AN: So I was writing this while watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics, and was surprised at how I was able to multitask between the two, anyways if you're not watching the ceremony, please do read and hopefully enjoy. Oh, before I forget, I do not own Pokemon in way shape or form.


As she waited for the storm to die down outside and for her body to heal, Cynthia noticed their routine. She would wake up later than everyone else; they would then have breakfast together, usually some bread with baked beans and occasionally a fried egg and sausages. After they had finished he left the room with five of his Pokémon leaving one behind in the room. (She was surprised that they went out in this weather, even though she was in this cavern, she could still hear the winds blowing fast, faster than she had ever experienced and the temperature drop every time the door opened was massive) Every hour one Pokémon would come back to the room and the one previously in the room would leave. This would continue until around lunch time when all would return bar one (sometimes a Pokémon, sometimes he would be the one who would not come). They then had lunch before the one was not here before came back and another left. After another hour, all but one again left.

The pattern of one Pokémon in the room for an hour returned and continued until some time in the evening, (she was unsure exactly what time as her watch had broken) when they all returned to the little cave. They would then split into two groups, one went into the other room while the other had dinner, after a while they would swap. After both groups had been in the other room, most of them participated in group activities like cards or individual activities like reading (she was astonished that they were able to read when she first saw it). He would always come over to her and check how she was doing, making sure that her arm, ribs and leg were healing. The odd thing that she noticed when all the Pokémon were all together was that they would barely speak at all. They would laugh a lot and let out the occasionally sigh or scream, but they didn't converse mush at all, instead leaning their heads to look at one another. They were talking somehow without using words at all.

She had initially spent the time that she had to herself to explore the rest of the cave. The other room she had found explained why the whole cave was warm. There were two large hot springs in the room, causing a sauna like feel in the room. She also found a smaller room connected to it which was full of supplies and another opening that was seemingly blocked of by stones and boulders. She wondered why it was blocked of, what could possibly be in that room.

As the days wore on she took more notice more about his Pokémon. The Pikachu would always run into and out of the room, immediately donning the cap as soon as it entered and leaving it behind when it left. It ran around a lot and seemed to enjoy poking and annoying everyone else, its favourite place being on his shoulder poking his face (he did not seem to mind). When it was not running about it was trying to fix what looked like a radio. It wasn't doing a good job she thought and small explosions would come from it every so often. The Eevee was the complete opposite to the Pikachu; it was very calm and didn't make much if any noise, although it seemed to laugh whenever an explosion took place. It would read the most out and snuggled into his lap when it did so.

The Lucario was very stiff; it laughed the least out of the group, played fewer games and seemingly exercised the most. It was consistently doing some kind of exercise in the room, being it push-ups or lifting rocks around. It also seemed to be annoyed at the Blastoise most of the time. The Blastoise seemed to be the joker of the group, as it laughed the most and did quite a lot of entertaining, it imitated all of the others, making fun of them and itself a lot of the time. Also it seemed to take a lot of time in the hot-spring room. 'Makes sense that a water type would spend a lot of time she thought.'

The last two Pokémon were the hardest to read. The Pokémon she did not know would wear a brown cloak whenever it went outside and took a thermos flask almost everywhere it went. It constantly drank tea it seemed, it played chess a lot with the others, always winning. On the occasions that it wasn't doing these two things it polished some metallic looking objects which looked like some kind of body armour. It hardly made a sound but when it did (mainly to laugh), it sounded almost human. She saw the Charizard the least, it was only ever in the room for breakfast, lunch and when everyone had gathered in the evening. It was difficult to read its behaviour; sometimes it would be very social, participating in many of the games, acting like the big brother to everyone else. Other times it would be silent and still, only its trainer keeping it for company.

Or was it the other way round? He was the biggest mystery out of the group. He had shaved and tried to tidy his hair after the first day (it made him look younger, he could be younger than her) but he still hardly made any noise. Making the most when he talked to her, even then hardly saying anything. When the rest of them laughed, he would just smile. His face hardly deviated in expression; he was statuesque, sometimes sitting alone with just the Charizard. He was the hardest to read.

