A/N: What's up pokemon fans? This is MrOakzzz, back after a long time with the next chapter of Serene Phoenix! Now, I want to apologize for the long wait and you can find the long and boring excuse in the ending AN. Now, I just want to tell all flamers and haters to get out of here and not waste their time and breath reading this before those who appreciate my works or at least want to help can go on to read the chapter :D

Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff. If I did, I would be living in Japan and work for Game Freak. Which I don't by the way.

Chapter Ten: Charizard's Revenge Part 1

Cynthia Damon drew a relaxing breath and allowed herself to lean back and calm down. She didn't know how, but somehow the news that she was going to Kalos had gotten out and the airport had been besieged by reporters wanting to know the reason. After all, it was quite a long flight and not something she would normally do. Unova was one thing, because her family had a vacation home there, but Kalos was another matter. She had no particular reason to go there, at least not one known to public, so that was definetely all the more worth checking out. If they just checked the list of trainers registered for this year's Kalos League, they would probably make the connection when they found the name "Dusk Damon" in the register, but it would seem that so far no one had done that.

However, it didn't really matter. What she was doing there was really none of their business. If she wanted to visit her brother, then she would do that no matter what reporters might think or say. Of course, with her being the Number 1 trainer in the world that was kind of hard. She was pretty easy to recognize with her long, blonde hair and trademark hairclips. Couple that with the fact that her brother himself was reknown as "The Battle Prodigy", ranked as 20th strongest trainer in the world and had been the posterboy for the Devon Corporation for 3 years and you had a real goldmine of possible gossip and news for the reporters. Sometimes, she really missed the good old days back when she and Dusk had been normal, innocent children. There might have been 5 years difference of age between them, but they still had a lot of fun togehter. Dusk had been an unusually intelligent child and had been able to understand Cynthia in most things.

However, those days were long gone now. As both their careers had steered further away from each other, with Dusk studying and working with science and Cynthia taking an interest in archeology and ancient myths, they had gotten less and less times to see each other. During the years Dusk had been working with the Devon Corps in Hoenn, Cynthia had barely seen him and during the brief period he had been back home in Celestic Town, she had been in Unova at their family's vacation home. She hadn't even known that Dusk was coming home back then until Carolina, their grandmother, had called her and told her so. She didn't regret going to Unova, since she had met Ash there and been able to help save the world from a Team Rocket scheme, but it still haunted her that the first time her brother came home in 3 years, she hadn't been there to greet him.

"Is there anything before we take off, miss?" came the voice of her buttler.

Cynthia thought for a moment. She was pretty sure she had everything she would need for her stay in Kalos. It wouldn't probably be too long, since Dusk would leave to continue his journey through the region shortly after the match against Ash.

"We are still waiting for one more passenger. When she gets here, we can take off." she answered, to which the buttler bowed in response, before leaving her to her thoughts again.

About the match, she was curious about as to who would pull off the victory. Both Dusk and Ash had their strenghts and weaknessess as trainers and both were incredibly skilled in their own way. While Dusk was higher on the World Ranking and held a rank that actually reflected his skill, it was also worth mentioning that Dusk rarely, if ever challenged a trainer he knew he couldn't beat. Ash on the other hand, had a habit of wanting to go up against trainers that were seemingly impossible for him to beat in order to meassure himself against the best. That often resulted in a loss, but for him to grow as a trainer. If Ash had the same policy as Dusk, then he would definetely be higher on the list.

Either way, this would be an interesting match. It could go either way, though she had to admit that it all came down to what Pokemon Ash picked. She knew Dusk and the team he had picked was not something to take lightly. While one of his choices was a bit of a gamble, his other two Pokemon were definetely powerful and would be hard to beat, even for someone like Ash. Dusk's Sinnoh representant had even been part of his team when he had challenged her for the title of Sinnoh Champion all those years ago, where it had managed to take out both her Gastrodon and her Milotic so that one in particular would be a problem for Ash.

When it came to the promising trainer from Kanto, Cynthia was a little worried. She knew Ash wanted to win, more than anything, but she also knew that he sometimes picked his pokemon more on spirit than actual use in battle. And while that tactic could overthrow an unsuspecting trainer who had expected to see another Pokemon and prepared for that, Dusk would not be fooled by that. Rather than pick the Pokemon that would be most effective against a certain Pokemon that Ash was most likely to use, Dusk had made his choices after carefully try and think off all the possible choices Ash could make and picked the Pokemon most likely to be able to adapt to any of his possible opponents. That in itself was an unusual tactic for Dusk, but it showed that he had done his research on Ash and was aware of Ash's habit of being unpredictable.

All in all, they were complete opposites in battling style. Dusk was a calculator, who would study and analyze his opponents moves and tactics both before and during battle, and come up with the most effective manouver to counter it, which made him hold a very high standard and rarely lose a battle. He also rarely challenged an opponent he knew he could not beat, which contributed to his impressive streak, the sole exception being when he challenged Brandon and lost. Ash on the other hand put more thought on his own Pokemon, rather than what Pokemon the opponent used. He would pick the ones that were in the best shape and most fired up to battle and often rely on his instincts in battle, which made him very unpredictable and able to beat even the best of trainers, if luck was on his side, but it also made him quite unstable and uneven in the way that he could still lose the most simple battles if his instincts were wrong or if fighting spirit was not enough to win for his Pokemon.

