Chapter 5

Over the past couple days, Aura and Prince had done plenty of training with the help of Spyke and Dan. Aura felt like they were almost ready to challenge the Gym, but he decided to take one more day to thoroughly prepare to face off against the Bug type Pokemon; and what better way to train for that than by heading into the nearby Santalune Forest where they could find a great variety of both Bug type Pokemon and Trainers who specialize in them.

The day had been going very well for the duo as Aura and Prince were currently in the midst of battling a young trainer and his Beedrill partner.

"Strike it down with your Blaze Kick!" Aura instructed Prince with a dramatic swing of his arm.

"Not gonna happen this time! Beedrill, swerve around it and counter with Twineedle!" The bug catcher called out in response. His Beedrill let out a loud buzz before effortlessly zipping through the air around Prince as he lunged forth with Blaze Kick. As Prince landed back on the ground, Beedrill sharply turned around and dove with its spear-like arms poised to strike.

The speed of the insect didn't give Aura much time to think. "Hold your position!" He shouted hastily. Once Beedrill was close enough, Aura shouted for Prince to evade with Quick Attack then counter it with another Blaze Kick.

Beedrill's trainer flinched as he overheard Aura's command, but it was too late to call off the attack as the Beedrill was only a few seconds away from spearing his opponent before the Riolu vanished in a blur, causing him to slam into the coarse dirt with its stingers and get stuck just long enough for Prince to appear behind him and slam his flaming foot into its back.

The super effective attack was too much for the bug type and instantly knocked it out cold with a large crack in its exoskeleton. "Beedrill!" The bug catcher hurried to his Pokemon and groaned as he knelt down to lift it's unconscious body. "You fought well, Beedrill. Rest for now and I'll get you and Wormadam to the Pokemon Center." Izzy took out his Netball and returned his fainted Pokemon.

"Thanks for the match, Izzy." Aura said as he walked up to his opponent. "Let your Beedrill and Wormadam know they put up a good fight. Heck, you may have actually won if Prince didn't know Blaze Kick." Aura extended his hand to Izzy and the trainers shook hands.

"I will. We'll be looking forward to the day we meet again for a rematch. Good luck against Viola tomorrow." Izzy picked up his bag and waved to his new rival before running down the trail.

Aura stretched his back and looked to Diamond and Prince at his feet. "You guys wanna go find Dan and start heading back to town too? After all those battles I'm sure Prince could use some rest before our challenge tomorrow."

"I still do not understand why he decided to go off by himself." Prince affirmed.

"Well he wanted to take the chance to have Spyke practice identifying wild herbs."

"Didn't he also say the forest might be able to grow Revival Herbs?" Diamond thought.

Aura shrugged. "Maybe. He was talking about the atmosphere and stuff. Anyway, we should start searching before it gets too dark. Prince, think you can try and sense him or Spyke as we go?"

The Riolu gave a salute to his master's request before they headed off deeper into the forest.


Dan pushed a low-hanging branch aside as he walked past with Spyke riding on his shoulder. The Pokemon had his arms crossed and scolded his trainer for getting them lost. Although Dan could only assume this was the case since he couldn't understand Spyke.

Hearing Spyke muttering under his breath, Dan sighed and apologized once again for forgetting to charge the batteries in his map. Receiving another lecturing chatter from his partner, Dan groaned and looked up to the sky. "Look, it's getting dark so let's just set up camp for the night and look for the others at sunrise." Spyke sighed and agreed with him before jumping off his shoulder onto the ground while Dan started prepping their camp.

Within fifteen minutes Dan had fully assembled his tent and was sitting next the the campfire. With his mortar and pestle in hand, Dan worked at grinding up the herbs they collected and making some medicine. "On the bright side we did manage to find at least a couple pounds of medicinal plants," he glanced over to a small plastic bag full of green powder, "not to mention a whole grotto of Revival Herbs. Heh, I knew Santalune Forest had the right requirements for them to grow."

Spyke sat nearby digging into a bag of assorted nuts and berries they gathered as well. "Mhm. I told you I could find them." He said in his natural speech.

After finishing another few batches of medicine and mixing the ground herbs with some water in plastic tubes while labeling each with their contents, Dan proudly sighed as he stowed the fresh medicine inside his first-aid kit.

"There. And after we get back to town I can see if the PokeCenter can help me fill some capsules." With his medkit safely buckled to the side of his bag, Dan quickly ate some of the rations he brought for just this occasion before killing the fire and bringing Spyke to their tent. "Since it's just us out here tonight, I'm counting on you if anything happens, pal." Spyke stifled a yawn and hit his chest with a confident nod.

