undine; after all, I’d never had a 
true Water Pokémon battle, much less against a Gym Leader until now.  

Day 485 (Chrome Town, Rainbow Island):  

Chrome Town and I was faced with another type I’d never encountered before, 
the opponent, a spiky green haired rocker called Ozzy started with a shelled 
sphere called Forretress, whom my Electabuzz battled physically with Normal 
and Fighting attacks with the occasional Electric attack.  
Shockwave prevailed but was too weak against the next opponent Magneton, since 
the Forretress hadn’t used any particular attacks to classify its type and now 
this, I naturally assumed I was in another Electric Gym, and my Dugtrio made 
short work of the enemy since type was against it and the arena suited Digda.  
I was surprised though at just how the Ground attack was far more effective 
than I remember it, the Magneton was devastated, but the next opponent was far 
worse than both of the previous two put together, the obvious evolved form of 
an Onix; Steelix.  
It trashed the arena, leaving it a mess of jagged rocks and metal, it now that 
Ozzy mentioned it, it was clear that this, the Forretress and apparently all 
Magneton aside from their usual classes were part Steel-type.  
I had to figure things out on my own and used my Charizard to repeat an 
Earthquake, since I quickly realised that aside from being one of an Electric-
type’s weaknesses, it was also a Steel-type’s (that’s why the Magneton went 
down so fast), this technique kept the Steelix from trying to dig underground 
but it seriously hurt my Charizard physically instead.  
I thought scientifically about what else could damage metal since the Steelix 
now literally leapt when a Ground attack was performed (and electricity wasn’t 
the answer).  
Inferno was bound and trapped by the tight metal body and therefore couldn’t 
use the Flamethrower I figured would melt the enemy’s hard shell, physical 
attacks seemed to bounce right off so the last available option was to use a 
Fighting move.  
Inferno grabbed hold and used all its strength to free its wings, after 
raising it into the air Inferno simply dropped the heavy Pokémon to the floor 
and finished by torching the Steelix until it was recalled.  
The Metal Badge was mine and Ozzy was impressed with my quick discovery of a 
Steel-type’s weaknesses (though the Fighting one was a plain fluke on my 
part), this was lucky as most trainers in these parts more or less knew, and 
Steel-types were otherwise some of the most physically powerful and difficult 
Pokémon to beat.  

Day 488 (On Route to Amber Town, Rainbow Island):  

Between virtually every Gym, Veronica, Carrie and I encountered oddballs from 
the Shadow Assembly, a group that Wesley and Burn, the expelled friends of 
Bryan, were from whose common feature were the dark shades or masks which 
concealed their eyes, though most of the time these guys weren’t a problem.  
Today though I faced off against a fairly high level pair alone during 
training with Slade for my rematch.  
During the battle, I had him use Double Team in a figure 8 to run around our 
two opponents, a clock-like owl called Hoothoot and a ladybird Pokémon 
Ledyba.  
They were both flustered by the speed and became dizzy trying to keep up so 
Slade had plenty of opportunity to get hits in even with its low power.  
The Shadows fled when the girls caught up to me with five Pokéballs I’d left 
at the Pokémon Centre, and though a little blackened by smoke bombs used by 
the enemies today, I was confident and determined when I announced I was okay, 
as I’d just figured out a strategy to beat Cordelia.  

Day 489 (Amber Town, Rainbow Island):  

“Back again, learned something new?” questioned Cordelia as I stepped back 
into the arena after my arrival here had been announced and she’d appeared to 
face me.  
“I admit I made mistakes the last time, but I’m taking no chances now...”  

