"Hello! Welcome to the Nacrene City exhibit hall…and pokemon gym. Do you need some help finding anything?" White snapped back into reality by a smiling scientist who was coming from around the clerk's desk to greet her.

"Ah! Come again?" White asked. The man laughed.

"We get that a lot! Here; you can take a closer look," The scientist ushered White forward to the object of her distraction. In the center of the first room of the Nacrene museum was a huge collection of bones from a pokemon. White stared in awe at the delicate old display pieced together. It was almost as if it could come to life at any moment.

"This is cool!" White nodded with appreciation.

"Isn't it? Oh! You wouldn't happen to be a pokemon trainer, would you? Are you by chance here to see Lenora?"

"Yes, I am," White said while taking some of her hair in between her fingers, "I'm here to make an appointment to have a gym battle with her."

"Excellent! Would you like to meet her today so that you can set a date in person?"

The way that Cheren spoke earlier made White believe that she wasn't even going to be able to meet Lenora before their battle. She was surprised that things were a bit more easygoing than he let on.

"Sure; sounds great. My name is White, by the way!"

"You can call me Hawes. I'm the assistant director of the museum. You can follow me!"

White seemed to have a case of being at the right place at the right time for the first time today. She smiled complacently as she followed Hawes through the large room. As they walked past displays, Hawes would at times pause and explain what the artifact was or where it came from. They stopped in front of a black stone that was out on display before the steps up to the next portion of the museum.

"So what is the story with this one?" White asked expectantly.

"Ah, this…we actually aren't quite sure!" Hawes said with a laugh while pushing some of his dark hair behind his ear, "It was found during an excavation recently. We have been thinking about removing it from the museum in it's entirety, though. It gives off sort of funny vibe."

"Hmm…" White observed the stone for a moment before following Hawes up the stairs. The museum was a very interesting place; White didn't realize there there were so many unexplained secrets in the Unova region. She shook her head as she attempted to push the conversation she had with N earlier out of her mind, though she couldn't help but think of him when she stepped into the next room. She gasped in awe at rows and rows of bookshelves stacked with books. Hawes looked back at her with a grin.

"Our library of sorts. We have a large collection of books here," he said sheepishly.

"It's incredible," White said then she paused to ask, "Since this is a library and a museum, do you have any really old books? For example, books that might talk about the history of the Unova region or any legends about pokemon from a long time ago?"

"We have a few things like that. Do you like old books, Miss White?"

"I have a friend who I think would be interested."

"Ah, I see. Unfortunately books such as the ones you or your friend might be interested in aren't available to check out of this library, but they can certainly be viewed in this library area. Most of our older books are here on this back shelf," Hawes pointed to a shelf on the wall which was enclosed in a plexiglass protective case with a lock, "You have to have special permission to even get to them, though."

"I see…" White said with disappointed frown. Hawes shrugged.

"We've had problems with people trying to steal things in the past so we had to increase security, however," he took out his wallet and dug out an old business card, "If you take a look at this book store off of the main street, I think you might be able to find something your friend would like there. You might be surprised how many of these old antique books came from this book collector's store."

White took the business card from Hawes. As she put it in her bag her hand brushed against the rubix cube from N.

"Thanks a lot!" she said happily.

"Not a problem," Hawes said as they took the stairs down into the next portion of the museum, "My wife and I are good friends of his. He can be a bit moody, though, so be patient with him."

"Ah! You're married Mr. Hawes?"

"I sure am," he said with a cheesy grin, "To the most kind and amazing woman on the planet!"

White found Mr. Hawes enthusiasm infectious. A genuine smile spread across her lips as he opened the door into another large room. This area was quite empty save for a desk in the corner and a few glass displays next to it. There was a large red poke ball emblem on the tan and brown tiled floor and White gulped as she knew exactly where she was standing.

"This is the pokemon gym, isn't it?" her voice echoed throughout the large room.

"It certainly is!"

White turned to see the source of the voice. It was a woman who seemed to be around the same age as her mother standing behind the desk. After she took off her tan apron, she ruffled her curly dark blue hair.

