AN: Let's pretend that Team Rocket decided to take over Goldenrod by sending in sheer numbers to key locations, shall we?
Edited 02/10/2015
Princesses are weak.
They are kidnapped by dragons where they are kept helplessly locked up, doing nothing but weeping and wringing their - soft, unblemished - hands together while other people do all the work, and then they swoon over the dashing hero, get married, and live happily ever after.
Such a thing does not exist in this world.
Whitney, pretty and pink-loving as she is, is not a princess. She is an energetic girl who happens to be a Gym Leader that specializes in Normal-Types whose favorite colour happens to be pink. She loves softball, she loves Pokémon, she loves battling. Her hands have thick callouses, her legs dotted with faded scars and bruises.
She is not a princess.
Princesses are weak. They do not exist anymore, no more of the fairy tale, picturesque endings left in this world.
Even the optimistic dreaming girl who is always crushed by her losses knows of that, and she makes sure that she is capable of living in the real world. To properly defend herself, and not get whisked away by evil, whether it's a greedy dragon with odd tastes or a malicious wizard with a grudge.
To make sure a knight in shining armour is not needed for her.
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She tells Jasmine about this.
"I don't think that's how it goes," the Steel-Type trainer begins, but Whitney waves it off.
"I may be pretty enough to be a princess, but I refuse to be one," she declares. "I don't want to be weak."
A few of the male Gym Leaders snort, and are treated with harsh glares from a face that just looks adorable with the scowl.
Morty smiles from a little way off, interested at the independence-searching girl's will. He decides to not tell her about what he glimpsed of her future, on how she may need to rely on another's help.
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Somehow, Team Rocket is back, and their sheer numbers surprise her. How did they recruit so many?
But as she cuts them down, she realizes that numbers are all they have. No skill, no creativity, and certainly no leader. It's like watching a headless creature run around.
Still, there's a limit to how much her Pokémon can take, and she is out. Hiding, she heals them, worried at the amount of grunts who are trying to break into her Gym, because her Gym trainers are having a hard time defending, and the supplies are running low.
Sighing, she takes out the Poké balls and replaces one of the Beauties who hastily goes off to heal her own Pokémon, and turns to face the oncoming wave with a determined look.
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Five Potions, three Super Potions, and one Revive, with a few Berries scattered around somewhere. That is what they have, and it does not look good, because the enemy is still out there.
They've called the law enforcers a while ago, but the police are busy, dealing with the Rocket grunts flooding through the streets like poison running through blood vessels. In fact, the police are in need of strong trainers for help themselves.
And, of course, the Rockets were strategic enough to anticipate this. They've blocked the gym off from reaching the rest of the city. Whitney curses whoever decided to give the Rockets a brain.
She keeps a strong face for the others. There is no way she can do this on her own, but she'll go down trying, damn it.
As one of the key defenders, Whitney gets the Revive.
Holding the small crystal tightly in her hands, she thinks she'd rather have the Rockets out of her beloved city.
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They've barricaded everywhere else, and apparently, it's not enough. Hiding in the main room of the Gym where the maze is, they keep to the small space in the maze where Whitney normally faces her challengers, because it's much easier to face the attackers if they only come in at one point.
But strangely, only a few grunts manage to come through, and they retreat quickly once the message blaring on the radio is cut off, and Team Rocket's defeat is announced with triumph by a young girl's voice.
While the girls celebrate in relief, Whitney wonders what happened, and mentally braces herself for something worse.
It's not. Morty, Leader of Ecruteak Gym comes in, hands up in a gesture of peace with an entire battalion of Gastly behind him. He is greeted by sweaty but happy girls who are ecstatic to see him. He finds himself hoisted up upon shoulders of girls that are a lot stronger than they appear.
Once the wave of gratitude settles down and they get to cleaning the gym up - because the Rockets made a huge mess in their attempt to break in - Whitney approaches Morty.
"Thank you," she tells him.
He gives a deep, sweeping bow. "Anything for a not-princess," he replies.
Remembering her words before, Whitney flushes slightly. "Then, not-knight-in-shining-armour," she says. "Want to see what the not-tower looks like?"
He offers her his arm, chivalrous in his not-knight state, and she takes it like a not-princess.