I never thought that I would ever be there, at Ever Grande City for the Hoenn League final match. It had been six months since I set out from Fresno to compete in the Hoenn League, and I'd made it. I made my way through the preliminaries with little effort. The qualifying rounds were tough, but Umbreon and Houndoom proved how much they'd grown, both as individuals, since I'd obtained them, and as a team since their battle at the Mossdeep gym against Tate and Liza.

In the finals, I was shocked to see that Stephen, one of my rivals and Alice's ex boyfriend, had made it through. He'd gotten more powerful, especially his Vigoroth. In the end, it was Umbreon versus Vigoroth, just like the first time we'd met, except this time we weren't fighting over Alice. We were fighting for the Ever Grande Conference tournament win. If I beat him, it would mean that I would go up against Mark, my rival from Sandbreak town, in the final match. Umbreon gave it all she had.

"Umbreon, quick attack, go!"

"Vigoroth, slash!"

Umbreon rocketed towards Vigoroth, who in turn ran at Umbreon. He wasn't fast enough on the swing, and Umbreon jumped and crashed head-first into his stomach, sending him skidding back on his feet, then dropping to one knee.

"I can see Umbreon's gotten stronger," shouted Stephen from across the field. "You must have done a lot of training since our last battle! But that doesn't mean that Vigoroth hasn't gotten stronger, too! Go, night slash!"

Vigoroth got up onto his feet and held his right claw out to the side, where it began to glow dark purple, brimming with dark energy. He started running towards Umbreon. She attempted to dodge the attack, but he was too fast, and his claw struck down her side. Her stance started to waver, and she closed one eye and cried out in pain. Vigoroth ran in for a follow-up attack with slash, but after having dealt with Vigoroth's slash attack so many times before, she knew all too well how to evade.

"Umbreon, use dark pulse!"

Umbreon landed on her feet, and while Vigoroth's back was turned, she opened up her mouth and created a ball full of purple circles. When he turned around, it was too late, and from the ball a beam of the circles shot out, repeatedly striking him and sending him flying back.

"Great job Umbreon, now fire back with another dark pulse!"

"Vigoroth, dodge and use X-scissor!"

Umbreon blasted the beam of purple circles at him again, but as he ran at her, claws glowing a bright, light green color, he swiftly dodged the attack. When he got close enough, he brought his claws up, folding his arms into an X-shape. Now close enough to strike, he brought both of them down, slashing Umbreon and sending her flipping across the field. Before she could get up, Stephen ordered Vigoroth to use hammer arm, a fighting-type move that would completely devastate Umbreon. But I knew just what to use to counter it.

"Umbreon, use detect!"

When Vigoroth was just about to bring his glowing arm down on Umbreon, she jumped up, and deftly slipped just barely out of his strike zone. Vigoroth's arm made contact with the ground, and we capitalized.

"Okay Umbreon, last resort!"

Umbreon jumped up into the air, and her entire body began to glow a brilliant white color, while her bands gave off a bright golden light, and her eyes became an intense shade of red. Vigoroth, who was still recovering from the failed attack, stared up at Umbreon with a look of utter fear on his face. Stephen shouted for him to get out of the way, but it was no use. Umbreon dropped at lightning fast speed, crashing into Vigoroth and throwing an enormous plume of dust into the air. When the cloud settled, Vigoroth had been thrown completely to the other side of the field, where he lie unconscious at Stephen's feet.

The referee shouted "Vigoroth is unable to battle! Continuing on to the final match of the Ever Grande Conference is Joe!" He lifted up the green flag in his left hand, indicating that I was the victor. I walked out to the center of the arena, with Umbreon at my side, to meet the referee. The ref raised my right hand, and the crowd began to cheer and shout. I used my other hand to wave to everyone, especially the three people in the crowd who mattered the most, but I didn't see them from where I was.

When the ref finally let go of my hand, I looked over to Stephen, who was running his hand down Vigoroth's arm, comforting him. Vigoroth smiled, then Stephen put him back into his poke ball, stood up, and began walking towards the prep room on his side of the field. I jogged off after them.

"Hey Stephen," I called out when I caught up to him in the locker room, "that was a great battle. I can tell that your pokemon have gotten a lot stronger since our last battle. I just want to say that, no matter what happened between us in the past, you're a great trainer." I held out my hand for him to shake.

