"Um...you choose first."

She brushed her bangs out of her eyes, her gaze directed at the laboratory floor. She's always been shy. But I could tell by the way she kept glancing at the table with the pokéballs on it that she was excited. Who wouldn't be? We had been offered Pokémon by the famed Professor Birch, a man who had seen many great trainers off on their journey.

Birch smiled at her. "It's all right. There's no hurry to decide. What about you, Sai?"

I didn't hesitate. "Torchic. The fire type."

It's amazing, the way some things brand themselves into your memory and haunt you for the rest of your life. Like now, watching her walk towards me, my mind kept going back to that day in the professor's lab. We had just been two city girls, coming down from Rustboro to visit relatives in Littleroot Town. Birch had seen us playing with our cousins outside and asked if we liked Pokémon. Amira had been twelve years old at the time, and me ten.

A lot had changed since then.

The sun was just beginning to rise, and Route 111 was empty was empty, except for me, and Amira. She paused, a silhouette on the horizon.

A breeze picked up suddenly, and I pulled my jacket tightly around me, shivering. Maybe not from the cold though, because at the same time, her voice carried toward me. "Long time, Sai."

"Hey, Amira." I sounded casual, liking I was greeting an old acquaintance, and not my sister. "I got the email. About you wanting to battle me."

"I can see that." She walked closer, and her features came into her focus. Her dark hair, sharply contrasting my vibrant red, had been cut short to frame her face. Her attire had changed little since I had last seen her. Blue jeans and a T-shirt, with a Mareep wool jacket to cover her arms now that the weather was getting colder.

"Well, you're wasting your time!" I snapped at her. "You may be older, but I've always been stronger. And that's still true."

She didn't attempt to argue with me. "I heard you challenged the Elite Four," she said simply.

"Yeah. I made it past two of them." I allowed a note of pride in my voice. It was more than she's ever done. I could still remember how she used to go on about how afraid she was of Victory Road. But then, she'd been afraid of nearly everything.

"I challenged them, too." I tried not to betray my surprise when she said this. "I never made it past Sidney, though. Hey, when did you challenge them?" I told her, and she laughed, a light, airy sound that I had hardly heard since we became trainers. "To think, we had just missed each other!"

She sobered almost immediately, though. "I've missed you, you know.'

"You were holding me back." I realized how harsh the words were as soon as I said them.

She closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, her expression was full of sadness. "I don't feel like a full battle. Can we just do a three-on-three?"

"Sure." I reached for a pokéball, my hands starting to shake. Why were they shaking?

A small voice in the back of my mind answered. Because you're afraid. Afraid that she might have become stronger than you.

No. Not possible. I was the strong one.

"Wow, he's so cute!" Amira stood over me, fawning over the Torchic I held in my arms. I had never seen her like this around strangers. It was like she'd forgotten about Birch completely.

"You choose now," I said.

She studied the remaining pokéballs. She gingerly lifted the on the far right. "What's in this one?"

There was a flash of light, and a green Pokémon materialized in front of her. Her eyes widened. She gripped the now empty pokéball tightly in her hands. Human and Pokémon locked gazed. The corners of her mouth slowly lifted up.

"It's a Treecko." I told her.

She nodded. "I like it."

I wanted a battle, of course. With the professor's permission, we chose a grassy spot just outside of the lab. Several younger children clustered around us. Jealous, no doubt.

"All right, Amira, I'll go first and start us off right! Torchic, use Ember!"

Alarm flashed across Amira's face. "No! Treecko, get out of the way! Then...um, then use Pound!"

In an instant, Treecko dodged my Pokemon's attack. In another, Torchic was sent tumbling backwards by his opponent's blow. Impressed murmurs passed through our audience. There were shouts of encouragement.

"Keep going, Torchic!"

"Don't give up!"

"Yes, give up, the Treecko's got you beat!"

Mostly encouragement, anyway.

It didn't matter. I had every intention of winning. "Ember again!"

This time, Treecko didn't move fast enough. "Scratch!" Torchic raked his claws against his opponent. The crowd cheered him on.

I won the match.

Like there was ever a chance I wouldn't.

"Let's get this over with. Blaziken!"

As soon as he was out of his pokéball, his eyes began to scan the area for his opponent. He loved battling, and more than that, winning. It was a trait we shared.

"Blaziken." Amira's eyes lit up with recongnition.