One day, just as everyone got back she decided she wanted to take a bath in the hot-springs.

"Hey is it cool if I take a bath in the hot springs?" she asked him. He simply nodded before going to get a towel for her. She took it and went into the room. She released her Pokémon before she stripped her clothes of gingerly; her ribs and arm still giving her pain. She got into one of hot springs and Roserade, Milotic and Togekiss got into another. Lucario and Garchomp just dipped their feat in, not liking the water much. It was heaven to her. The warmth filling her, making her pains disappear. She spent a long time in there before she finally left.

"Thanks" she said as re-entered the main room. He simply nodded before Charizard, Blastoise and he went into the hot-spring room.

"Oh wait. What do I do with the towel?" she gasped as she went back into the hot-spring room. He had taken of his clothes and was about to get into one of the hot springs. He quickly tried to cover himself up but she had seen everything already. They both blushed as she turned away, the Blastoise laughing manically in the background, the Charizard making rough snorts, telling her to get out. She dropped the towel on the floor before quickly leaving. The image remained in her mind. Although seeing his dick shocked her, she also was astonished at the amount of scars he had. He was riddled with them, you'd he hard pressed to find an area of skin that didn't have one.

For the next few days he was quieter than usual and would not meet her gaze at all, the Blastoise snickered a lot and it seemed to base a lot of its imitations on him trying to cover himself up. More days passed until finally the storm died down enough and her body had recovered sufficiently for them to drop her of.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Wait. Before I go can I battle you?" His Pokémon seemed interested by this more so than he did; his expression hardly changed much but by now she could spot the faint lines in his face that he was indicated that he was thinking it over. He nodded accepting the challenge. He motioned to Pikachu, Lucario and Blastoise, fetching three Pokéballs as he did so. He returned the Lucario and Blastoise to their Pokéballs before pulling on his black hoodie, drawing up the hood and then leaving the cave along with the Pikachu, Eevee, Charizard and the unknown Pokémon. She followed quickly behind him. As soon as they got outside the Eevee raced of down a path, the Pikachu jumped up onto his shoulder while the unknown Pokémon disappeared. She froze instantly, as the cold temperature hit her, she hugged herself trying to feed warmth back into her body. The winds were faster and fiercer than anything she had ever felt and snow fell down upon them instantly covering their footsteps.

The Charizard stooped down and he motioned for her to get on, she climbed on before he himself got on behind her. She held on tight as the great lizard suddenly took of at unimaginably fast speed. It wasn't phased by the weather at all, laughing in Mother Nature's fury. These conditions seemed too easy for it as it raced in no time at all to the peak of the mountain. They got of. To her horror the weather was even worse up, the winds now blew at such a pace and strength that she could barley keep herself upright. She was shuddering from the sheer cold up here; it felt as though every single bone in her body had been frozen solid. Snow and hail pelted down, seemingly trying to beat them down into submission.

The Charizard took of again, going higher still and in a few seconds it was lost from her view. She looked over at him. He was unfazed by this climate; calmly walking over to the other side of the peak as though it was just like any other day for him; Pikachu still perched on its shoulder. As he reached the other side he turned to face her, Pikachu leaping of his shoulder. It yellow fur was in stark contrast to the white surroundings, electricity crackled with power from its bright red cheeks.

It was then that she realised that he only had three Pokémon on him. He intended to battle her full healthy team with only half, it was not like he only had three to choose from either, why did he not call up the other three Pokémon that he had? She remembered that he had beaten Lance's legendary team of dragons with only his Blastoise but surely that was because the Blastoise would know ice attacks and thus could sweep Lance easier. It was placing a huge amount of faith in three that he had. Did he really believe he could beat her that easily? She contemplated starting with Garchomp, it would be immune to Pikachu's electric attacks, but she opted against it; she would save Garchomp for the end.