He looked down at my hand, grasped it, and shook it. "Thanks Joe, it means a lot. You know, it's a shame that you and Alice split up. Its not every day that a person gets to meet a trainer as talented as you are. I'm surprised that she couldn't see that in you. Her loss, I guess." He laughed.

Thinking about Alice was the last thing I wanted to do at that moment, even though the whole reason Stephen and I were rivals was because of her. We'd been having issues since the day she found Alex asleep on top of me, and even though there was nothing going on between the two of us(in fact, she'd already gotten back with her ex-boyfriend Frank by that time), Alice could never just let it go. Her trust issues didn't get bad until the time we got to the Lavaridge town gym. When Flannery started flirting with me, and I joked back with her, Alice just couldn't take it anymore. After Petalburg, she left, saying that she was going back home to Littleroot town.

After the painful, and somewhat annoying trip down memory lane, I laughed, and replied to Stephen "Yeah, I guess you're right. Hey, you should stay and watch my match tomorrow. Then when you get back to Littleroot town, tell Alice I said hi, okay?"

From behind me, I heard a voice. "Or, you could say it to me right now, Joe."

I whipped my body around, and saw the angel that I fell in love with when I first started my journey. The long, auburn hair and jean shorts hadn't changed since we'd first met, but for some reason, Alice seemed different. She stood with her legs together, and one arm behind her back, with that hand grabbing her other wrist. She was looking down at first, but then she looked up at me, and I saw the bright smile that reminded me of why I fought Stephen so hard, way back then.

"Alice," I said, almost in a whisper. "What are you doing here?"

She let out a short giggle, then answered "What, did you think that I wouldn't come to see you compete in the biggest tournament in Hoenn? Joe, I know we're not together anymore, but I do still consider you a good friend."

Good friend? I hadn't seen Alice in months, and there she was calling me a good friend. I guessed maybe she still cared, even after what happened between us. "I guess you're right, then. You remember Stephen, of course." I motioned to Stephen, who was sitting on the bench a few feet away.

She smiled, then said "Yeah, I remember. One thing I don't remember, though, is you two fighting that hard before. I know you guys had some heated battles before, but that was one for the record books. Great job, you two, I mean it. Joe, I hope you win your match with Mark tomorrow. I'd love to see you become champion."

And with that, she walked through the doorway, and out of the locker room. Stephen turned to me, and said "Awkward…." We both started laughing.

I walked out of the locker room a couple minutes later, and in the pokemon center waiting for me were my friends: Steph, Alex, and Frank. Steph had been with me from the start. She'd had her boyfriend, Ron, with her, but he revealed himself to be an undercover agent for Team Magma. Of course, they split, and after out battle in Magma's base under Mt. Chimney, I hadn't seen him again. Alex joined our group when we were in Slateport city, and was almost the whole reason for Alice breaking up with me. I didn't blame her, though. Frank actually started out as an enemy, traveling with Stephen and Robert, up until our battle in the clearing outside of Mauville city. After he helped me get my pokemon back, he was pretty much a member of the gang. Alex was the first one to see me. She jumped up out of her chair and tackle-hugged me.

"OHMIGOD, JOE THAT WAS AWESOME!"

Her arms were wrapped around my neck so tight that she was practically cutting off the circulation of blood to my head. I was beginning to get a bit light-headed, but she finally let go of me. "Wow," I said between forced breaths, "someone's a bit excited, huh?"

She laughed, then gave me another hug, this time just around my sides. "Sorry, Joe," she said apologetically. "I just got really worked up during that match, it was so exciting!"

Steph came over and gave me a hug as well. "Congratulations, Joe, that was an amazing battle. Umbreon did really good in there, as well as the others. I didn't think that Scizor would be able to perform so well against Stephen's Torkoal. I can't wait until your match tomorrow!"

Frank came up last, and gave me a handshake, pulling into a bro-hug. "Great job, man. Your pokemon did great, even at type disadvantages. But I've got to tell you something. Even though its great to take risks, I don't think you should pull any stunts with your match against Mark like you did today."

Confused, I asked "What do you mean, stunts?"

