Summary: "You changed my life and I changed yours, because when we met sparks flew, flowers bloomed, love blossomed. Forget the IOUs; we were destined to be together, forever and always."

Shameless promotion: For those of you who know my first Ikarishipping one-shot, '20 Hours', I edited *coughchangedalotcough* it a while back. So if you're interested, go ahead. Even if you don't know about it, if you like, please check it out. Thanks.

Disclaimer: Do not own the franchise. Will never own the franchise. So let's get this show on the road already, 'kay? Only the plot is mine, but that's a minor and obvious detail.

(Belated now) Happy Birthday, Ju5t An0th3r H3d6h06~!

~ d◦e◦s◦t◦i◦n◦y ~

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~ Prologue: Frozen Solid and Melted Sticky ~

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It was that heart-stopping moment as the two pokémon on the battle-field stood staring in opposite directions, and straight into the opponent's trainer's eyes.

For a second there, no one knew the outcome of the match. It was like time had frozen and had made still everything in its wake.

Suddenly one of the pokémon's knees gave out and it shuddered before falling onto the sand with a loud thud.

No one said a word.

Paul stared in disbelief at his Torterra lying on the sand like that, soundly beaten. He couldn't believe his eyes as he walked up to his fallen pokémon and knelt down beside it. He placed a hand gently on his starter's shell, trying to convince himself of the facts.

He had been defeated by this old man standing in front of him.

That same old perverted geezer who had cackled with laughter at his challenge and called him 'Payton'.

Alder.

He felt a hand touch his shoulder tentatively but didn't bother to shrug it off. He was too shocked to even respond.

He had thought he was ready. And he had thought it would have been a piece of cake to beat the brawny oaf in front of him to prove just that.

How could he even think of beating Cynthia if he couldn't beat this pathetic old-timer?

He tensed as the hand now gripped his shoulder lightly, as if to reassure him, to support him, to make him feel better. It was then that he realized that he had been shaking.

"It was a good battle. You almost beat him, you know. You've grown so strong over these years; your progress has been tremendous. Alder is indeed a difficult opponent, but you handled this splendidly. Not many reach where you have reached, and certainly not this well."

Paul slowly turned back to look at the hand's face and his black eyes met gray ones. Distant-looking, yet filled with warmth.

He felt ashamed.

He felt humiliated.

Most of all, he felt disappointed.

He looked away from Cynthia's eyes and trained his own onto Alder, who was lovingly hugging his Vanilluxe, which ended up freezing part of his body. Paul would have cracked a smile at the sight of the idiot flailing around, trying to melt the ice from his arms, but he just wasn't up for it this time.

"Paul?" He turned back to look at Cynthia, who was standing there with a sympathetic smile, her Castelia cone melting in her hand. But even that sight couldn't make him feel better.

He felt absolutely devastated.

"You do realize that you lost by only a small margin, right? And that you were at a really bad type-disadvantage? And-" She got cut off by a booming laughter and they both turned around to look at the cause.

Alder stood there, smiling goofily at them both, while rubbing his nose in embarrassment.

"That was quite a battle, my boy. Man, you got me so pumped up! I swear I've never felt this re-energized by a battle before. Too bad you're not from here, kiddo. But I guess Sinnoh's taught you well, eh, Payton?" he bellowed out humorously, laughing as he tousled up an irritated Paul's hair who looked like he was about to snap.

"Alder, I think you're pushing it-" Cynthia tried to warn him but was cut off yet again as Paul stepped away from Alder, before returning his pokémon to its pokéball, and turned to face both of them fully. He took in a deep breath and bowed low in respect.

"Thank you for the battle, Alder. I have learnt a lot from this. And thank you for the invitation, Cynthia. My experiences from here will help me a lot in the future." He straightened up and smartly turned on his heel, and left the beach before either one could utter a word.

Silence enveloped the two left and the only sound that remained was of the waves crashing on the sand.

"Paul…" Cynthia frowned as she looked on, slightly worried as he walked further and further away from them.

"I wouldn't really worry about him now, Cynthia," Alder suddenly spoke up, in an uncharacteristically serious voice. "I think he just needs some time to himself. But I must say," He looked up at a flock of swanna flying into the horizon, "the lad really is something, you know. I wouldn't be surprised if he's somewhere in the top league within the next five years. Actually make that next year. He's a fine battler, the kid is."

Cynthia kept quiet for a while, letting his words sink in and suddenly smiled.

"Yes, he has grown a lot from his rookie days," she agreed, remembering how the younger Paul was, aggressive yet stoic.

"And he has changed a lot," she added, seeing the purple dot being swallowed up by the automatic doors of the Pokémon Center, her smile widening.

"He has great potential, no doubt," Alder piped up, his eyes now looking directly at her.

"Yes, he is a force to be reckoned with. And his goal is much clearer to him now than was in the past. You know what?" She turned to face him, brushing away her hair from her face, a huge grin plastered on her face, "I can't wait for him to challenge me."

Alder looked at her confusedly, evidently not getting what she really meant.

She turned back to look at the setting sun and smiled, not caring that her hair was being blown in every direction possible by the wind. She stood there, slightly swaying with the breeze, her hands behind her back as she took in the scene with content. She closed her eyes.

"It will be a different story from our previous battle where you randomly challenged me out of the blue, Paul. This time you are stronger than ever and you know where you stand. This time will be the real challenge." She smiled.

She opened her eyes and turned back to face Alder who had an 'I-lost-you-a-long-time-back' look on his face.

"It's going to be so much fun!" She beamed at him.

Alder smiled.

"Well then, let's get you another ice-cream, shall we? I don't think you'll be up for licking your arm now, would you?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised."

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- This used to be a one-shot, but I thought expanding this would be fun.

- Updates will be alternate weeks or monthly, depending on the response to this.

- If there are any questions, please leave a review and I will reply back to you.

So with that said, please review with your opinions. Favorites and follows are fine too, but it would mean a lot to me if you could also spend a few more seconds and leave a review too.

On a more personal note, I am also doing this thing with a schedule and stuff to boost my confidence. Over time, I have been losing my momentum and sometimes I find myself unable to publish/update. I have so many more stories which I can publish, some from way before too, but my lack of self-confidence makes me hesitant and unable to write. I began writing the basic premise of this story more than three years ago and completely revamped it three months ago but I could never get myself to publish it. I don't want to quit, I want to feel good about myself and my writing, so I gave myself this challenge. I hope you will all support me. It would mean the world to me, and I promise you, I won't disappoint.

Thanks for your time and see you next update! I needta go catch up on the sleep I lost out on this month. Adieu~