Chapter 13: Meeting the Champ

"So it's come down to this" Josh said.

"I already beat Cynthia, Roxie, and Roxas. You're next on the list" Ty said, smirking.

"Don't get overconfident. I've beaten you before, I'll do it again."

"When I left you, I was but a padawan, now I am the master."

"Ready?" Josh asked.

"GO!" Ty shouted.

"Jan Ken Pon!" they both shouted.

"NOOO!" Ty howled.

"BOOYAA! Who's the best? I'm the best!" Josh crowed, dancing around.

"If you two are done being manly men, it's time to eat" Cynthia said in an amused way.

"She wouldn't understand" Ty sighed.

"It's part of the man code" Josh admonished.

Their reply was a smack to the back of their heads.

"Now shut up and eat" Cynthia commanded.

"Yes ma'am" they said in unison.

"Why must your girlfriend be so violent?" Ty asked.

"Because she's one of a kind" Josh answered smiling. "She's sweeter than heaven and hotter than hell."

"Yes ma'am" they said in unison, cowering in fear.

Ty felt something but couldn't identify it. Hurt? Loneliness? Jealousy? Why would he be jealous? Jealous that Cynthia is dating Josh, or that he didn't ever have a loved one like that?

He suppressed these feelings for now and went to join the others in eating.

"Hey Josh?" Ty asked as the group walked through a forest.

"What's up?" Josh asked.

"How did you and Cynthia meet?" Ty asked.

"Well, it's a bit of a long story" Josh said.

"We've got plenty of time" Ty countered.

"Fine, fine" Josh said, caving in. "It started a while back."

[Flashback - Josh's POV]

Roxie and I were on our way to challenge the Sinnoh Elite Four after winning the Sinnoh League Tournament. We were in high spirits thanks to a whole day to recover from the very crazy party I had hosted with my Pokémon partners. When I had woken up yesterday, I had a massive hangover and didn't want to do much of anything to upset my delicate balance. I could of used my Aura training to burn out the alcohol effects on my body before hand, but I had wanted to get smashed with my friends.

But now me and my friends were back to our normal selves.

"So, you ready to kick some Elite Four ass?" I asked my close partner.

"Hell yeah!" grinned Roxie in response. She shadow boxed for a moment to show her enthusiasm.

"Good to know," I replied before bumping fists with her.

Then we walked past an ice cream stall.

We paused in our walking and reversed until we were next in a large line of people in front of the stall.

"Ice cream now... deliver ass kicking later..." I said distractedly.

"Yeah..." replied Roxie in the same tone.

However after 20 minutes of waiting, the line had not decreased at all. I stuck my head around the line, but couldn't see who was taking so long. I also wondered why no one was complaining about the wait.

"What the hell...?" I wondered out loud. I tapped the person in front.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Their's some lady at the front who can't decide, she' been there for some time now" was the reply.

"I don't care if she's Arceus in disguise! I want my ice cream!" I said with Roxie nodding. I looked behind to see that no one was lined up behind us.

"Let's go Roxie. I'm going to give her a reason to hurry up."

"Right behind you Josh!" she replied. We then walked up to the front.

"Oi! Lady! Do you think you could hurry the hell... up..." The words died on my lips as I saw just what she looked like.

She was almost as tall as me. The feature that stood out the most on her was her incredibly long, wavy blonde hair, reaching all the way down to just pass her knees. She was dressed in black clothes; black pants, black singlet with a black long sleeved trench coat that was buttoned in one place, just below her sizable bust. The cuffs and bottom of the coat was lined with black fur and she had a fur accessory around her neck. Her blonde hair covered her left eye but her right was shown, a stormy grey. Attached to her hair, just above her ears were black and gold Lucario-like appendages.

'Wow!' was my mental reaction. 'She's beautiful... and hot...' At that point ice cream flashed into my mind and booted any perverted thoughts I was having out of my mind.

She turned to me. "Sorry, but I just can't decide what to get? Should I go for the Cookies 'n' Cream? Or the Choc 'n' Mint?"

"Personally I think you should go for the Cookies 'n' Cream. That's our favorite," mentioned Roxie.

"Oh? A talking Lucario. How interesting," she replied.

"Anyway, think you could speed it up? Some of us actually want to get some ice cream," I asked as politely as I could.

"But that Strawberry ice cream looks so nice. But then, so does that Rum 'n' Raisin," she continued to ponder.