Cynthia found herself smiling at the promise of what was sure to be an exciting battle, as she leaned back in her seat in her private jet. She could hear her buttler talking to someone over by the entrance and understood that their last passenger had finally arrived. Despite being a grown up woman by now, Cynthia couldn't help but feel a little childish excitement build up in her at the thought of seeing her brother in the flesh again. While it would never be exactly like it used to, her meetings with Dusk was probably the closest she would ever come to a normal life ever again.

-X-X-X-

"Alright! We are finally here!" Ash shouted as he and his friends entered Santalune City.

Behind him, Brock and Serena followed, preferring not to announce their prescence to the entire city, but both amused at Ash's antics. Pikachu seemed to be as excited as Ash however, as he was sitting on his trainer's shoulder and even chimed in with Ash's enthusiastic shout. By Serena's feet, Fennekin looked at the two strangely. She then looked up at her own trainer with questioning eyes, silently asking if they were supposed to do a similar pose. Seeing the look on Fennekin's face at the thought of doing something similar, Serena couldn't help but giggle and bent down to talk to her at eye level.

"Haha, don't worry. We'll lay low. But there are a lot of turns and alleys here in Santalune, so I would prefer it if you stayed in your pokeball so I won't lose you. Is that ok with you?" she asked her starter. She had allowed Fennekin to walk with them through Santalune Forest, but now that they were in a city, she felt that it would be harder to keep track of her.

"Fenne!" the little Firefox Pokemon answered and wagged its tail.

Smiling at her partner, Serena pulled out her Pokeball and returned her, before putting it back in her bag. She then stood up to find Ash and Brock discussing what they should do first now that they were in Santalune. Interested in what their next adventure would be, Serena made her way over to the two. Brock was holding a map over the city and Ash was desperately searching for the location of the Santalune Gym on it.

"Listen Ash, it might be smarter to go make sure your Pokemon are ready for the battle before we rush over to the gym." Brock tried to reason. "Also, we don't know anything about this Gym Leader, other than that she is Alexa's little sister. I would advice you to think a little ahead and try and get some information out of Nurse Joy before you engage her."

Ash however, wouldn't hear of it. And apparently, neither would Pikachu who obviously was as fired up about this battle as his trainer was, if the sparks coming of his cheeks and his challenging stance were any indicators.

"Oh, come on! I got 4 Pokemon and that's all I need!" Ash tried to push his cause.

"Well, for starters Chespin still isn't officially yours until you have talked to Professor Sycamore and gotten a thumbs up from him and you can't use a Pokemon that isn't officially yours in official matches. And Fletchinder is still badly injured from when you caught him. I did heal his major bruises, but he is still pretty weak. And Charizard isn't 100% yet either."

Hearing Brock list off reasons of why he couldn't go challenge the Gym right away, Ash faultered slightly. Thinking back, he realized that none of his Pokemon, except possibly Pikachu, were in any condition for a Gym Battle at the moment. Charizard wasn't that bad, but he still hadn't recovered completely from his struggle against Garchomp and his later struggle against Team Rocket. It would do them all good to go and get some rest before they went to the Gym. And he actually wanted to make a call to Professor Oak about a possible Pokemon Transfer anyway, so that could be a good idea.

"I guess you're right. Ok, Pokemon Center it is!" Ash said as he hung his head slightly.

However, they had barely began to make their way in the direction of the Pokemon Center before Ash was jumped by a small, yellow creature with long ears. Surprised by the little Pokemon, Ash stumbled on his feet and fell to the ground, groaning as he landed hard on his butt. The little creature though didn't seem to notice, or it was just too happy to see them again to care.

"Rrrioptile!" Helioptile exclaimed as he hugged Ash around the neck.

Serena blinked in surprise and confusion, not having met Helioptile before, while Brock took a step away from the "Reptile of Doom", as he had dubbed the little yellow being after the many shocks it had given them the last time they met.

"I thought it was a bit noisy around these parts. And I was right, it is you!" came a feminine voice over from the direction Helioptile had come from.

All three friends turned and looked over in the direction the voice had come from, Ash with some hassle since he was sitting on the ground, to find a young grown-up woman with dark-gray hair standing there, smiling at them. As soon as he saw the woman, Ash quickly got to his feet to return the smile.

"Alexa!" he called happily.

Hearing the name, Serena's eyes widened. Alexa? As in Alexa Scoop, the famous reporter? How did she know Ash? He hadn't been in Kalos that long, what were the odds that they would have been aqcuinted?

Alexa smiled at the group and walked over to them. When she reached them, Helioptile jumped off Ash's shoulder, where he had taken up temporary residence opposite to Pikachu, and ran back up Alexa's leg to place himself on her shoulder instead. Alexa noticed with interest that there was a new face in the group and curiously walked up to the girl in the pink hat.

"Hello, I don't think we have met before. I'm Alexa." she said and held out her hand.

Serena shook herself out of her thoughts and was quick to accept the handshake.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Serena." she said, awestruck. Alexa was among the most famous people in the whole of Kalos. Her articles were well known for their great detail and the videos she caught with her camera while out in the field were just amazing.

Alexa smiled at the younger girl and turned back to Ash. Not surprisingly, she found a young man with a very psyched up expression on his face, no doubt itching for a Gym Battle. Brock still stood a little off to the side, keeping a very wary eye on Helioptile.

