The next gym they were headed for was Pastoria's, whose leader specialised in Water-types. When one put that into consideration, the best members who would take the gym leader down were Kuro, Marylin and Volt.

Thus, she trained them up, the flames of fear, the nightmares kept her from ever falling back into docile feelings. She couldn't, she wouldn't let another loss happen. She swore to ensure they were the strongest. 

Losing another friend would be painful...

The battle against him wasn't easy. He had his own Floatzel alongside a Gyarados (which were crazy strong in Eliza's eyes) and a Quaqsire (don't underestimate them. They look cute and all but they are powerful and not to be underestimated), and the battle was crazy tough. 

Her heart nearly screamed in fear around the climax when his Gyarados attacked Kuro with an Ice Beam. No no no no she was going to lose someone she couldn't lose Kuro--

She was so so relieved when he didn't let up and stayed strong throughout the match, finally allowing her to win her fifth badge. 

She had fallen to her knees, relieved tears streaming down her cheeks as she hugged Kuro, whispering thanks and words of gratitude for hanging on, no matter how hard it was for him. 

"Mooothim," Kuro simply said in reply, giving a smile to her, telling her that while he was glad too, he would be really happy to be treated now. 

"R-Right!" 

Once her team was healed up, her next stop was the marsh. After that close call, she had decided that catching a Pokemon there would be a great idea. Her luck wasn't all that good these days, but she hoped for the best. 

What was great was that she did end up catching a Pokemon. A Croagunk, to be precise.

"Croagunk's data will be added to your Pokedex!" 

"Awesome!" she grinned, and thought as she looked at the Pokedex entry, before a name came into mind. Without a doubt, she called him out and said, "Hm... What about... Eugene the Croagunk? Does that sound like a good name to you?" 

"Croagunk!" the Pokemon agreed. 

She smiled, "Welcome to the team then, Eugene!" 

Later on, as they camped, she noticed Marylin and Eugene now spending time together, laughter echoing from their side. They seemed to have a lot in common! That was great!

But the real highlight was later on. Their training bore fruit as Viva, and then Eugene evolved. Viva was now a Weaville that Volt had accepted into the team upon noticing how determined she was, and he even managed to apologise in his own cute way, which had the others erupting into fits of giggles at how adorable he was doing that. While Viva was still unlearning the fear association to Volt, she was learning just as he was with controlling his temper. They were still working on that, but Eliza didn't mind. It was Volt, after all. On the other hand, Eugene had become a Toxicroak, and he was mighty proud of that. Didn't mean that he grew a big head, of course. Volt ensured that didn't happen with a bunch of head bonks. It was great that everyone was getting along. 

However, even through all those happy moments, the festering anxiety, the worry of losing a friend was still there. 

So maybe... getting some Pokemon to put in her PC would be a good idea? They had their own room to train and all that. She didn't have to worry about them being lost. All she had to do was let them be... All while she kept herself ready for the scenario (one she would never want to wish for willingly) of losing someone...

Thus, the day after she decided this, she headed out once more to find another teammate. 

Her journeys led her to catch an East Sea Shellos, which she named Tea.

She loved Tea. She was cute, and... 

She could die. Just like Crystal.

(She never took her out of the PC after putting her in. She was a baby she didn't want to lose. She swore to keep her there. She wasn't going to endanger her. No way. She wouldn't lose her like how she lost Crystal the Ralts.)

After dropping Tea off in the PC, Eliza traveled to a cave to train Volt. She knew that Ground-types were immune to Electric-type moves, but she wanted Volt to be prepared for that possibility. When his attacks would have no effect on a Pokemon. 

What happened there was something else. They ended up meeting a Gabite there, and Volt, ever eager to battle, took it on despite the type disadvantages. 

That resulted in a massive injury to his tail, and he hated that. So so much. 

His temper flared at the pain, the numbness his tail was giving him. Tears streaked down his cheeks as he remembered a death, injuries covering an old friend's body as he took his final breath, and he screamed, "CHIRISU RISU!" 

His tail turned into steel, and he jumped into the air, ready to take down this horrible no-good jerk. This person had to PAY. 

"Don't use Iron Tail!" Eliza shouted, but it fell on deaf ears and she gritted her teeth. What was she supposed to do? 

Wait, she knew what to do now! 

She grabbed an empty Pokeball, and quickly threw it at the Gabite, making sure it was a curve that avoided Volt and hit the Gabite straight on. 

One, two, three... 

With that, her Pokedex said, "Gabite's data will be added into your Pokedex!"

"Alright!" she grinned as she grabbed the Pokeball. 

"Pachirisu," Volt scowled at her. How dare she...!

"It'll help us in the long run, Volt," she chided. "Plus, Chomps did what she had to do to survive." 

"Pachi?" he blinked. 

"Yeah... Chomps the Gabite," she smiled. "What do you think?"

"... Chiri," he looked away. It wasn't a bad name, per se. He just... couldn't help getting mad because of the memory the Gabite had brought up...

She was sure that he would eventually warm up to her, though. Like how he had warmed up to Viva. 

Life was good so far. 

Little did she know that her temporary happiness was about to be capsized. 

venusaura It's way shorter than the others, but it's actually more of a filler thing if you ask me. I tried to use this to focus on how painful it must have been for them to lose friends. I tried to highlight the effects of trauma in one's life. They definitely have PTSD of sorts. So yeah. Hope you like it!