Hey guys, I'm back with the next chapter. I hope you guys are really enjoying this story, because I know I am. If you guys haven't checked it out yet, then please go check out my announcement story I made. To find it, just search 'goodgamer' and it'll pop up. I've already uploaded a preview for my SAO story on there so go take a look at that. Anyways thanks for the support guys. As always, I do not own any part of the Pokémon franchise.

"The battle is over! The winner is Ash from Pallet Town!" Clemont yelled.

"Yeah! We did it!" Ash cheered, joined by his Pokémon.

Ramos walked over to the raven haired trainer, a large grin on his face. "That was very well fought, Ash. I'm impressed." He said, reaching into the pocket of his overalls. "For winning, I now present you with the Plant Badge." He said, holding out the small emblem to Ash.

Ash took it and placed it in his badge case. "Alright! That's number four!"

"Good job Ash!" Clemont said, walking over to his friend and clapping him on the back. Bonnie ran up to them and wrapped her arms around Ash's midsection, as that was as high as she could reach.

As they left the clearing in the tree, they all waved their good byes to Ramos and began the trek down the tree. "So…" Clemont said, a little nervous. "I guess it's time for us to have our battle."

Ash grinned at his friend. "Yeah! Once we get back to Lumiose City, we'll have a battle in the gym! And you can bet that I won't be going easy!" Ash said, confidence spilling into his voice. Clemont gave him a determined grin. "I guess that means I have no choice but to go all out as well!"

"Oh would you two stop talking about your battle already! We still have to get to Lumiose City!" Bonnie said, becoming annoyed at their conversation.

The boys laughed. "Alright, Bonnie."

The trio headed back to the Pokémon Center, collected their belongings, and then waited as Clemont brought the room key back to Nurse Joy. Once he had returned, they set out, travelling east towards Lumiose City.

"Clemont… how long until we get there?" Ash said as he dragged along behind the lemon haired siblings. They had been travelling along route 13 for about 4 hours now and it was quickly getting darker.

Clemont looked at his guide book and seemed to be trying to estimate where they were. "I'd say that at this pace we will reach Lumiose City in about 3 days, give or take."

"Give or take what?" Bonnie asked.

"Three days." Clemont answered dejectedly.

"Ugh… Guys I think it's about time we set up camp for the night." Ash said.

"Okay, I think I see a good spot up ahead to set up our tents." Clemont said, and lead them to a clearing that sat right next to the road. As Ash and Bonnie began setting up their tents, Clemont began making dinner.

"Hey, Ash." Clemont called. "Do you think you could go find us some water so I can finish making dinner?"

"Sure!" Ash said, grabbing the bucket that they always had, and ran into the woods behind their camp site.

"I wonder if there's a river around here." Ash said, trying to look through the quickly darkening forest.

"Pika…" His partner said nervously.

Ash laughed. "Come on buddy! There's no reason to be scared! As far as we know, you're probably the scariest thing around here!" Ash said as they delved even further into the woods.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, they heard what sounded like a scream.

"PIKA!" the electric type yelled, and then attempted to hide in his trainers' shirt.

Ash ignored his friend and began running towards where he thought the sound had come from. As he was beginning to think that he hadn't actually heard anything, another scream rang out, this time closer though it was now to his left. As he ran towards the area, he heard someone running… too late he realized, at he was suddenly hit by a person as they burst from a bush.

Ash stood up and looked around, dazed. Sitting on the ground a few feet away was a girl that he recognized.

"Serena?"

"Ash?"

"What are you doing out here?" he asked. Suddenly, they heard a roar from the direction that Serena had come running from. Serena let out a small yelp and quickly scurried behind Ash. Suddenly bursting through the bush that Serena had appeared from came a Pokémon. Before them stood the giant, towering form of a Tyranitar.

"A Tyranitar! Serena, why is it angry?" Ash said as Pikachu jumped in front of them.

"I don't know! I was just walking when it jumped out of nowhere!" Serena said, still hiding behind Ash.

As soon as she finished, Tyranitar roared again and let loose a Dark Pulse straight for Pikachu.

"Thunderbolt!"

Both moves collided and filled the air with smoke as they cancelled each other.

"Alright, now use Iron Tail!"

As Pikachu's now metallic tail collided with Tyranitar, it roared again and then, out of nowhere, the small group was completely surrounded by sand.

"It's using Sandstorm!" Ash said, trying to see what was going on.

"Quick Pikachu, use Electro Ball."

A second later, Tyranitar was thrown off of its feet as it collided with the ball of electric energy. As the monstrous Pokémon went down, the sand swirling around them seemed to slow down a bit.

"Now use Thunderbolt!"

Tyranitar began to rise…

"Pika…"

Tyranitar raised its fists above its head…

"…Chu!"

As Pikachu released the deadly bolt of energy at Tyranitar, it simultaneously slammed both of its armored fists in to the ground.

Suddenly, Tyranitar was surrounded by a wall of glowing rock.

"It used Stone Edge as a shield?" Serena said in shock. "How… How is that possible?"

As Thunder Bolt rammed into the rocky shield that now surrounded Tyranitar, all that could be seen was thick smoke… followed by a point of light.

Ash's eyes went wide.

"Use Iron Tail, quick!"

