Many Years Ago

"So what do you think?" a voice asked as a slightly tanned and set down a cool glass of some yellow liquid, the ice cubes crackling as they clinked against the sides of the container

"I don't know…" a second voice replied hesitantly

"You've been traveling with us for a little while now." A deeper third voice replied, the wide brimmed western hat its owner wore cast a shadow over his face

"I'm telling you, you'd love it on my family's garden." The first of the male voices added

"It would be weird though, wouldn't it?" the second of the voices asked as he shuffled his hand through his pocket

"Walter, tell him." The first retorted

"It's a really amazing garden, there are some amazing Pokémon living in it." The hat wearer explained in his deep voice, "And his mom is one of the kindest women you could ever meet."

"But don't you have other family there too?" The second of the trio asked pulling something from his pocket

"My sister, but she won't be a bother." The first retorted looking at the glimmering pocket watch his friend had pulled out, "I swear, we need to get you a new one of those."

"I think it has character to it." The hat wearer retorted as he rose to his feet

"I like it." The second replied as he stuffed it back into his pocket

"So anyway, are you in or not?" The first young man asked once more as he and the others all turned their heads upwards, appreciating the marvelous blue sky and the cotton-like clouds lightly floating through the air

"I guess." The second replied with a small grin, "I don't really have anything better to do until I head to the next region."

"That's the spirit." The first boy replied as he pulled forth a small half-crumpled picture from his pocket, taking a quick glance at the people within it: A tanned woman aside a mustached man behind two young children, one boy, one girl holding an eevee within her hands, a sigilyph visible in the background, "I guarantee you'll love it there."

Present Day

"This is going embarrassingly quick…" Raian managed to squeeze through his teeth as he looked at the glimmering pocket watch he had pulled from his jacket pocket, his wrist mounted poke'nav protruding from his sleeve

"She is just now showing any mercy is she?" Beth asked watching the battlefield

"I know, it's great." Josue spoke with a half maniacal chuckle as he watched the stadium screen which currently showed a great cloud of dirt.

"You turn evil when you don't have your chips." Hillary said with a concerned look glancing at Josue out of the corner of her eyes

"This group gets weirder by the second…" Beth mumbled

"Ooo, and that looked painful!" The announcer called out as Iian grinded his teeth staring at Agatha

"Well, you aren't terrible kid." Agatha said simply as she rested her hands on her thick walking stick, a purple creature slowly floating down in front of her

"Gen-ga…" The Pokémon chuckled as it bounced from one foot to the other looking at the dust cloud

"How the bloody f^ck is that bloody Gengar so powerful!" Iian thought to himself as he grinded his teeth back and forth, watching as the dust cloud dissipated

"Come on, get back up, there's still some fight in you." Agatha grinned looking at Iian's Pokémon slowly rise from the dirt.

"Challenger Iian, would you like to continue?" The referee standing betwixt the two in the center line of the battlefield called out as he waved a red flag towards Iian

"Yes!" Iian growled back, "Get up and use Psychic!"

From the dust, Gardevoir suddenly levitated into the air, its coat fluttering as it held its hands before its chest, beginning to glow a purple aura. As Gardevoir threw forth its hands, Gengar chuckled to itself. In the blink of an eye, Gengar disappeared. Gardevoir and Iian looked around as quick as they could, but they were too late. Gengar reappeared behind gardevoir and threw forth its small leg, kicking the psychic type in the neck with a loud slap.

"Perfect." Iian grinned. As Gardevoir grimaced at the hit, she quickly threw her hand forth, a purple aura suddenly encircling Gengar as she did so, "Give the bloody hobknocking bender of a w nker some of his own medicine!"

"Say that five times fast…" Raian half whispered to Beth

"Gar-de-voir!" Gardevoir yelled as she lifted the Gengar into the air before slamming him down into the ground with force, causing the Gengar to slide across the dirt battlefield a few meters, throwing up twin trails of dust into the air as it did so.

