New Life

The week after the Grande festival was filled with parties, congratulations and much to Daisy's annoyance interviews. Luckily however her grandfather handled the last one allowing her the chance to catch up with her siblings and get some rest. Blue and Gary had taken to asking her for tips on battling with style and after a while Ash and Red had started to ask as well. Daisy smiled as she guided them in some of the battles. Her Chansey that she had caught while she was on route to the Grande festival had taken to advising Hapinny on some of the moves their line could use whenever she took a break from training.

Red, "If I didn't know any better I would say it's a family thing."

Daisy, "What's a family thing?"

Ash grinned, "Catching one of the Chansey line."

Blue hummed, "Mom had one as well, didn't she?"

Daisy gave a small smile, "She did, and you know what she was one of the strongest Blissey in the world."

Gary looked at his older siblings, they never talked about their parents much and he didn't many memories of them either. They had passed away because of an accident when he was barely two years old. Aside from their faces from pictures and their names, Jack Oak and Lilian Oak, he didn't know anything else. He had tried asking his grandpa once but he had gotten such a heartbroken expression on his face, he had not dared to ask again.

He knew his parents were trainers before his mother became a surgeon and his father chose to be an officer of the law. There was a small memorial for them too in town that he visited with his friends but that was all he knew. He didn't know what was their favourite colour or food or movie or Pokemon, he didn't know what they sound like, how they behave but at the same time he was reluctant to ask because he didn't want to see a heartbroken expressions. Gary listened attentively as Daisy spoke about the Pokemon his mother had and made a promise to himself to catch one as well.

Blue, "I think Blissey is still helping out at the hospital mom worked at even now."

Daisy nodded, "Yes, she is, she was stubborn too. Guess she wanted to carry on mom's work and help out any way she could."

Gary smiled, "That's pretty cool, can we visit her?"

Daisy grinned, "We did, many times when you were still a baby. I also checked in on her when I was in Saffron city but sure why not, we can visit her again."

Gary, "Awesome!"

Axew gave a happy cry as well feeling Gary's excitement while Happiny was busy playing with Chansey. Charmender was sitting on Red's lap and napping as they were taking a break from training. Riolu looked at the oldest sibling in curiosity, he was curious about the new family member and wanted to meet them. He looked at Ash who was listening to Daisy as she regaled them the story about her meeting with Blissey. He pulled at Ash's pant and motioned at him he wanted to meet Blissey.

Ash smiled nodding, "Can we please come along Daisy? I'm curious as well."

Daisy, "Sure why not. We'll even meet Dad's Machamp as well."

Gary perked up, "Dad's Pokemon?"

Blue smirked, "He insisted on staying with Blissey."

Red, "Ah!"

Ash giggled, "I think that's cute."

The plans were made and the five of them went to Saffron city to visit family. Rose and Delia didn't mind and trusted Daisy to watch over the boys while the Professor let them go with a package for the Pokemon centre in Saffron. Daisy even introduced them to her friend Sabrina while they were in the city after they visited Blissey and Machamp. Sabrina gave Ash a curious look before brushing it off and talking to Daisy. She had watched her on TV and was very impressed by her and looked forward to how she fared in the Indigo league.

Daisy smiled, "Thank you Sabrina."

Sabrina, "I will walk with you till the outskirts of the city. You may not have won the Festival cup but you are still famous here and I rather you don't get accosted."

Daisy smiled, "I appreciate that!"

Sabrina nodded, "It was a fun meeting you again and wonderful meeting all of your siblings."

Ash smiled, "It was fun meeting you too Sabrina."

Gary, "Yeah! You are really cool."

Blue smirked, "You'll see me again when I come to take my badge."

Red nodded, "Same!"

Sabrina smirked at the two boys, "I look forward to the challenge boys!"

They wished her goodbye before returning back to Pallet town. Daisy left after a week of returning, she was going to challenge Blaine before challenging Giovanni. It was not an easy battle, she had to battle six on six Pokemon battle with Blaine. The Fire Type specialist didn't hold back and his Pokemon went all out on hers. Daisy won the volcano badge thanks to her Wartotle evolving into a Blastoise thereby giving him an edge to defeat Blaine's Magmar.

Blaine, "A heads up kiddo, your next gym battle will be more difficult than this one. You and your Pokemon impressed us all a lot."

Daisy nodded, "Thank you and I understand. We won't hold back either, we will do our best to win. Right guys?"

Blastoise and Bellossom gave a roar and a cheer before Daisy returned the turtle Pokemon and left for the Pokemon centre making plans for the final gym. True to Blaine's words the Gym leader of Viridian city did not hold back, his Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Rhyhon, Steelix, Vileplume and Gyarados gave Daisy a run for her money. She won the gym badge by the skin of her teeth and had to rush to the Pokemon centre after thanking Giovanni for the badge. It really didn't help that the gym and the man himself made her feel like she was being preyed on. She chalked it up to nervousness and moved on, the Indigo league was in a month and she needed to prepare.

In a month the Indigo conference had started and Daisy could be seen among the participants in the league. She had easily breezed through the four preliminary rounds and reached the semi finals. There were four candidates for the semi finals and she was facing off against Cynthia from Sinnoh. It was a close battle and she scored her win against the Sinnoh native when her Seadra evolved into Kingdra giving her the boost she needed to win into the finals. On the other field was Lance going up against Wallace and Lance won his battle making him and Daisy the final competitors.

The last battle for the Indigo league cup went under way with both Lance Dragonair and Daisy's Gyarados starting the fight. Lance won the first round thanks to Dragonair evolving into Dragonite, the second round was between Dragonite and Milotic. The two were evenly matched resulting in a double knock out. The third battle was between Lance's Gyarados and Scyther who gave as good as he got but Gyarados won the round but not without suffering from a lot of damages. The fourth battle was between Altaria and Chansey, thanks to the training Chansey was able to keep up with the dragon type bird and win against her. Lance summoned his Charizard who battled against Chansey and defeated. Daisy called Blastoise and the two Kanto starters duked it out not giving an inch to the other. Blastoise won against his fire brethren but Lance switched the downed Charizard for Gyarados who fought against Blastoise and had a double knock out. Now it was down to a single Pokemon for both contestants, everyone was glued to the seats their eyes not leaving the battle field. Daisy called her starter Bellossom and Lance called his own starter which was a Dragonite that was much older than the previous one.

The two starters battled against each other refusing to give up or even back down. The battle had become a test of strength and will power between the two challengers using sunny day and dragon dance simultaneously making everyone be on edge. At the end however Dragonite won out of sheer stubborn will power and Bellossom fainted because of exhaustion and burns. Lance was declared the new winner of the Indigo league, Daisy gave a grin congratulating Lance. That night after the ceremony Daisy got a huge group hug from her family and the adults telling her how proud they were of her and her younger siblings telling her how cool, impressive and amazing she was. Three months after the League Daisy went forward to take part in the contest line in Jhoto.