A young woman walked into into the Indigo Plateau and asked the receptionist where the battle arena is. She was told it was on the roof, so she boarded the elevator. The lights indicated she had quite a few floors to go, so she took a quick glance at her Pokedex. Three hundred and thirty three owned, more than any other she knew of. But there were so many one-of-a-kind types that she knew she would never get a hold of, so she decided long ago that her current owned number was enough. Finally, she reached the top floor. Before exiting the elevator, she patted down her skirt, being careful not to let the wind take advantage of it.

"Excuse me, miss, but who gave you permission to be up here?" Steven asked. He was standing right next to the elevator where he was observing the battle.

The woman laughed quietly and rubbed the back of her neck. "Nobody," she said, "But my friend is in this battle see, and--"

"I hardly care who your friends are, you need to leave! There is an unofficial match involving a League Champion, and League rules state that one requires all eight badges to witness such and event!" Steven explained.

"I have all of the badges in the Hoenn region and the Sinnoh region..." the woman said, opening her bag to reveal them, "Do those count?"

Steven sneered and went back to watching the match. But it had apparently just ended.

Gold let out a very audible laugh. "I've never had to try that hard! And to think I won..." he shook hands with his opponent, Logan.

"Oh, Logan!" the woman called. She waved her hands around wildly in an attempt to get his attention from all the way across the battlefield.

Logan glanced over at her with a cool smile.

"He lost, so he's not going to be a gym leader, right?" Steven asked Cynthia, who appeared out of nowhere.

"Those were the rules, but I think Gold will say otherwise..." she replied.

Gold made his way back to the other two Champions with a massive grin. "This guy's stronger than me." he stated.

"What?! But you defeated him!" Steven exclaimed.

"He threw the match. I'm not sure why, but he let his Weavile get hit straight on with my Typhlosion's Flamethrower when it was completely obvious he could have dodged it.

The woman ran over to Logan and they began to talk. Steven watched with malice. "There's just no way," he muttered.

"So anyway, I say if we let this kid be a gym leader, he would easily be a better challenge than Blue." Gold said.

"Which would be good with all these powerful up-and-coming trainers out there..." Cynthia added, putting her hand to her chin in thought, "What say you, Steven?"

"I think this is an outrage!" he cried.

"Outrage is for dragon types," said Logan as he and the woman made their way to the three.

"My name is Hikari, by the way, and I'm that person Logan mentioned who would like to become a mixed gym leader as well." the woman said with a quick bow. She reached in her bag and handed her Pokedex to Cynthia. All three champions took a glance at it.

"I love this!" Gold exclaimed. "The future of the Pokemon League is beaming!"

Sakura slid her hand across the chair Spencer sits in when trainers enter his gym. It was late, and she was planning on meeting him there for a surprise she kept in her Dusclops-shaped bag, but he had yet to show up. Instead, she began to pretend as if she were the gym leader. She sat in the chair, which was very throne-like, and crossed her legs with an evil grin, much like Spencer would.

"Welcome to the Ecruteak City Gym. I'm Sakura, the leader," she declared in a deep voice, attempting to mimic Spencer. Suddenly, she shot up and took out a Pokeball. "Oh, it's a battle you want, huh?" she asked in her deepest voice. "Go, Misdreavus!" She threw the ball on the ground and let her ghost type rise into the air, confusedly.

The Pokemon looked back at her, wondering what the problem was.

Sakura collapsed back into the chair and sighed deeply. "It's useless," she whispered to her Pokemon, "We're much too weak to join this gym...I should just give up being a trainer..."

There was a long silence as her Misdreavus made a pathetic whimper of sadness.

"Now that ain't the way to be a successful trainer..." a voice said, coming from behind her.

Sakura leapt into the air, flying out of the chair and landing on her ass. It was Spencer, who must have teleported in with his over-sized Haunter who was hovering behind him.

"Spencer, I--" Sakura began, regretting being in the gym without him and expecting a punishment.

Spencer narrowed his gaze on her, the moonlight shining through the tinted sun roof above them. He got down on one knee and placed his hand gently on her chin. "Sakura, do you know why I gave you that Duskull barrette?" he asked quietly.

She blushed. 'He's touching me...and staring into my eyes with such intensity...' she thought.

"It's because it..." then he paused awkwardly.

Sakura blinked.

Then, Spencer fell over, toppling on top of her. ...Out cold.

