AN: In light of the coming return of Paul in the Journeys anime, I felt like doing a story to put to bed who is the greatest (and strongest) rival of Ash Ketchum.

Also, I have something in mind for Greninja since he'll be coming back too. (Hopefully for good, do not give us more of that Greninja is needed to find and destroy Megalith Zygarde Roots BS. He and Squishy should have gotten that nipped in the bud by now or I swear I'll do a fanfic where Ash stays in Kalos instead of going back to Kanto to go to Alola soon after to help Greninja and Squishy with the Roots.)

1! 2! 3! Let's Go!


Disclaimer: Don't own Pokémon or the anime or any other affiliated properties. Don't even own a Joltik plushie yet, because Scalpers bought them all and are selling them on Ebay for 110 bucks more than they're being sold at the Pokémon Center website. Thank you so much, Scalpers for being terrible people.


"Welcome everyone to the first battle of the Lumiose Conference Semifinals!" A booming voice declared to the ecstatic cheers of everyone gathered today in Lumiose Stadium. Ash, Pikachu, Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, and Dedenne are amongst the audience excited to see how Alain's next battle plays out.

"Our first challenger is Lumiose City's own Alain, the Mega Evolution Master." The announcer declares as the dark-haired teen in the Mega Charizard X-like outfit makes his entrance to the booming cheers (and the fangirling) of many here today who have become fans of the youth since this League's started, "Alain's managed to win every battle he's fought here with just his Charizard and it's Mega Form. Many here are of the belief he'll continue to his blaze his way through to the finals."

Alain allows a small grin on his face hearing that as many cheer and voice their support for him in this upcoming battle.

"Alain's opponent on the other hand certainly shouldn't be so easily written off though." The announcer continues as Alain's opponent is revealed to the applause of many, though the cheers aren't nearly as loud as they were when Alain showed up, "Like Alain, this hooded youth from Sinnoh by the name of Nugai has won every battle here with little difficulty."

The youth in question who has the hood to his purple hoodie up to cover most of his face except the ever-present scowl he's got on stops once he reaches the Trainer's box on his side of the arena. He doesn't spare much thought to what the crowds have to say about him, nor does he say much as he waits patiently for the battle to start.

"The similarities end there though as this young man has used a different Pokémon every battle to win. Whilst not allowing a single one to be knocked out." The MC keeps going whilst Ash and Pikachu scrutinize Alain's opponent feeling as if there's something familiar about him, "Most impressively is how Nugai was able to trounce Remo and his Mega Garchomp without needing a Mega Evolved Pokémon of his own."

The Mega Garchomp Trainer in question whose here to watch this match play out with Astrid, the girl with the Mega Absol that Ash bested in the quarterfinals. Annoyed this quiet mystery guy stole his chance to get payback on that Mega Charizard Trainer, but hopeful like Astrid that this hooded guy will finally serve Alain the defeat they'd been hoping to see for a long time.

Hearing that from the MC prompts Alain, Ash, his friends, and many in the audience to realize there might be more to this Nugai fellow than his looks. (Which Astrid and a number of other girls here, who aren't Miss Single-Target Sexuality Serena, note his looks aren't half-bad.)

Nugai just continues waiting whilst the announcer rambles on and on with his hands hidden away in his dark purple pants. His navy sneakers tapping away at the ground the only sign he's getting impatient.

"Well enough yammering from me, let's get to what all of you are really here for!" The MC says perhaps noticing Nugai's impatience whilst people chuckle hearing the guy on the mic admit he's rambling, "Let the battle begin!"

Alain leads off with his Ace, Charizard whilst Nugai wordlessly releases the Ursaring which had made short work of Remo's Rhyperior, Gurdurr, and Garchomp when the first of the three had triggered his Guts by paralyzing him with Thunder Punch.

Something about that Ursaring being the Pokémon of the teen in purple is making that feeling of familiarity Ash has been feeling grow. Pikachu seems to recognize that Ursaring, but doesn't share with his trainer yet his own suspicions of who Nugai is.

Alain is on guard seeing that Ursaring, already considering having Charizard Mega Evolve right now recalling how easily it swept through 3 of Remo's Pokémon. He'll have to be careful having Charizard use Thunder Punch or Flamethrower given it'd end badly for him if Ursaring's Guts activates because it got paralyzed or burned.

Alain's still confidant his Charizard would win, the only way it'd lose if he fought an Elite Four's Ace Pokémon and only if they Mega Evolved as well or he fought Diantha's Mega Gardevoir.