Again I managed to defeat her Ampharos, but it took everything out of Snack, 
and it soon fell to the same opponent as before, Slade took over and dealt 
several hits to the Electrode by narrowly avoiding some of the electric 
onslaught and attacking whenever it could, but one more hit would finish him 
off.  
“You claim to have enhanced your Eevee’s abilities but nothing you do in the 
next few years will allow it to withstand one of my Thunderbolts.” threatened 
Cordelia.  
“Oh, yeah? Double Team!” I called.  
Slade visually became several running Eevees as it sped itself up tenfold in a 
wide circle.  
“Come on!” laughed Cordelia briefly, “By aiming for the centre, the radius 
will negate the whole circle.  Thunderbolt!”  
“Do it like I taught you Slade! Double Team again!”  
As he reached the point closest to the enemy, he initiated another Double Team 
and ran in a ring close to the attacking Electrode, and yet the first illusion 
ring remained active throughout so that there were two rings forming an ‘8’ 
shape.  
“Think that’s gonna help? Change your target!”  
The blasts direction was altered and hit the centre of the second ring and 
exploded, destroying all of the illusions within the circle.  
Cordelia chuckled, before letting out a tiny gasp, one that was familiar to 
me, “The other circle is still...”  
“Functional!” I shouted, “Now go in and Bite it!”  
“Vee-eee!!!” growled Slade as he did so, tossing it up afterwards and leaping 
up for a Take Down.  
“It switched to the first circle...  So fast I didn’t see it do so.” said 
Cordelia in dismay, “I’ve... lost a battle in my Gym...”  
“Trode...” groaned the opponent, out for the count.  

“Here’s your Gym Badge, take it and get out.” said Cordelia nastily shortly 
afterwards.  
I took the badge but frowned, “What is your problem?! Whatever happened to you 
to make you so bitter and nasty to everyone?!”  
“More than you realise Tetsubo.”  
“I... never gave you my name...”  
With that she lowered her hood and removed her mask, I was shocked, Cordelia 
was Discord, the trainer that had won the Pokémon League over six years ago, 
but she was more to me than that, she was my sister Megumi, who had 
disappeared long ago and hadn’t been heard from since.  
“YOU?!” I screamed.  
“I’m not thrilled to see you either, you’re a disappointment Tetsubo, and the 
family’s sacrifices were in vain.”  
“What are you talking about?”  
“The money needed to pay for your expensive schooling; in the end you didn’t 
have what it took to enter the League.” she accused.  
“I Was in the League, I also won it, but not in the year I was meant to, stuff 
happened which resulted in exams having to be done over but that’s not the 
point, I’d already chosen to go on a real journey and use all I’d learned to 
get as far as I did in the following year, I can’t believe you never thought 
to check.”  
“Fool, Mom and Dad weren’t the only ones who made sacrifices for you; I went 
through a lot for you, more than you’ll ever know!” she snapped.  
“Don’t you dare talk to me about what Mom and Dad feel! It really affected all 
of us when you disappeared, you didn’t even tell anyone why!” I shouted back.  
“I needed my freedom, I couldn’t take a life of work with no time for myself, 
it was a mistake to enrol you at Pokémon Tech; you haven’t learned enough.” 
she commented.  
“I beat you didn’t I?” I challenged.  
“You also lost to me; I expected much more from you.”  
“I Am a great trainer, if you’d watched the last Pokémon League, you’d see 
that!”  
“I don’t need to see it, you obviously lucked out.  I think you should leave 
now.”  
“Not until you explain why you disappeared and promise to return home!” I 
threatened.  
“What happened to me is not for your innocent ears, a lot has happened that 
changed me, including my change of name to Cordelia.  I can’t go back to who I 
was as a result of it all; I can’t let our parents see me.”  
“But-”  
“Not until you earn my respect anyway, I have nothing more to say to you, 
prove you can win another Pokémon League Tournament, and maybe I’ll listen to 
what you have to say...”  
As she walked away I couldn’t help but scream “I’ll Win the Rainbow League! 
And then I’ll make you return home! You don’t know how much it affected our 
parents! No matter how much you’ve changed, they still love you!...  But I 
don’t know if I still do...”  

Day 492/493 (Rainbow Stadium, Rainbow Island):  

The League began shortly afterwards, and the first day compromised of 
preliminary rounds to lower the competitors down to 16 for four rounds.  
I got into the League through sheer determination and spite for my sister, but 
after meeting up with friends like Rick, Abby and my brother Cody, I let go of 
my rage and decided to enjoy the challenges here instead.  
In the first round the next day I battled an auburn haired young girl in 
yellow clothes called Savanna, she used small baby Pokémon like Pichu, and 
Azurill, who were gutsy battlers and hard to take down, her last Pokémon was a 
fully grown bear Pokémon called Ursaring, but with all my efforts, my three 
Pokémon Whirlwind, Spectre and Digda took it out.  