Haunter lifted a large bottle of wine with a huge grin.

'So he's drunk...' Sakura thought, annoyed, 'I should have guessed...I can smell the alcohol on his breath.'

Spencer awoke with a start and sat up, finding himself in his own bed. He could smell bacon and pancakes, an increasingly familiar scent in his home. Sakura was obviously making him breakfast again. Slowly and carefully, he got himself out of bed and made his way wearily to the kitchen, where, sure enough, the girl was standing in front of the sink, the table decorated with food.

"I see you're awake," Sakura said without looking back. She turned off the faucet and turned to him. "What the hell is your problem?" she shouted.

"Ah, could please not speak so loudly?" Spencer asked. He tried to sit at the table, but tripped and fell to a knee.

Sakura only watched as he struggled back to his feet.

"The food looks good," Spencer muttered. At that moment he leaned forward and threw up on the floor. He was about to topple over into it, but Sakura appeared at his side and lead him back to bed. She found a bucket and placed in on the floor next to him.

"That's in case you can't make it to the bathroom in time," she said coldly. Then she exhaled and grinned. "A sixteen year-old girl taking care of an adult...Unheard of in these lands, Spencer. You should feel pretty bad right now."

"I feel like crap..." he muttered, taking it very literally. Then his eyes shot open and he hopped to his feet, rushing to the bathroom.

Sakura could see him get on his knees and hurl something fierce into the toilet-bowl.

"Maybe I should stay here until you get better?" Sakura suggested, beginning to see the humor in the situation.

"No...I gotta go to the gym... Gonna be a busy day today..." Spencer said through labored breaths.

"Out of the question. You have a terrible hang-over, and there's no chance you'll even be able to make it to the gym!" Sakura snapped.

"Then you gotta do it."

She gasped.

Nervously the girl sat in the chair, awaiting anyone who entered. She was given Spencer's Bannette and Froslass, while his Haunter stayed with him to attend to his needs. She was told that if for any reason she was beginning to lose, she had to admit she's not the real gym leader and deal with a severely pissed-off trainer. But according to Spencer, Banntte and Froslass were more than enough for all the random bright-and-hopefuls to handle. Fortunately for her, those people had yet to show up. At about two in the afternoon, the gym was still empty.

"Sure is a busy day, all right..." Sakura muttered as she played chess against Froslass, who was pwning.

At that moment, the moment when Froslass check-mated Sakura's king, the large doors swung open.

Spencer had the lighting in the gym set so he could not see the challenger until he flipped a switch. Sakura flipped it and met eyes with a boy maybe two years younger than herself.

"Um, welcome to the Ecruteak City Gym...M-my name is Sakura..." she said nervously.

"1 DUN C4R3 WH0 U R, d00d!" the boy shouted, "1 M H3R3 2 F1GH7 P0K3RM4NZ!"

Sakura was having trouble understanding the boy's strange dialect.

"M3 1337, U N00B! T4ST3 M4H SK1LLZ AN G3T PWNT!" The boy then through out a Pokeball, releasing an incompetent looking Bidoof.

'I guess Spencer was right about only needing two of his Pokemon...' Sakura thought. "Go, Froslass!"

The Pokemon took her place, creating a small flurry in the arena with her Hail technique.

"1 C! UR G0NN4 0BSTRUCT M4H EYEZ W1T UR SN0W!"

"Now, use Blizzard!!" Sakura commanded.

Spencer's Pokemon were very obedient, so Froslass did not hesitate. The Bidoof was frozen solid, knocked out.

The trainer frowned and returned his Pokemon. "Now it's time to get serious..." he said.

Sakura was surprised in his change of tone.

"Go, Infernape!" he called, sending out the Pokemon.

It did multiple back flips and took a classic Bruce Lee pose.

"Close Combat!" the trainer called.

Infernape appeared in the air a few feet away from Frolass, his leg extended in a kick, which hit with intensity. Being super effective and super powerful, Froslass was knocked out.

Sakura was amazed. According to Spencer, there hasn't been anyone challenging in months. She didn't expect to get wasted.

"That was poorly planned..." the trainer said, "Are you really the fourth gym leader of Ecrueak?" he asked jokingly.

"Actually," Sakura began, bowing lowly, "I'm not. The real leader is at home sick...I'm afraid if you were to defeat the next Pokemon, I'm not authorized to give you the Grave Badge."

"Bullcarp in mah mouth!" the trainer cried.