Almost immediately after zipping the tent shut, they heard a loud explosion a short distance away. Dan quickly unzipped the flap and peered outside wondering what that was. Soon after there was a second explosion much closer with a girl's voice crying out even closer. In a matter of seconds Dan watched a small child's figure scrambling out of the bushes and run towards their tent. Panicking, Dan grabbed his flashlight and pointed it outside to learn that it wasn't actually a child he saw, but it was a Ralts.

Dan placed the flashlight down so the campsite stayed illuminated as him and Spyke quickly stepped outside. In the back of his mind, Dan heard a child-like voice cry out for him to help moments before Ralts dove behind his legs. Dan was about to question what she meant before he was cut off by multiple round objects firing from the bushes and the ground in front of them suddenly erupting, forcing them all to shield their eyes to prevent being blinded by the loose dirt.

"Dammit! Spyke, launch a Pin Missile into the bushes!"

The thorns atop Spyke's head glowed bright green as the Chespin took in a deep breath, suddenly tightening his muscles and firing multiple glowing needles from his spines at whatever had attacked them. A loud screech was heard moments before a green monkey Pokemon leaped into the open.

"A Simisage? Well at least I know Pin Missile will be more effective. Again, Spyke!" Dan called as Spyke once more contracted his body to fire another barrage of quills. As the Simisage took a direct attack from the Bug move, Dan didn't expect to see it only stare back at them momentarily before fleeing back into the darkness. "It didn't fight back? Maybe it realized Spyke had the upper hand with Pin Missile." Dan pondered before jerking around as he remembered the Ralts.

As he looked behind them he noticed the Pokemon hugging curled up on her side with multiple scrapes and bruises across her ivory skin.

Dan quickly grabbed a towel from his bag and gently wrapped her inside as he told Spyke to go relight the fire. He grabbed the box of matches from Dan's bag and hurried over to start the fire while Dan brought the injured Pokemon closer. With the area now illuminated by the reborn flames, Spyke shut off the flashlight as Dan examined Ralt's wounds, sighing thankfully as none appeared to be in need of urgent care.

"Spyke? Can you grab my medkit for me?" Spyke complied and rushed back to the tent to retrieve the small satchel of medicine. "This shouldn't sting much at all." He told the Ralts as he uncapped one of his freshly mixed vials and began to apply the ointment to her cuts.

("Thank you for protecting me.") She said as she let the human tend to her.

"Well I'd like to know why that Simisage was chasing you in the first place."

She rubbed her arm. ("I was trying to get something to eat and used my Magical Leaf to knock down a couple apples, but I didn't know the Simisage was sleeping in the tree and accidentally hit it with my attack.") Just as Ralts finished her story, her stomach growled.

"I guess you still haven't eaten then." Dan said. "Well we have some leftover berries and nuts you could have. And I suppose you could spend the night in our tent just in case that Simisage comes back."

Ralts smiled. ("Yes, I would appreciate that so much.")

Once Ralts had some food and Dan finished cleaning her wounds, Dan doused the flames once more before taking Spyke and Ralts into the tent. Spyke was quick to make himself comfortable on one of the pillows.

"Do you have a name?" Dan asked as he laid out another pillow for their guest.

("I like to call myself Nessa.") Ralts affirmed.

"Alright, Nessa. Well I'm Daniel and this is Spyke." He introduced them. As he heard a quiet yawn from Nessa, Dan figured she must have had a long night and suggested they get some sleep.

The next morning Dan was the first to wake up and made some breakfast before waking the other two. Nessa awoke with a squeaky yawn and greeted the trainer as he shook awake Spyke. Leading them outside to eat, Dan asked Nessa if she slept alright considering what transpired last night.

She nodded while nibbling at the Pokefood she was given. ("Yes. Thank you for letting me stay with you for the night. But I wouldn't want to impose any longer.")

Dan sighed, kind of hoping she would have wanted to join their team after this. "Well it was nice meeting you. Best of luck out there."

Nessa nodded as they finished their meals and the Ralts gave thanks one last time before heading off back into the woods. But just as Dan was about to start dismantling the tent, he froze as he heard Nessa screech and turned around to watch her come stumbling back out of the bush tailed by not only the Simisage from last night, but another two monkey Pokemon with similar features.

"A Simisear and Simipour now too?! This guy is really persistent!" Dan sneered. "Spyke! You think you can handle them?" The Chespin pumped his fist and faced the monkey trio with a scowl.

