"I love it." Orihime said. She kept staring at her four star medals and she loved all of them.

Our heroes continue on their journey. Orihime has managed to get all four star medals. Now she's qualified to enter Ultimate Talent Star. At the moment, they've all stopped for a small break by a lake.

"Orihime, stop staring at your medals. You Dugg't want your lunch to go to waste, do you?" Rukia said as all of them and their pokemon were enjoying their lunch. Orihime snapped back to reality and felt silly.

"Right. Sorry." Orihime said and joined them.

"It is great you managed to get all four medals." Ichigo said. "Now it's my turn. I just need to get two more badges and I'll be able to enter the Johto League."

"Of course, we need to find where your next gym battle will be." Rukia pointed out.

"We'll be ready. Right, guys?" Ichigo said to his pokemon and they all agreed with him. As they were all eating, there was something watching them in the water and it had a glint of mischievous.

Pokemon

Every trainer has a choice

To listen to that voice inside

I know the battles maybe long

Winners may have come and gone

I will carry on

Yeah, this dream will last forever

This dream will never die

We will rise to meet the challenge everytime

(Advance challenge)

Yeah, this dream keeps us together

This shows that you and I

Will be the best that the world's ever seen

Cause we will always follow this dream

Pokemon

(Ichigo's voice): The Thunder Master

As all of them were enjoying their lunch, none of them were aware there was something swimming under the water and it was getting closer. It was right near Gyarados' tail and something on it glowed from its head. It unleashed electricity and Gyarados was getting hurt from the attack. Being a water-type and a flying-type, it had great effect on him.

"Gyarados!" Ichigo called as they all saw Gyarados getting hurt. The electricity stopped, but Gyarados looked like he was in pain as they all came over to him. "Are you okay?"

"What was that?" Orihime said.

"Some sort of electric attack, but where did it come from?" Rukia questioned.

"Lanturn." All of them looked at the water and saw a Lanturn come out and was laughing.

"That's a cute pokemon." Orihime said.

"Not cute if that's the one that attacked Gyarados." Rukia said. "That's a Lanturn and they're electric-types as well as water-type."

"You little punk! Dugg't go zapping my Gyarados!" Ichigo said, but Lanturn kept laughing. "Is that thing mocking us?" Gyarados got annoyed y Lanturn himself. He used his tail and smacked Lanturrn and tossed it aside. "That should teach it. Crazy pokemon."

"Lanturn!" All of them were surprised to see that Lanturn has a trainer. The trainer was a boy with an orange shirt and brown pants with brown hair combed back. "Are you okay?"

"Lanturn…" Lanturned appeared to shake off what Gyarados did to it.

"What's the big idea?!" The guy said to Ichigo and his friends.

"Us? Your Lanturn attacked my Gyarados for no reason." Ichigo said. "Why did it attack Gyarados like that in the first place?"

"Simple. It was suppose to be funny." The guy said.

"That isn't funny. That's just mean." Orihime said.

"So what? What's wrong? Gyarados couldn't handle it? I guess that means it's a weak pokemon." The guy said and Gyarados and Ichigo felt insulted.

"Care to say that again?" Ichigo said.

"I'll say it as many times as I like." The guy said. "Lanturn is the best and pathetic losers should know that."

"This guy has a mouth on him." Chad said.

"You can say that again. Who are you anyway?" Rukia said.

"The name's Dugg and Lanturn and I are the best. Want me to prove it? Who wants to have a battle?"

"I'll take you. Gyarados would like to teach you a lesson. Right?" Ichigo said and Gyarados was ready to go.

"Ichigo, be careful. Lanturn are capable of using electric-type attacks." Rukia warned.

"I get that, but I'm not backing down." Ichigo said. Both of them took their positions for this battle. "Let's get started. Gyarados, Ice Fang!" Gyarados had cold energy form in his mouth and went to take a bite out of Lanturn.

"Moron." Dugg said. "Lanturn, Thunderbolt!" Lanturn shot electricity from its antenna and blasted Gyarados with it. "You were warned about our electric-attacks and you still chose to get close. Not very smart."

"Try this. Gyarados use Twister!" Ichigo said. Gyarados launched the twister attack and Lanturn got hit by the attack. As this battle was going on, someone stayed behind the trees and watched the battle unfold.

"You'll have to do better than that. Signal Beam!" Dugg said. Lanturn fired a multi-colored beam and blasted Gyarados right in the face.

"Hang in there. Let's try using Whirlpool!" Ichigo said. Gyarados created a whirlpool and Lanturn got caught in the attack.

"Even that won't help you." Dugg said. "Lanturn, Thunderbolt on the water!" Lanturn used the attack again and blasted the water. Gyarados got caught in the attack and was electrocuted again with Lanturn getting free from the whirlpool. Gyarados was in bad shape and could barely hold together.