"Ah man! Ok, how bout this! I challenge you to an unofficial match, right here, right now!" I said, needing to work out some annoyance at her indecisiveness.

(Cue song Heroes by Takeharu Ishimoto from DISSIDIA 012 FINAL FANTASY OST)

Instantly she looked at me with a serious spark in her eye. "Very well. I accept."

"Huh? Just like that?" I asked.

"Just like that," she nodded.

"Ok then. How's a one on one sound?"

"Sounds good to me," she replied. There was no hesitation. No pause.

'What a personality change,' I thought.

"Ok! Prepare to get owned!" I announced as people began to circle us to see what was going on. I heard a few speak on how they could finally get their ice cream, plus a show. I dismissed it all.

"Well I choose Roxie!" I said and my Lucario friend stepped forward, flaring her Aura to try and intimidate her opponent.

"Then I choose Garchomp!" she replied as she released her choice of Pokémon.

"That's a nice Garchomp you have. We may have to work for our ice cream, Roxie," I said. "Ready?"

"You can have the first move!" Cynthia replied.

(Cue song Go Down (UT3 Remix) by Rom Di Prisco from Unreal Tournament 3 OST)

"Very well. Roxie! Use Bone Rush!"

Roxie immediately formed a staff of Aura energy and rushed Garchomp.

"Dodge that my friend!" she ordered and her Pokémon did just that, doing well, but not good enough. More than half of the swift and masterful strikes made their mark. Roxie ducked under an attack from the opposition and twirled her staff expertly before delivering a blow to Garchomp's side. The Pokémon backed away, panting slightly.

"You fight very well," the woman complemented. "Use Dragon Claw!" Garchomp's claws glowed in a blue like energy.

"Use Extreme Speed!" I said. Roxie nodded before she disappeared.

"What the!" she gasped.

"Ok! Let's finish this battle! Use that new move we've been working on!" I ordered.

"OK!" replied Roxie before she reappeared under Garchomp's guard, her paws wreathed in blue and purple energy. She hit the Pokémon high into the air, jumped after it, positioned herself over Garchomp and began her attack. Her paws moved so fast that the energy left a long streak behind. She then began to pummel Garchomp with small, but incredibly quick hits. Soon it looked like there was a sphere of energy around Roxie, made up of thin lines of Aura. Then the power increased, creating a real sphere of bright blue and purple energy. Garchomp's body created a black shadow from the light as it was struck continuously. Then, from within the sphere, a voice called out, "8 Trigrams 64 Guardian Palms of Aura!" before the whole sphere shattered like glass and Garchomp crashed into the ground, completely knocked out.

Roxie landed perfectly and cheered out loud. I grinned. "BOOYAA! How you like them apples?" I said as I bumped fists with my partner.

[End Flashback - Third POV]

"After that we got Cynthia's Garchomp to the Pokémon Centre and while we waited, we talked about ourselves. We just clicked. Later on I beat the Elite Four and the Champ, but I didn't want the title. So I left and continued my traveling and training. Two months after that Cynthia found me and asked if she could travel with me. I agreed and we began our new journey together. It didn't take long for us to fall in love with each other after that," Josh explained.

"So I guess this is before she became champion?" Roxas asked.

"Right, she was good but not up where she is today" Roxie answered.

"Interesting" Ty muttered.

"We still need to get him a girlfriend" Cynthia muttered, Josh nodding his head in agreement.

"Hey, I think I can see the end" Roxas said, squinting his eyes.

Ty projected his aura and looked ahead. "Yeah, that's the end alright. The next town and gym is just up ahead. Let's get moving!" Ty shouted, increasing his speed.

"Last one there is a Slowpoke!" Ty laughed.

His laughter died in his throat as he watched the others speed by him.

"It's not a race, the town isn't going anywhere" Ty grumbled.

End of Chapter.

Wolf: This makes thirteen with an unknown amount to go. This chapter's purpose was a simple filler with a small explanation on how Josh met Cynthia. And this is also marks that my Dragon Age story has more reviewers than this story. Are you going to take this from them? Review my loyal readers and show them who's boss!

Kyuubi: Guess that means Dragon Age is more popular than Pokemon

Wolf: Strange, but oh well. You people know the drill, read, review, and all that good stuff. Also, Jan Ken Pon is the Japanese version of Rock Paper Scissors