As Pikachu's tail became iron, the smoke disappeared and reviled Tyranitar… preparing Hyper Beam.

As Pikachu rushed towards the armored Pokémon in an attempt to keep it from using the devastating attack, Tyranitar reared up and let loose a beam of pure energy.

Which hit Pikachu dead on.

"Pikachu!" Ash yelled and ran forward, only to be pulled back by Serena. "No Ash! There's nothing you can do!"

Ash watched as the beam slowly came to an end, leaving an extremely thick cloud of smoke. He couldn't see Pikachu anywhere. Ash fell to his knees, tears in his eyes as the smoke still floated in a massive cloud in front of him, unwilling to disappear.

Tyranitar let loose a vicious roar of victory. Nothing had ever faced its Hyper Beam and remained standing. It then turned towards the two humans, the male now on the ground and the female hiding not far behind him. They would pay for thinking they could defeat it.

As Tyranitar stepped towards the pair, however, a sudden pain erupted through its body, starting in the center of its back. Tyranitar roared in agony as it stumbled and then flew forward, a mighty crack as it was hit from behind with something hard.

After a second, Serena looked up to see why Tyranitar hadn't attacked them yet. But now, standing where Tyranitar had a second ago, stood a completely pissed off Pikachu.

"Pi…Pi…Pikachu?!" Serena stammered. "How…How…"

Ash looked up and, upon seeing his best friend, rushed over to the electric type and wrapped his arms around the small creature.

"Pikachu! I'm so glad you're okay! I thought…" Ash's rambling was put to a stop by a sudden roar from a few yards away, as they watched Tyranitar struggle to its feet, glaring at Pikachu.

Ash let go of his friend and looked at Tyranitar with an angry expression. "Guess this still isn't over. Well, I think it's about time to finish this. Pikachu, use Thunder Bolt! Give it everything you got!"

"Pika… Chuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" the small mouse screamed as it sent forth a pure lance of electric energy, heading straight for Tyranitar. Tyranitar roared in defiance. No way was he about to be beaten by this small Pokémon! As the attack streaked towards it, Tyranitar let loose its own Dark pulse, trying to counter Pikachu's attack. As the two attacks clashed in the air between the two fighters, they struggled against each other, fighting for dominance. Suddenly, the spot where the two met was filled with a powerful explosion, and the entire area was filled with smoke.

Serena covered her eyes as the smoke rushed to fill in the air around her, until she could no longer even see her hands. She waited a second, hoping to hear a sound in the sudden eerie that now filled the air alongside the smoke. When she didn't hear anything from Ash, Pikachu, or even Tyranitar, she began stumbling towards where she had last seen her friends. The smoke made it near impossible to see, causing her to trip as she neared the spot where she had last seen Ash and Pikachu. As she looked back to see what she had tripped over, she yelped. There, lying with his best friend on his chest, was Ash.

"Ash!" she said as she scrambled to his side. From what she could tell from looking at them, the blast from the two attacks had launched them into a tree nearby, knocking them both out. They both had several visible injuries, not to mention that there were probably more she couldn't see.

Serena coughed. The smoke swirling around them didn't seem to be thinning out at all, and still blocked almost all of her senses. I have to get them out of here before they breathed in too much of the fume. The thing is… I'm not even sure where I could take them, or if I could even manage carrying both of them at the same time. But I couldn't just leave them here…

Silently, she came to a decision. Picking up Pikachu first, due to that the smoke would affect him faster due to his smaller body, she carried the unconscious Pokémon out of the smoke and laid him down up against a tree in a nearby clearing. One down, one to go. She quickly went back to where the smoke was. In the time she had been gone, the smoke seemed to only get thicker, forcing her to stumble around, always feeling the ground, hoping she would somehow run into Ash.

As she crawled around, reaching through the wall of fume. She felt her hand touch something soft, and grabbed it. As she drew closer to what she had found, she could see an outline that was unmistakably Ash. and the thing she had grabbed…

Serena blushed. Oh my god, I accidentally grabbed his hand! She forgot all about her holding his hand as she suddenly heard him groan, followed by a fit of coughs. "Ash? Are you awake?" she said trying to peer through the veil that kept her from seeing his face. Once the coughs had ended she heard his weak voice, but couldn't make out his words. "Hold on, I'm gonna get you out of here." She said, and sat him upright. As he began coughing again, she helped him to his feet, and then gently draped his arm over her shoulders. And with that, the duo stumbled out of the oppressing fog and clumsily struggled to where Serena had left Pikachu, where she gently laid Ash down besides his partner, as the boy was once again unconscious.

Serena sat down, leaning back on a tree not too far from where Ash and Pikachu were resting. I did it… I got them out safe… she thought as she slowly slipped into sleep.

I don't know about you guys, but I am REALLY happy with this chapter. How many of you guys actually thought that I had killed off Pikachu? And now the cliff hangers begin! What happened to Tyranitar? Will Ash and Pikachu be okay? What about Clemont and Bonnie? It's enough to drive a man crazy! In all seriousness though, thank you, thank you, thank you all for reading. Your love for this story is the reason why I am determined to make every chapter as entertaining as I can. Please guys, as much as these are my ideas, I would really love to hear some opinions from you guys. Please leave a review or send me a PM. Thanks again for your support! Bye!