"Gyarados, hang in there." Ichigo encouraged.

"Gyarados looks like he's in bad shape, Ichigo. You better stop the battle now. It looks just about over." Rukia said.

"I guess you're right." Ichigo said.

"Thunderbolt again!" Dugg said. Ichigo and the others were surprised to hear him call out another attack. Lanturn used the attack again and zapped Gyarados. Gyarados couldn't hold on and collapsed on the land and was hurt badly. "I guess that's it."

"What was that?!" Ichigo said with much anger. "Gyarados could barely stay up anymore. You didn't had to use the attack again."

"He should have fainted sooner." Dugg said. "Doing that would have ended the battle, but since Gyarados was still standing, it wasn't officially over."

"That jerk." Rukia said with all of them feeling the same. Dugg brought Lanturn back in its pokeball and was leaving.

"Later, loser." Dugg said as he walked away.

"Why that…" Ichigo said as he wanted so much to get back at him now and his other pokemon felt the same.

"Forget him right now. Gyarados needs some help." Chad said. Ichigo realized Gyarados was really hurt and needed some medical attention.

"What do we do? There's not a pokemon center for miles." Ichigo said.

"I can help." All of them noticed a man with white hair and wore a cloak over him.

"Who are you?" Ichigo asked as the elderly man came over and looked at Gyarados.

"My name is Zemen." He introduced himself as he looked over Gyarados. He reached inside his cloak and pulled out a couple oran berries. "Here, Gyarados. Try eat these to get your strength back." He tossed them in Gyarados' mouth and he was able to eat them. When Gyarados was able to swallow them, he was able to get some strength back.

"Thanks." Ichigo said.

"How about you come with me. My cabin isn't that far." Zemen said. "You want to be able to defeat that boy, do you?" This seemed like it could be interesting and Ichigo does want to get a rematch with Dugg. So they gathered their stuff and went with Zemen.

…..

Zemen's Cabin

They followed Zemen to his cabin and Ichigo decided to leave Gyarados out. Zemen continued to help Gyarados and they were all curious as to what Zemen can do to help them.

"Poor, Gyarados. You aren't the first to suffer from that team." Zemen said.

"Do you know him?" Orihime asked.

"Sort of." Zemen said. "That boy's just a bully. He brings others down just to feel good about himself. He challenges other trainers and their pokemon, especially ones he knows he can win against, and beats them badly. He's been around here a lot."

"We've noticed with how he acts." Rukia said.

"He's nothing, but a punk. Next time I see him, I'm going really let him have it for what he and his Lanturn did to Gyarados." Ichigo said. Gyarados was feeling the same way Ichigo was.

"You really want to beat him?" Zemen asked. "I think I might know a way to do that. I'm hoping that when he's finally beaten, he'll learn his lesson."

"How can you help?" Ichigo asked.

"I use to be a bit like a teacher." Zemen said. "I use to help trainers and their pokemon learn new attacks that could help them in their future battles. If you're interested, I can do the same with you and Gyarados."

"Really?! That would be great, but what move can Gyarados learn that could help?" Ichigo said.

"Just like the analogy, fight fire with fire, you'll fight lightning with lightning. I can teach your Gyarados how to use Thunder."

"Really?!" Ichigo said as that was a real shock to him.

"Thunder is a powerful attack. Can a Gyarados really learn how to use Thunder?" Chad questioned.

"I think so. That would be a help in other battles as well." Rukia said.

"But isn't Lanturn and electric-type as well? So wouldn't it be not bothered by it?" Orihime questioned.

"Neither that or Lanturn's ability will be a problem." Zemen said. "So what do you say?" Ichigo did seem tempted to go through with it.

"Absol." Ichigo looked towards Absol and could get a feeling of what Absol was saying.

"You're right. I should see if Gyarados wants to go through with this. Gyarados, what do you say? Do you want to do it?" Ichigo asked. Gyarados howled and was saying he wanted to. He wants payback just like Ichigo does. "We'll do it."

"Good." Zemen said. Zemen began training Ichigo and Gyarados to learn a powerful electric-type attack. He started by grabbing two cables connected to a box and attached them to Gyarados' tail out of the water. "We'll start by having Gyarados learn to store the electricity in its body and learn how to release it.

"Got it. Ready, Gyarados?" Ichigo asked and Gyarados is all set.

"I'll have it on a mild setting so Gyarados doesn't get hurt too badly." Zemen said as he turned on the box. Electricity travelled through the cables and Gyarados was getting slightly shocked. Being a water-type as well as a flying-type, it wasn't enjoyale.

"Are you sure about this?" Ichigo asked out of concern of Gyarados' wellbeing.

"I promise that I won't hurt Gyarados." Zemen said. "Gyarados, try and store the electricity around your body and release it at once." Gyarados tried doing just that, but it was hard for it to hold in all that electricity. "You can do it. You need to be able to build your own electrical charge for this attack to work."