Frank shook his head. "I'm talking about bringing out pokemon with obvious type disadvantages. Using Flygon against Glalie? I know I've told you dozens of times about how Flygon takes almost quadruple damage from ice-type moves. She could've gotten seriously hurt out there. You're lucky she had the speed advantage, otherwise you'd have lost."

I laughed, then responded "Frank, don't worry about it. When it comes down to it, type advantages don't really play a huge factor in determining who wins the battle. Its all about training and dedication."

He grumbled. "It may not be a huge factor, but its big enough, Joe. I'm just saying be more careful, that's all."

"Don't worry about it, I've got you." I smiled, then looked at the others. "Now, who's ready to celebrate! Lets go get some dinner, that match took a lot out of me and the pokemon, and we're all starving!"

The Next Day….

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment you've all been waiting for! The final battle in this year's Ever Grande Conference is about to get under way. Fighting for the championship are two young, yet extremely talented trainers! On the red side of the field, we have Mark, from Sandbreak town!"

From the locker room, I could hear the thousands of people in attendance cheering as Mark made his way out and onto the field. I was so nervous the night before, I didn't think that I'd be able to get out there and battle. I sat there in the locker room with my hands clasped together, and my head hanging down, trying to gather the strength to get out there. Finally, I remembered who I was battling, and I remembered Umbreon, Houndoom, and all my other pokemon who'd trained for this day. If I gave up and quit then because of nerves, I would be letting all of them down. I couldn't do that, not to them, after they'd worked so hard.

As I made my way out, I could hear the announcer giving my introduction over the speaker system in the arena. When I got to my designated area, I looked across the field and saw Mark. He was standing there, confidence in his eyes. He seemed stronger, more so than he did when we fought Team Magma at the Mossdeep space center. He was ready to battle, and so was I.

"Let the battle begin!"

I took out a poke ball and tossed it. "Flygon, lets go!"

From the ball came my big, green, bug-like dragon pokemon. Mark took one look at her, then said "Hmm, a dragon type, nice choice. Lets see who's the better dragon trainer, then. Salamence, lets go!" Up on the scoreboard, below my picture, Flygon's appeared, and below Mark's picture, Salamence appeared.

From his poke ball came a huge, beast of a pokemon. Salamence's skin was blue, with a white underbelly. The areas under his neck and tail, and above his eyes were red, as well as his wings. Once outside, he let out a great roar, but Flygon wasn't distracted by it. She'd dealt with roars before. She was Houndoom's favorite training partner.

"Flygon, dragon claw!"

"Salamence, use crunch!"

Both Flygon and Salamence jumped up into the air and took flight. They sped at each other in the sky at incredible speed. Flygon's right claw began to glow a bright white color, and when she was in range she swung it at Salamence. However, Salamence countered, and bit down hard on her hand, causing her to stop and scream out in pain.

"FLYGON!" I cried out. I could feel her pain, even though I wasn't the one battling. "Knock him off with dragon pulse!"

Flygon was able to gain control of herself, and prepare her attack. She used her free hand to grab onto Salamence's head, and put her feet up against his shoulders as leverage. When she was in position, she began to charge up the bluish-purple ball of energy in her mouth.

"Salamence, get out of there!"

It was too late for Salamence to back out. Flygon unleashed her attack, firing the ball at Salamence, where it exploded in a powerful wave of energy. Salamence was sent flying back, but so was Flygon. She was too close to the attack when it hit, so she was hurt too. However, she was able to gain flight stability, which was a good sign.

When Salamence was able to stabilize, he held his position, glaring at Flygon who returned the stare.

Mark closed his eyes, and let out a small chuckle. "Joe, I can see Flygon has gotten a lot stronger. But as you know, a dragon's strength is measured by the strongest move it knows. I'll bet you don't know this one! Salamence, Draco meteor!"

I couldn't believe he didn't think that Flygon was strong. I would show him. "Flygon, fire your draco meteor right back!" When the words escaped my mouth, I could see the look of shock on Mark's face.

Both Salamence began to charge a huge amount of energy in their stomachs. There was a bright golden light coming up from their mouths, and they released a golden ball up in to the air. The balls exploded, and sent dozens of smaller blasts of energy at the other pokemon. The blasts made contact in the center of the arena, creating a huge plume of smoke. Both pokemon were still up in the air when the smoke cleared, but they'd sustained a lot of damage from the shockwave of the attack.