Day 494 (Rainbow Stadium, Rainbow Island):  

I ran into a little trouble today, okay, a lot of trouble, but it worked out 
for me and Rick despite starting out so badly.  
Before our matches, we briefly spoke to each other when a big rude worker 
barged past us, and we managed to pick up the wrong Pokéballs (we hadn’t time 
to check them before our matches began and they’d landed so fast we were sure 
we’d picked up the right ones).  
I was forced to battle with Rick’s Dodrio, Electrode and Pinsir against 
Marshall, while Rick ended up with Scramble, Shockwave and Lavos against a 
girl called Calista, all three accepted to win the battle for him since Rick 
was certain his Pokémon would do the same for me, and he was right.  

Day 495 (Rainbow Stadium, Rainbow Island):  

A classic setting, as I was faced with a male trainer called Gulliver who had 
an Ivysaur, Charmeleon and Wartortle, but surprises none the less as all new 
attacks were used.  
Attacks like Sweet Scent to distract and Synthesis to restore health for the 
Ivysaur, Scary Face to petrify and Dragonbreath for power from the Charmeleon, 
and Protect to defend completely against occasional attacks and Rapid Spin to 
escape binding moves for the Wartortle.  
Despite these attacks, I persevered and used the basic Fire, Water and Grass 
attacks whenever I had the chance and won.  

Day 496 (Rainbow Stadium, Rainbow Island):  

The final match, and Rick and I were set to battle each other for the first 
time.  
In a full six-on-six battle, our Pokémon were trained up and on even terms, 
and the final match had our two Fire-types battling each other; my Magmar 
against his Arcanine.  
The two’s attacks repelled each other, apart from when I differed to use Smog 
attack, Rick reacted fast and had his Arcanine whip its large tail to fan back 
the attack, it partially worked but both Pokémon were smogged.  
The Arcanine threw its physical strength around while I resorted to special 
ones, and stopped the Arcanine in its tracks when it attempted to Dig 
underground to gain the type advantage, this unearthed it and left it weak, so 
I had Lavos charge forward to deliver a final Mega Kick.  
Sadly, the backfired Smog from earlier had affected Lavos but not the opponent 
and the poison finally took its toll.  
Lavos grew weak moments before the kick was performed, he went through with it 
anyway but it was slow and off course and easy for Blazer to duck and 
retaliate with a charge.  
The match was over for me and the crowd cheered for my rival, it was then that 
I noticed my sister had been watching the final match if not the others, and 
she literally turned away from me and walked out of the arena abruptly as 
others cheered.  
I’d forgotten about her demands throughout the recent matches and was now 
saddened as I congratulated my friend and left the arena until the prizes were 
given out in a small ceremony the day after.  

Day 497 (Rainbow Stadium, Rainbow Island):  

It didn’t matter that I’d come second to my sister, winning it all was all she 
cared for and she would only be willing to return home on my orders if I could 
match the number of League wins she had under her wing if not more, basically 
I had to be her equal for her to care for anything I said.  
I knew this for certain because one of her friends from the Amber Gym decided 
to tell me, she also mentioned the claims of factors in her life changing her 
were true, but that she once competed in the Johto League and lost, which 
wasn’t something she told many people, and that if I was able to do what she 
couldn’t, it might restore her respect and compassion for me.  
I was going to the Johto League anyway so I decided to do whatever it took to 
prepare myself for it, I’d study the Pokémon there and the latest discovered 
attacks and types, and even form a new team of Pokémon since my old ones were 
well known and therefore predictable to some.  
At least I could tell my family that Megumi was still alive, and getting her 
to return to anything like she used to be and to have her return home was yet 
another reason for me to keep on training, and aim to be the best trainer the 
world has ever seen.  

End of Part B  

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