"Come on, Gyarados. Stay strong." Ichigo encouraged. Gyarados was doing the best he could and when he couldn't hold it back anymore, some of the electricity came out in a small does. When seeing that, Zemen turned off the power and Gyarados was breathing hard.

"It's a start at least." Zemen said.

"Don't worry, Gyarados. We'll get this." Ichigo said and Gyarados was thinking so as well. As they were all working on the move, Ichigo's friends just sit back and watch.

"Is this really a good idea?" Orihime asked.

"Learning a new move can be difficult. Especially since they're dealing with a type that's like the opposite of what Gyarados is." Rukia said. "Once Ichigo made up his mind, there is no going back. All we can do is hope for the best." That's exactly what they're doing as Ichigo and Zemen continued to work. It was hard on Gyarados, but some progress was being made.

"It looks like it's going good. Thanks a lot for doing this." Ichigo said.

"Of course." Zemen said. "I could see you care for your pokemon's feelings. You're the opposite of another student I had."

"What other student?" Ichigo questioned.

"He wanted me to teach him powerful attacks all so he could keep winning. He's abusing what I'm teaching him." Zemen said. Ichigo had a thought as to who that other student might have been. Gyarados let out a noise and appeared to be in pain. "Gyarados, I got you!" Ichigo didn't wait a minute as he placed his hands on Gyarados for comfort, but Ichigo was getting electrocuted as well. Zemen was about to turn off the electricity. "Don't turn it off."

"Ichigo, you're not suppose to get hurt like this." Zemen said.

"I can take it if Gyarados can. Do it, Gyarados. Try and use Thunder." Ichigo said as he handled the pain. Gyarados followed his trainer's lead and unleashed more electricity. Zemen was impressed and liked what he saw.

Later

Night came and Zemen allowed Ichigo and his friends to stay with him. Chad and the girls were asleep in beds, but he saw Ichigo and Absol were outside with them sleeping by Gyarados. Zemen admired how much Ichigo cared for his pokemon and is doing this for their sake.

….

The Next Day

Ichigo and Zemen continued to work with Gyarados. As Gyarados took more and more electricity, he was able to use the move more and more. That was until they hit the point they were satisfied with.

"It's ready." Zemen said.

"Yeah." Ichigo said as he and Gyarados liked this.

Dugg

Dugg was asleep by the lake with Lanturn near him. Both of them were instantly awaken when they felt some water splashed against both of them.

"What the heck?!" Dugg said. They both noticed Ichigo and his friends with his Gyarados. "You again. Let me guess. You want a rematch. Wasn't one beating enough for you?"

"It won't be like last time." Ichigo said. "Gyarados learned a new trick." Dugg didn't get it, but he spotted Zemen and put the pieces together.

"Zemen. I see now. Let's see what my old teacher taught you." Dugg said.

"You were his old student? I had a feeling." Ichigo said.

"Until I got bored. If you want a rematch, you got one." Dugg said as he accepted the challenge. Both of them faced each other and were ready. "Let's soften them up with Bubble Beam!" Lanturn used the attack and launched a barrage of bubbles.

"Hydro Pump!" Ichigo said. Gyarados launched a large volume of water and pushed through Lanturn's attack and blasted Lanturn. "Great work. Now use Ice Fang!" Gyarados went in with the attack again.

"Moron. Thunderbolt!" Dugg said and Lanturn was getting ready to attack.

"I don't think so. Switch to Thunder!" Ichigo said and Dugg was surprised. Both of them used their electric attack, but Gyarados was stronger as it pushed through and blasted Lanturn. Dugg couldn't believe this was happening.

"Lanturn, fight back! Use Signal Beam!" Dugg said.

"Whirlpool!" Ichigo said. Gyarados was able to land the attack first and Lanturn got caught in it. "Give them a taste of their own medicine. Thunder right in the water!" Gyarados used the attack and blasted the water. Lanturn got caught in the attack and couldn't handle it anymore. Lanturn floated on the water and was beaten.

"He won!" Orihime said as all of them were happy. Dugg couldn't believe it, but he took his defeat as he brought Lanturn back in its pokeball.

"I'll remember this." Dugg said as he ran off. Gyarados and Ichigo felt proud of themselves and Zemen enjoyed what he saw. The time soon came for them to part ways.

"Thanks for all your help." Ichigo said. "Gyarados learned a great and powerful move because of you."

"Of course. I'm glad there's decent trainers out there. Best of luck in your battles." Zemen said. Ichigo really appreciated what he did and they all went back on the road again.

Thanks to the teachings of a wise man, Gyarados is stronger and learned a new and powerful move because of it. I'm sure it will come in handy in Ichigo's future battles, as the journey continues.

To Be Continued…