No, your eyes are not deceiving you. This is an actual update. I have no excuse for why this chapter is the first update in almost four months, so I'll be honest and say that I just needed a break from Pokémon for a bit. Now, I'm back with a new chapter for your viewing pleasure.

Last Time: Ash had a brief talk with Professor Oak about Mega Evolution and transferred Fletchling over for Gible before heading back to Lumiose City with Brock. Serena and Shauna both reflected on choosing their Pokémon and Serena told Shauna why she was searching for Ash in the first place.

Key:

Bold- PA system/Message Bulletins

Bold Italic- Radio/TV/Pokedex descriptions

Italics-Thoughts/Letters/Flashbacks

Ash, Brock and Pikachu finally stopped outside of a restaurant that Ash was able to settle with. The restaurant was not big, but it had some tables outside of it for people to sit outside and eat at if they wished. Upon entering the diner, they were surprised with the style and décor. The restaurant resembled a hamburger stand and had a 1950s layout. The jukebox in the center of the restaurant was playing some music to add to the already active atmosphere.

"Wow, this place is really lively!" Ash whistled.

"I'll say." Brock nodded. "This is one of the best restaurants in the city."

They walked to the nearest open booth and took a seat and were soon tended to by a waiter. He placed a menu in front of Ash and Brock and they opened it up to see what was available to eat. The menu had a lot of soda to choose from as well as a lot of bar and grill food.

"What can I get you two to drink?" The waiter asked.

"I'll take some water for now," Ash replied as he looked back at the waiter.

"Same here," Brock said. "Can we also have onion rings as an appetizer?"

The waiter nodded and walked off to fetch their drinks and onion rings. While the waiter was gone, they looked around the restaurant again. Ash was still amazed at how busy the restaurant was and was eager to try their food. He was about to take a look at the menu, but his eyes caught sight of a large chalk board on the other side of the restaurant near the bathrooms. His curiosity got the better of him and he excused himself from the table with Pikachu following him. When he got closer to the board he felt a smirk come to his face. The board was formatted in a way to have a small battle tournament. He could see that it the battles scheduled were a day old and he was silently wondering if there were daily battle tournaments at the restaurant.

The waiter that was serving him and Brock came around the corner and Ash pulled him aside to the board.

"Hey, I have a question for you," Ash began.

"What's up?" The waiter replied.

"Do you guys host battle tournaments here in the restaurant, and if so, how do I sign up?"

"Oh, we have tournaments once a week. That board was from yesterday."

Ash frowned when he heard that. He hoped there was another tournament being held so he could get some training in for his team.

"But if you want, you can go out back and challenge people outside whenever you want," the waiter continued when he saw his disappointed look. "Just ask the person you want to battle for a fight and tell the nearest waiter who will referee the match."

"Cool!" Ash grinned.

He thanked the waiter and hurried with Pikachu back to the table where Brock looked at him with a raised brow. He took a seat and waited for their waiter to set their food down so he could tell Brock about the battles that took place outside. When their drinks and onion rings were placed on the table, Ash and Brock ordered their hamburgers with Ash telling him to bring them outside.

"Why are we going outside?" Brock asked.

"This is a battle restaurant and you can challenge people outside while you eat!" Ash said, barely able to contain his excitement.

A knowing smirk came to Brock's face and he nodded as he grabbed the basket of onion rings and his drink as he followed Ash and Pikachu to the back. They opened the back door and stepped outside to see a large battlefield with dozens of tables surrounding it to allow people to watch battles as they ate. There were a lot of customers sitting at tables and watching as one battle was taking place on the field. Since Ash would have to wait for battle on the field to end, he and Brock found the closest empty table which happened to be right on the sidelines.

"You know, I've heard about these battle restaurants, but I've never been to one until now," Brock said, eating an onion ring.

"Are they only limited to Kalos?" Ash replied.

"I doubt it. Although I would say that they are more prominent here."