("I'm sorry, Daniel. I didn't mean to cause you and Spyke so much trouble.") Nessa cried.

"Now isn't the time, Nessa. Spyke and I will teach these apes a lesson. Just stand back." Dan balled his fists and gestured towards the trio. "Spyke! Use Vine Whip on Simipour then use Pin Missile on Simisage!"

The Chespin cried out as he sprouted a pair of long vines from his neck and violently flailed them into the water type, picking it up by its legs and slamming it into a nearby tree. While Simipour struggled to stand back up, Spyke retracted his vines and prepared to unleash his Pin Missile next. Unfortunately the fire type had begun stomping his feet angrily with a raging flame bursting around him. Before Spyke could even react he was being brutally tackled by the Flame Charge and was sent careening over Dan's head.

Dan grit his teeth. "Spyke?! Can you keep going?!" The Chespin stood up panting heavily but gave a strained sound of confirmation as he got to his feet. "Awesome! Now let's deal with that Simisear! Use Rollout!"

Spyke quickly began sprinting forward and tucking himself into a spiky ball as his quills seemed to harden for the rock type attack. Despite the speed boost from Simisear's Flame Charge, Spyke managed to build up enough momentum to swiftly reach the fire monkey and crash into him for massive damage.

Dan was certainly a lot more thankful that Chespin could learn such a variety of moves so early, otherwise this fight would have been much harder for them. But it wasn't over quite yet as Simipour was back on it's feet while Simisage used Vine Whip to catch his friend and safely lower him to the ground. Dan started to worry they wouldn't be able to win at this rate, but neither of them were about to give up as Dan called for another Rollout against Simisear.

As Spyke swerved around to go in for another hit, he was unfortunately stopped by Simipour using Watergun on the soft soil around them and causing Spyke's quills to get trapped in the mud. "Dammit! Spyke! Pull yourself out with your vines!"

Spyke uncoiled his body and swiftly launched his vines toward a nearby tree branch, managing to pull himself out moments before being hit by Simisear's Flamethrower. They had to finish this fight fast, but despite having a method to fight all three monkeys, so long as they were together like this nothing Spyke did could keep them down for long.

Desperately, Dan cried out for Spyke to use his vines to restrain Simipour while launching Pin Missile at Simisage. For the most part this seemed to work as he successfully managed to avoid another Flame Charge from Simisear before binding Simipour's arms and legs down with his vines, however as he attempted to use Pin Missile, Simisear was quick to counter it with Flamethrower and burn away the pins shortly after they were fired. "Shit… At least try and finish off Simipour first! Pull it close and use Rollout!"

The combo attack may have been their only option at this rate, and thankfully it seemed to work as Spyke retracted his vines swiftly and rolled himself up before forcefully bashing into the water type's chest and effectively hurling it into a tree unconscious.

Dan's hope of winning seemed to reignite as he then called to use his vines to leverage himself to a tree and keep spinning around it with Rollout. So like an out of control tetherball, Spyke latched onto the nearest tree and furiously spun around it, picking up massive speed before letting go and immediately crashing into Simisear, finally taking out the most problematic of the three.

"All right! One more to go-" Dan's cheers were stopped short as, out of nowhere, Simisage suddenly crashed into Spyke with Acrobatics. Spyke cried out in pain as he flew past Dan and broke through the tent's lining. That was it for them, Dan figured as he returned Spyke to his ball. He looked back in horror to see Simisage cockily laughing whilst charging a powerful Solarbeam.

The second he fired it off, Nessa screamed out in protest as she suddenly jumped out in front of Dan. She screeched in pain as the Solarbeam hit her directly and exploded into a cloud of smoke, causing the small Ralts to fly back into Dan's arms and knock them both back against the ruined tent.

"Nessa?!" Dan panicked. As she didn't respond, he frantically dug through his medkit as the Simisage was thankfully paralyzed from the overwhelming power it used to fire off the Solarbeam early and needed to recharge. "Come on, come on!" Finally, Dan pulled out the plastic bag of Revival Herbs he ground up and untied the bag. Not wasting any time, he took a pinch of it and sprinkled it into Nessa's mouth.

Instantly as the medicine hit her tongue, Nessa's eyes shot open as she swallowed it and quickly jumped up ready to fight again. She looked back at the kind trainer for a moment with gratitude and determination. He was putting himself at risk by protecting her, now it was her turn to protect him.

