This is because I picked her out when she was 13 not when she was 10... I would have used her 15 year old version but I've not read enough of that version of her yet to play that version specifically...

Think about your reasoning the other way around, Would you have had such complications if the stronger character was in the RP first?

Having something better doesn't necessarily make the worse thing less useful... The US Marines show this very well, always playing second fiddle to the Army, and often having older and less advanced equipment during a great majority of the second world war.