After both Nate and Hugh have won their badges, the two spent the next few days training in preparation since learning using two fire type Pokemon wasn't going to cut it, even with how weak bug type Pokemon generally are. In fact, Hugh wanted to be so prepared, he trained his Pokemon not only like hell, but he either evolved his Pokemon much earlier then what any trainers had any right to be at this point in their journeys and captured new Pokemon he knew would help. Over three days, Hugh evolved his Pignite, Herdier and Magby into Emboar, Stoutland and Magmar respectively. Not only that, he replaced his Liepard and Elekid with a magnemite and a azurill from the ranch, so that with enough training, and some genuine care since Hugh knows Pokemon are cognizant creatures, not just battling machines, was able to get an evolved Magneton and Azumarill in such a short time as well. Even Roxie helped an hour a day, having his team face against her level three team, mostly as a means of both strength and endurance training to push themselves to their limits. At last, a few minutes before a 10:00 AM ferry ride, Roxie stood in front of the three teens, all smiling with pride.

"I have to say, I am impressed. With Iris, it's a given she's strong. But you two boys? I've never seen such dedication to their goal before. I can tell that the both of you aren't just going to make it far, but either one of you have a good shot at maybe beating Iris at the shot of champion as well if you keep it up. I'm proud of you two."

"Thank you." Both Nate and Hugh expressed gratefully. It was then that Roxie's dad came down from the ferry.

"Well, if you two are ready, we're just about to set out."

"Alright. We're just about ready." Iris acknowledged.

"Dad, before you go, there's something I got to tell ya." The poison type gym leader spoke.

"Yes?"

"I thought your movie was good. Ain't the best I've seen, but you did good. I don't care what those dumb dolts say about you."

"So you saw it." The ship captain gulped. "The movie was..." He struggled to find the right words, then shook his head to clear any doubts. "No, it wasn't the movie. It was me. I was so excited that I didn't really become Riolu-Man! Acting like that won't thrill or excite anyone." His daughter gave him a sympathetic look from his words.

"No come on, don't beat yourself down. You keep trying while continuing on as captain! You just got to figure out times in which nobody will be inconvenienced is all. If you can managed that, I won't get mad. I don't know how the Pokestars Studio people feel about that though." Even with that, it appears her encouraging words helped perk her dad up as he adjusted his hat.

"OK, you're right! I'll do my best as a captain! I'll excite and thrill people by barreling through tough waves!" Roxie laughed as how enthusiastic he was now.

"I'm glad you're feeling better now, but don't let it get to your head."

"I won't." Stepping forth, he hugged his daughter. "I love you Roxie."

"Dad! Not in front of people!" She complained. Either to help her feel better or just to troll her, Iris joined in on the hug.

"Oh come on! Hugs make everyone feel better!"

"Ugh, please stop! The love burns!" The pastel punk gym leader cried out, making everyone laugh at the display.

While they were on their way to Castelia City, Nate and Iris looked out to the incoming city, fifteen minutes left from reaching there. Hugh was taking a nap.

"Two years. It's been two years since I've been to this city." Iris sighed with content.

"What were you doing there?"

"Just visiting, hanging around. It was also when I first met Bianca, Ash and Cheren. I helped a girl find her stolen Pokemon from Team Plasma. No way would I have know it would lead me to becoming champion." The two remained silent before Nate thought of something.

"How did you become champion? I don't remember you participating in the Pokemon League last year."

"It was handed to me since Bianca thought I was a worthy successor. While it's not public knowledge, the reason is that being champion had responsibilities. Responsibilities that were getting in the way of what she really loved. And that was researching Pokemon. So she stepped down so that she could become Professor Juniper's assistant. She even confided in me she even wants to be the regional professor someday."

"Wow, that's cool." Nate commented, nodding with a smile. Then he had a thought. "Hey, how about we have a Pokemon battle?"

"A battle? Against me, a champion?" The young female asked, confused by this sudden notion.

"Well, it's just a friendly match. I just want to see how good I've become since we've done so much training.

"Hmm, alright, this could be fun." The two nodded, then went towards the back of the ship where a battle field was.

"How about we keep this manageable at three on three?" Nate suggested.