These emotions caused a surge of power to course through Nessa's veins as a blinding light enveloped her body. Within a few seconds, Nessa's figure grew taller and her horns moved to the sides of her head while her green hair grew longer and a flat skirt extended from around her hips. As the light flashed away, Nessa stood as a newly evolved Kirlia, scowling at the grass monkey across from them.

Fully recharged, Simisage lunged forth with its fangs glowing from its Bite attack, but Nessa didn't even flinch as she just stood there for a moment before her eyes flashed bright purple. All of a sudden, Simisage was halted in its tracks before being lifted in the air and slammed harshly into the ground. Nessa repeated her brutal attacks with her Psychic before finally shouting out angrily and picking up the other two monkeys, hurling them back deep into the forest.

Dan watched the Kirlia turn around and walk towards him, a small smile spread across her face as she daintily bowed. "Thank you for protecting me, Daniel. The medicine you gave me was a big part of my evolution, all so I could repay the favour to you and Spyke."

Dan rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm glad to hear that. It's my dream to become a great Pokemon Doctor some day or even a famous herbologist like my uncle."

Nessa blushed slightly as she swayed side to side with her hands behind her back. "That is very kind of you, Daniel… If it isn't too much trouble, may I ask one last favour of you?" He ushered for her to continue. "Would you accept me as part of your team? I would like to assist you in your dream to help others."

Dan smiled as he quickly retrieved one of his empty Pokeballs. "So you really mean it?" After getting a confident nod from Nessa, Dan held out his Pokeball for her to happily press the button and allow herself to be captured as Daniel's third Pokemon. Of course she wasn't in the Pokeball for long as Dan quickly let her back out. "Thank you, Nessa. I'm sure the others will love meeting you. But first I need to finishing packing up… my… stuff… right…" Dan groaned as his tent was now essentially useless thanks to the battle.

"Don't worry, Daniel." Nessa reassured him as she quickly begun to use her Psychic to neatly clean up and fold the tent for her trainer. "It may not be much, but perhaps we could find a Leavanny willing to fix that hole. But we should find your friends first."

Dan looked at her a little quizzically as he stowed everything into his bag. "How did you know I was looking for my friends?"

Nessa blushed and scratched her cheek. "Sorry, but I couldn't help but sense distress from you and read into your emotions a little."

Dan sighed. "Well just don't dig through others' thoughts too much, okay?" Nessa blushed and apologized. Dan chuckled and assured her it was alright before the two headed off into the forest.

After only a few minutes, Aura' voice could be heard calling out for Dan, however there was also two other voices he didn't recognize yet were oddly familiar. Ignoring that, Dan was just glad Aura had been looking for him as well and hurried towards his voice.

As Dan pushed his way through the bushes, Aura looked over and waved. "Finally! I'm glad to see you're safe." He said before calling out for Diamond and Prince. The two Pokemon came through the bushes shortly after and hurried over. "We've been looking for you since yesterday and spent the night out here hoping you'd find us.

"We were so worried about you." Diamond yipped.

Dan looked at the fox wide-eyed and stumbled back slightly. "Wait. Did Diamond just talk?" He looked at Aura. All three of them looked at their friend a bit confused.

"What do you mean?" Diamond asked, tilting her head.

"I swear you're speaking English."

Nessa stepped out from behind her trainer. "That might be my doing, Daniel. After evolving, I have enough psychic power to allow your mind to subconsciously translate the Pokemon speech patterns to something you can coherently understand. So long as I'm conscious and close enough to you that is." She suddenly giggled. "Honestly I'm a little surprised you hadn't noticed I wasn't using my telepathy after evolving."

Dan raised a finger as he processed what he was just told while Aura chuckled.

"You'll get used to it. Anyway, Dan. Mind introducing us to your new friend?"

"Oh, right. This is Nessa, the newest member of my team. And, Nessa. This is Aura and his team, Diamond and Prince." The Pokemon greeted one another while Aura suggested they start heading back to town. They still had a couple hours before Aura's Gym battle so he wanted to review their training before then.


Finally the time was upon them as Aura, Dan, Diamond and Prince all stood in front of the Santalune Pokemon Gym. Looking up at the ornate wooden doors, Diamond felt a little guilty for making Aura rely solely on Prince for the Gym match, but after all the training they did, she was sure there was no way Prince wouldn't win today.

Aura took a deep breath as he overcame his nerves and stared at the Gym intently. His grip tightened around the Pokeball in his hand thinking about the impending battle. "Well here goes nothing. Ready?" He looked down at Prince who gave a nod.

They stepped up to the doors and pushed them open. Inside it almost looked as if they had walked into a photo gallery rather than a Pokemon Gym, nonetheless everyone was fascinated by the sheer amount of photographs featuring countless Pokemon, most of which depicting bug types.