"Now follow it up!" Iian yelled out throwing forth his half hand, his scraggly beard waving in the air

"Nice try." Agatha smugly grinned with a sneer most malicious as she tapped her walking stick on the ground, "You've proven yourself not half bad, but play times over…Gengar…finish him."

As Gardevoir levitated forth, a purple steam coming from her glowing eyes, she suddenly found Gengar to be absent from his crater. Gardevoir shot around as quickly as she could, only to be greeted with Gengar's wide grin. Before she could do anything, Gengar slammed his hands into the Pokémon's stomach and began to unleash a swirling sphere of shadowy energy. Gardevoir looked down in panic as the Shadow Ball was unleashed for a direct critical and super effective strike. Gardevoir did not fly backwards, nor fall backwards, the steaming patch where the attack had hit prompted her eyes to shut as she fell limp forwards onto the shoulder of Gengar who promptly jostled her off onto the ground.

"Gardevoir is unable to continue!" the referee yelled out throwing up a green flag towards Agatha, "Aga…"

"F^ck!" Iian cursed with a stomp of his foot

"Agatha wins…" The referee finished holding his flag to Agatha and Gengar who bounced back and forth behind her with its wide grin. The crowd let out a series of cheers and applause as Agatha returned her Gengar and approached Iian.

"Not half bad kid." Agatha said staring at Iian as he returned his Gardevoir

"You going to gloat?" Iian asked with a huff

"A little." Agatha replied with her smug grin, "But that's only because I could have lost that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Iian questioned

"I know you don't know who I am." Agatha began, "But the fact that you almost took down my Gengar means more than you could possibly imagine. Keep your chin up kid, you can go places."

Leaders Lookout

"Damn…" Mica muttered as a unanimous groan could be heard throughout the lookout

"No duct tape?" Miguel asked staring at the television

"No duct tape." Julio replied playing a small sad tune on his guitar

"So what's the price for winning?" Kiera asked

"We'll let the other group handle that." Sam replied with a smile as he turned from the television and made his way for the snack bar

"Alright neow, who had money saying she would win?" Clay yelled out stomping his large foot onto the coffee table

"Well, he didn't do bad." Elsa said with a bit of a glower watching the screen as it showed Iian walking off the battlefield to be with the other trainers, "Anna?"

"He looks terrible…" Anna muttered looking at the filthy vagabond of a trainer on screen, "No wonder he hasn't kept in contact, he's probably been through hell and back."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Elsa rolled her eyes

"Seriously, look at him." Anna retorted with a bit of a glimmer to her eyes as she looked at the half-broken trainer walking to his cohorts

"What? You can't act like he doesn't deserve it." Elsa argued as she sat back down in her chair, the gaggle of leaders all retaining their loudness

"But he…" Anna began

"Maybe you should try to remember correctly." Elsa interrupted, "Because we got him that stupid gift back when we barely had a dollar to our names. You put a lot of thought into it, and he couldn't even be bothered for a thank you. So no, I don't forgive him just because he looks like cr p...he deserves it."

"Jeesh…" Anna muttered as she turned back to the screen, "Just saying, maybe he learned his lesson…"

"And I'm just saying, until I feel that way, I hope he suffers more." Elsa replied as she reached for where her water had been, only to grasp at air, an apple core sitting where her drink had been. "Where did my drink go?"

"Kec…" A Kecleon chuckled as it looked at its horde of assorted items

"Kec-Kec." A second Kecleon called out as it walked forth with a glass of water in its hand

"Kec-leon." A third Kecleon added as it mashed its tiny fingers onto the buttons of the phone it was playing with, the screen filling up with random words

The Trainers Area

"Alright, what a way to kick off the Hoenn League!" The announcer called out as Raian threw his bag onto a metal bench, the others right behind him

"That's right Juan!" Juan replied as loud pops could be heard, the screen showing a fireworks display over the arena

"Hey, you didn't do too bad Iian." Raian said with a grin as he patted his friend on the shoulder

"Oy, sod off ya'…" Iian began

"Hey, inside voice." Beth snapped, shushing Iian

"Bloody bird thinks she can bloody tell me…" Iian muttered

"Alright, so we're gearing to begin the preliminaries!" the announcer on the screen called out, "Here's how it will work. Each trainer will compete in five completely random matches, in order to move onto the actual League, they must win no less than three. The more they win, the better their standing will be in the tournament!"

