Our heroes time in the Junior Champion Tournament may have ended, but they continue on with their journey. They're heading to Canwoo Town so that Orihime can win her fourth and final star medal.

"Come and get it." Ichigo said. All of them stopped for a leisurely lunch with all their pokemon joining them. "Eat up everyone."

"We've got some work to do. We're going to win our fourth medal." Orihime said and all of her pokemon cheered and were hoping they would be the ones to help her win that medal.

"Orihime, have you figured out which one you're going to use yet?" Rukia asked.

"Not yet, but I know any of them would be great." Orihime said.

"Yeah and we have work to do for our upcoming gym battle." Ichigo said. He took a look at his pokemon to make sure they were in top form, but he noticed one was missing. "Hang on. Where did Kirlia go?"

Ohh oh-oh-oh oh-oh
I'm unbeatable
Walking down this endless highway
With nothing but my friends beside me
We'll never give in, we'll never rest
Advanced Battle is the ultimate test
From the earth, the land
The sea and sky
They can never win, but they sure can try
Ohh oh-oh-oh oh-oh
I'm unbeatable
Pokémon
(Advanced Battle!)
Oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh
I'm undefeatable
From the stars and the ancient past
They come to play, but they'll never last
Ohh oh-oh-oh oh-oh
I'm unbeatable
Pokémon
(Advanced Battle!)
Ohh oh-oh-oh oh-oh
I'm undefeatable
Oh oh oh
(Advanced Battle!)
I'm unbeatable
Pokémon

(Ichigo's voice) Gallant of Gallade

"Kirlia, where did you go?" Ichigo called out. He looked around and spotted Kirlia doing some self-training as he threw hits and kicks in the air. "There you are. I can see you're doing some training on your own."

"Kirlia."

"I'm guessing Kirlia didn't like that it lost to Riolu." Chad said.

"You might be right." Rukia said. "Kirlia did have the advantage, but still lost. That must have been a little damaging to the pride." Kirlia kept up the training, but sensed something off in the distance.

"Kirlia, what's the matter?" Ichigo asked.

"Kirlia!" Kirlia unleashed a magical leaf attack at the bushes and it sounded like it hit something or someone.

"Is someone there?" Ichigo asked.

"Please hold your fire." A woman with light blue hair in a ponytail dressed as an explorer stepped out. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"No. We're sorry. Kirlia, apologize." Ichigo said. Kirlia bowed as a sign of being sorry.

"It's quite okay. I'm Gemma."

"Hi. I'm Ichigo and you just met my Kirlia. This is my partner, Absol."

"Absol."

"Kirlia."

"I'm Orihime."

"My name is Rukia."

"And I'm Chad."

"So what are you doing out here?" Rukia asked.

"I was doing a little of my research." Gemma said. "You see, I was doing research of some of the pokemon that live around here. Mostly on the pokemon that don't evolve through normal means."

"What do you mean?" Orihime asked.

"Are you talking about pokemon who evolve through stones or need some sort of circumstances to evolve?" Rukia asked.

"Exactly. Let me show you." Gemma said as she dug in her bag. However, when she pulled out her research, some of her stuff fell out. "Oops. I've always been a little clumsy." Kirlia spotted one of the items that fell out and saw it was a dawn stone.

"Kirlia!"

"Kirlia? What is it?" Ichigo said. He looked to see what Kirlia was looking at and spotted the stone. "Are you staring at that stone?" Ichigo walked over to it and took a look at it.

"It's so pretty. What kind of stone is that?" Orihime asked.

"It's called a dawn stone." Gemma said. "It allows a female Snorunt to evolve into Froslass or a male Kirlia to evolve into Gallade."

"Is that so?" Ichigo said as he wondered if Kirlia wanted to evolve.

"I kept that stone to help with my research, but it might be beneficial to see it in action." Gemma said.

"So Kirlia could evolve?!" Orihime said as she seemed excited to see something like that.

"That's right. Kirlia is a male and can evolve into Gallade if Kirlia uses that stone." Rukia said. Kirlia seemed excited for something like that.

"What are you waiting for, Ichigo? Use it right now." Orihime said.

"Hold the phone." Ichigo said. "Something like this is not a decision you should make in a snap."

"Why not? Kirlia looks like he wants to do this." Orihime said. "So what's the problem?"

"Once Kirlia changes, there's no going back. I need to make sure that Kirlia is actually ready to become a Gallade." Ichigo said. "That means that I need to make sure that Kirlia is in the best form that Kirlia can be."

"That's understandable as a trainer." Gemma said. "You don't want to end up making this a big mistake."

"So how can Kirlia prove it?" Orihime said.

"That's simple. Kirlia has a battle." Ichigo said. "A battle will make it clear if Kirlia is ready to evolve." When Kirlia heard that, it was almost like Kirlia was already admitting defeat. "You ready to go, Kirlia?" Kirlia didn't give a response. Kirlia just ran off and confused everyone. "Kirlia, wait. Where are you going?"

"That's weird. Where's Kirlia going?" Orihime said.

"Crobat, go fly in the air and keep an eye out for Kirlia." Ichigo said.

"Crobat!" Crobat took off and went to find Kirlia.

