Shauntal rushes towards a table just outdoors of a fancy restaurant. At that table was a close friend of hers with several other people. "Hey Caitlin!" She waves.
"You're late," Caitlin responds. "Again."
"Sorry," Shauntal smiles scratching the back of her head. "I was trying to type down as much as possible but I lost track of time and missed the bus."
"Honestly, whatever will we do with you?" Caitlin asks.
"If I bet on your tardiness I would win almost every single time," says a fancily dressed man as he flips a coin in the air.
"I'm surprised you didn't start," Shauntal replies.
"There's no fun in a sure bet," Grimsley responds. "Now, the upcoming battle between Ash and Mia, that will be worth betting on." He turns to the four other girls that are sitting with them. "Would any of you like to make a wager? Lillie, Lana, Mallow, Acerola?"
"Heeheehee," Acerola giggles. "Just thinking about the battle they'll have is getting me excited."
"Hey, don't make a game out of Ash and Mia's battle," Mallow tells him.
"This is an important battle for both of them," Lana adds.
"We can't take sides on that," Lillie responds.
"Understandable," Grimsley replies. "No matter what we bet, it won't compare to whatever it is that they are betting."
"Ash and Mia, betting?" Lillie asks.
"Can't you feel the tension in the air between them? There's a history behind this battle, something is weighing down on both of them. I wonder how it will affect their battle." Grimsley's eyes seemed to glow red. "I'm getting excited at the prospect."
"Nice to see your… enthusiasm again Grimsley," Shauntal struggles to compliment. "Still, I wasn't expecting the Alola ladies here. How are you all doing?"
"We're doing great, Shauntal," Lillie answers. "Caitlin was taking a vacation in Alola when the challenge was announced. She decided to bring us along with her to come here and watch the battle."
"More like kidnapped," Mallow sighed. "That butler of yours is really something."
"Where is Mister Darach?" Lana asks, looking around.
"He was here just a moment ago," Acerola comments.
"If you wish to see him," Caitlin starts. "I suggest you finish your cup of tea."
"Huh?"
"Trust me."
"O-okay," Lana takes her tea and finishes the cup. She gently puts the cup down.
"More tea miss?" Darach asks out of nowhere.
"Gyah!" Lana shrieks. "Where'd you come from?"
"I appear when I am needed," Darach says as he pours more tea. "Do not hesitate to call for my assistance. Is that Ash?"
Everyone turns to look at the direction he was looking at, but they saw no one there.
"I don't see… him," Lana tries to tell Darch, but he disappeared. "Where'd he go?"
Caitlin just calmly sips her tea. "Every time."
"So," Lillie tries to break the silence. "What are you doing now Shauntal? Writing another book?"
"Yep, on Mia," Shauntal answers. "Not on her whole adventure like what I did with Ash, not right now. I'm just focusing on everything leading up to this battle."
"Sounds like you're starting with the final chapter first," Caitlin comments.
"I don't want to distract Mia too much from her training, I think she's finally deciding on a team."
"It's taking her this long just to select her Pokemon?" Caitlin asks.
"Could you easily select a team of Pokemon against Ash?," Grimsley asks.
Everyone stayed silent.
"Anyway," Mallow starts. "You haven't come back to Alola since coming to write your books on Ash."
"You can't be writing books all the time, why not take a nice vacation?" Lana suggests.
"May be I will, after the battle," Shauntal responds. "Where's Marshal? Isn't he with you?" She asks Caitlin and Grimsley.
"He was," Caitlin answers. "But a pair of girls with Lucarios challenged him to a battle, he couldn't refuse."
"That sounds just like him," Shauntal smirks then turns to Lillie, Lana, Mallow and Acerola. "What about you four? Do you have any plans before the battle?"
"We're going to go sightseeing with Caitlin," Lana answers. "We're staying in one of her vacation suites here."
"Oh, were you not planning on meeting with Mia?" Shauntal asks.
"It'd be nice," Lillie answers. "But she's never been to Alola, I don't know what we can talk about."
"She's never been to Kalos either," Shauntal replies. "But Serena came to visit."
"I think she's just here to see Ash," Acerola remarks. "Aren't we all?"