"That's right Juan. In the end, this field of more than Juan hundred will be whittled down to just Juan who will go on to fight our very own Hoenn Elite Four!" Juan happily added as the stadium screen showed a large roulette wheel, each space with a small picture of a trainer on it, "Without further ado, let's get started!"

"Ugh, finally, let's see some real battling." Hillary grinned before her eyes caught Iian, "…not that your match wasn't…"

"Nice save." Raian joked as he shuffled through his bag

"Jeesh, five battles to get in, and then who knows how many to win, then another four to be champion." Beth counted, "They really want you to battle."

"That's what being a trainer is, battling a lot." Raian replied as his Lucario sat down on the bench beside his bag, out of the corner of his eye catching what looked like a dark amphibian in the hall which promptly disappeared

"So who wants to bet Iian will be called first?" Hillary asked as she adjusted her hat and slid off her bag, a loud thud sounding off as it settled on the floor

"I hope it is me!" Iian growled, "I want to go first, to show how strong I am!"

"Like you did against Agatha?" Josue asked

"You bloody…" Iian began as he shot his gaze of daggers at Josue

"You ready Raian?" Beth asked as she adjusted the pink and grey stripped long sleeves of her shirt, the small jeweled bracelet peeking out, "You're about to go through a lot of battling."

"I'm fairly ready." Raian replied glancing back at the television which showed two random trainers walking up to the battlefield, "Although it still feels weird having such a big match I can't use Lucario in."

"Lu-car." Lucario replied sadly, his ears downed as he looked up at Raian

"But I have a few tricks up my sleeve." Raian grinned patting Lucario, almost catching the ninja-like figure moving through the hall

"Heheh…I know what you mean." Beth grinned rubbing the bracelet on her wrist

"Well you better have something good." Hillary spoke out as she watched the television, "You guys really tend to forget just how strong some other trainers really are."

Leaders Lookout

"Welcome back Agatha." A smug voice called out as Agatha entered into the room of the trainers

"Great match!" Another voice called out as she calmly walked through all of the gym leaders who carried on with their shenanigans

"You two." Agatha spoke out as she reached one of the couches, the one where Elsa and Anna were seated

"Hello Ms. Agatha." Elsa said as she turned to see the elder trainer

"Good match." Anna added as she dropped her head backwards to see the family friend

"Are you two gambling?" Agatha asked as she heard Clay's loud voice in the background

"No, Arachide took our money, said our mom didn't want us to gamble." Anna replied with a small huff

"Ah, yes, wise move on Serenity's part." Agatha nodded as she pulled an envelope out of her pocket, "That would indeed be bad, for you two to spend the next few hours joining in on the gambling that will be going on."

Elsa watched as Agatha slipped the envelope through the couch, the corner of the paper sticking out of the crack between the leather cushions. Agatha gave the two a grin and a small nod before making her way towards the second room with the other older leaders.

"Huh…wonder what this is…" Anna asked in a horrendously choreographed voice as she pulled the envelope out of the couch, "It appears there was some trash in the couch, might as well take it out."

The two both brought their heads over the envelope to see the two words 'Have Fun' scribbled on the outside of the envelop. As Anna flipped the back of the envelope open, the two watched as a small yet thick wad of poke dollars revealed itself, each bill no less than 5000 poke. The two girls eyes practically grew from normal sized to the size of dinner plates.

"Alright, I'm back." Agatha groaned as she entered into the room, a new smooth practical elevator music song playing

"Nice match." Serenity said as she turned to her friend

"Well!" The grey haired lab coat wearer began as he rose to his feet, starting a sarcastic clap, "That was indeed a nice match, very well done Agatha. Very. Well. Done…But now, you see, we have a little rule here. And you won. So that means you have to pay."