Hearing someone clear their throat nearby, Aura turned to see a woman sitting behind a reception desk. "Can I help you?"

Aura got the others'attention and they walked over. "My name is Aura Borealis, and I've come to challenge the Gym Leader."

The woman nodded and quickly typed at her computer. A yellow light on a card scanner blinked on and Aura swiped his Trainer ID. It made a short beep and the yellow light turned green moments before a small panel flipped up with six circular divots. "Looks like this is your first time challenging a Gym, so I'll briefly explain the registration process. We have challengers scan their Trainer IDs so the League can keep track of things like your badges; if you ever lose a badge you won then it can be replaced, it also helps prevent those who didn't officially earn their badges from entering the league. As for these slots here, it supplies the Gym with your Pokemon's information so we can fairly select a set of pre-determined rules depending on the challenger's party. It also helps prevent stolen Pokemon from being used by comparing their registered trainer to the one using them."

"This all sounds really complicated." Aura joked as he set both Diamond and Prince's Pokeballs into the slots and watched them slowly spin. Despite them being empty at the moment, both Pokeballs still held the information of the Pokemon. After only a few short seconds of them rotating, there was a quiet ping and Aura returned them to his belt.

"Alright, the Gym Leader will be using two Pokemon for your battle and both will be determined based on the average stats of yours. And don't worry, the Gym Leader isn't informed on this information so she will not have an unfair advantage. Any more questions?" Aura shook his head and thanked the receptionist as they were directed to a door at the end of the gallery. "Viola should be there soon."

As everyone stepped into the arena they were in awe at the decor surrounding them. If it weren't for the massive battlefield in front of them they would have assumed this was just a giant greenhouse full of dense foliage and lively Bug type Pokemon.

"It is a fantastic sight, isn't it?" A woman called out from across the room. Aura looked over and watched a tall pale woman with blonde hair and casual summer attire step out from a rustic looking shelter. "Welcome to my pride and joy! The muse of all my passion! My fantastic shutterbug garden!" She monologued with her arms outstretched. She awkwardly chuckled and pushed her bangs aside, "Heh, or as it's officially known, the Santlune Gym Stadium. Sorry for the dramatics and all, I had just finished developing some of my most recent snapshots. Anyway, which one of you boys is Aura Borealis?"

Aura slowly rose his hand. "That'd be me. You're Viola?"

Viola smiled. "You got that right. I was informed this is your first Gym Challenge, so don't think that means I'll take it easy on you."

Aura laughed and pumped his fist. "Me and Prince are ready to show off our hard work, right buddy?" Prince smirked and nodded confidently at his trainer.

"Fantastic! I'm really looking forward to a picture perfect battle!"

Viola began walking down to the field with Aura doing the same, meanwhile Dan and the others were directed to a viewing area where Dan let out his Pokemon to watch, taking a bit longer before hesitantly letting out Missy. She was confused at first, but after a brief explanation from Dan she felt happy to be included in watching their companion's battle as Dan carefully held her in his arms.

At the edge of the field a man stepped up to a small podium and raised a flag in each hand. "This will be an official Gym match between Viola the Gym Leader and Aura the challenger with a ten minute time limit per round. Both sides may use only two Pokemon and the match will be decided once either side is unable to continue. Furthermore only the challenger will be allowed to substitute. Are both trainers ready?"

Aura was the first to call out with Prince standing still beside him. Viola quickly pulled out a camera and readied it before giving her confirmation as well.

"May the official Gym Challenge begin!" He shouted while throwing down his hands.

"You're up first, Surskit!" Viola called as she threw her ball into the air. The ball burst open and out of it shot a beam of light towards the center of the field, instantly taking on the form of the small pond skater. It cried out with a high pitched "Surrrrskit!" as the light vanished to show off it's small round body and long thin legs.

Aura grit his teeth. He they had battled a Surskit yesterday in Santalune Forest but unfortunately Prince's Blaze Kick wasn't as effective due to it's half-water typing. "Alright then! Prince! Time put our training to the test!" He threw his hand outward and Prince rushed onto the field.

"Let's start this photo shoot off right, Surskit! Sticky Web!"

Surskit glared at Prince as it leaned forward and adjusted the yellow appendage on its head before shooting out globs of sticky webbing.

"Dodge with your Quick Attack!"

As the globs closed in on the Riolu, he dove to the side and ran about as the balls of webbing fell around him and splat into a perfect web shape.