Lillie, Lana and Mallow choked on their tea, Acerola chuckles slightly.
"Don't tease them too much Acerola," Caitlin comments. "So Shauntal, why don't you tell us what you know about Mia so far?"
XXX
"Are you sure we should've left Sonica alone?" Skyla asks as she walked the streets with Elesa, Melody and Bianca. "You just suddenly asked her to write a song to perform at the stadium."
"She asked to be alone with Mia," Elesa mentions. "I think it's for the best."
"She wanted to write the song herself," Melody adds. "And since it's for Mia, she wants to put her all into it. So we can't assist her with that."
"But to suddenly ask her to write it with so little time," Bianca starts. "Will she be okay?"
"As long as she sticks close to Mia, she'll be fine," Melody says. "Lati's with them, I'm sure she'll wonder off and find a picturesque location for when they find her."
"Please don't joke about that," Bianca sighs. "I'm afraid it'll come true."
"Hey, how about this?" Melody asks Elesa, pointing to a window display of a flashy outfit.
Elesa thinks for a moment, "I doesn't exactly say 'Sinnoh' to me."
"Not the right color?" Melody wonders.
"It's not the colors, it's the design. The cold colors work very well for the region, but the design looks like it'll fit Kalos more than Sinnoh."
"Yeah I can see where you're going, the gothic touches do scream Kalos. Hey Bianca, maybe you can get Lati to wear this for you."
"W-what are you saying?" Bianca panics.
"You've never had Lati model for you in your paintings?"
"N-no! That'd be like painting myself into the picture."
"Come on, you'd look really cute in this. It'll really help sell your paintings."
"Melody!" Bianca pouted.
Elesa and Skyla giggled as the two bickered. A soft wind blows through the road.
Skyla feels the air for moment, sensing something. "This is…" Skyla rushes off.
"Skyla?" Elesa notices her running off, alerting Melody and Bianca.
All three follow her through the streets. They spot Lucian standing beside a young man holding a large bug net. They were watching a two on one battle. One of the pair wears a flying outfit commanding a Swellow, the other is dressed like a golfer whom gives commands a Toucannon. Their opponent was a young girl about Mia's age that had a very fierce look on her face. She had long glowing bright pink hair that seemed to be blown upwards, wearing a green scale-ly looking dress and what seemed like ethereal white feathers sprouting out from the back of her wrists, ankles and shoulder blades. The girl battled with a Mega Altaria, albeit a strange looking one with the cloudy wings and tail seeming to form into semi-transparent feathers at its edges while the color gradually changes from white to bright pink.
"Lucian!" Melody calls out.
"Melody," Lucian turns to see the group arriving.
"Skyla!" the young man happily greets. "Long time to see!"
"Hehehe, it's nice to see you again Bugsy," Skyla smiles at his pink flushed cheeks. "So, what's happening here? Why is Winona and Kahili tag teaming a single trainer?"
"That's not just any trainer," Lucian explains to her. "That's Wanda Marvell, one of the few trainers to achieve a Battle Bonds-like relation with their Pokemon. And she's the very same trainer to defeat Mia in the Hoenn League."
"A Battle Bond Trainer," Melody states. "And with a Mega Evolution too."
"I remember hearing about this while I was in Hoenn," Bianca starts "There was an amazing trainer in the league that for one battle only Battle Bonded with a Mega Evolved Pokemon. But the trainer was too tired to keep battling and had to forfeit the match after. It was big news."
"It's unfortunate," Lucian comments. "Having such a powerful form tire you out so much that you can't even battle the next day."
"Sounds like a more extreme version of Mia's Synching ability," Elesa says.
"It most certainly is," Lucian comments. "You need no further proof than this battle."
"She's a lot more powerful than I thought," Kahili says to Winona.
"I warned you," Winona responds. "She first used this when both she and Mia had to hold back a rampaging Mega Rayquaza. It was still a close battle for them, I'm afraid of what would've happened if Wallace and I hadn't stopped Team Zephyr in time."
"Altaria!" Wanda calls out. "Aerial Ace!"
"Toucannon!" Kahili cries. "Slow it down with Rock Blast!"