"I thought those rules only applied to the people in the room next door…" The dark haired beautiful woman with the thick glowing bracelets spoke up

"TheyApplyHereTooIfWeSoChoose." The man quickly replied in one breath, "Now then, the only question is…what you shall pay."

"Is this going to take long Professor Dillweed?" Agatha asked rolling her eyes

"Oh it might Age-a-tha." The coat wearer retorted, "Now then…we could make you donate money to a charity you hate…but that's too easy. No…we're going to say…You have to stay quiet for the rest of the day!"

"What? No, I'm not doing that." Agatha retorted

"If you don't, you have to donate 100000 poke to the lab of Professor Oak!" The man quickly retorted to which half the room let out a gasp

"You don't have the power." Agatha growled as she stared at the old man

"We both know the rules." The professor responded, "So it's your call. Either you keep that trap shut, or you donate."

Agatha shot a look at the man that could combust a steel type. The Professor retained a smug and self-satisfied look as Agatha slowly sat down in her seat, her lips tightly sealed as curse words practically made their way out of her eyes.

"And next up…" The announcer on TV called out as Agatha angrily tapped her fingers on her walking stick, "Would trainer Josue please make his way to the battlefield!"

"Hey! We got my cousin going up!" Mica happily called out as he turned from the foosball table to look at the screen, totally unaware of the ball in the game suddenly lift in the air and vanish

"He any good?" Miguel asked from the other side of the table, also looking up at the screen as a small choking noise went by unnoticed

"I figure he must be, he did train with you right?" Julio added not noticing a Kecleon turn visible on the table, its hands on its stomach as it heaved

"A tiny bit when he was younger." Mica replied as the Kecleon choked out the foosball ball and shook its head, "But really he learned everything on his own, and he's doing great."

"Well, here's hoping he gets in." Miguel began, the Kecleon turning invisible, the foosball floating away off the games table

"I'm interested to see what he can do, that's for sure." Julio added

"You and me both," Mica smiled, "They always seem to surprise me, and it's always amazing to watch just how far they've gotten."

The Hoenn Arena

"Wow, I had forgotten just how amazing this is…" Josue mumbled to himself as he walked out of the gate to see the stands of the arena filled with all sorts of members within the audience

"Alright kid, really simple…" A worker said walking up to Josue, "You're going to go up there, and you're going to have five matches. Each match is one Pokémon on one Pokémon, one fall. Win at least three and you'll be able to go on to the League, lose three…then better luck next year."

"Sounds simple enough." Josue replied with a small grin

"Yeah, sure…" The man replied pointing Josue forth, "Good Luck kid."

"Alright Juan, this is trainer Josue…" Juan began as Josue stepped up to the sand covered battlefield, "Coming to us from outside the Hoenn region, Josue is a ranger in training evidently."

"Starting at such a young age is quite impressive." The second announcer added, "And apparently he made quite a splash in last year's Unova league, where he sadly lost out in the first round. Let's hope he has better luck here."

"And yet again, for anyone just joining us," Juan began as Josue stood beside five other trainers, "Six trainers on the field, each one goes against the others, win at least three and you're in the league. Don't let that fool you though, each of these trainers is highly skilled and wants it just as much as the last, it will be quite difficult."

"First up, trainer Josue and trainer Matt." The referee called out looking at the lineup of six trainers, Josue and a boy only a few years older than himself both moving forward a step

"Good Luck." Josue said simply as he moved forth

"I won't need it." Matt retorted with a grin as he took his place on the opposite side of the battlefield

"Well…here we are again…" Josue thought to himself as he plucked a pokeball from his belt, "Finally reaching the final chapters of my new story. The Hoenn league, will Josue prove himself as a great trainer? Will the time he's spent seeking out the mirage locations have helped him or hindered his training? It's time to find out just how far little ole Josue has advanced."