"Yup. He's all I'm going to need."

Amira smiled, like she didn't really believe me, but said nothing in response. "I think I'll use Vaporeon, then."

At least she had learned about type advantages. Not that it mattered much. I wouldn't have made it as far as I have if I panicked every time I came up against a water type.

The battle began with Amira's first command. "Water Pulse!"

The whole thing was child's play. Vaporeon would launch an attack, only for Blaziken to move nimbly out of the way and come at it from the side. Vaporeon didn't manage to get a single hit in.

I made a show of yawning. "Next."

Amira sent out her next Pokémon without a word. An Altaria. She made no move to attack, nor did Amira order her to. The dragon- and flying- Pokémon began to preen leisurely.

Fine. I would make the first move. Blaziken looked expectantly at me. I nodded. "Hit it with a Blaze Kick.

Amira barked a command, and just as Blaziken's fiery attack should have made contact with Altaria, she launched herself into the air, out of reach. Blaziken narrowly dodged as a stream of Dragonbreath shot towards him. In the split second he took to recover, Altaria shot towards him with her wings outstretched. The Aerial Ace hit Blaziken squarely.

So Amira had gotten better.

Blaziken quickly picked himself up again. Altaria circled high above. We couldn't risk letting her get another attack in. I gritted my teeth at Amira's smug expression. I could count on my fingers all the occasions when she had had an excuse to look smug.

She sat on the bottom bunk, Treecko curled up beside her. She was stroking his scales gently. I stood in the doorway, waiting for her to notice me..

Her gaze finally turned towards me. "You're back!" She exclaimed. "Did you beat the gym?"

"No." I climbed up onto the top bunk and buried my face in the pillow. I started muttering about how difficult it was. My voice was muffled, though, and I don't think Amira understood a word I was saying.

"Well, you can't help it. You have a type disadvantage. Maybe we could just skip to the next gym and come back to Rustboro's when we're stronger?"

"No!" I said forcefully, lifting my head from the pillow. We have to do it right. That means challenging the gyms in order."

"Oh. We've been at this pokémon center for close to a week now, though, and I think Nurse Joy's getting tired of seeing us."

She thought a moment, then added, "Why don't we just stay at home until you beat the gym? We do live here in Rustboro, you know."

"I know. But real trainers don't do it like that."

She patted Treecko absently. "I think I'll try. Beating the gym, I mean."

"You said you didn't want to try until I beat it. You didn't think you were strong enough."

"I still don't. But this way, I'll know what to expect when I am strong enough."

I dropped my head back down on the pillow. "Fine."

When she came back a little while later, showing off her shiny new badge, and looking just as surprised as I was that she had won it, I tried really hard not to be jealous of her for it.

I really, really, tried.

I thought carefully. The Altaria began to look from Blaziken to Amira, and back again. Likely, she was wondering why she hadn't been told to attack again, and looked ready to take matters into her own hands...or wings, maybe? I laughed, without meaning to.

Calm down! I berated myself. Focus!

"Blaziken!" He looked back at me. "Get it out of the air! Sky Uppercut!"

He rushed forward and leapt upward. Altaria gave a startled cry and attempted to wheel out of the way at Amira's urging. Blaziken's attack only clipped her, but there was enough force behind it to send her plummeting toward the ground anyway.

"Altaria!" Amira's voice was rimmed with concern. "Quick, Recover!"

An ethereal glow surrounded Altaria, and her injuries began to fade. My heart leapt into my throat. I couldn't allow her to heal! "Slash!"

Altaria was unable to dodge as Blaziken's claws made contact with her, ripping her cottony wings. Amira returned her quickly, now looking worried. She was down to her last Pokémon, and I had a feeling I knew who she was going to use.

"Sceptile." The grass Pokémon appeared, surveying the battlefield regally. He was impressive, I had to admit. I almost felt bad about how easy I knew it was going to be to defeat him.

"Remember?" Amira said quietly. I had to strain to hear her. "He was only a Grovyle the last time you saw him."

"Are you ever going to beat Brawly?"

"I'm trying! But every time I think I've won, I lose!" Amira's eyes brimmed with tears.

I should've stopped, then. Should've shut my mouth and left her alone, but I didn't. "Well, this is the sixth time you've lost. I've been ready to go on to the next gym for two weeks, and I'm stuck back here waiting on you!"