"Swellow!" Winona yells. "Counter with Aerial Ace!"
Swellow and Altaria exchange high speed clashes in the air as Toucannon observes their movements. The big beaked bird takes aim and fires several large rocks at the dragon. Altaria is pummeled by the rocks, disorientating it temporarily for Swellow to attack it over and over with Aerial Ace.
"Altaria!" Wanda cried out.
"Ready your Beak Blast!" Kahili commands, Toucannon's beak glows red.
"Altaria, break free with Air Cutter!"
Altaria unleashes wind energy around itself, knocking Swellow away.
"FIRE!" Kahili yells out.
"Use Dragon Pulse!" Wanda counters.
Toucannon fires a red energy blast, Altaria launches its own energy attack. The two attacks explode against each other creating a massive explosion in the sky. Wanda shields her face from the blast as dust fills the air.
"Swellow!" Wanda hears Winona cry out. "Hyper Beam!"
Altaria is blasted by a powerful beam. Wanda feels the damage. "Ugh! Altaria, counter with Aerial Ace!"
"Protect Swellow with Bullet Seed!" Kahili commands.
Toucannon flies in front of Swellow and rapid fires a stream of seeds at the dragon. While it was able to damage Altaria, it couldn't stop and both birds were knocked downwards.
"This'll finish it! To the skies Altaria!" Wanda calls out, Altaria soars high above Toucannon and Swellow. "Use Draco Meteor!"
"Draco Meteor?" Bianca repeats. "It's powerful but it'll weaken Altaria."
"It must be out of desperation," Bugsy suggests. "They've been in battle for some time now, Wanda probably can't hold onto this forme for much longer."
Altaria charges up an energy ball in front of itself, the ball grows in size as it glows brighter.
"Toucannon!" Kahili crosses her arms together, then swings them up out and down. She crosses them again extending them out in front, then raises them above her head, brings them down to her knees and reaches up to the sky with one hand. "Supersonic Skystrike!"
"Swellow! Brave Bird!"
The two birds glow with power as they flap their wings and begin to hover upwards. They see the glowing ball and the dragon above them. Both of their auras ignite larger and they take off, rocketing to the dragon.
"So fast!" Wanda gasped. "Altaria! Fire now!"
Altaria launches its large energy ball at the two birds. Toucannon and Swellow just keeps flying straight towards it, their auras combine into a single large energy bird. The birds ram into the sphere, their auras protecting them from the ball's energy as they push against it.
"Swellow!"
"Toucannon!"
"GOOOOO!"
Swellow and Toucannon screeched out loud.
The bird's aura's intensified, the bird themselves push against the Draco Meteor!
"No way!" Melody watches in awe.
Toucannon and Swellow push the energy ball upwards, back to Altaria. The dragon covers itself with its wings. There's a massive explosion on impact, Wanda cries out from the pain before dropping to one knee. Her hair drops and changes color to dark blue, with the feather like appendages disappearing as if they were made of light. Toucannon and Swellow fly out of the debris could while Altaria falls to the ground, returning to a regular Altaria. The two birds fly below it and work together to create a cushion of air for Altaria to gently lay onto the ground
Wanda breathes heavily but she looks up to Winona and Kahili walking up to her. "Thank you." The two of them lend her a hand up. Wanda wobbles on her feet for a moment.
"Are you going to be okay?" Winona asks.
"I'll be-whoa!" Wanda almost falls over but Kahili catches her.
"Easy there," Kahili tells her.
"Altaria," Wanda takes out her Pokeball, she's helped by Winona. "Return. You did great."
"You and your Altaria are really something else," Kahili compliments. "Not many people can hold their own against two Elite Fours, let alone almost defeat them."
Swellow and Toucannon chirped excitedly.
"Hehehe-," and embarrassed Wanda giggles, then falls over, Winona catches her.
"Looks like she's really out of it," Winona comments. "She'll need to rest a bit before she can move again. Where's the nearest bench?"
"Here," Lucian offered. "Let me."
"Thanks," Winona handed Wanda's body to him. "Hm? Looks like we've attracted a crowd."
"Winona, Kahili, how're you doing?" Skyla greets them.