"I take it you're here to challenge my sister to a Gym battle?" Alexa asked with a smile towards the enthusiastic young man in front of her.

Ash grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, that's my intention, but we need to visit the Pokemon center first. My pokemon are still exhausted so the Gym battle will probably have to wait just a little longer." he said.

This seemed to impress Alexa, who had gotten to know Ash as an impulsive teenager and not one to usually think twice once he set his sight on something. Then again, he had said that he wanted to start using his brain a bit more when preparing for battles and travels so she guessed this was the result. Impressive that it was already showing.

"I see. Well, come on then. Then Pokemon Center is this way." she said and waved for them to follow her as she began walking back in the direction she just came from. Ash looked over at Serena who smiled back at him and the two best friends followed without hesitation. In their wake followed Brock, who still did his best to keep a reasonable distance away from Helioptile.

As they followed Alexa towards the pokemon center and Ash was trying to sweet talk her into revealing any of her sister's tricks when it came to battling, Serena found herself bubbling with excitement for the upcoming battle. It was strange really. She had never really cared for Pokemon battling, but now that she was about to see Ash in action in a real, official battle, she couldn't help but feel excited. This was Ash and he was going to do something that he loved. This was how they had imagined their journey would be, with Ash challenging the Gyms and Serena happily providing all her support. She had never really thought about what her role on their journey would have been. She was just happy that Ash had wanted her to come with him. For her, the travelling and the time with her best friend especially was more than enough to satisfy her. And now, that dream to travel with Ash and see him fulfill his dream, was finally coming true.

-Z-Z-Z-

"So you have finally started accepting official challenges again?"

For what had to be the fifth time since accepting to battle Ash, Dusk Damon sighed and leaned back in the sofa. For whatever reason, Professor Sycamore had invited his old friends, Lysandre of the Royal Family and Diantha, the world famous actress over for a cup of tea and stupid as he was, Dusk had accepted to attend the little meeting between these three famous people, though it was mainly because he wanted to give a good impression and because he knew Diantha since before. Since Diantha was the Champion of the Kalos region, they had met at some occasions and she and his sister were close friends, being two out of very few female regional champions and the only two out of the greater regions.

They were currently seated in the Professor's living room, with Dusk and the assistant Sophie sitting in the sofa, Professor Sycamore sitting by the edge of the table in a chair and Diantha and Lysandre occupying one side of the table each with armchairs. Why had he even agreed to this? He had never been one to enjoy tea parties. If his sister was host, then ok he could stand it because then she would be the one to receive attention, but here? Apprently he was a lot more interesting than Professor Sycamore. Or perhaps it was just because Lysandre already knew Sycamore that he found Dusk more interesting, but whatever the reason, Dusk was starting to regret leaving the lab that afternoon.

"No Lysandre, I'm not accepting official challenges again. My battle with Ash will be nothing more than a friendly battle between two Pokemon Trainers." Dusk sighed.

This for some reason, caused Diantha to giggle in a very girlish way, that strenghtened Dusk's suspiscion that she was actually younger than people made her out to be. Even Professor Sycamore chuckled at his comment. When Dusk raised an eyebrow at their behavior, all they did was smile at him.

"Well, that's a pity Dusk. I've been wanting to challenge you ever since I lost to your sister." Diantha said as she smiled at him.

Dusk groaned. That was exactly why he didn't accept challenges anymore. Being the younger brother of the number one trainer in the world, a lot of the people who either lost to Cynthia or didn't want to challenge her just yet seemed to use him like some kind of meassurement to how close they were to making it to her level. It was no secret that the two siblings were very close and having faced Cynthia in battle himself and almost tied with her, a lot of people were eager to meassure their own strenght against him. Palmer was just one out of many who had come looking for a battle and after a lot of refusals, Dusk had finally accepted to fight him inofficially, just to get him to shut up. Steven Stone was also someone he had fought, quite regularly during his years in Hoenn, since Steven was the son of Dusk's boss at the Devon Corporation. Being the son of the boss, Steven often visited Rustboro City and since he and Dusk had been pretty tied in power, they had gotten down to a few clashes. But for both those two, he had a reason to accept challenges. Palmer because he knew the man wouldn't stop until he got his fight, and Steven as a friendly battle. It was the same with Ash now. He hadn't accepted that challenge because he wanted to come back to Pro Battling, he just did it because he felt he wanted to.

"Well, then you will have to wait a little longer. I don't see any reason to accept new challenges. As a Champion, surely you can understand that I'm not too keen on setting up a line where people who wanna fight me can stand in wait?"

Diantha chuckled at his remark. She knew just what he was talking about. As a champion, Diantha had her fair amount of challengers. Thankfully, only people who had either won the Kalos League Conference or managed to place him or herself on the Top 100 World Ranks could challenge her or she would probably have a lot more challengers.

In her eyes it was quite remarkable that Dusk used to have so many challengers when he was still competing. Even for a Top 15 World Battler, Dusk had quite a huge amount of challengers. Not being an Elite Four, Frontier Brain or Champion, there really wasn't any particular reason, other than wanting a simple test of strenght, to challenge Dusk. Then again, Diantha herself had been longing for a battle with the young trainer, so she guessed that there simply was something special about Cynthia's brother that made it intruiging to challenge him.

"Relax, I was just joking." she said as she took another zip of her tea.