'And even then the battle would be close,' Alain thinks confident in his Starter's strength. Certain there's no Pokémon in this Conference, not even Ash's Greninja and that Mega Evolution-like transformation it has that can defeat him.

Those thoughts ease Alain's concerns so he decides to wait for now before Mega Evolving Charizard who snorts dismissively of the Normal-Type before him, assured of his victory over it and the rest of the taciturn Trainer's Pokémon.

Ursaring's Trainer doesn't order his Pokémon to make the first move, instead he pulls one of his hands from his pants pocket, revealing he's wearing a simple black glove that goes up past his wrist, and reaches into his dark violet satchel bag to retrieve a red sphere with a yellow and orange core from it that gives off a gentle heat.

Confused, Ash overhears Clemont identify the red sphere as a Flame Orb and watches Nugai toss it to Ursaring who catches the item and squeezes it in his paw, grunting when the heat from it intensifies to the point Ursaring's paw catches a flame forcing the Normal-Type to drop the Flame Orb and roll it back to his Trainer's feet with one of his own.

Feeling both relieved that Charizard doesn't have to rely on Dragon Claw or Blast Burn to win and worried now that the telltale crimson aura paired with Ursaring's eyes gaining a red glow to them, Alain orders Charizard to get in close and try connecting a Thunder Punch.

It's not to be though as without needing to be told to, Ursaring brings his foot up high before bringing it back down to the ground causing powerful tremors to ripple out across the battlefield around Ursaring.

Seeing the incoming danger of that Ground-Type move, Alain orders Charizard to stop his attack and take to the air.

That's exactly what Nugai wants though as again without a word needing to be said, Ursaring tears out a chunk of stone larger than his head and grins viciously as he eyes Charizard flying about and dive bombing towards him with Dragon Claws bared.

It's too late for Alain to realize the move Ursaring's using as the Hibernator chucks the stone with enough force behind it that Charizard's not fast enough to dodge the incoming attack when he realizes that's a Smack Down. So Charizard crosses his Dragon Claws over his face and beats his wings back to slow down, hoping this won't hurt so much.

The Smack Down lands and a mid-air explosion hides Charizard from sight for a moment with the smoke cloud that follows the detonation of the attack.

Charizard dazed form emerges from the bottom of the smoke cloud, falling straight for the ground.

At Alain's call though, Charizard snaps out of his daze and rights himself in midair before he can hit the ground.

Glaring down at the ground bound Normal-Type, Charizard lets loose a Flamethrower on the bear at Alain's command.

The concentrated wave of flame isn't to hit though as Ursaring tears a boulder out from the ground and ducks behind it so it can be a makeshift shield.

Not interested in getting hit with another Smack Down and seeing Flamethrower not working, Charizard reluctantly lands prepared to take flight again if the bear uses whatever that Ground-Type move was, be it Earthquake or Bulldoze.

The boulder suddenly gets kicked forward towards Charizard by the Pokémon hiding behind it, Charizard easily sidesteps the rolling stone and looks back to Ursaring only to gawk as the Normal-Type is charging toward him with a pink aura momentarily replacing the crimson one as the brown bear's got a mean smirk on his face telling the Fire and Flying-Type he's interested in getting rough with him.

Not having that, Charizard returns to the sky before Ursaring can engage him up close and on Alain's cue rains Flamethrowers down all over the battlefield trying to limit where Ursaring can retreat to.

Ursaring's charge doesn't stop though as the pink aura of Play Rough fades, instead he dashes for the boulder he used as first a shield and then a means to get Charizard's eyes off of him for a second.

Thinking Ursaring is going to use it for another Smack Down, Charizard pelts it with Flamethrower hoping to scare Ursaring away from it.

To Alain and Charizard's shock Ursaring doesn't stop or try to pick the large rock up, instead he dashes into the flames and gets on top of the boulder before leaping into the air after Charizard.

Too great is the Trainer and Starter's shock that Ursaring emerges from the flames once he's reached Charizard and pulls Charizard into a bearhug, making sure to trap the not-yet-a-dragon's wings between his powerful arms.

Gravity does it's work as Ursaring makes sure Charizard's body is between him and the ground below, and the poor Mon's version of Seismic Toss finishes as the two hit the ground. Were Ash's own Charizard here he'd scoff not a fan of Ursaring's version of the move.