"We're doing well," Winona answers. "Your clouds are still soaking up water I see."
"Hey!" Skyla exclamations. "At least I'd float, you'd just glide."
"What?" Bugsy raised an eyebrow.
"She's just full of hot air," Elesa shrugged. "I mean, look at her."
"Not you too Elesa!" Skyla cried.
"Haha," Kahili laughs. "Nice to see everybody again. I should've known that this battle would've brought together a lot of familiar faces."
"There's really no other reason for a gathering like this," Melody answers. "There's still a week left, I'm sure there's going to more showing up. Did you just arrive?"
"Yes," Winona answered. "Me, Bugsy and Wanda met up with Lucian at the port and were headed to the hotel when we ran into Kahili, when I explained to her about Wanda, she wanted battle."
"Let me tell you," Kahili holds her neck and twists it a bit. "I got a lot more than I expected."
"But how it become a two on one?" Skyla asks. "Especially with two Elite Four on one side."
"It was supposed to be a three way battle," Bugsy explains. "They wanted to see which one of them could rule the skies between the three of them but Wanda's Battle Bond-like Mega Evolution kind of forced Sis and Kahili to work together."
"Really?" Skyla replies. "Next time you guys decide to have a sky battle don't forget to call me! I'll show how I fly!"
"I can't wait to see that," Bugsy blurts out.
"Is there a name for Wanda's… power?" Melody asks. "It's weird to keep calling it 'Battle Bond-like'. I mean, isn't it specifically for Ash and his Greninja?"
"It's an ability that changes not only the Pokemon but the trainer as well," Elesa murmurs. "Altaria is a Dragon type too, I'd like to say Dragon Power but it doesn't have that memorable flair."
"What about Dragon Force?" Skyla blurts out. "It sounds intimidating so it should be memorable."
"I like it," Bugsy smiles wide.
"Dragon Force," Elesa repeats. "Yeah, it exudes powerful, unforgettable imagery while also perfectly describing the type of power."
"I think just seeing Wanda transform like that would make it unforgettable," Melody comments. "To think that Mia battled against it."
"To be fair," Winona started. "Wanda wasn't as experienced with it then as she is now, Mia's Sync and this were fairly evenly matched during the tournament."
"I was just lucky," a young girl's voice spoke.
The party turned to Wanda getting up from the bench Lucian laid her on.
"Are you okay?" Lucian asks.
"I'm fine now," Wanda smiles. "Thank you. Except for Altaria, Mia's connection with her Pokemon was stronger than mine, I could feel it when we battled in the tournament. It was Altaria that pulled through for me for most of my battle against her. Mia's connection with Ashana was something else, it really put ours to the limit."
"But you pulled through," Winona comments.
"Yep, somehow," Wanda smiles. "Altaria and I really wanted to win against Mia, but Mia… she wanted to win too, but it felt like it wasn't me that she wanted to defeat."
"I can understand that," Bugsy mentions. "She was never one to take a break once she started her journey. After losing the Kanto Conference she went straight to Johto and Hoenn, went through the Kanto Conference again before heading to Sinnoh and Unova, then came back to finally win the Kanto Conference and now she's challenging Ash."
"Mia… did all that?" Wanda wondered. "Why?"
"Well Ash is her father."
"What?!" Wanda screamed out loud.
"Ohh," Melody winced. "You guys didn't tell her before coming here?"
"It didn't occur to us that she didn't know," Winona answered.
"It's a secret to everybody," Bugsy explains. "Except to family members and close friends."
"But I was never told," Wanda mumbles.
"Don't worry about it," Melody reassures her. "I'm sure she only did that so as not to put a wall around herself. You're not the only one here that just found out about it, there's a friend of hers here from Unova. What do you say we go and meet with them?"
"That's what we're here for," Winona answers.
XXX
Author: Yep, decided to bring in another rival for Mia to interact with, as well as some Alola cameos. I wanted to bring in his Alola friends but that would've crowded up the story too much too fast, so they're just appearing for that little scene for now. And like Sonica, Wanda is also... 'based' on an already existing character, I believe this one is much easier to figure out than Sonica's.
