"Awh man, I'm so lost." Mumbled a young man to himself. "Hey, come on out Charizard!" He hurled a Pokéball into the air and with a white flash of light the flame pokémon emerged with a roar and landed next to its trainer. "Well Charizard, we're lost." Stated the young man with nervous laugh. Charizard just looked at him and huffed. "Take to the air and find people traveling or a nearby town." Ordered the young trainer.
With that, Charizard beat his massive wings powerfully and took to the air. After about a few minutes Charizard rejoined his trainer and notified him that there was a small campsite due about half a mile North-west. "thanks, Charizard." He pointed his Pokéball at his pokémon and ordered it to return. With a red flash of light, Charizard returned to his ball.
"How long is Ash going to sleep?" Serena thought out loud. "Well, he really wore himself out yesterday training. Don't worry though, when the scent of the hotpot hits him, he'll come running." Clemont reassured.
Clemont lifted the lid off of the hotpot and a large cloud of steam erupted from the pot. Not three second later Ash was emerging from his tent with hunger in his eyes. "See? Told you." Clemont whispered to Serena.
"Good morning Ash!" Serena happily yelled with a big smile on her face. "...'morning" Ash grumbled, still in the process of waking up. Ash looked around. "Where's Bonnie?" He asked. "We don't want a repeat of yesterday." He added. "Maybe you don't but someone here does. Isn't that right, Serena?" Clemont stated with a cynical smile on his face. Serena turned bright red and Ash ignored the comment as was too focused on the food in front of him. "Bonnie is out looking for berries with Pikachu. She'll be back soon." Clemont said.
"Pikachu, do you think we have enough berries for everyone?" Asked the young blonde girl. "Pika!" Pikachu replied. "Okay! Let's go back then!"
As Bonnie and Pikachu were walking back to the campsite Bonnie closed her eyes to take in the nice forest scent. She loved it. Pikachu did the same. They were walking with their eyes closed enjoying the forests activity with their senses. Suddenly Bonnie bumped into something and she opened her eyes and looked up to meet a taller young man with brown eyes and black, thick framed glasses with rounded corners. He had shoulder length black hair messily pushed back and a little bit of scruff on his face. He wore a black t-shirt and dark blue slim stretch jeans with black shoes. Bonnie immediately took note of the six Pokéballs on the back of his belt.
"You're lost too?" The young man asked. "No, my friends are waiting for me. My big brother made hotpot for breakfast! You can join us if you like, there's more than enough!" Bonnie told the young man.
"I think I'll take you up on that offer, lead the way!" The young man accepted. "By the way, what's your name?"
Bonnie smiled up at him "I'm Bonnie! And this is Pikachu! I have Dedenne sleeping in my bag too!" She informed with a large smile. "I'm Owen, nice to meet you!" The young man replied with a smile.
They walked for five minutes before reaching the campsite. "Heyyyy! Don't start eating without meeee!" Bonnie exclaimed. She ran towards the table with Owen not far behind. 'He looks familiar...' Clemont thought to himself. "I'm Owen! Nice to meet you all!" He glanced at the hot pot and noticed Clemont looking at him 'They travel with a Kalos gym leader… I hope he doesn't recognize me.' Owen thought to himself. "I'm Ash! I'm an aspiring Pokémon master!" Ash announced. "I'm Serena! My goal is to be the Kalos queen!" She chimed in from next to Ash. Owen looked over to them and waved, he then took a closer look at the distance between Serena and Ash. 'So, that's happening. Lucky guy.'
"I'm Clemont. I'm the Lumiose city gym leader. I'm an inventor, it's a hobby."
"Gym leader? Wow that's impressive dude. You must be strong." Owen replied. "Not as strong as Ash here. He beat me for the badge. We're actually on our way to the Kalos league. He wants to challenge it." Clemont explained. "Let's eat so I can go train!" Ash finished. They all enjoyed Clemont's hotpot. "Awh man, I'm stuffed." Owen announced. "Me too." Ash added. Ash stood up and passed by Owen and noticed the six pokéballs on the back of his belt. "Hey, you're a trainer!"