"Roserade! Battle Dance!" Roserade would have the type advantage against Pikachu but the conditions would also count against it. He remained silent and still, not motioning, uttering no commands to his Pokémon. It unsettled her slightly; she had never come across anything like it. She could now see how he had got the name of Shadow. He didn't seem human, yet he wasn't a ghost, something in between, shadow fit him perfectly.

"Sludge Bomb" she had to yell over the wind. Roserade shot brown and purple blobs of sludge in the direction of Pikachu; it was about to make contact with it before all of a sudden there was nothing but air. A flash of yellow crashed into Roserade sending it flying of. Roserade fainted instantly such was the force and speed that Pikachu hit Roserade. She couldn't believe it; she had never seen anything move so fast and had so much power. Never had one of her Pokémon been knocked out it just one hit. She stared at him; he hadn't made a sound or even moved as far as she could tell.

"Pika!" The Pikachu grinned at her, standing on its hind legs it fist pumped at its victory before returning back to its starting position. She grimaced, how on earth could she possibly compete with that kind of speed and power? Should she send out Garchomp now? Both Milotic and Togekiss would be very vulnerable. No not yet just yet.

"Spiritomb" It was a risk, Spiritomb's low speed would be a disadvantage and she doubted she could out power Pikachu either, she had to somehow negate Pikachu's movement.

"Dark Pulse!" A ball of purple circles appeared in front of Spiritomb's mouth before it fired a beam of purple circles right at Pikachu. She saw the flash of yellow again, just how she had predicted.

"Rock Tomb, around yourself" Giant rocks protruded from the ground all around Spiritomb. The rocks would prevent its movement but it would protect it from Pikachu's Volt Tackle.

"As soon as it stops use Psychic" She expected Pikachu to stop just before it reached the rocks so that it would not damage itself, then she would strike back. She gasped as Pikachu didn't stop, instead ploughing straight the rocks, smashing them to pieces before smashing straight into Spiritomb, who again instantly fainted from the attack. 'No fucking way' was all that she could think. Pikachu looked perfectly fine; you couldn't tell that it had smashed some huge rocks into fine dust as though it was nothing with just its body rushing into them. Two attacks, two KO's, no fuss, she was in danger of being swept she realised. She looked back at him. No change, silent and still as ever.

"Lucario. Aura Sphere" Lucario appeared and instantly fired of a blue sphere a energy, Pikachu could not dodge, finally an attack hit but she grimaced again as she saw Pikachu shrug of the attack easily, not seeming too bothered at all by the attack. She saw the flash as it disappeared, another Volt Tackle on its way.

"Quick Bone rush the ground as you jump" A blue staff appeared in Lucario's hands and it smashed it against the ground and jumped at the same time, gaining extra height as it did so. The Pikachu stopped in its tracks; she had stopped the onslaught at last. Now to go on the offensive.

"Fire of as many Aura Sphere's as you can while you drop Lucario." Lucario fired many blue balls of energy at Pikachu only to see them all dissipate away when Pikachu fried them away with an enormous Thunderbolt. The attack consumed Lucario as it fell back to earth. She heard it cry out it pain for a few seconds before it hit the ground with a thud. Lucario wasn't getting up any time soon. She returned Lucario apologising to it. Half her team were down in hardly any time at all, it was now a three on three battle, they were on even turns already and the way things were going it would be all over very quickly. She looked back up at him, finally he made some movement, he nodded and his mouth made a half smile. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again, deciding against it. Now it was time for Garchomp, she would make sure she knocked out at least one of his Pokémon.

"Garchomp battle dance" she said confidently. Pikachu's electric attacks would not do a thing to her.

"Garchomp Dragon Rush" Garchomp flew at Pikachu, the two appendages on its head glowed light blue before its whole body became enveloped by the aura. It missed as Pikachu easily evaded the attack.

"Dragon Claw" Garchomp's claws turned light green and she rushed towards Pikachu only to miss once again. She frowned as Pikachu smiled and chirped not even bothering to attack, she knew what it was trying to do. They were trying to tire out Garchomp knowing that Pikachu's attacks would be ineffectual against Garchomp.