"I'm always such a mess when we come back from excavations. Feels like I will be cleaning sand out of my ears for the next month or so," she said with a sigh as White walked up to her while nervously tugging on the strap of her messenger bag.

"I wish that I could've come with you this time, dear," Hawes said with a sigh. White's eyes widened.

"Ah! This is your wife, Mr. Hawes?"

"Yes ma'am! Pleased to meet you! I am the director of this museum, Lenora. Or should I be introducing myself," she said with a smirk, "As the leader of the Nacrene Gym?"

"Both, but maybe the second one a little more-so," White responded, "I'm here to challenge you, but I heard that I need to make an appointment."

"Lucky you, my friend. I have just returned from a 3 day excursion and I'm ready for a battle," Lenora said while putting her hands on her hips.

Lenora herself was much more intimidating than the brothers at the Striation gym. They, on one hand, were total goofballs. Lenora, on the other hand, seemed very cool and mature, but had a certain easiness to her that made White feel a sense of admiration and respect.

"Sounds good! Is tomorrow around noon ok?" White asked.

"Tomorrow sounds great, White," Lenora said while making a note on the calendar on her desk with an ink pen. White tilted her head to the side.

"Uh, how do you know my name?"

"A lot of the gym leaders know your name, darling," Lenora said with the wave of her hand, "I know I'm not the only one who wants to face off against the girl who straight up beat down Chili in the exhibition gym match. What an impressive show that was! Most of us were there that night."

"Us...?"

"Us gym leaders, of course."

White's eyes widened and she blinked in disbelief.

"Are you…serious?" White said in shock. She had no idea that night at the Striation gym was such a big ordeal that there were other gym leaders there. She had to greet so many people at the door that she couldn't recall anyone that looked like a gym leader specifically since everyone was dressed up so elaborately. White never really paid any attention to the news so she had no idea what any of the gym leaders looked like or what towns they were from. White pieced together memories of the night in her mind, but she didn't have any memory of Lenora.

"Snivy was the real star. I did terribly in the first part of the match," White said with her head cocked to the side.

"So modest," Lenora said with a laugh, "I can respect that. I would be nowhere without my little friends. Looking forward to tomorrow."

Lenora held out her hand and White outstretched her own. They shook on it and White left the museum while trying her best not to overanalyze everything.

/

White stood on the opposite end of the room from a very determined-looking Lenora, who had just rolled the sleeves of her white blouse up.

"The rules are," the referee began, "Double battle format. 2 pokemon against 2 pokemon. The first trainer to knock out both opposing pokemon wins. Gym leader must send out their pokemon first. Match…begin!"

White had been slightly nervous until the words "double" and "battle" were said. She couldn't help but put on a cocky grin and straighten the pink hat on her head. She enjoyed double battles very much.

"Herider and Watchog! Let's go," Lenora said as she tossed two poke balls down in front of her to reveal a one pokemon that White had seen before, Herdier, and another that she had not. A quick flip to her pokedex revealed that Watchog was the evolved form of patrat.

A bigger version of patrat and a bigger version of lilipup. Ok! Maybe this wouldn't be so bad!

White grabbed Snivy's poke ball for certain, since he was the strongest on her team, and then her hands hovered above Woobat's or Blitzle's. White opted for the chatter box as she threw one poke ball into the air and one on the ground. Out emerged a very happy Woobat and a moody Snivy.

Maybe this could be good for Snivy. It could show him the value of teamwork! White thought while pounding her palm to her fist decidedly.

Maybe.

"Watchhog, use leer on Snivy. Herdier, leer on Woobat," Lenora called to her teammates. Watchog's intimidating gaze stopped Snivy in his tracks. Herdier's did not manage to do the same to Woobat, who still playfully flew around the stadium. White got a sudden good idea for a combination attack. If it worked, this match would be over quickly.

"Woobat! Use gust to blow them back!" White yelled to her eager bat pokemon. Woobat chattered out affirmation and then began to swish his wings quickly to create a gust of wind pushing and holding his enemy back.

"Snivy! Use leech seed and throw them into the gust!"