Drool began to exit Ash's mouth when their lunch was set in front of them. Grabbing the juicy burger with both hands, he opened his mouth wide and chomped down to satisfy his hunger. While Ash continued to stuff his face to quell his insatiable appetite, he turned to look at the arena as the battles continued to take place.

Serena and Shauna came to a stop in front of a series of restaurants and looked around. The two girls had followed the direction the man pointed out where he saw the trainer of the Charizard go. Serena's sharp blue eyes scanned each restaurant they fell on as she tried to find the trainer. Her gaze drifted to the ground after coming up empty and she let out a sad sigh.

"What's with the sigh?" Shauna cocked her head.

"I'm beginning to think we're never going to find him," Serena answered, turning back to Shauna. "We were so close, too!"

"You're giving up already?"

"I never said I…"

Shauna rolled her eyes and crossed her arms before giving Serena a knowing look. She could tell when Serena was lying and she knew her friend had lost hope of finding the boy she had been looking for. That was one thing that irritated her about Serena and she would not stand for it.

"Before you give up, let's think about this," Shauna suggested.

"Fine." Serena rested her hands on her hips.

"Look, the guy we talked to said that trainer ran down this way, right?"

"Yes."

"Right. Now, let's think outside the box. He's a trainer, right?"

"Yes."

"And what do trainers like to do?"

Serena rolled her eyes and wanted nothing more than to tune Shauna's voice out. Although she was her friend, she hated it when Shauna pulled out what she referred to as the mom voice. Every time Shauna used her mom voice, she would tease Serena and explain everything logically to which she would be right a majority of the time. She looked back up at Shauna as she continued her talk.

"The correct answer was battle, Serena." Shauna smirked.

"Get on with it!" Serena growled out.

"Okay! Now, it's lunch time, which means this guy could be getting lunch."

"I hate it when you do this."

"Now let's review! It's lunch time. The guy we're looking for is a trainer, and he came down this way a while ago."

"So you're saying he's getting lunch?"

"You're getting warmer."

"Shauna!"

"Okay, okay! He's probably getting lunch at one of the battle diners!"

Serena's face lit up when Shauna gave her the answer. She felt embarrassed for not catching on earlier, but in her defense she was on a short fuse and was not in the mood for Shauna's game of playing the voice of logical reason. Putting Shauna's logical answer to use, she pulled out a directory of Lumiose City and found the street they were on. There was only one battle diner on this street and they were near it. Snapping the directory shut, Serena pocketed it and began moving towards the restaurant she found, leaving Shauna to sigh and run to keep up with her. It did not take long for the two of them to reach the restaurant after they made a mad dash towards it.

They looked at the restaurant's sign which read 'Burger Paradise' along the top of the entryway. Sharing a look, they entered the restaurant to be greeted with a burst of noise from talking customers and lively music. The two girls were greeted by a waiter who was ready to seat them, but Serena had other plans.

"Actually, I was wondering if we could sit outside where the battles are." Serena smiled.

"Of course, just follow me." The waiter turned around and led them to the back of the restaurant.

The three of them stepped outside into the fresh air and greeted with a loud bang that came from the center of the battle area. Thick smoke covered the arena, but it cleared out seconds later to show two Pokémon in the center that continued to engage each other to achieve victory. The waiter continued leading them to the nearest empty table that he saw and seated them moments later. He placed their menus in front of them and ventured off to retrieve their drinks. While the two girls waited for their drinks, they took in the scenery around them. Shauna was very intrigued with the battles taking place in the arena and would cheer for whichever Pokémon would get a hit, having no clear side to take. Serena on the other hand resumed her search for the trainer she had been looking for.

Her eyes continued to search the faces of the crowds she saw sitting around her and she was about to give up, but her eyes managed to catch sight of a Pikachu on a table on the other side of the arena. Remembering that the boy she thought was Ash had a Pikachu, her head perked up and she looked at the table's occupants. There were three men at the table. Two of them were wearing hats while the other one was wearing an open vest. Crossing out the one with the vest, she looked at the two with hats. On closer observation, she could see the boy that she saw on TV days back sitting down and talking to the one that was standing.