"Flygon, use dragon pulse!"

"Salamence, counter with dragon breath!"

Flygon blasted the blue ball of energy at Salamence, but the attack missed, opening her up for a stream of blue flames from Salamence. The attack struck Flygon and send her back. Salamence followed up with draco meteor, and flygon had no time to dodge. Dozens of golden balls of powerful energy struck flygon all over her body, sending her crashing down to the ground. Mark and Salamence finished up with hyper beam. Flygon was blasted with the intense golden beam, and knocked out cold. Her picture on the scoreboard went dark.

"Flygon, come back." When she was in her poke ball, I smiled, and said "Great work. Take a rest, Flygon." I grabbed another ball and tossed it. "Scizor, lets go!"

Scizor, my steel-and-bug powerhouse, came out onto the field, his picture appearing under Flygon's on the scoreboard. He jumped up into the air and began to hover a foot off the ground. Suddenly he kicked up the power in his wings and rose up higher in the air. There was no way he would be able to get to the height that Salamence stood at, but he could get within range to attack.

"Scizor, hit him hard with flash cannon!"

Scizor started charging up a bright silver ball in one of his claws. When it was ready, he aimed the claw at Salamence and fired a dazzling silver beam at him.

"Salamence, drop low and use fire fang!"

Just before the attack hit, Salamence dodged and dropped in the air, lowering himself to around Scizor's level. Bad mistake.

"Scizor, use agility to dodge then strike hard with bullet punch!"

Salamence flew straight at Scizor, flames trailing out of the sides of his mouth. When he opened his jaws to attack, Scizor sped out of the way, so fast he almost looked like a blur. Before Salamence could react, Scizor was up in his face, using his metal claws as fists and striking with incredible speed. Because of his special ability, technician, the attack was doing even more damage than it normally would. I could tell, since Salamence's face was twisting and contorting in pain. When Scizor finally let up, I ordered another flash cannon attack, which struck dead-on in Salamence's face, sending him in a tailspin towards the ground. If the attack didn't knock Salamence out, then it was the crash. Either way, he was unable to battle after that. Mark put him into his poke ball, and his picture on the scoreboard went dark.

He took out his next poke ball and tossed it in. "Camerupt, lets go!"

Camerupt, the pokemon that looked like a short, red camel with volcano-shaped rocks on its back, came out onto the field. Mark had evolved it from Numel, as I found out during out battle outside of Lilycove city. No matter what, this pokemon was nothing to be taken lightly, since one powerful fire-type attack could devastate Scizor, despite his high defense. It looked like it would come down to his speed.

"Scizor, get in close with agility, then use skull bash!"

"Camerupt, lava plume."

Scizor, who was still up in the sky, repositioned himself and began an angled dive towards Camerupt, with his head tucked down, ready to strike. Before I could call off the attack, Scizor was within a few feet of Camerupt, and a red-hot stream of liquid fire blasted out of one of Camerupt's volcano holes, completely washing over Scizor and dropping him to the ground. He was able to get to his feet, but he was badly burned by the attack. Mark saw this, and capitalized.

"Camerupt, finish him with eruption!"

Camerupt took a rooted stance in the ground, and it began to shake. Scizor attempted to use flash cannon, but the quaking caused him to lose focus. Suddenly, geysers of ash and lava began shooting from Camerupt's back, covering Scizor. He was able to get out, but once he did, he collapsed, incapacitated. I put him back into his ball, and his picture on the board went dark.

"Nice try, Scizor, take a break." I grabbed another poke ball, and tossed it. "Come on out Kirlia!"

Onto the field came the second pokemon I ever caught, Kirlia. She was one of my few unevolved pokemon, and the only one on my Conference team. Her picture appeared under Scizor's on the board.

A look of intrigue took over on Mark's face. "Kirlia?" he asked. "Is that the same Kirlia from our battle at Lilycove city?"

"Yeah, why?"

He laughed, then said "Joe, you're using a pokemon that isn't fully evolved? Come on, that's just a rookie mistake right there. If you want to win, you've got to use all the power you can get!"

I shook my head. "You're wrong!" I responded. "Its not power that wins our battles, its skill. Kirlia's trained just as hard as all my other pokemon, even my fully evolved ones. She's one of my best, and she won't lose to you! Isn't that right, Kirlia?"