"Sure. No substitutions. Come on Axew, let's show him what we've got!" The Tusk Pokemon popped out of her hair, and leapt out to get onto the field.

"Axew!" The shiny Pokemon exclaimed as he looked prepared to battle.

"Growlithe, let's go!" Nate yelled with vigor. What he summoned was a red canine with black strips and cream colored fluff on his head, chest and underbelly and finally his tail. He growled as a intimidation tactic, managing to put Axew off, though not enough to scare him off.

"Growlithe, use Take Down!" Nate went first. Sprinting at full speed, the Puppy Pokemon rammed head first into the small dragon type. He cried out as he rolled across his back, over his head and stopped on his stomach. Even against such a strong blow, Axew was able to pick himself up.

"Counter with Dragon Dance!" Iris instructed with a shout. As the Tusk Pokemon moved in an intricate manner, gaining an orange aura, Nate continued on.

"Use Flamethrower!" Even with a resistance to fire, being subjugated to a blast of powerful flame still felt very uncomfortable as the dragon type withstood Growlithe's attack, groaning all the while.

"Get in close and use Dual Chop!" Opening his clenched eyes trying to protect them, Axew yelled with a battle cry as he leapt through the fire and chopped both sides of the Puppy Pokemon's neck with green glowing arms. The flame produced from his mouth stopped as the fire type was physically shocked, completely still as a barely audible whine came from a chopped throat before he fell, having fainted from a critical blow.

"Yeah, way to go Axew!" Iris cheered.

"Axew!" The young dragon said in triumph, pumping his short arms up.

"Growlithe, return. You did good for your first actual battle. Rest now. Magneton, let's go!" The evolved form of magnemite, which were technically three of them together, appeared floating in the air as they said their name in a robotic tone.

"Come on Axew, we'll beat that clump of magnets!" Iris encouraged. "Use Dragon Claw!"

"Endure it!" Nate ordered. Bracing itself, the steel/electric type withstood the slash of green claws imbued with draconian energy. The force even pushed the levitating Pokemon back some. "Use Thunder Wave!" Iris's widened in fearful shock that she didn't see this coming as her precious Axew was shocked, groaning from the volts coursing through his body as he fell to the wooden floor. Getting up, the Tusk Pokemon tried to like it didn't do anything, but cackling electricity showed that he was paralyzed.

"No!"

"Now, use Electro Ball!" Its magnets curled forward towards its center so that electricity was pooled into a ball, which were launched at the disabled dragon, whom cried as he was overwhelmed by the attack before an explosion enveloped him. Iris waited with held breath as the smoke cleared, and Axew was knocked unconscious.

"Alright! We did it!" Nate celebrated.

"Axew, I've got you!" Iris proclaimed as she ran to her Pokemon and held him close, the shiny Pokemon waking up and looking at his master sadly. "You were great. Thanks for fighting as long as you could."

"Axew." He said, nodding his head once. Taking him to rest outside of the battlefield, Iris was ready to take the win more than ever.

"You're going down Ash! Deino, get ready!" Like Axew, Deino is a small dragon like Pokemon, but is quadruped and the black fur on its head down to its neck covered what eyes it may have. The Irate Pokemon is quadruped and had a black and dark blue color pallet.

"Use Supersonic!" Nate yelled, not wanting to take any chances that Deino may take down his Pokemon. Magneton started producing a high pitched noise which started to make the already called Irate Pokemon even more unhinged as him snarled, the confusion just making him more ferocious.

"No! Come on Dieno, you've got to hang in there! Use Slam!" But the hissing dragon type was unable to hear anything outside its rage so he charged, prompting Nate to jump out of the way, and witness the Pokemon bash his head and body against the ship, trying to get the ringing out of his head. "Deino, return!" Iris had to retreat her Pokemon, holding her Pokemon close with a concerned look at the pokeball now containing her dragon type.

"Is he alright?" Nate asked, getting himself up onto his feet.

"The Deino line is rather difficult to master, even for dragon specialists. Their aggressive behavior and ill tempered mindset makes training them quite strenuous. He's okay, it's just that...this is the reason that I've been training exclusively with him. I thought he'd be ready by now."