"I found him!" Serena got to her feet.

"What?" Shauna looked up at her and then followed her gaze across the arena.

"I'll be right back!"

"Wait, Serena!"

Serena was already moving to the other side of the battlefield to talk to the boy she had looked for. In her brisk movement she accidentally bumped into two people holding drinks and caused them to spill. She turned around to offer a quick apology, but closed her mouth when she saw the bizarre attire they were wearing. The two people she bumped into were wearing bright red suits, black ties, and red sunglasses. It was only weirder to see that both had their dyed red and gelled up in odd styles. Being a girl who had a sense of fashion, Serena found their state of dress horrendous, but she still opted to apologize to them.

"I'm sorry about that." Serena bowed her head. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Sorry?" The first male stammered out. "You're sorry? Look what you did to our clothes! Do you know how long it'll take us to get these stains out?"

Both men were glaring at her behind their sunglasses, visibly upset about the accident. Serena was taken aback by the hostile attitudes of two men in front of her. She opened her mouth to try to calm them down, but had no luck as the two of them continued to vent out their frustrations and it only got worse as they suddenly moved on to her style of dress.

"Who wears a pink hat with a red skirt and black top with black tights? It creates an ugly contrast!" The first man said as he circled Serena.

"And what kind of girl has a simple style of dress like that?" The other chided in. "Tell me something. Do you know what fashion is, or is it that these hand-me-down clothes are the best you can do?"

Serena never felt so insulted in her life and as the insults kept coming in, the smaller she felt. Each remark about her clothes made her tremble in embarrassment and she wanted nothing more than to go back five minutes and be careful with where she was walking. Her eyes began to sting with unshed tears and it only got worse as people watched the event unfold before them. She was silently wondering why no one was stepping up to stop the harassment, but that changed when she heard Shauna speak up.

"Hey! What do you jerks think you're doing?"

The two men stopped their critique of Serena's clothes and turned back to see another girl glaring daggers at them. Piecing together that the girl was undoubtedly a friend of the one they were ridiculing, they took in her style of dress next.

"Oh, what do we have here?" The first one spoke up.

"It looks like a tomboy! Tomboys have no sense of fashion at all!" The second added.

"Apologize to my friend, now! She didn't mean to spill your drinks!"

"Why would we do that? These clothes are very expensive, so we have every right to be mad!"

"Your clothes are expensive? Please! You probably picked up those seizure producing nightmares from the care closet!"

Shauna's victorious smirk stayed on her face as she saw the two men turn brick-red with rage, but it quickly disappeared when she saw them pull out Poké Balls. While not afraid to stand up for her friends or herself, Shauna was nervous about battling and had little knowledge about it. She managed to pull out Chespin's ball as she got ready to battle the fashion freaks, but she as halted when she heard a masculine voice speak up.

"Hey! What are you clowns up to?"

Ash just finished introducing Tom to Brock having seen him sitting near the battlefield watching the battles. They then talked about Ash's first gym battle and he showed his first badge to Tom who smirked at him. Ash was glad he was ahead of his rival since Tom had yet to make his trip to Santalune City.

"Hey, you may be ahead now, but I'll catch you pretty quick." Tom grinned.

"Bring it on!" Ash smirked back. "Are you up for a rematch?"

"You know it! This time, I'll win!"

Ash opened his mouth to retort, but his attention shifted to a crowd that had formed halfway across the battlefield. He could make out two men in red suits talking to a girl who appeared to be crying. Not one for standing by when someone was in trouble, Ash put aside his smack talk with Tom and walked over to the crowd with purpose with Pikachu perched on his shoulder. Tom and Brock exchanged looks and hurried after Ash to make sure he would not do anything reckless.

Breaking through the crowd to get towards the front, Ash was able to see what the big fuss was about. The two men dressed in red were belittling the girl in front of them for the clothes that she wore and he could tell that she was visibly upset with the ordeal. He was so angry with the mistreatreatment of the girl that his fists shook uncontrollably. Turning his gaze back to the girl in front of him, he had to do a double take. She was a pretty girl with her long honey colored hair and dark blue eyes. As he looked at the girl that was close to crying, he felt something click in the back of his head.