I looked down at her. She looked back up at me, smiled, and said "Kirlia!"

I smiled back at her, then gave the order. "Okay Kirlia, lets show him how hard you've trained. Start it with future sight!"

Mark shook his head. "Rookie. Camerupt, blast her with stone edge!"

Camerupt stomped on the ground, kicking up half a dozen sharp rocks, and sent them flying at Kirlia. She used teleport to dodge the attack, then she sent a beam of purple thunder up into the air, where it disappeared.

"Kirlia, now use psybeam!"

"Camerupt, counter with lava plume!"

Kirlia used her most powerful move, psybeam. It was the first attack I'd ever seen her use, and it was instrumental in my wins at the Dewford town and Petalburg city gyms. She charged up the beam in front of her face, then blasted it at Camerupt. In turn, Camerupt launched another stream of liquid fire. The two attacks came to a head in the center of the field, connecting and pushing against each other as both pokemon began to put every ounce of power in their bodies to come out on top. In the end, Kirlia's psybeam forced its way through, and struck Camerupt hard, sending it flying back and crashing into the arena wall behind Mark.

Camerupt slowly got to her feet, but by the time he did, Kirlia sent another psybeam blast at him, making him drop into a sitting position, then over onto his side, finishing the battle. Mark put him into his ball, and his picture on the board went dark.

Next up was Medicham. Kirlia made short work of it, with a shadow ball shot straight to the gut knocking it down, and the future sight attack from earlier delivering the final blow. Just as soon as his picture was up, it went dark.

We'd eliminated half of Mark's team, but now came the hard part. For one, I knew that somewhere in his final three stood Poliwrath, the pokemon that devastated Umbreon in our first battle. Second, I had a powerful hunch that his Rapidash would be used, as well. I'd only seen it in battle once, against Team Magma, but even that one time, it left an impression that I'll never forget. Finally, there was his sixth pokemon. I had no idea what it would be, but if he hadn't used it yet, there was a reason he was saving it, and that worried me. Sure enough, though, the next picture on the board was Rapidash.

His unicorn-esque pokemon was like something out of a fairy tale. Pure white hair, an insanely powerful horn, and flaming mane and tail were what defined this amazingly beautiful beast. Rapidash was a magnificent, honorable pokemon, but it was also one of the strongest and fastest pokemon I'd ever seen. I knew I had to be careful.

"Kirlia, use double team, then magical leaf!"

"Rapidash, use fire spin all around you to flush out the real one!"

Kirlia began to split: first into two, then four, then eight, and before I knew it there were enough of her to completely surround Rapidash. But I'd underestimated her abilities. She opened up her mouth, and released a spiral of flames, which quickly surrounded her, more or less nullifying the magical leaf attack. Once the threat had been averted, Rapidash used her power to spread out the circle of flames, extending out and striking each and every copy of Kirlia, including the real one, knocking her to the ground with a burn on her right hand.

"Great job Rapidash!" shouted Mark. "Now use mega horn!"

Rapidash tucked her head down and began charging at Kirlia, who was down on one knee, holding her hand in pain. The horn on Rapidash' head began to glow a hot white, and I shouted to Kirlia "Get out of there, now! Use teleport!"

It was too late. When Kirlia looked up to see what was happening, Rapidash lifted her head, striking with that overpowered horn of hers, and launching Kirlia up into the air. While she was up there, Rapidash used fire spin again, enveloping Kirlia in flames as she fell to the ground. Just before she landed, I jumped out and caught her in my arms.

Her face was twisted into a painful grimace, and I placed my hand on the side of her head to comfort her. She smiled, and her eyes let out a quick purple glow. Suddenly, a scorch mark appeared on Rapidash' left side, and he knelt down and shuddered in pain. She'd used her synchronize ability to give Rapidash a burn, just like he'd given her. I smiled, then put her back into her poke ball, her picture on the board going dark.

"Great job Kirlia, you were amazing. Take a rest, okay?" Next was one of my newest, but physically strongest pokemon. "Hitmonlee, lets go!"

Out next came Hitmonlee, my only pure fighting-type pokemon. I'd gotten him just recently, from Rito, the leader of the Dewford town gym. It was a gift from him, for getting into the Ever Grande conference. He was just barely shorter than Alex, but only but a couple of inches. He was all brown on his body, hands, and feet, and his legs and arms were a beige color. Hitmonlee's best attacks were his kicks, and I decided to start off quick and hard with them. "Hitmonlee, use hi jump kick!"

