"Wait, What...?!" Nerissa heard Whitney exclaim in surprise as the dust cloud that enveloped the middle of the arena cleared up. This was followed by loud sobbing. Did she really do it? Had Cecil managed to beat the Miltank after all? She pumped her fist in the air, grinning cockily. If anyone thought her stupid or judged Cecil to be inept due to his small size...this was all the proof she needed to show that she could hold her own in battle, without having to be structured and erudite.

The girl was only half right, however. As the dust continued settling, she noticed not one, but two figures collapsed and lying motionless in the arena. One was the much bigger Miltank....and the other was a very small Houndour. Her own Cecil. The battle had ended in a draw. Now, had it been a situation where Cecil lost to a Clefairy, Nerissa would have suspected foul play and demanded an investigation. Her pride wouldn't have been able to handle such a loss, and blaming Cecil was out of the question. However, this was no Clefairy situation, and despite the fact that her Houndour fainted, she was proud of him for putting up a fight with the Miltank and managing to bring her down. She rushed forward to the center of the arena and picked up her fainted Pokemon, carrying him with both arms.

"Such a brave little rascal, aren't you? Took down that Miltank and made a big girl cry...what can't you do, man?" She teased, pointing at the Miltank, as well as Whitney as she laughed. Nerissa didn't like how Whitney just had to cry because her Miltank went down...was she that emotionally fragile? She herself never resorted to bursting into tears after losing, though she was probably even more of a sore loser than the Gym Leader was...at least she knew that she wasn't the type to become a sobbing mess. 

Nerissa stood there as Whitney sobbed. She was already annoyed at the rose-haired girl's crying over a [i]tie[/i]. Was she [i]that[/i] unaccepting? Or did she not realize that there was a tie in the first place? Groaning as she shook her head, Nerissa went over to Whitney and shook the Gym Leader's shoulder roughly.

"Snap out of it, would ya? It's a draw, man. A draw! The hell's wrong with you?" She growled, holding Cecil in front of the crying Gym Leader for her to see.