Although he could not explain it, the girl in front of Ash reminded him of something a long time ago. Deep in his memory he had the image of a young girl wearing a straw hat, sitting under a tree and crying all alone. He scratched the back of his head as the memory faded off and looked back at the girl who now had a few tears trickling down her face.

"We should help her," Brock said, appearing beside Ash. "No one deserves to get torn apart like that for such a small accident."

"Yeah, you're right!" Ash nodded.

He was about to step forward to intervene, but someone beat him to the punch. Another girl, most likely the other girl's friend stepped out of the crowd with her arms crossed and cross look on her face. The look alone told Ash that this girl meant business and he was curious to see what she would do to defend her friend. He, Tom and Brock watched with amusement as the two men failed in getting a rise from Shauna about her clothes and even more so with her response. Tom clutched his sides as he laughed at her insult to the two men.

"Oh, man, she just owned them." Tom laughed out.

Ash and Brock both smirked at the witty retort from the girl, but it changed to surprise when they saw the two men pull out Poké Balls, ready to battle. The girl looked nervous as she pulled out her Poké Ball to try and fight the two men in front of her, but Tom spoke up to stop the growing tension.

"Hey! What are you clowns up to?" Tom barked out.

He succeeded in getting the two men to turn around to take the focus off of the girl who looked a little surprised to see someone come to her aid. Tom spared the girl a quick look and smiled before turning to see the two men glaring back at him.

"Who are you?" The first man sneered.

"I'm Ash, and these are my friends, Tom and Brock," Ash answered back with a hard look. "Now, who are you two?"

"I'm Greg, and this is my partner, Terry," Greg answered. "Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about your style of clothing."

"Look, we're dudes, okay? It would be a violation of the man card to be obsessed with fashion." Tom interjected.

"What are you saying?" Terry pressed.

"I'm saying that any argument about fashion with us is irrelevant."

After saying that, Ash and Tom both pulled out their Poké Balls and pointed them at Greg and Terry, indicating their intentions. Ash spared the honey haired girl another look and smiled at her before turning away, but if he kept his gaze on her for a second longer, he would have seen the blush on her face.

"I don't take kindly to bullies, so I plan on taking both of you down!" Ash glared.

"Fine. You and your friend will regret fighting us!" Terry retorted.

"I doubt that." Tom smirked back. "Both of us refuse to be embarrassed by two men who dress like flamboyant trapper keepers."

"You'll regret that, you brat!" Greg shot back.

The tension returned tenfold after Tom's last comment and Greg and Terry stomped towards their end of the field, eager to get revenge for being insulted. While Tom and Ash took their side of the field, Tom pulled Ash aside for a quick talk.

"You know how double battles work, right?" Tom asked.

"Yeah," Ash answered back. "What do you have in mind?"

"Whenever I did double battles with my friends, we had a strategy that always worked."

"Lay it on me."

"One of us will serve as the primary defense and distraction while the other only attacks."

Ash furrowed his brow at Tom's strategy suggestion. He had been in his fair share of double battles, but limiting the offense by only using one of the two Pokémon seemed like a foolish move in his mind. He would rather have power and come up with spur of the moment tactics to prevail. He turned his gaze back to Tom to explain further, but he only saw a confident grin on his face.

"I know it seems crazy, but trust me. This will work!" Tom clapped his shoulder.

"All right, it's worth a shot." Ash nodded. "So what do you want to do?"

"I'll defend. You can go on the offensive."

"Sounds good."

They turned around and pressed down on the main button for their Poké Balls. The capsules grew in their hands and they waited for Brock to get into position to call the match. Brock stood off to the side with the honey haired girl and her friend before sending a look to both teams.

"The match will follow with normal double battle rules! When both Pokémon for one of the teams has been deemed unable to battle, the match will end!" Brock said loudly for both teams to hear.