"We better get going." Ichigo said. All of them gathered their stuff together and went after Kirlia to try and find him. "Kirlia!"

"Kirlia, come back!" Rukia said.

"Kirlia, where did you go?!" Orihime said. All of them were calling out for Kirlia, but Kirlia was doing a good job of staying hidden.

"Goodness. I can't imagine why your Kirlia would have gone off like that." Gemma said. "Kirlia seemed so excited when it thought it could evolve."

"What about the last time Kirlia battled?" Chad said.

"You might be right!" Rukia said. "Kirlia did recently lose a battle against Uryu and Riolu. I guess when you suggested Kirlia should have another battle to see if it was ready to evolve, Kirlia went out to get stronger so it would be."

"When you say it like that, it makes sense." Ichigo said. "All the more reason to get Kirlia back. We'll cover more ground if we split up." All of them agreed and went in different directions.

…..

Ichigo

"Kirli, come out. Everything's okay." Ichigo called out as he and Absol searched through the area.

"Absol!"

"Crobat!" Ichigo looked up and saw Crobat was able to find them.

"Crobat, you're back. Did you find Kirlia?" Ichigo asked.

"Crobat." Crobat led the way and Ichigo and Absol followed. Crobat led Ichigo and Absol through the woods until they came across Kirlia training against the tree. Kirlia was practicing his physical abilities. It also looked Kirlia practiced its attacks as well from how the area looked.

"Kirlia." Ichigo called out and got Kirlia's attention. "I'm sorry if what I said earlier upset you. I didn't know you were still moping over your lost against Riolu, but that doesn't mean you should go off alone."

"Absol."

"Come on. Let's just go back. Everyone must be worried about you." Ichigo said. "You can even evolve if you really want." Kirlia agreed, but wanted to do some more training. Kirlia powered Vacuum Wave and shot the attack into the trees. However, after the impact, they heard some sort of buzzing sounds. They looked through the trees and they saw a swarm of Beedrill coming at them. "Oh snap! We must have disturbed a Beedrill hive! Run!"

"Absol/Kirlia!" All three of them got running to try and run from all the Beedrill.

The Others

After a while of searching and got nothing, Chad and the girls regrouped.

"Nothing?" Rukia asked.

"Nope." Gemma said.

"Maybe Ichigo has had better luck. Does anyone know where he is?" Orihime asked, but none of them had a clue as to where Ichigo could be.

"Great. Now we have to find Ichigo as well." Rukia complained.

Ichigo

It started to get really late and Ichigo with Absol and Kirlia have ended up getting lost. They were able to avoid all the Beedrill, but now they had no idea where they were.

"Oh man. Everyone must be worried about us." Ichigo said. "I don't suppose either of you have an idea on where we should go, do you?" Absol and Kirlia didn't have a clue. "I figured." The three of them kept walking until they came across a trench and it was too far for them to jump. "Great. Now what are we going to do."

"Ichigo!"

"There you are!" They looked at the other side and saw all the others were there.

"Ichigo, are you alright?" Orihime said.

"We're fine. We just need to find a way across, but how?" Ichigo said.

"Can't Kirlia just use Psychic?" Orihime asked.

"That won't work with Absol." Rukia said. All of them tried to find some way to get over.

"Kirlia!" Ichigo looked over to the side and saw Kirla was trying to knock over a dead tree and use it as a bridge.

"I get it. Absol, help Kirlia out by using Razor Wind and knock that tree over. Kirlia, I want you to use Magial Leaf." Ichigo said abd both of them understood.

"Absol!"

"Kirlia!" Both of them used their attacks at the base of the tree and were able to knock it over.

"Nice going you two. Now let's get across." Ichigo said.

"Be careful, Ichigo." Orihime said. All three of them carefully moved across the tree. Absol just about made it, but the tree started breaking apart. The tree snapped in two and Ichigo and Kirlia were falling.

"Oh no!" Chad said.

"Ichigo!" Rukia shouted. Both of them were falling and it looked like it was going to end badly.

"Kirlia!" Ichigo called out and pulled out the dawn stone. "Grab it!" He knew Kirlia needed to evolve to save them so he tossed the stone. Kirlia reached out and was able to grab it with Kirlia starting to evolve.

"Gallade!" With Gallade's new body, it dived down and grabbed Ichigo. Gallade used his strong legs to bounce off against the rock walls and made it back to the top.

"Wow! Gallade, that was amazing." Ichigo said as he was placed down.

"Gallade."

"Wow! So that's a Gallade. It looks awesome." Orihime said.

"Indeed. It is said that Gallade are a lot like white knights." Gemma said. "Its arms are like swords and have incredibly strong legs. It even became a psychic and fighting-type."

"I'm sorry that I used your dawn stone, Gemma." Ichigo said.

"Don't be. It saved your lives and I wanted to see a pokemon evolve from it." Gemma said.

"Either way, it paid off." Ichigo said. "Gallade, with you on my team, I don't see how we're going to lose any battle."

"Gallade."

Holding a stronger connection with his newly evolved Gallade, Ichigo is even more confident and holds stronger faith in his pokemon. I'm sure you can't wait to see what else Gallade can do. Stay tune to find out more.

To Be Continued…..