Hitmonlee got off to a running start, then jumped up into the air, and aimed his body so that he would come down at an angle above Rapidash. He tucked in his legs so that he could kick them out when he got close enough. But it wouldn't matter. Rapidash dodged, and Hitmonlee crashed, taking damage from the missed attack. Before he could recover, Rapidash knocked him back twenty feet with fire blast, then closed the distance and put him down with flare blitz. Hitmonlee tried to get up, but there was no use, he was beaten, before he could even get off another attack. I put him back into his poke ball, his picture going dark on the board. I was down to my last two pokemon. They were, without a doubt, however, my strongest.

"Houndoom, lets do this!" His picture came up on the board, and I knew that he wouldn't fail me. When I found him, he was still a Houndour, under the command of a brutal and heartless trainer named Eddie. Houndour was in the woods outside of Rustboro city, critically injured and barely able to move on his own. Steph and I took him to the pokemon center, where he was healed. After a battle with his owner, which Houndour was a big part of winning, he became mine, and quickly became fiercely loyal, and one of my most powerful pokemon, second only to Umbreon.

As soon as Houndoom's feet touched the ground, he released a stone-shattering roar, which echoed around the arena, causing the crowd to fall silent for a couple seconds, then erupt in their own roars of excitement. Rapidash, already injured from the burn sustained by Kirlia, became even more demoralized by Houndoom's roar. His face took on a look of worry and fear, and he backed up a couple steps. Mark didn't like this one bit.

"Rapidash, get back in there! Hit Houndoom with fire blast!"

"Houndoom, counter with blast burn!"

Rapidash let out a huge burst of flames, which made its way towards Houndoom. Houndoom, in turn, exhaled four streams of flame. One in the center, and three around the sides, spiraling around the center stream. The two attacks barely missed contact with each other, and instead headed straight for their intended targets. Both moves hit, but did almost no damage at all. Instead, both pokemon seemed even stronger. This time, Houndoom ran in to use fire fang, while Rapidash charged at him to use flame wheel. They both struck, but again neither attack had any effect. Finally, it hit me. Both pokemon had the flash fire ability. Any fire-type moves used against them would just increase their power, and do no damage at all.

Mark seemed to understand this too. "Joe, it looks like it'll be a battle of physical strength this time, then! Rapidash, use stomp!"

Rapidash reared up in front of Houndoom, and brought his front hooves down, stomping ruthlessly on Houndoom's body.

"Houndoom, blast it off with dark pulse!"

Houndoom opened up his mouth, and released a purple and black ball of energy that struck Rapidash, sending him flying back on his side.

"Great work! Now get in close and use crunch!"

Before Rapidash could get to his feet, Houndoom rocketed at him, jumped into the air, and came down on Rapidash, closing his immensely powerful jaws around his neck. Rapidash started flailing and crying out in pain, trying to shake itself loose from Houndoom's attack. When he finally got loose, Houndoom blasted him with dark pulse, effectively knocking him unconscious and ending the battle. Rapidash' picture on the screen went dark. Below it appeared Poliwrath's picture.

"Poli, WRAATH!"

He looked angry. "Poliwrath," shouted Mark, "put Houndoom out with water pulse!"

"Houndoom!" I called out, "fire back with flamethrower!"

Houndoom blasted a jet of flames from his mouth, but they were put out by the dozens of rings of water that came from the spiral on Poliwrath's stomach. The attack struck Houndoom, not only causing heavy damage, but also confusing him as well.

"Poliwrath, finish this with dynamic punch!"

"Houndoom, snap out of it!"

It was too late. Poliwrath closed the distance between them quickly, and delivered a super powered punch straight to Houndoom's jaw, lifting him ten feet up in the air. Next, Poliwrath jumped in the air and knocked Houndoom down to the ground with brick break. Finally, while he was still in the air, Poliwrath used hydro pump, unleashing a torrent of water down upon Houndoom, which did incredible damage to him. He tried to get up, but fell back down. I called him back to his ball, and his picture went dark. I was down to my last pokemon. My last, but my best.

"Umbreon, GO!"