Brock raised his hand and dropped it to signal the start of the battle. Winding their arms back, Ash and Tom threw their Poke Balls out to the center of the field with Greg and Terry doing the same.

"Raichu, let's rock!" Tom bellowed.

"Gible, I choose you!" Ash yelled.

The balls opened with a snap and two small figures emerged in front of Ash and Tom while two larger figures appeared in front of Greg and Terry. The white light vanished to reveal a Houndoom and Toxicroak in front of them. Tom made the first move with Ash giving his command next.

"Raichu, charge in with Volt Tackle!" Tom ordered.

"Gible, use Dig!" Ash yelled.

Sparks smirked wickedly and charged at the two Pokémon in front of him, all the while covering himself in a giant veil of electricity. The crackling electricity caught the focus of Houndoom and Toxicroak, shifting their focus over to Raichu. Meanwhile, Gible jumped high in the air and opened his mouth wide before burrowing his way into the concrete and out of sight. With Gible tunneling his way underground, Sparks continued his advance to Houndoom and Toxicroak.

"Use Flamethrower!" Terry hollered.

"Toxicroak, Toxic! Now!" Greg sneered, pointing at Raichu.

A giant stream of fire left Houndoom's mouth and went for Raichu while a dark purple liquid came from Toxicroak. Raichu continued barreling to the attacks and smirked as he heard Tom snap his fingers. When Tom snapped his fingers, Raichu cancelled his Volt Tackle and sprang up high using his tail. After leaping up high, Raichu looked down at his enemies with the smirk still on his face. Another Flamethrower was building up inside Houndoom's mouth and Toxicroak took the chance to jump up and intercept Raichu.

"Poison Jab!" Greg clapped, happy that he got an opening.

"Surface and use Rock Smash!" Ash cried out.

The ground exploded from underneath Houndoom and Gible smashed into Houndoom's stomach, catapulting him into the air and disrupting the Flamethrower. Gible's attack continued, bringing back his tiny fist as it began to glow white with raw power. He let loose a hard punch and smashed it into Houndoom's side, sending him plummeting to the hard ground. A loud crash echoed around the arena after Houndoom landed and kicked up a cloud of dust.

"Dig again!" Ash pumped his fist.

Gible tunneled his way into the ground once again after landing. When Gible disappeared from sight, Toxicroak vanished into the dust cloud after being sent down by an Iron Tail to the head, courtesy of Raichu. Raichu landed on the ground and glared at the dust cloud, waiting for the Houndoom and Toxicroak to emerge.

"Use Toxic again!" Greg barked.

"Houndoom, hit that pest with Fire Blast!" Terry roared.

Raichu jumped up high and dodged the Toxic spray, but he was in the direct path of the Fire Blast. Channeling whatever electricity he could with a grimace, Raichu surrounded his body with it in hopes to cancel out some of the damage.

"Raichu, Thunder Punch through the Fire Blast!" Tom cried out with a punch.

Raichu gave a loud cry as his small paw clenched into a fist and he punched forward with all his might as the giant star of blistering flames engulfed him. Flames met electricity and a loud boom filled the air as the flames passed through Raichu and continued into the sky. The force of the attack stunned Raichu as he back flipped towards the ground and slammed into it with a hard thud, face first.

"Tom, tell Raichu to get in that hole Gible made!" Ash whispered.

"Why?" Tom replied.

"Just do it! I have an idea!"

Not questioning his partner's thought process, Tom called out to Raichu and managed to make him stand up. The electric mouse swayed with dizziness as he tried to recollect himself. While Raichu tried to regain composure, Houndoom and Toxicroak began to circle him.

"Crunch!" Terry yelled.

"Hit him with Brick Break!" Greg laughed.

Houndoom and Toxicroak lunged forward to overpower Raichu, but they were surprised with what came next. Their target managed to vanish in a yellow blur using Agility and reappeared a second later near the hole that Gible created using Dig. He dove into the ground and Ash gave his next command.