I heard a sob catch in her throat. She shoved me aside and ran out of the room. She came back with Grovyle after dark, both of them looking battered and exhausted. When I asked her what she had been doing, her response was short and clipped.

"Training."

She still lost her next match with Brawly, though.

I took the first boat out of Dewford. Our goodbye wasn't tearful, or even sad. It was formal, like we were strangers.

"Bye, then," She muttered. Grovyle stood beside her. I couldn't help notice the way he kept glaring daggers at me, and the way Combusken glared at him in return.

"Bye," I said. I felt that wasn't enough, that I should say something else. "You could try catching a new Pokémon, something with a type advantage."

But nothing too strong, I added in my head, or then you might be able to beat me.

I hung back from attacking, at first, waiting to see what Sceptile would do. I wasn't really afraid of him, and allowed myself to relax slightly. He was her starter, yes, and likely her strongest Pokémon, but that didn't change the fact that I had a major type advantage, and by now could see how much her battling style had changed since we were kids. I could handle whatever she threw at me.

Amira only hesitated for a heartbeat before directing Sceptile. "Slam!" He rushed towards Blaziken, and I couldn't help being impressed by his speed. Blaziken began to dodge; I quickly told him to stay put. There was a loud thud as Sceptile's leafy tail hit him, and Blaziken stumbled backwards.

"Now get away!" Sceptile retreated quickly at Amira's words. She frowned in confusion, wondering why I had let that attack in.

"Mirror Move."

I heard Amira's gasp of surprise. She never would have expected me to teach a move that didn't rely on raw power. But surprising your opponents equalled having an advantage.

She recovered quickly. "Detect, Sceptile!"

Sceptile braced himself, his gaze fixated on Blaziken as the fire- and fighting- Pokémon closed in. He shuddered but otherwise didn't react as the attack made contact. "Now Dragon Claw, while he's up close!"

Sceptile's claws elongated. He raked them across Blaziken's face, forcing him back. "Again!" Amira called.

Blaziken made a hasty attempt to stop Sceptile's relentless attacks. But Sceptile was too fast. "Sky Uppercut!" I called desperately.

Blaziken's attack met Sceptile's. For a moment, they were frozen in place, neither able to push the other back.

"Blaziken..." My heart thumped wildly. Her power... equal to mine...

"Screech."

Amira's sudden change of tactics jerked me back to reality. Sceptile broke away from Blaziken, and began to emit an ear-splitting noise. I covered my ears, but still couldn't block out the sound completely. I saw Amira's mouth move, but couldn't register what she was saying.

Sceptile's Screech ended abruptly. Blaziken could only stand there, looking dazed, as Sceptile charged him once again.

Time slowed down. Sceptile's attack dealt its damage.

"Blaziken. Blaziken!" I called. He stood there. Just stood there. Then toppled with a groan. My knees sank under me, like I was linked to him by some invisible string, making us fall together.

"Sai?" Amira stared at me in alarm. "Get up, just send out one of your other Pokémon, you haven't lost yet."

"Didn't bring others," I muttered. "Didn't think I'd need them." I fumbled for Blaziken's pokéball. I had to return him, get him to a Pokémon center...

I had lost, I had lost, I had lost...

I had lost to Amira.

She returned Sceptile and began walking towards me. I felt her grab me. Try to pull me back on me feet. I felt a sudden flash of anger and slapped her away. "Some sister you are! Coming all this way just to show me up!"

She backed away. "No, no, it's not like that... I was coming this way anyway, and I'd heard about how strong you'd become. I thought we could battle, like when we were kids." Her words came faster. "You are strong! You're so strong, Sai."

"But I'm not stronger than you." My voice was barely a whisper.

Her face fell. "I wanted us to be together again."

I could tell she wanted to say something else. But it was equally obvious that she wasn't sure what. "I have to go. Get Blaziken healed."

"We can walk together?" Her tone was hopeful.

"I'll be fine." I started to walk away. I felt like I couldn't stand to be near her another minute.

She called after me. "Sai, wait! You don't have to be like that. Please come back!"

I didn't respond. But I couldn't resist glancing back.

I left her. Just like that. And I will never forget, that the last I saw of my sister as I left her for the second time, was her sobbing into her hands, wondering why it was that she was as unwelcome when she was weaker than me, as she was being stronger. Because that what's she was thinking. I realize that now.

I just realized it too late.