"Go Torkoal!" The opposing trainer Matt proclaimed as he threw forth a pokeball which quickly popped open, revealing a tortoise Pokémon letting forth a stream of steam from its shell, a Pokémon known as Torkoal

"People have a bad habit of underestimating me." Josue continued in thought as he clicked the pokeball in his hand, the device expanding from its previous collapsed state, "But I'm okay with that. The truth is, I'm here for the adventure, not for the recognition. I want to help Pokémon, and this experience helps me do that. All I can think of in times like these is a certain tale…

A young man, callow and foolish in innocence, came to own a sword.

With it, he smote Pokémon, which gave sustenance, with carefree abandon.

Those not taken as food, he discarded, with no afterthought.

The following year, no Pokémon appeared. Larders grew bare.

The young man, seeking the missing Pokémon, journeyed afar.

Long did he search. And far and wide, too, until one he did find.

Asked he, "Why do you hide?" To which the Pokémon replied...

"If you bear your sword to bring harm upon us, with claws and

fangs, we will exact a toll.

"From your kind we will take our toll, for it must be done.

"Done it must be to guard ourselves and for it, I apologize."

To the skies, the young man shouted his dismay.

"In having found the sword, I have lost so much.

"Gorged with power, I grew blind to Pokémon being alive.

"I will never fall savage again. This sword I denounce and forsake.

"I plead for forgiveness, for I was but a fool."

So saying, the young man hurled the sword to the ground, snapping it.

Seeing this, the Pokémon disappeared to a place beyond seeing..."

"…I do this so that I may learn to be the shield to protect Pokémon from man's sword. I train with my Pokémon as an equal. I use Pokémon as my partner and I will never pick up a weapon against a Pokémon" Josue thought to himself as he threw forth the pokeball within his hand, "Gyrados!"

From the pokeball sprang forth a large serpentine figure. The audience looked at the Pokémon with both shock and awe as it formulated. It peaked the leader's attention to see such a feral Pokémon in the possession of such a young trainer. Even Iian poked his head up in astonishment as he heard the name called.

"Gyra!" The large serpentine creature called out as it revealed itself. It was mostly blue, with a yellow underbelly and yellow spots along its body. It had a three-pointed, dark blue crest on its head and four white fins down its back. Its mouth was very large and gaping, bearing four noticeably large canine teeth. It had one barbel on each side of its face which swayed in the wind.

Unknown Location

"Holy sh…!" The ambiguous voice called out in the darkness

"That kid tamed a Gyrados?" The accented voice questioned as the screen showcased the large water type, a small coat of water dribbling down its body to keep its gills filled

"Those aren't native here, and migrating gyrados are a rarity." The deep wide brimmed hat wearer added, "And if he managed to catch a migrating Magikarp and train that, it would have taken a lot of patience and skill….well played kid…well played."

"That's almost impressive…" The petite female added

"Indeed." The seeming leader replied looking at the boy, "It is."

The Arena

"Gyrados use Hydro Pump!" Josue called out throwing his hand forth, his Gyrados immediately responding with a loud roar which practically shook the earth as it reeled its head back

"Torkoal, Iron defense!" The opposing trainer called out to his Pokémon

Before the opposing Torkoal could even withdraw to its shell to utilize its move, gyrados shot its head forth to unleash its attack. A large pulsing stream of water burst forth from the mouth of Gyrados, throbbing as it moved forth with velocity. Torkoal attempted to retreat to its shell, yet before it could it was struck with the pulsating pump of water and thrown backwards across the battlefield hard.

"Torkoal…is unable to continue…" The referee said amazed as he looked at the Torkoal unconscious across the battlefield, "Gyrados is the last Pokémon standing, trainer Josue wins."

"Good job." Josue said with a smile as his Gyrados turned back to him, slithering its head down to allow the trainer to pet the sea-serpent

"Gyra" The large Pokémon mumbled as Josue patted it

"Amazingly trainer Josue takes his first preliminary round without a scratch!" the announcer called out, everyone in the audience either applauding or watching the Gyrados with fascination

"That's right Juan, that was a fascinating display of training on Josue's part." Juan added, the leaders making jokes back and forth with each other about the clean sweep, Serenity displaying a simple smile, "Josue is letting us know that he's here and that he means business. I for one cannot wait to see what elegance he has up his sleeves!"