"Gible, surface and use Dragon Pulse!" Ash shouted.

Gible broke through the ground again and lined up his shot at the Houndoom and Toxicroak who were now standing side by side after failing their assault on Raichu. A large turquoise ball of energy formed in Gible's maw and he gave a grunt as he sent it in their direction. The two Pokémon jumped away to avoid the large ball of energy that exploded with a large bang where they were standing a second earlier. Gible dove back into the ground to rejoin with Raichu, leaving Houndoom and Toxicroak to eye the ground carefully for any movement.

"So do you mind filling me in on your plan here?" Tom glanced at him.

"Tell Raichu to start digging. I'll have Gible do the same," Ash whispered back.

"Why?"

"You'll see soon enough."

Unbeknownst to Tom, Ash had developed a strategy in his head since he gave Gible his first command at the start of the fight. It was a very unorthodox offensive and defensive approach, but if it worked out like he pictured, it would work. With Raichu and Gible both digging tunnels underground, it would create a network of connecting tunnels under the surface to allow them to move underground and out of harm's way as a defense. For the offense, the holes on the field would allow a quick jump to give an unsuspecting attack or maneuver from both Raichu and Gible. By doing this, it would shift the attention to both of them instead of keeping them focused on just Raichu.

A smirk came to Ash's face as he saw Raichu and Gible surface time and again within seconds of each other, occasionally trying to hit Houndoom or Toxicroak to throw them off guard. Sparing Tom a glance, he could see that his partner now had a knowing grin on his face as well. He caught on to Ash's plan and gave him a nod in acknowledgment for the clever trick. Turning his attention back to the field, Ash could now see over fifteen holes in the ground and spread out over the field.

"Time to go on the offensive!" Ash grinned.

"Now you're speaking my language!" Tom nodded. "Raichu, use Thunderbolt!"

"Gible, Dragon Pulse!"

Raichu and Gible both surfaced on opposite sides of the field to box in Houndoom and Toxicroak. Both of them were charging their attacks and intended to score a direct hit on their two opponents. Raichu lined up his attack with Toxicroak while Gible aimed his Dragon Pulse at Houndoom. They simultaneously fired their attacks. Toxicroak dodged Raichu's Thunderbolt and ran at him with Agility, but could not score a hit as Raichu vanished into the ground again. Gible, however, hit his mark and the Dragon Pulse carried Houndoom back and forced him to crash into Toxicroak. The two of them hit the ground with a hard thud, but quickly got back up to eye the holes with caution.

Raichu poked his head up seconds later and got their attention. They turned to face him, but only got a cocky smirk in return as well as a rude hand gesture. This got the reaction he yearned for as Houndoom and Toxicroak dashed for his hole, but he ducked down and used Agility to reach a new hole on the other side of the field. Surfacing again, he blew a raspberry at the two and continued to keep their attention.

"Okay, time for the big bang." Ash cracked his knuckles. "Draco-Meteor! Let's go!"

"Oh, that's gonna' leave a mark," Tom muttered, scrunching his face in sympathy.

Seconds after Ash gave the order, a large orange and red ball of energy erupted from the center of the field and high into the air where it hovered momentarily before exploding in a loud bang. Meteorites burst from the air and rained down on the field with thunderous crashes, forcing Toxicroak and Houndoom to take evasive maneuvers. The two of them jumped all over the field to try to avoid the meteorites, but their luck was running out. Toxicroak turned back to avoid another meteor, but inadvertently ran into the path of another that he did not see.

Bang! The meteor exploded as it hit Toxicroak and created a small cloud of smoke from the impact.

"Toxicroak!" Greg cried.

The smoke cleared seconds later to show Toxicroak out cold. Greg said nothing as he held up his Poke Ball and returned Toxicroak to it. He gave an apologetic look to Terry who waved it off and glared at Gible and Raichu as they surfaced from the holes and gave each other a high-five.

"Houndoom, hit them with Hyper Beam!" Terry growled out.