Laughing at his young friend's expense, Professor Sycamore leaned forward to take a zip of his own cup before he leaned back in his seat again. Dusk just sighed again and leaned back.

"Actually, it would be quite interesting to see you two have a battle. Never before have two trainers with the power to Mega Evolve faced off against one another in an official battle." Sycamore remarked as he looked at Dusk, trying to find any kind of positive reaction to this idea.

Dusk however, wasn't too interested in facing off against Diantha. While she was definetely a strong trainer and an interesting opponent, setting up a battle between them to try out their abilities as two trainers wielding Mega Evolution was not a good idea. For starters, he had not yet managed to activate it at will with Garchomp, as he had hoped he would be able to. The only Pokemon he currently could Mega Evolve whenever he wanted was Mawile and while that wasn't a particularly bad thing, he would need Garchomp at his full power if he was to go up against a Champion. Further more, facing a trainer whose signature Pokemon was part Fairy-type would match badly, against both of his own two signature Pokemon, since both Darkrai and Garchomp in one way or another would be at a disadvantage against Gardevoir.

"I doubt it would be that interesting. If it was a battle of Megas, then Diantha would wipe my butt." Dusk said.

While that was not the reaction Sycamore had been hoping for, he couldn't really blame that logic. While Dusk still had trouble Mega Evolving Garchomp at will, due to the incredible amount of power required to perform the Mega Evolution of such a powerful Pokemon, Diantha had no trouble performing Gardevoir's Mega Evolution and even if Dusk managed to pull off Garchomp's, the Land Shark Pokemon would still be at a disadvantage against a Fairy-type. His most powerful attacks would have no effect and even though Dusk's Garchomp knew a great variety of moves, there was still the fact that it would take a lot of damage from Gardevoir's moves. Of course, Dusk could pull of a Mega Evolution of his Mawile, but that one wasn't even in the same league as Gardevoir.

"Well, it was worth a try." Sycamore chuckled.

At this point, Lysandre leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees, resting his hands together in a thoughtful position.

"So you too can wield Mega Evolutions then, Dusk? That's really impressive."

Dusk turned to look at the Royal Descendant out of the corner of his eye. There was something about this man... something that made Dusk slightly uncomfortable. He couldn't quite understand what it was because by all appearences, Lysandre was a nice guy. He was the founder of Lysandre Labs, that produced the Holo Caster, he was of royal ancestry and he had donated money for benefaction at several occasions. From all points of view, Lysandre was as good a guy as one could get. So why did he feel so uneasy about him?

"I still have problems when it comes to Garchomp. While we no doubt share a bond strong enough for it to work in theory, there appears to be a little more to it than just that."

Hearing this, Professor Sycamore sat up a little straighter. This was the first time Dusk actually mentioned any kind of theory around Mega Evolution. Sycamore had known that the boy had the ability to make it happen, that had been the reason he had called him and asked to study his Garchomp in the first place. But he had also been aware that other than that one time when the two partners from Sinnoh had pulled it off once, Dusk had not been able to repeat the feat.

"Oh? I didn't know you had examined Mega Evolution during your journey?"

Dusk cast a sideway glance at the Professor. Had he really thought that Dusk wouldn't at least cogitate the reason why he had only accomplished one Mega Evolution and then seemingly lost the ability to do so? Never mind. Apparently he had thought that.

"I have been making certain... observations. I have noticed that I can perform a Mega Evolution at will with Mawile, but Garchomp's Mega Evolution is still out of my reach. My theory is that the stronger the Pokemon, the more energy it requires to Mega Evolve. That would explain why Garchomp, my strongest Pokemon, can't Mega Evolve at will while Mawile, one of my weaker Pokemon, can. That would also strengthen the theory that the Mega Evolution is dependant on the bond shared between Trainer and Pokemon, but it also adds that the energy used for the evolution is somehow dependant on the trainer himself. That would mean that as it stands, my energy is not enough to empower a Mega Evolution of Garchomp, but enough to trigger a reaction in Mawile." Dusk put forth his theory.

When he had said what he thought, all 5 occupants in the room fell silent. Professor Sycamore scratched his chin in thought. That was a very good theory. Dusk hadn't left many holes for the theory to prove incorrect and if they didn't reveal anything that directly proved this to be wrong, he had a hard time seeing how this would in any way be incorrect. Lysandre also seemed to think along the same lines, because after a while, he threw his head back and laughed.

"Ahaha! I see you're not leaving anything up for debate here! You really are as sharp as Augustine claims!" he said and gave Dusk a pat on the back. "Anyway, I need to get going. I got an important meeting to attend."

With that, the descendant of the ancient king's younger brother got up from his seat and thanked Sycamore for the invitation and the tea. When Sycamore got up to follow his old friend to the door, Dusk leaned back and gave a sigh of relief that the tea party was finally over. Since when did Pokemon Professors invite their friends to tea parties anyway? Wasn't that just something small girls did? His own grandmother, Professor Karolina, was also a Pokemon Professor, but even she had never held tea parties like this.

As soon as Professor Sycamore and Lysandre was out of earshot, Dusk cast a glance after the two men, or more specifically the latter of the two.

"That guy gives me the creeps. There is something wrong with him." he muttered.

Diantha looked up questioning at her friend's younger brother, but when she saw where he was looking, she quickly understood who he was referring to. She couldn't really blame him. Lysandre could look a bit threatening at first glance, with his broad shoulders and hoarse voice.