"Keep up your Sticky Web! Tire it out!"

As directed, Surskit effortlessly followed Prince with repeated shots of thick webbing that coated the ground, gradually limiting where Prince could move.

Aura knew they would inevitable lose at this rate so he had to think quickly. "Wait a second… Prince! Take aim!" He eventually shouted, his phrasing was thankfully understood by Prince while it left everyone else wondering what he meant. Riolu didn't have much access to ranged attacks until they evolve, so Viola questioned what they could be "aiming" to begin with. So when she noticed Prince actually slowing down and using Foresight it only raised more questions. "As soon as you're ready, make their webs useless with Blaze Kick!"

Viola's eyes widened as Prince's legs burst into flames and he quickly started to delive swift and accurate kicks to each of Surskit's projectiles, incinerating every one on impact. She was surprised to learn the Riolu was capable of this move, but she couldn't stop now no matter how much she wanted to capture such a spectacular Pokemon on film. At least Surskit did have a resistance to the fire attack but it still made her wonder what other trick they were capable of.

"Well if webs won't slow them down then we'll have to just douse their fire with Bubble Beam!"

There was a short pause as Surskit ceased it's webs and prepared to take a more offensive approach with Bubble Beam. But while it recuperated from constantly firing its webs, Aura called out for Prince to burn through the webbed ground and use Bite. So keeping the fire around his legs burning bright, he ran across the webbing and lurched forth with glowing fangs. Everyone gasped as Prince was moments from landing the hit before Surskit managed to unleash a powerful barrage of bubbles from it's appendage point-blank at Prince. His Blaze Kick was extinguished and he was sent skidding back across the field, getting caught in some of the webs he hadn't burned and becoming greatly hindered in his movements. "You okay, Prince?!"

Despite this, Prince managed to stand up and wipe his mouth. "Do not worry, Master. This is only a minor setback." He said coolly.

Aura nodded and called out his next order. "Free yourself with Blaze Kick and rush it with Quick Attack!"

The web under his feet evaporated from the heat and Prince hurried to close the gap with Surskit once again. Viola tried to call for another Bubble Beam, but to her dismay Prince managed to easily avoid it and drew even closer to her Surskit. Not wanting to underestimate them, Viola played it safe and called for Surskit to cover the field with ice and evade.

Despite the ice being slow to melt under his Blaze Kick, Prince was able to keep his footing long enough to reach Surskit and cartwheel forward to furiously slam his foot into the bug type, not accounting for it to near instantly vanish and his heel crash harshly into the frozen dirt.

"Phew. Guess we need to take this fight just a little more seriously, Surskit." Viola said as her Pokemon skated across the ice effortlessly. "Don't think our usual ice field will do much to a Riolu with Blaze Kick, so let's outspeed it with a proper Quick Attack!"

Surskit let out a shrill cry before charging in and skating in circles around Prince, moving too fast for him to follow. Viola smirked as she was sure this was it, but Aura's confident expression made her worry.

"I guess not many people have ways to work around all of your Surskit's strengths. Did you forget about Foresight?" Viola scowled as Aura called for Prince to lock on with Foresight and use Counter.

"N-no! Surskit don't attack!" Unfortunately Surskit was already in the middle of closing the circle around Prince so it was unavoidable as Prince managed to pinpoint its exact location and retaliate with a super strong Counter an instant before Surskit could make contact.

Stopped in its tracks, Surskit slid across the floor and crashed into the wall of the battlefield totally unconscious.

"Surskit is unable to battle! Riolu takes the first round!"

Viola sighed as she returned Surskit to its ball. "You did fantastic, Surskit. But I underestimated their strength." After replacing Surskit's Pokeball and taking out another, Viola showed a determined grin as she held the ball in front of her face. "Time to show of my star model! Strike a pose, Vivillon!" In a flash of light, a large butterfly emerged from the Pokeball displaying its dazzling pink wings and slender grey body.

Once the ref called for the next round to begin, Viola immediately declared her orders and called out for her Vivillon to fly overhead and sprinkle some Sleep Powder. The butterfly fluttering over Prince surprisingly fast and rapidly flapping its wings to surround the canine with a thick cloud of green powder.

"Prince! Stay awake!" Aura shouted in vain as Prince teetered back and forth before collapsing to his knees. He struggled to stay awake, but it didn't help that he used most of his strength just taking out Surskit.

"An eye for an eye as they like to say. Vivillon! Let's capture this picture perfect victory for Surskit! Psybeam!"