The raw power of the Hyper Beam was shown as the devastating beam of purple energy left Houndoom's mouth and rocketed for Raichu and Gible. Thinking fast, Raichu jumped in front of Gible to shield him from the blow.

"Light Screen, now!" Tom bellowed.

A golden light surrounded Raichu's body as he braced for the Hyper Beam. The Hyper Beam smashed into Raichu with a loud boom, leaving nothing but thick smoke to fill the battlefield. A gust of wind cleared the smoke out moments later to show Raichu still standing, but he as covered in fresh cuts and exhaustion was clear on his face. He swayed once more and fell to the ground with a light thud. Now it was just Gible and Houndoom.

Gible looked furious as he glared at Houndoom for taking down his comrade. As he glared at Houndoom, his growls became more noticeable and his body shook with unbridled rage. All Gible wanted to do now was to take Houndoom down quick and to make it as painful as possible. His growls began to get caught in his throat before he released them in with a loud, ferocious roar.

When the roar left Gible's throat, his entire body began to glow white, catching everyone by surprise. Gible's roar died out and his form began to shift as he grew in height. New appendages began to sprout from his body as he now had two longer arms, two longer legs, a tail had formed followed by a couple of fins on his back and arms and to top it off, his head extended out thanks to a neck forming. The glow that surrounded Gible then vanished to reveal his next evolutionary stage, Gabite, standing tall and proud.

Ash, not finding any words to say for the surprise evolution, only pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at his Gabite to see what came up.

"Gabite, the cave pokémon. It loves sparkly things. It seeks treasure in caves and hoards loot in its nest." Dexter beeped back.

Ash blinked and then grinned after confirming he did not imagine Gible evolving and he in fact was standing in front of him now as a Gabite. Before snapping his Pokédex shut, his eye caught sight of a new move that Gabite had after evolving seconds ago.

"All right, Gabite! Let's finish this!" Ash smirked.

Sharp canines were revealed as Gabite smirked as well and he was more than eager to clean up. Glancing back at Ash he nodded to show he was ready before turning his yellow eyes back to Houndoom.

"Don't think that since you got lucky with an evolution means you will win this fight!" Terry snapped. "Someone has to cough up the money to get the stains out of these clothes!"

"Then come at us," Ash taunted back. "If you beat us, we'll pay the money to get your suits cleaned."

With that added incentive, Terry wasted no time in having Houndoom charge at Gabite in hopes to get in close to land a devastating hit to end the fight quickly. Unknown to him, Ash had already lured him into the trap he had set up. As Houndoom got closer to Gabite, Gabite began to crouch low to make his move. He sprang high into the air and landed on the other side of the battlefield when Houndoom made a diving lunge at him.

Gabite then turned around and opened his mouth wide for Dragon Pulse to start generating. The turquoise ball of energy was larger than when he last used it as Gible, just showing the amount of power that Gabite now had. Out of the corner of his eye, Gabite could see Houndoom turning around to run at him again. He waited for Ash to give his next order and got his wish a second later before Houndoom reached the center of the battlefield.

"Fire the Dragon Pulse, now!" Ash yelled.

Gabite followed through with the order and shot the ball of raw power at Houndoom with impressive speed. The attack was moving too fast to allow Houndoom to counter the attack with one of his own, so Terry did the only logical thing that came to mind.

"Jump over it!" Terry shouted.

Houndoom jumped over the Dragon Pulse, but what he did not count on was seeing Gabite appearing in front of him with a nasty grin on his face. Terry realized too little too late that he had played right into Ash's trap. By having Houndoom jump over Gabite's Dragon Pulse, there was no way for him to attack back or defend himself, which left him wide open for punishment.

"End it with Dragon Claw!" Ash hollered, punching forward as hard as he could to emphasize his point.

Gabite's claws began to glow a light green and he gave two, lightning quick slashes before standing upright. Houndoom skidded to a halt behind Gabite and tried to comprehend what just transpired. Seconds ticked by and finally, Houndoom swayed and fell to the ground with a thud. Turning around, Gabite looked his downed opponent in the eye and sent him the only message he could with his cheeky grin. The look alone said, "You done goofed."