Just as Spencer said.

"I hardly give a flying shizzle about if you're authorized or not," the trainer said, "If I defeat the next Pokemon, I'm taking the Grave Badge!"

Sakura looked down at the front of her dress where she was wearing the badge. Having some kid grab at it would be very uncomfortable for her. "I won't let you take it!" she declared.

"Back it up with a powerful Pokemon!"

"I will! Go, Bannette!"

"Flamethrower!"

Before Bannette could gets its footing, it was sent soaring through the air in a vortex of searing hot embers. Surprisingly to Sakura, it fainted.

"Are you kidding?" the trainer asked, walking up to his Infernape to pat it on the back.

"Um, if you wait here, I can go get his other Pokemon..." Sakura said pathetically.

"No chance. Now, unless you got another one with you, hand over the badge."

Sakura turned away for a moment and shuttered Spencer's reaction to what she was about to do. She unpinned the badge from her dress and turned back to the trainer. But there was something blocking her path. A massive dark gray figure with a small radio antenna on its head. It slowly turned to Sakura, its single red eye piercing her weak frame.

"What troubles you, human?" it asked in a multitude of ethereal voices. After it spoke, radio static could be heard emitting from its body somehow.

"Wh-who are you?" Sakura managed to ask.

"I am the fourth Pokemon of this gym. I am Dusknoir, the Gripper."

The Infernape shivered in fear. To Pokemon, Dusknoir is the Grim Reaper. He is the one who takes the truly fallen to the realm of the dead, making him one of the only Pokemon worth fearing.

"So," Hikari said to Logan later that evening, "What do you think will happen?"

The two were close friends since they become trainers. Both hailing from Celedon City in Kanto, they spent many days of their childhood together. Logan quickly showed potential to become able to enter the Indigo Plateau, while Hikari had the lengthiest list of Pokemon under her belt. But it would be unsafe to assume that she cannot train her hundreds of Pokemon, as she is considered close to Logan in strength.

Most passers-by consider the two as a couple, but Logan is only in love with his own power. Hikari is very complex, however showing no emotion of affection for anything but her Pokemon.

"What do I think'll happen 'bout what?" Logan asked, sipping some of his fountain drink. They were sitting across from each other at a random restaurant outside the Pokemon League.

"About the match with Gold," Hikari said, annoyed that he wasn't paying attention.

Logan only shrugged.

This resulted in a quick facepalm on Hikari's part. There was only one other person for Logan to pay attention to, and that was her, so why wasn't he--?

"Thinkin' we're gonna have to replace a gym leader, that's for sure," Logan said.

'Oh, now he wants to talk,' Hikari thought. "How will they go about having us replace them?"

"Like, six, approximately."

"What?" Hikari asked, completely baffled as to what Logan was talking about.

"What? What'd you say?"

Another facepalm. "Nothing...Never mind..."

Logan shrugged again. He leaned back in his chair and almost fell over when his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and stood up. "Yo," he greeted.

There was a pause as Hikari just kind of stared at him.

"Okay, we'll see you there. Yeah... Bye." Logan put the phone back in his pocket with a small grin.

"What?"

"You got a big flying-type with you?"

"The fourth Pokemon of this gym?" Sakura echoed, "All this time I thought Spencer only had three."

"I have a duty to preform on a regular basis..." Dusknoir said, still with his back to her, "But I am summoned in times of need."

"Summoned? But I didn't even know about you until just now..."

Dusknoir pointed to the antenna on his head. "I pick up thousands of messages per minute. Now, I must quickly defeat this foe and return to my job..." He made of ball of shadow energy in his hand and aimed it at the Infernape. "Try and fight back and I'll drag you to the realm of the dead with me..." he muttered.

The Infernape stood still as he was blasted by the shadow ball. Then, he fell to his knees, ending with a collapse.

The trainer returned it and growled. "There's no way I can win here..." he said quietly to himself.

"Have you any more?" Dusknoir asked, sort of overshadowing Sakura completely.

"I do, but I give up." declared the trainer as he put his Pokeball back on his belt.

Dusknoir looked down with a nod. "Then I must make my leave...But first..." he turned to Sakura, causing her to jump. The Pokemon was over seven feet...she was just over five and a half feet. "Who are you? You are not Spencer..."

Sakura could not help but notice that the Pokemon spoke with a large mouth on his stomach. "Um..." she muttered, afraid to speak. Though she said Dusknoir was one of her favorite Pokemon, it scared the crap out of her in person.