"I can't say I disagree with you, but he is a good man. He wants to create a better world and is very passionate about his dream of creating a perfect world." she said.

Dusk didn't let his gaze leave the door where the Professor and Lysandre had disappear. As good as Lysandre was... there was just something about him that gave him the chills.

"That may be, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions." he said as he finally looked away from the door. "If one is too fixed on his goal, it is easy to lose sight of other things and that can easily make the person become too focused on achieving his goal and instead abandon his ideals in the world we live in favor of a world that may never exist."

Diantha frowned at the boy's little speech. That was... actually very deep. Since when had Dusk become so philosophic? But... there was actually quite a lot of truth to his words. She remembered that Cynthia had told her that when she was younger, all she had focused on was to gain power and become a strong trainer, but because of that she had failed to care for her own Pokemon in the way they deserved. Comparing the example of Cynthia with Lysandre's passion for his ideal world... the thought of what he might be capable of doing made her shudder. Cynthia's goal had been to become the strongest trainer in the world and for that she had lost sight of her Pokemons' well being. If Lysandre lost sight of the world in favor of his ideal world...

-Z-Z-Z-

While Nurse Joy tended to their Pokemon, Ash, Brock, Alexa and Serena had decided to grab something for dinner. It was starting to get dark outside so after a lot of complaining from Ash, they had decided to postpone the Gym Battle until tomorrow. This would also give Ash more time to think over what Pokemon he wanted to use. Alexa had told him that the Santalune City Gym Battles always were two on two and that her sister specialized in Bug-type Pokemon. But other than that, she had refused to tell the boy anything else, saying that knowing her sister's "tricks" beforehand would give him an unfair advantage compared to other challengers.

They were currently sitting in the Pokemon Center's Cafeteria, discussing what Pokemon Ash should use to counter Bug-types, when Brock brought a very valid point into the discussion.

"While you are switching Pokemon, you should try to prepare for your battle with Dusk at the same time. I know that it is still a few days away, but from what I know, Dusk is really tough and if you're going up against him, you will need to be synchronized with your Pokemon, so it would probably be beneficial to spend some time beforehand to get to re-acquint yourself with your chosen fighters."

Ash took a moment to think about Brock's suggestion. Yeah, that did sound reasonable. He hadn't battled with any of the Pokemon he left at Professor Oak's lab for quite some time, except his Unova Pokemon, and he would only be allowed to use one of those. He remembered that everytime Charizard had been training at the Charizific Valley and come back, he always knew some new moves and had learned something new that he utilized in battle. During their Battle against Articuno in the Battle Factory, he had only learn one new actual move and despite that, Ash and Charizard hadn't really been perfectly synched because Ash was not used to Charizard's movement patterns and didn't know in what situation he was supposed to pull off Overheat to get maximal effect. Yeah, getting a little reacquinted with his chosen battlers would definetely help him in this battle.

"That sounds like a good plan. So which ones do you suggest?" he asked as he turned to Brock.

However, before Brock could answer, Alexa broke in.

"You're going to fight Dusk? As in Dusk Damon of the Celestic Siblings?"

All eyes around the table, including Serena's, turned towards Alexa as she said this. Even Pikachu looked up from his nap. Ash frowned. Yes, he was fighting Dusk, he knew that much, but he had no idea what the "Celestic Siblings" was.

"Uhm, well yeah I'm going to fight Dusk when I get back to Lumiose City, but what is a Celestic Sibling?" he said.

Alexa stared at Ash as if he had grown a second head. He didn't recognize the term Celestic Sibling and yet he was about to take on one of them? Well, he was Ash, but really could even he be that dense? But come to think of it, he had been on the road while the term Celestic Sibling got thrown around so perhaps he simply hadn't come across it?

"The Celestic Siblings, or Celestial Siblings in popular speech, is a collective term used to refer to two immensely talented Pokemon Trainers that originated from Celestic Town in the Sinnoh Region, the two grandchildren of the famous Professor Carolina Damon. It was a little over 10 years since the older of the two, Cynthia, set out on her first journey and at the mere age of 14, she became the youngest Champion to date in any region when she took the throne as Champion of the Sinnoh League. The year after Cynthia had taken the throne, her younger brother Dusk set out on his first journey and despite the high expectations the world had for him, he managed to even outmatch his sister's first journey by advancing all the way up to winning his very first Tournament, the Lily of the Valley Conference from 6 years ago, and challenge the Elite Four at the mere age of 10. As if that wasn't enough, he went on to beat the entire Elite Four and challenged his sister for the title of Sinnoh Champion that same year and even though he was defeated, he is still the only trainer ever to have beaten the entire Elite Four in any region during their first journey. Over the following years, both the siblings kept gaining fame and climb the Pokemon Trainer World Ranks and they both seemed to be almost impossible to stop. Dusk kept winning regional tournaments and Cynthia kept challenging tougher and tougher trainers until she eventually achieved the prestigous rank of Number One trainer in the entire world!"