Owen looked at him. "Let's battle! A one-on-one would be great for getting my blood pumping!" Ash insisted. "I accept! I gotta burn off these calories somehow." He accepted with a smile.
"Hey Clemont, can you referee the match?" Asked Ash. "Sure!" Clemont stood up and took his position in their make-shift battlefield.
They took a fair distance from one another. "Alright Noivern, I choose you!" Ash released the bat pokémon from its pokéball in a flash of white light.
'Let's take it easy on him, feel him out for now...' Owen thought to himself before grabbing a pokéball from his belt. "Let's go, Infernape!" Owen released the flame pokémon from its ball.
"The battle between Noivern and Infernape will begin when both trainers say they're ready!" Clemont announced. "Ready." Both trainers said in unison.
"Do you think Owen is strong, Bonnie?" Serena inquired. "He looks like he is, but I'm rooting for Ash!" Bonnie exclaimed with a smile. "Me too!" Serena blushed.
"Infernape, use swords dance!" Infernape was then surrounded by five swords circling him and their blades all met like a crown. Suddenly a red aura came about Infernape. "Heh, raising your stats are you? Noivern use Air slash!" Ash commanded. Noivern flapped its leathery wings viscously to where the air started cutting anything it hit. It connected with Infernape, much to Owen's dismay. 'Infernape must be exhausted… we haven't been to a pokémon center in three weeks. Alright, I'll make quick work of this.' Owen thought. "Infernape, close the distance with flare blitz and follow up with a thunder punch!"
"Noivern fly up and use air slash again!" Ash commanded. Infernape was then engulfed in flames as he took off towards Noivern. Noivern took to the sky to evade the attack. "Follow it up and use close combat!" Owen shouted. Before Noivern can shoot its air slash attack Infernape jumped up with blinding speed and unleashed a flurry of high speed strikes onto Noivern. "Noivern get out of there!" Ash pleaded. 'he's hesitating…' Owen thought.
Noivern crashed to the ground on its back. "Noivern get up!" Ash pleaded. "Infernape dive down and use thunder punch!" Owen shouted. Infernape dived down from the sky and delivered a mighty thunder punch right to Noivern's stomach raising a lot of dust and debris. When the smoke cleared Noivern had spirals in its eyes, signifying it was unable to battle. "Noivern is unable to continue, the victory goes to Owen and Infernape!" Clemont announced. Ash and Owen ran towards Noivern. "Is he okay? Here, give him one of these. It's a citrus berry. They heal your pokémon." Owen offered. "Thanks, Owen." Ash accepted the berry and fed it to Noivern. Noivern was feeling better the moment he swallowed the berry.
"Ash!" Serena called. "Are you okay?" She asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Owen just got the better of me." Ash replied. "Hey Ash, your Noivern is super strong, it takes a lot to do that kind of damage to Infernape, and Noivern did it in one hit. I'm impressed. But, there was a moment when Infernape was using close combat on Noivern, you hesitated with concern for Noivern." Owen informed. "Yeah, I guess I care too much for my Pokémon's safety." Ash replied. "That really isn't a bad thing, Ash. That's a great trait you have. But in battle, any form of hesitation can lead to your pokémon getting seriously hurt. You as the trainer have to be on top of that." Owen Lectured. 'he seems to be big on hesitation… I seriously feel like I know this guy…' Clemont thought to himself. Clemont then made a connection.
"Owen, by any chance are you the trainer of a very strong Dragonite?" Clemont asked.
'busted…'
Ash, Serena, and Bonnie all looked at Clemont then at Owen. "Well, you got me." Owen said, defeated. "I knew you looked familiar!" Clemont excitedly stated. "Clemont, you know him?" Serena and Ash asked in unison. "Yeah, Owen is the Champion of the Alola Region!" Clemont shouted.