Unfortunately, Snivy was still gritting his teeth after the leer attack from Watchog, and was unable to move freely just yet. Woobat chattered over to him as if to ask if he was ok and Snivy growled.

"Get back into the game, Snivy! You need to fight your opponent, not your friend!" White snapped at her little lizard.

"Watchog, stand strong and take the gust! Herdier! Get in a take down attack on Snivy while he is stalled!"

Herdier was faster than White anticipated. He forced himself through the gust attack and jumped to hit Snivy. Miraculously, he did not connect. Woobat broke away his gust attack to deflect the jumping take down attack from Snivy. Herdier hit the floor on his back but jumped to his feet, unscathed for the most part. Woobat seemed a little less energetic than usual, and Snivy stared up at him in awe. With a new found resolve, the little lizard glared at his opponents. Slowly he was realizing what good teammates could do.

Woobat whipped up his gust attack again on White's command, stopping Watchhog from beginning to power up a hypnosis attack. Snivy thew several leech seeds into the strong gust that Woobat created. They managed to hit both targets by the time Woobat stopped. Woobat hopped to the floor huffing for air. Flapping his wings so hard had exhausted him.

"Watchhog, stay still and conserve. Herdier, use bite on the Woobat."

Herdier, while still being aware that his energy was being sucked out, managed to shake it off and bolt towards Woobat. White found it amazing how Lenora could encourage him to fight through his injuries, but she had no time to be impressed at the charging mutt.

"So, it seems that Woobat is the more problematic out of the two," Lenora said simply, "So let's take him out!"

"Snivy! Help Woobat!"

"Snivy dove in front of Woobat just in time. The bite attack connected with his tail and he winced.

"Throw Snivy out of the way! Get to Woobat!" Lenora commanded. Just as Herdier flung Snivy up into the air White yelled the command at Snivy.

"Do it! Leaf tornado!"

"Sni!"

Snivy spun in mid-air gracefully and created a tornado that sucked Herdier in instantly. The leaves slashed Herdier over and over until he was released. Snivy landed next to Woobat and shot him a wink as Herdier collapsed from exhaustion. Snivy fell to one knee but shakily stood up again. Leaf tornado was still a risky move that took a lot of stamina.

"Herdier is unable to battle. Gymn Leader Lenora is now down to one pokemon!" The referee announced. Lenora recalled Herdier but she still seemed to have much confidence. White frowned. Herdier had been making most of the moves as Watchog only tried to slow her down. Just what did Lenora have up her sleeve?

"The real battle begins now! Watchog! Rip off that leech seed!" Lenora called.

Watchog grunted and extended his arms to tear through the seed that had been attached to him.

"Snisni?" Snivy gasped.

"No. Way." White said under her breath.

"Now!" Lenora commanded, "Retaliate!"

In the blink of an eye Watchog was in one place, and then another. He slammed himself down hard on Snivy, enough to knock the wind out of him and make his eyes blank out momentarily. Whatever 'retaliate' was, it was strong.

"SNIVY!" White exclaimed. Snivy recovered as quickly as he could and scrambled to grab the still exhausted Woobat.

"Again! Retaliate!"

Somehow Snivy managed to dodge the next attack, and the next, and the next, all while holding Woobat. White saw no room for punishing Watchog. The large rat was incredibly fast. Luckily Snivy had been able to slip past his attacks, but for how long?

"Snivy! Set Woobat down and use vine whip!" White called. Quickly, he set Woobat down, but in that instant Lenora called to end it.

"Retaliate on Woobat to finish it!"

White shut her eyes tightly. The match had become too intense. It was all over. She heard the sound of pokemon hitting pokemon and the sound of something skidding to the side.

/chapter twenty-two end/

Another chapter down! I hope that you enjoy the conclusion to the Nacrene gym battle in the next chapter. I tried to make it as quick as possible, but still exciting. I think writing out what happens during a battle is important, though I understand why some pokemon fan-fiction writers might choose not to do it. It can be tiring. u_u;

Pay attention to the business card that Hawes gave White. I'm adding a cute little bit about it in the next chapter!~