Here, Alexa made a pause to take a few deep breaths. The other three were staring at her, barely believing this fairy tale she was telling them. And at first sight, it really did sound like it was something out of someone's imagination. But it was true. Like all reporters, Alexa found the story of the Celestic Sibligns fascinating. She herself had even written an article about it during a visit to Sinnoh, when she had went to Celestic Town to study the Pokemon that lived close to Celestic Town and thus get an understandning for what Pokemon the two siblings had grown up with. She had also met Professor Carolina, who had spoken very fondly of her two grandchildren, but strangely enough hadn't been too interested in talking about their careers but rather just what kind of persons they were.

Ash swallowed as he took in all that Alexa had told them so far. He had known that Dusk would be a tough opponent, but now he suddenly felt like maybe he had gotten in over his head this time. Up to this point, he had just regarded Dusk as another trainer who had just happened to win 3 tournaments in a row, which was impressive but still not impossible to beat, but when you took in the age Dusk had been when he did it, things was starting to look a little darker. He didn't know exactly how old Dusk was today, but if what Alexa had told him had been true, then Dusk had been 10 years old when he defeated the Sinnoh Elite Four?! Now that was just crazy! Ash himself had challenged the Sinnoh Elite Four 1 year ago when he had won the Lily of the Valley Conference, but he had been squashed like a bug by Aaron, the first and supposedly weakest of the four. And Dusk had defeated the entire Elite Four and challenged the Champion when he was 10?! When Ash was 10, he had only made Top 16 in the Indigo Conference!

Brock seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Ash, because he looked almost as bad as when Ash had mentioned Professor Ivy earlier that day. He had recognized the name Dusk Damon when he heard it, but he had never actually checked his trainer profile. But judging by what Alexa had just told them, he had obviously underestimated the guy. Beating an Elite Four at the age of 10? That just didn't happen!

Even Serena, while not particularly interested in Pokemon Battling itself, could see that this Dusk guy that Ash was supposed to fight when he got back to Lumiose City was someone who they really shouldn't mess around with. She knew a little about the Pokemon League System and beating an Elite Four was supposed to be really hard.

"Ehm Alexa? Do you know Dusk's exact record?" Brock asked, not really sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"I don't know his exact official record, but I do remember that he have only lost 5 official matches, if he hasn't lost any since I last checked. One of those battles were of course against his sister, Cynthia, when he challenged her for the title of Sinnoh Champion. Another one that sticks out a little is his loss against Brandon, the Pyramid King, because it is the only match to this day that Dusk himself iniated through an official challenge."

At this both Brock and Ash perked up a little. Dusk had lost to Brandon? That was a good thing! Then if Ash could battle at the height of his game, he could still win this match! If Dusk had failed to beat Brandon, which Ash had managed to defeat...

"Well, that just means that I will have to battle even harder!" Ash said and stood up in his place.

With that, he and Brock went into a discussion about what Pokemon Ash should use. Alexa seemed to be amused by Ash's antics and stated that she would want to see a battle like this. Serena, who didn't feel like she had much to say at the moment, just took to watching Ash as he and Brock tried to figure out what Pokemon would be best to use. Alexa also participated in the discussion, giving them some hints of what pokemon Dusk might use, but was very wary of doing so, saying that it was entirerly possible that Dusk would use a Pokemon she did not have any knowledge of. Not knowing much about neither trainer's Pokemon, Serena found herself sitting quietly in her seat, before she remembered that she was supposed to call her mom now that she was in Santalune City.

Excusing herself from the discussion, she went out into the lobby and dialed her home number. She absentmindedly drummed her fingers against the dial board while she waited for her mother to pick up the phone. It was strange. Why was she feeling so nervous? It was just a phone call. A simple phonecall home. Why would that make her feel so nervous?

Then it hit her. Of course! She was nervous because she didn't know how her mom would react upon hearing from her again. After what happened this morning, she wasn't entirerly sure where she stood with her mother. She did really mean that she wanted to come home and feel like she really was her mother's daughter for once, but after they had made up she had just left. How would her mother react when they spoke now? Would she be all overparental and fuss about every hair that didn't lay exactly right on Serena's head or would she still be the same? Serena swallowed as she heard the ding that confirmed that a connection had been established.

"Hello?" Grace said as she picked up the phone. The screen remained black so Serena supposed that she didn't suspect that it was her calling.

"Uhm, hi mom. It's me."

As soon as she said it, Serena could hear a sudden noise in the other end of the phone, causing her to frown. It would sound as if her mother had lost grip on the phone when she realized who it was that was calling. Was that a good or bad thing? It didn't take long though before the screen lit up and the image of Grace, complete with messy hair, appeared in front of Serena. She looked like she was half way through making dinner. Upon seeing her mother again, Serena felt her nervousity quickly rise up her throat, almost cutting off her air supply. Well, at least that was what it felt like, though she doubted nervousity could physically cut off air supply. Grace however looked like christmas had come a few months early at the sight of her daughter.

"Serena! I didn't think you would call before tomorrow!" she said.

Serena felt her beating heart calm down a little as she heard her mother speak. Good, she at least wasn't unbearbly overprotective, just a little shocked. While she did want her mother to show that she cared more than she had done during her childhood, she didn't want her to fuss over everything that could possbily have gone wrong during the journey.

"Well, we stepped up our pace a little after lunch. How are things at home?"

"Oh, not much is going on here. Though it feels kind of lonely cooking dinner for just one person. But never mind that now, how have your first day as a trainer been?"

Serena felt a little bad that her mother missed her, but at the same time she felt reassured by it too. Was there something wrong with her? It wasn't normal to be happy that someone felt down because of you, yet she felt a warmth spread through her chest as she heard that her mother actually missed her.