A bright ball of pink energy started to form between the bug's antennae before it let out a shrill scream and firing off a colourful beam directly at Prince. Prince cried out as a large plume of smoke and dirt exploded outward across the field. Once the cloud dissipated, Aura was in shock to find Prince lying still on his back completely blacked out.

"Riolu is unable to battle! Vivillon takes round two!" The referee called, pointing a flag towards Viola.

Aura silently faced the floor and fell to his knees as he weakly returned Prince to his ball. He stared at the Pokeball blankly, only able to mutter he was sorry before slowly pushing himself back to his feet. Even though he knew they wouldn't win every fight, he felt oddly disheartened by this defeat more than he ever though he would. It wasn't like this was his one and only chance to challenge the Gym, he could easily challenge Viola again tomorrow, but why did he feel so hurt by this. Was it even really him feeling this despair?

After sitting in absolute silence for a couple minutes, Aura was snapped back to reality as the referee called for him to please send out his second Pokemon otherwise he would be disqualified.

With a heavy heart, Aura slowly stood up and hesitantly told them, "I don't have another Pokemon. I lost."

Diamond could not only hear the sorrow in his voice, but she swore she could actually feel his sadness within herself. A tear rolled down her cheek as her mind battered her with self-doubt as she blamed herself for this, all because she couldn't push aside her own insecurity to help the only man she ever felt this close to.

"Go to him."

Diamond flinched as she frantically looked around for the source of the unusual voice she heard, not even noticing time itself seemed to have paused around her.

"Who's there?"

"Go to him, Diamond. You and him need each other more than you think."

Although the whispering voice sounded quite eerie, Diamond felt unnaturally trusting of it as just hearing it seemed to put her mind at ease and help her think clearly. As if this voice was speaking her own thoughts and deepest desires. It knew she truly desired to be there for Aura like he was for her, and so that's what she would do.

Just before the referee could call the match, Diamond hurried out onto the field causing everyone to freeze as she ran towards Aura's side of the field and skidding to a halt ready to battle.

"Diamond? What are you doing?"

She kept her gaze straight as she barked at him. "After everything you've done for me just to see me happy, how can I even look back at you if I can't do the same?!" She slowly glanced over her shoulder with a teary smile. "You're the most important person in my life, Aura. And I'll do anything just to see you happy."

Without them even noticing, Aura and Diamond's eyes slowly took on an identical violet hue that slowly faded to show Diamond's left eye tinted a deep blue while Aura's right eye shined scarlet red.

"It is time." A voice whispered within both of their minds. Although it was vague, Diamond and Aura felt a deep meaning hidden amongst those words and they could feel it within their hearts.

Aura's confidence rushed back as he nodded at his partner and faced the field with great determination. His and Diamond's bodies practically glowing with reborn valor and strength.

"I guess I forgot about the most important member of my team." Aura said seriously.

Viola smiled at them. "Well then let's move on to round three." She looked over to the referee and nodded.

"Very well. Round three! Begin!"

"Diamond! Attack with Ember!"

She didn't hesitate at all as Diamond took in a deep breath and let out a strong bark as she unleashed a large fireball from her mouth that soon split up into multiple smaller flames.

"You've got the enthusiasm, but Vivillon and I have faced too many fire types to be beaten by an Ember! Blow it away with Gust!"

With another shrill cry, Vivillon violently beat its wings so fast it stirred up a powerful wind that easily cut through the Embers and forcefully pushed against Diamond. The fox gripped the dampened ground with her claws as the harsh winds beat against her body furiously as if being hit by multiple invisible forces.

"Light Screen!" Diamond's tightly narrowed eyes momentarily flashed purple as a semi-transparent bubble of psychic energy took form around her like a coat of armour that absorbed most of Vivillon's Gust attack. Awaiting for the winds to subside, Aura called out their next move, however his voice was strangely inaudible to everyone else, or so they had thought. The second the winds had calmed enough, Diamond let her Light Screen fade away before suddenly breathing out a ferocious stream of whirling fire that surrounded Vivillon in a blazing vortex.

Viola didn't know how they managed to communicate so well without any sort of verbal nor visual queus, but she felt oddly excited for such a unique battle. "I don't know what they're planning, but just hold strong, Vivillon and use another Gust to break apart that Fire Spin!"

With another high pitched cry and furious movements, Vivillon unleashed an even more powerful Gust that desperately fought to push back the slowly tightening vortex of fire. Letting out another cry, Vivillon's Gust broke free of the fire and even pushed the flames right back into Diamond.