"Both Houndoom and Toxicroak are unable to battle! The victory goes to Ash and Tom!" Brock raised his arm in their direction with a grin.

The crowd erupted into cheers after the wild battle came to an end. Ash and Tom high-fived each other for their victory and praised their partners for doing a great job. In this case, Gabite was more than happy to reciprocate by chomping down on Ash's head. He comically tried to pry Gabite's jaws open to release his hold, but it was no use. His partner released the hold on his head and he gently rubbed the top of it giving him a smile.

"Awesome job, Gabite," Ash said, rubbing the top of his head. "You really come through in the end in those clutch moments."

Footsteps met his ears as he saw Brock and the two girls they helped out earlier come up to them. The three of them were smiling broadly from the performance they saw. He was about to talk to them, but he could see Greg and Terry trying to sneak their way out of the restaurant. He would not let them get away that easily.

"Hey!" Ash barked out. "I think you two owe these girls an apology!"

Greg and Terry came to a stop and turned around to look at him. They were already furious because they would not get money to have their suits cleaned, and being called out to apologize to those who had a terrible fashion sense in their minds just added to it. The two partners shared a look before trudging over to them. They came to a stop in front of the girls who were waiting for their apology patiently.

"We're sorry." Greg and Terry grumbled out.

"Try that again," Ash said, narrowing his eyes. "Be more sincere and say their names when you do it."

"We don't even know their…"

"I'm Shauna, and that's Serena," the girl with the shorts answered, before pointing to the other girl.

Terry and Greg's faces scrunched up with their excuse being taken away from them. They knew they had to follow through with the request so they did not end on the receiving end of Gabite's wrath.

"Were sorry, Shauna. We're sorry, Serena." They bowed down.

"That's better." Ash smiled. "Now get out of here."

The two of them bolted away the moment Ash told them to and vanished into the restaurant. When they left, Shauna took the time to thank Brock, Tom and Ash for coming in to help her deal with them. Ash dismissed her thanks with a smile, showing that it was not a big deal since it was something he did often. He then turned his attention to Serena.

Looking at Serena again brought back the mental image of the girl crying under a tree and he could not figure out why he was remembering that all of a sudden. He was so lost in thought as he looked at her that he did not notice her lips moving as she tried to get his attention.

"Excuse me?" Serena spoke up.

"Hmm?" Ash looked up.

"I was thanking you for helping me out with those two. That was nice of you."

"It's okay. No one deserved that and I couldn't let them do that to you."

Serena's face flushed a little at his comment and he wondered for a minute if he said something wrong. His worry was replaced with relief when she beamed at him a second later. He watched Serena shift uncomfortably on her feet and her look turned to one of curiosity and embarrassment as she looked at him.

"Hey, Ash," Serena held her elbow and looked down shyly.

"Yeah?" Ash tilted his head, a little perplexed at Serena's odd behavior.

"I know this is a sudden question, but…"

"But what?"

"Do you… remember me?"

Let's leave it with the cliffhanger. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter after not seeing an update for quite a while. I'm not sure when I'll update again, so I'll just say keep your eyes open for one. Check out the statements I have below here. See you next time. -Captain

Statements:

1.) I have taken up a challenge that I want my fellow reviewers and writers to start doing. I'm talking about constructive critique. Anyone who has received a review from me knows that when I give you one, I give you a pretty decent sized review that usually has a brief summary of the chapter, but I point out mistakes that I see as well as offer suggestions or critique that I feel needs to be said to help that author out. That is a review and the sad thing is I don't think a lot of people on this site understand that concept and that truly screws an author over. I want to see my fellow readers and writers step up and truly give critique instead of the infamous "Good chapter!" or "Update soon!" that's not a review, and offers no assistance, because that's all I see on the majority of stories on this site. So let's get away from that and start giving true critique! Prove to me that you can do that!