"It's been great so far. Everything feels so new and exciting and I even caught my first Pokemon while in the Santalune Forest!" Serena said, smiling happily as she pulled out Scatterbug's pokeball and released the Scatterdust Pokemon to show him to her mom. As soon as he was released, Scatterbug stretched out on the phoneboard and shook his head, while yawning drowsily.

Grace smiled as she saw the little Bug Pokemon, her daughter's first catch. Serena was growing up right before her eyes. Or well, she felt like she was doing that anyway. In reality, Serena had been very independant and grown up from a very young age, technically since they moved to Kalos, but she had never really payed attention to it. But now she knew that Serena could take care of herself and with Ash guarding her back, she knew that her daughter would be just fine.

"He is adorable. Hello there, little one." she said, causing Scatterbug to look up at her with curious eyes.

From there, the discussion between mother and daughter moved on, resulting in a long conversation about everyhing between heaven and earth. Having spent the last years on each side of a rift, the two just enjoyed talking to one another. Serena felt happy being able to talk to her mother as if she was actually her mother again. She hadn't been able to do that since before they moved and even then, the occasions had been scarce. Grace on the other hand felt happy that Serena didn't seem to hold any grudge against her for what had happened these last years.

The occasion would have been a nice one if it hadn't been interrupted by a fierce roar that echoed throughout the Pokemon Center. Not having expected the sound, Serena yelped in surprise and gave a start. Scatterbug immediately curled up into a ball, as if trying to protect himself from whatever had given off such a threatening sound. Grace also jerked in her spot, but not at the same level as Serena and her Pokemon. After recovering from the shock, Serena looked over in the direction where the roar had been heard. It had sounded... familiar...

"That was Charizard!" she realized in shock.

What was going on? Why was Charizard out of his Pokeball? Had Ash let him out for some reason? But then why had that roar sounded so... menacing? She had spent the lunchbreak in the company of the mighty dragon and he was a gentle pokemon. Ok, so he could be quite terrifying when provoked or in battle, but he wouldn't become aggressive without a reason.

"Uhm, I think I better go see what's happened. I'll call you later mom!" Serena said as she returned Scatterbug to his Pokeball and hang up on the phone.

-X-Y-Z-

Ash had noticed that Serena left and had half a mind to go after her, but ultimately decided against it, figuring she probably wanted to speak to her mother in private. He instead focused on the discussion about what Pokemon he should use. According to Alexa, Dusk had a very fleixble team overall, but his teams from the 3 regions he had travelled tended to be themed by Dragon-like pokemon or pokemon that had some kind of connection to the night and thus, most of his Pokemon were either part Dragon or part Dark/Ghost. There were of course exceptions, but preparing to face either of those three types would put Ash with a good chance to find himself at a type advantage.

"But he also have a lot of other pokemon too, but he rarely uses them for official matches. However, it is quite possible he will use them in this match, since it won't be an official battle so be careful." Alexa warned him.

That was the main problem here. Would Dusk stick to his signature battlers or would he use a less known pokemon? IF he did use his acknowledged strongest from each region: Garchomp, Salamence and Haxorus, then all his pokemon would be weak against the same types and Ash would have a great advantage if he could use that type only. The problem was that he didn't have many pokemon of either types. Both Salamence and Garchomp had a x4 weakness against Ice and Haxorus also had a x2 weakness against Ice types, so that type would be ideally a good choice. However, the only Ice type Ash had was Glalie. And on top of that, they couldn't even be sure that Dusk would use any of these three. Alexa said that it was unlikely that he would use Garchomp, since Ash was not allowed to use his own starter, but the other two were definetely options they would need to consider.

"I can't believe this guy has 2 pseudo-legendaries and 1 legendary." Ash said as he stared at the list of Pokemon Alexa had managed to write down from what she remembered Dusk using in big matches. "Do you think there is any chance he will be using Darkrai?"

Alexa frowned in thought. Truth to be told, she had never seen Dusk use a Darkrai in official battles, but Ash and Brock said that he had one. But it made no sense that Dusk would not use a pokemon like that in official and important battles, especially the one against Brandon, where he had withheld Garchomp due to the disadvantage he would be up against with Brandon's Regice. In a battle like that, when he was going up against 3 legendaries, it would make perfect sense for him to use his own legendary if he had one.

"I won't say it's an impossibility, but I think that he must have caught Darkrai after his journeys and thus, he won't be allowed to use it by the rules. We can't really tell because we don't know exactly when he caught his Darkrai, but I feel that he most likely did it after his journeys, since he didn't use it against Brandon and that battle took place shortly after he won the Hoenn Conference."

And from there, the discussion went on to what pokemon he had used at what occasion and what was most likely going to appear. According to Alexa, Dusk had a habit of always picking the pokemon that was sure to be most effective against his upcoming opponent, meaning that he often studied his opponents and their earlier battles to try to figure out what pokemon he was going to face. It was essentailly a battle of minds.

After a lot of guessing and thinking twice, Brock and Ash decided on using Sceptile for his Hoenn pokemon, Infernape as his Sinnoh pokemon and Krookodile as his Unova pokemon and possible counter against any Dragon-types Dusk may use, seeing as it knew Dragon Claw, it would be albe to hit for a super effective move without running the risk of being returned the favor. That had been the reason that Gible was left out of the discussion because while he would hit for a super effective move, he would also take a super effective move if he went up against Garchomp or Salamence.