Again it seemed like Aura didn't even speak as Diamond let loose another Fire Spin to counter, the two flaming tornadoes pushing desperately against the other. Unfortunately Diamond couldn't hold it much longer before her flames were once again absorbed into the existing twister that quickly surrounded her. The flames themselves didn't seem to do much, but rather the power of Vivillon's Gust was now unavoidable as she was violently thrashed around within.

"What's happening to Aura?" Nessa pointed out, getting Dan and the others to look at their friend clutching his chest in pain before collapsing to his knees.

"Wh-what the hell is going on?!" Aura cried out in his thoughts. He could feel his body in brutal pain, but it didn't feel right.

"A-Aura! It hurts!" He suddenly heard Diamond's voice howl in his mind.

Suddenly he realized. This wasn't his pain he was feeling. He was feeling Diamond's pain somehow. And knowing this was all it took for him to finally snap.

Tightening his fist until his knuckles turned white, Aura felt energy surge throughout his veins, and in turn, so did Diamond. This battle may not have lasted very long, but it gave the two of them all the time they needed to learn how much they both truly cared for each other.

Everyone gasped in shock as Aura's body was spontaneously engulfed in a massive blue flame. He gazed through the fires that surrounded Diamond and scowled. "Diamond. You've had to suffer alone for so long… But not anymore. So long as I am still breathing then I swear to you… I swear that I will never leave you… Not like last time."

The flames around Diamond immediately ruptured as embers spewed everywhere, leaving Diamond standing unscathed with an intense red fire encasing her body just like Aura.

Without even saying a word to each other, Aura closed his eyes and nodded like Diamond knew exactly what to do. The small vixen taking in a deep breath and unleashing a devastating roaring inferno from maw that instantly consumed the butterfly for some time before it fell to the ground blackened by the flames.

The referee stood in shock, though he quickly shook his head and called out Aura as the victor.

As if it never happened, the vibrant flames around Aura and Diamond instantly vanished leaving them both staggering a bit. Diamond looked around frantically until she noticed the defeated Vivillon across from her. Though she didn't seem to remember how it happened, she somehow knew she was the cause. Which of course meant...

"A-Aura…" Diamond spun around and rushed towards her trainer and leaping happily into his arms. "Aura! We won! We actually won!"

Aura seemed as confused as Diamond, but he still also knew that they were the ones who claimed victory.

Struggling for a moment to speak, Aura tightly hugged the Fennekin. "We did. Thanks to you."

Their heartfelt moment was interrupted by a slow clapping as Viola approached them oddly casually despite what she had just witnessed.

"I must say, Aura. You and Diamond probably have the strongest bond I've ever seen in all my life. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. So I think it's safe to say that you've rightfully earned this." Viola held out her hand to present to Aura the Bug Badge.

Aura took the badge and held it up to the light. "Our first badge…"

"It certainly is a great feeling to earn your first badge, but you should probably take your Pokemon to get healed after such an intense battle." Viola shook Aura's hand and wished him luck on his journey before they finally left the Gym.


"That sounds amazing, you two. I'm so happy you finally earned your first Gym Badge." Darlene cheered.

Shortly after they had returned to the PokeCenter, Aura had Diamond and Prince tended to before calling home to share the good news.

"It does sound a bit odd how neither of you remember what happened at the end. Maybe it was all the adrenaline pumping through your veins."

Aura shrugged as he put his new badge back into his case. "Maybe. But from the way Dan explained it, me and Diamond had some weird energy around us and we were somehow able to understand each other without even talking."

"Well that can happen when a trainer and their partner develop a strong enough bond." Darlene affirmed. "But as for the strange energy, that's a bit harder to explain. Although I think I've heard rumors of some trainers and their Pokemon having similar things happen for specific reasons. Our world has so many mysteries that might never be solved." She shrugged.

"Yeah well. Now that I got the Bug Badge, Dan and I were thinking of trying to face the Lumiose Gym next. You excited to win our second badge too?" He asked, looking down at his partner sitting on his lap.

Diamond happily barked as she still felt overjoyed from her first ever victory with Aura. She pressed her head under his arm as a sigh of affection and giggled as he begun to scratch her head. "Yeah. After today I think I'm ready to start helping Aura battle more."

"Well that really is some great news. But if you plan on leaving tonight then we shouldn't keep you waiting." Darlene said. "You both seem to have grown a lot in such a short time. We wish you luck."

After their goodbyes had been said and the call was disconnected, Aura shouldered his backpack and went to meet up with Dan by the gates. But as they finally left town with the sun setting on the horizon, they were oblivious to the mysterious figure watching them from the shadows.