"Oh, okay. I understand." The male trainer acknowledged. "So...do you want to keep battling or...?"

"Actually, I think you would've won this one. Altaria is strong, but dragons aren't strong against steel types and you would've used the Thunder Wave and Electro Ball combo since she's part flying." Iris gave a dry chuckle as she stooped down and petted her Axew. "It's ironic. Dragons are normally the mightiest of the types, and yet when they're young they just can't keep up. Not that strength is everything but unlike other Pokemon, I love them regardless of power, but it's like baby dragons just don't stand out. Along with their overall rarity, people just seem to think raising dragon types aren't worth the pay off. I'm a champion, but raising them from eggs prevents me from keeping up with those with more diverse teams. Heck, Roxie would beat me with her second and third levels teams because she too specially offensive while her poison strategy eats away at my Pokemon."

Nate was confused. Despite being a champion, Iris seemed to have insecurities due to specializing in a type that is awesome in the end, but difficult to master in the beginning. He felt sorry for her. "I know what Drayden would say. That I just need to keep my chin high and keep my patience. But when you're the champion, you're expected to be the best no matter the circumstance. And not just in Pokemon battles, but everything else in what a champion does. It's...it's hard." Tears started to form in her eyes. Axew looked up with concerned eyes. "I've always dreamed of being the Opilucid City gym leader. It's something I knew I would be good at, because it's something that would've remained within the skills I had. The skills that Drayden taught me. But when Bianca passed her title down to me...I was scared. I didn't want to disappoint her by refusing, but this is so much more than I thought I could handle." Hugging Axew close, she started to quietly cry. "So I essentially did what Alder did; I ran. I put the Elite Four in control...because I wasn't ready to be a champion. I was only going to let everyone down because some orphan girl couldn't take it." Nate could feel his heart aching for her. As she said, he assumed she was on top of everything, that she became champion because she seemed like the best fit. But looking at his friend like this now, he could see that she was apparently not prepared to be ready due to not having taken the steps to be a champion. All the others he knew before; Red, Lance, Steven, Cynthia and Alder, they went through a journey to reach those goals. And even Bianca too, but she passed it on because it wasn't her passion.

Stooping down so that he sat right next to the crying champion, Nate gave a comforting hug, which was sort of difficult since her massive hair kept his left arm from circling around her completely, but the sentiment was felt anyway as she looked into his face, tears streaking down her face.

"I'm sorry you feel so overwhelmed like this. Even I thought you were a cool champion who was on top of everything, even if I didn't praise you as such. But the thing is...that's okay. You're not just a Pokemon Champion, nor are you just a dragon master...you're human. And if I'm being honest, that's what I prefer. Titles don't really explain who they are. Just what they do." Iris didn't know what to say. Even though she kept her feelings to herself from her friends and family so that they didn't think any less of her, this boy she hasn't even known for a week and a half is basically saying something she honestly wanted, maybe even needed to hear. It was so sincere, so nice, so...so...

Nate's eyes opened wide as Iris leaned to kiss him. Her lips tasted warm and salty, yet also soft and moisturized due to the tears. They stayed like that for six seconds before Iris realized what she was doing, and backed away, frantically scooching away out of his hug with a horrified expression as she shook her head.

"I-I'm sorry. That was a mistake. I-I did-didn't mean to...to..." The champion got up and ran off crying, clutching her Axew close to her chest. Nate just sat there, unsure what to do. What can anyone do if the champion-a crying girl, kissed you and ran off, saying it was unintentional. Nate simply just laid himself down onto the floor, trying to think this through.

A/N: Wow, I have to admit, this was not how I was imagining how the boat battle would go. The first half was planned out, but then I just got this idea tonight that not only felt logical to write, but honest and smart since I've always wondered how Iris became champion in those two years in the games. Did she train to be the champion? Was it just handed to her since the prior protagonist bailed? And if so, how could she handle the champion since in Pokemon...black was it?, that she was being trained to just be a gym leader right? How many gym leaders, especially ones that just started out, would be able to handle being a champion if they were just handed it? The second half of this chapter may not have been thought out till this moment, but I'm glad it shows some realism about inheriting something you might not be ready for yet accept anyway. Let me know what you think in the reviews down below. Thank you.