"I see...You are Spencer's mate, then?"

"Wh-what?! Where did you get that?!" Sakura exclaimed, blushing.

Dusknoir let out a strange laugh, showing even Death has a sense of humor. "You just told me with your reaction. Now, tell Spencer I have arrived and left. Also make sure, and this is very important, to tell him that to obtain what he seeks will require him to unlock the secrets of Sendoff Spring. Tell him that the next time we meet, I may be able to help him out." Suddenly, he disappeared in a flash of static.

The disappearance left Skaura's hair standing on end.

"WUT A W31RD d00d, LULZ," the trainer said.

"ARE YOU GOING TO TALK LIKE THAT ALL DAY?!" Sakura screamed.

The trainer's eyes widened. "Whoa...I thought you were a quiet girl...Sorry."

Sakura slowly slid down and sat on her shins. "No, I'm sorry. That was just a little weird for me. I'm also sorry that you cannot get the Grave badge. You were obviously more than strong enough,"

"Yeah, that Dusknoir was unbelievable. To tell the truth, I was overconfident that I'd pwn Spencer in the match. That's why I teased with the Bidoof and talked like a n00b."

"Well, maybe if I explain your power to Spencer, he'd give up a Grave badge..." Sakura suggested.

Trying not to be a cocky fool and act as smooth as possible, the trainer nodded. "That sounds grand...They call me Fangor, by the way."

"Fangor? What a name..." Sakura said, getting up and dusting her legs off. "Come on, I'll take you to his place...But like I said, he's sick, so bear with him."

"Alright, first, let me make a phone call to my bro." Fangor said. He reached into his pocket for his phone and took a step outside. Sakura followed.

A few blocks away, they could see that Spencer had a guest over, as there was a car parked outside his house. The license plate read, "HOTECHR," but Sakura wasn't sure who it was.

She opened the door and stepped in, followed by Fangor. "Spencer, are you up?" she called, taking her shoes off.

A head poked around the corner of the doorway to his bedroom, but it wasn't Spencer's. "Hello? Who is it?" he asked.

"Um, who are you?" Sakura asked, confusedly. She assumed that only she was able to enter his house randomly.

"It's okay, Sakura!!" Spencer called from the bedroom, "This' my bud, Nick!"

"Oh, the teacher from Azalea Town?" Fangor asked.

"Wait, who's your guest?" Spencer asked. Yes. Without seeing each other, it was a big ask-fest.

So, the two went into Spencer's room and introduced properly, with handshakes and bows. There was also a short back story as to why Fangor was with Sakura.

"So you say he dominated Froslass and Banntte in one hit?" Spencer asked. He was sitting up in his bed, recovering at a surprising pace. He was shirtless as well, so everyone could see the tattoo extending across his chest. It was hard to make out, as detailed as it was. But it was clear that it was something rather creepy.

"That's it," Sakura agreed.

"How do I know it just wasn't your crappy commanding skills?"

Sakura lowered her head. "I know I'm not fit to be your replacement, sir, but I promise I did my best."

Spencer cocked his head. "'Sir?' A little formal, isn't it? And I didn't mean to insult you, I just..."

He was cut off by a sniffle made by Sakura. She was fighting back tears as hard as she could, but to no avail. A few of the tears dripped off her face and onto her lap.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I-I didn't mean to--" Spencer sputtered.

Sakura jumped to her feet and bowed. "Excuse me," she whispered, followed by her exit.

Nick gave a concerned look at Spencer and got up to go after the girl.

Spencer sighed. After a brief pause, he reached across the bed to and end table, which he opened. From it, he took out small box. He put his hand inside and pulled out a Grave badge and handed it to Fangor.

"I believe her," he said, "Congratulations."

Fangor looked at the badge with a smile. It wasn't a smile of joy, but it was something. "Quite a sensitive girl, isn't she?" he asked, putting the badge on the inside of his overshirt.

"I blame her father. You heard of the Hoenn League Champion, Steven?"

"Steven is her dad? That's sort of hard to believe...Does she train steel types?"

"No, she's sort of a ghost-fanatic."

"Oh, so that's why she was taking your place at the gym. She's the only trainer before you."

"Actually," Spencer said, "No, she is not. I feel like a huge douche for saying this, but she's much too weak to join my gym. And I don't even have high standards."