"Well, at least you're prepared. We have done all we can to prepare you in the best possible way. Now, we just need to go get your pokemon." Brock said as he stood up.

Eager to meet his friends again, Ash rose from his seat along with Alexa. The three of them moved to exit the cafeteria, but when they were just a few feet away from the door, noises could be heard from the other side and a second later, a trainer entered. A very familiar-looking trainer. It took Ash a moment to recognize the trainer from Kanto, but as soon as his mind put two and two together, he felt his blood boil at the sight of a boy he had hoped never to meet again. His blue hair was slightly shorter than the last time they met and he had switched his pink shirt for a red one, to go along with his new black vest, but he still had his overly wellcombed blue hair and his sunglasses sitting on top of his head. Ash gritted his teeth as he recalled what had happened the last time he had met this guy.

"Damien?! What are you doing here?!" he growled.

Damien blinked in surprise of being spoken to, but after looking at Ash for a moment, his eyes widened in shock, before he quickly regained his composure and his face took on a smug and arrogant look.

"Well, wha'dya know? It's da lil' runt who stole ma' Cha'mander!" he smirked towards Ash.

Ash grit his teeth at the false accusation and was just about to pounce at the boy in front of him when he felt something vibrating violently in his belt. He stopped himself at the last second and looked down in shock at his belt, where one of his pokeballs were vibrating. A second later, it opened up to release the furious creature that was being held inside. Ash didn't even need to see the form the white energy took to know who it had been that reacted to Damien. Charizard had recognized his former trainer.

The Flame Pokemon took shape from the white light and gave off a furious roar as he spread his wings, causing Damien to get thrown back from the gust. The blue haired teenager yelped in shock and crawled backwards as Charizard fixed him with a burning gaze and gritted teeth. The mighty dragon growled under his breath and took a step forward threateningly. How he had waited for this day... how he had longed to get his revenge against the boy who had almost cost him his life!

A/N: Boom! I think I need to cut it there or it will become too long. I'm sorry this took so long to get up, but I have been working on my Harry Potter fics and with school going again I'm afraid I couldn't work on more than one fic at a time. But here you finally got it so I hope you enjoyed it.

Now, I know I promised a battle in this chapter, but it took a lot longer to write this than I anticipated so we will have the battle in the next chapter. I don't think you will have a hard time guessing between who the battle will be.

Also, I am aware that some of you will probably rage at me for giving Dusk a Salamence, but please spare me your inconstructive and stupid comments and reviews. If you don't like it, then why the hell are you here? I don't need to hear your hatred for me and my fic and my "F*cking Gary Stu-OC". Dusk is supposed to be incredibly strong and have won the League in 3 regions. Thus, he have pokemon that reflect that power and skill. One can argue that anyone can win a league with those pokemon that he got and there might be some truth to that, but just face the facts: one can't win 3 leagues using a Caterpie. To do that, they need a strong pokemon and that's it. If you got problem with that, then go play your hacked pokemon games or fantisise about yourself winning a league with a weak pokemon, because that won't happen here. I use logic to write this fic and if you don't like logic, then too bad because the world is built on logic.

Ok, for all of you who doesn't think I'm an equalivent to words that would be censored by FF if I wrote them down, I'm sorry you had to read that. Now, let's move on to more fun things. I would really like to hear your thoughts on this chapter and I am open to critique, as long as you actually got a solid ground for it and don't just want to show that you think I am the devil in disguise.

Pokemon Listings:

Ash Ketchum

Pikachu: Thunderbolt, Volt Tackle, Thunder, Electro Ball, Iron Tail, Quick Attack, Agility, Double Edge

Charizard: Flamethrower, Flare Blitz, Dragon Tail, Slash, Wing Attack, Seismic Toss, Overheat, Dragon Rage

Dusk Damon:

Garchomp: Dragon Rush, Draco Meteor, Stone Edge, Flamethrower, Meta Claw, Giga Impact, Dig, Earthquake

Darkrai: Dark Pulse, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Psychic, Dark Void, Nightmare, Dream Eater, Hyper Beam

(Salamence: Just mentioned)

Cont. A/N: I don't think anyone else had a Pokemon in this chapter? Well, can't have been any important pokemon if there was. Now, I just got one more thing to do before ending this chapter and that is of course...

Oakdex of the Day: Shedinja: Pokemon X Version

X: "A discarded bug shell that came to life. Peering into the crack on its back is said to steal one's spirit."

Oakdex: This pokedex entry I find quite peculiar in the games and it kind of creeps me out in a way. As far as I know, it is impossible to meet wild Shedinja's in any game and I don't think there is any trainers that use it? Anyway, so the only way to get Shedinja into your pokedex is naturally to evolve a Ninjask and have a free spot and pokeball. So... the only way to see Shedinja in battle would be by using it yourself right? And... just from what angle do you look at your pokemon when they are out in battle? That's right... you're looking at it FROM BEHIND! You're looking at its back!

And that is all I had to say for today. I hope you enjoyed the new chapter and that you still like my fic, despite my OC that apparently equals words I am surprised that FF doesn't censor... or perhaps it's just the flamers that can't spell it right. I dunno XD Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chappie and that you will still be here when I post the next one! =)