"Garchomp return." Garchomp was enveloped by red light as it was recalled back into its Pokéball. She figured out, that at this rate Garchomp would easily tire out before Pikachu. Somehow she needed to tire out Pikachu more so that it couldn't dodge Garchomp's attack.

"Milotic. Blizzard" Milotic emerged from her Pokéball and immediately sent an icy wind filled with snowballs, hail and ice shards straight at Pikachu. The yellow flash appeared again as Pikachu ran straight through the blizzard, not even slowing down in the face of the wind before nailing Milotic with a super effective attack, once again knocking her Pokémon in one hit. She frowned as she returned Milotic, her plan had been to spam blizzard at Pikachu hoping that the wind combined with the ice, snow and hail would prevent Pikachu from running at full force towards Milotic.

"Togekiss your turn" She knew that one hit from Pikachu's Thunderbolt would knock Togekiss out hopefully her plan of hit and run would be enough to tire Pikachu out.

"Aura Sphere and then Air Slash the sphere and then move Togekiss." Togekiss let out a blue ball energy right at Pikachu before it gathered a ball of wind in one of its wings sending it at the blue aura ball; the resulting collision formed a larger ball of blue energy which was heading straight at Pikachu. Even with the greater energy output all it still only took one Thunderbolt to completely dissipate it. Togekiss barely dodged the thunder that returned towards it.

"Keep repeating this Togekiss" The pattern continued but each Thunderbolt kept getting closer, most of Togekiss' energy was being spent on dodging, and now a few attacks scraped her wings. Cynthia grimaced again, she was running out of time and Pikachu still looked at perfectly fine. A shriek of pain told her that her time had run out, Togekiss hit the ground already fainted. She recalled Togekiss apologising again that she couldn't think of a better strategy.

"Garchomp it's up to you!" she recalled Garchomp again for a repeat performance.

"Dig" she cried, as Garchomp quickly dug underground. Pikachu remained still; it closed its eyes, twitching its ears. She wasn't sure what it was doing until it suddenly moved; jumping away just as Garchomp emerged from the ground, dodging the attack before swilling around and smacking Garchomp in head with a powerful Iron Tail. Garchomp fell down to the ground, barely able to get up after the attack.

"Pika Pi?" Pikachu looked surprised and looked back at the stoic man. She also looked up at him. He was still silent and still but he had small smile on his face. A smile of amusement or wonderment, she couldn't tell, but it seemed as though he had expected Garchomp to be knocked out in one hit just like the rest. He nodded at Pikachu and it nodded back, setting of at Garchomp and hitting another Iron Tail knocking it out.

She recalled Garchomp. It was over. She'd lost, her first ever loss. It was a crushing loss; she fell to her knees in despair, it wasn't even a challenge more like a routine training session for him. She couldn't believe what had happened, she barely noticed him as he walked towards her. Pikachu once again perched on his shoulder. He knelt down beside her.

"You're good" he said gently, "I can't remember the last time I battled someone as strong as you." He continued. It was the most he had ever said to her in one go. She heard the sincerity in his voice. He'd meant what he had said. She looked up and stared into those deep brown eyes, this time defiantly making out the crimson in them. A tear was falling down her cheek; he gently brushed it away and leaned in closer. She felt her heart race faster, as he stared back at her. He broke away and stood up as the Charizard landed.

"He'll take you back." He said motioning at Charizard, who leaned down for her to get on. She hoped on and before she had a chance to look back to say goodbye, they took of and dive bombed down the side of the mountain, she had to grip on tight as they flew down at incredible speed, slowing down just before they reached the bottom. He took her just in sight of the Pokémon centre before touching down and letting her get of.

"Thank you and everyone for everything you've done for me" she said. The Charizard nodded back before taking of again. It only took a few moments before it disappeared from sight.


AN: All right, I expecting this chapter to be a bit shit to be honest, but I think it's pretty good. But it's not my view that counts. Its yours. So rate and review please!