Though he'd also be scoffing seeing another member of his species struggle to win here. Where is the Charizard Pride that Alain's Charizard should have now? After all they're supposed to be the strongest of all Fire-Types.

A Thunder Punch to the gut forces Ursaring away from Alain's Charizard who gets back to his feet and snarls pissed off now. Who does this wretch think he is? Only Legendary Pokémon and other Mega Evolved Pokémon should get to hurt him like this.

"Char." and "Burn." Alain's Charizard tells the pure Normal-Type Pokémon as Alain who's grown similarly annoyed lets him loose a Blast Burn finally.

Ursaring crosses his arms and ducks his head behind them as he plants his feet, gritting his teeth as red-orange/nearly white flames consume his form completely.

Nugai doesn't seem at all bothered seeing his Pokémon take the Fire-Type version of Hyper Beam. Instead, he gets ready to recall Ursaring once the flames subside and Alain's Charizard is breathing heavily, needing a moment to catch his breath before he uses that move again.

When Ursaring can be seen again, everyone (except Nugai who still has the Pokéball ready) is shocked to see Ursaring still standing, smoke trailing off of his form and parts of his fur blackened from the intense flames he'd been bathed in.

Ursaring uncrosses his arms as the crimson glow of Guts fades and he smirks mockingly at the Charizard in front of him who looks unnerved seeing him still standing. "Ursa." / 'See ya.' Ursaring tells his opponent bringing his paw up to his brow in a mocking salute before Nugai recalls him.

Alain's Charizard takes the blow to his pride with a curse and glares furiously at his next opponent as they take Ursaring's place.

"An Electivire too." Ash notes glancing to Pikachu who nods, the two of them certain now who the Electivire and Ursaring's Trainer is. Hearing this Serena, Bonnie, and Clemont look to Ash curious what he's talking about, to which he says he'll explain once the battle concludes.

Back to the battle Nugai's Electivire gets in a Thunder that to Alain's Charizard's credit he does well to take whilst having to recharge from Blast Burn.

Deciding to not keep screwing around Alain Mega Evolves his Charizard as soon as the Electric-Type attack finishes damaging his Starter and Charizard can move again.

Neither Nugai or Electivire seem intimidated seeing the Fire and Flying-Type transform into a Fire and Dragon-Type.

When Alain orders his Mega Charizard to use a Flamethrower to pay Electivire back, Nugai finally decides to speak.

The first two words out of his mouth this whole League are ones that confirm whatever doubts Ash might still have about Nugai's true identity, "Counter Shield."

Electivire nods and brings his two tails up behind his head and channels a Thunder up to form a 3-layered curtain of lightning bolts that keeps the Mega Charizard's Flamethrower at bay much to the shock of the now-a-Dragon and his Trainer.

"Counter Shield?" Bonnie asks unfamiliar with that move along with Clemont.

"It's a technique me, Pikachu and some of my Pokémon from Sinnoh used." Ash clarified for her. He'd been planning to eventually see if some of his Unova Pokémon could make use of the move, but there were so many of them that trying to make sure they were all equally trained couldn't happen. Especially when Iris and Cilan kept dragging Ash off towards whatever new (filler) adventure landed in their laps.

It really bothers Ash that he couldn't help Scraggy figure out how to make Focus Blast a reliable move to use because Cilan wanted to help that Layla girl out with her squabbling Rufflet and Rowlet. Or he had to deal with the Boss of the TRio trying to control the Forces of Nature through Meloetta.

Or Iris and Snivy got mad with those 3 snooty girls and made Ash have to crossdress again with Cilan. Really Ash wouldn't mind crossdressing so much if the outfits weren't so ridiculously feminine. He could probably pass for a tomboy if he got his hair brushed down and-

Ash rapidly shakes his head to focus back on the battle, worried why he went down that Bunnelby hole all of a sudden.

Counter Shield had slipped his mind when he'd been traveling Kalos and building his Kalos team. Maybe he should have considered teaching Talonflame and Noivern that technique. (Though the young Dragon-Type who had to evolve sooner than Ash would have preferred might have a harder time grasping the technique.)

Getting back to the battle, Ash sees his Sinnoh Rival's Electivire meet his Kalos Rival's Charizard head on in a clash of Dual Chop against Dragon Claw. Unfortunately, the Mega Charizard's Dragon Claws win out over Electivire's Dual Chop on account of the Mega Evolve Pokémon getting the Same Type Attack Boost and having Tough Claws as his Ability in this form.

Seeing Dual Chop in action, Ash really wishes that was a move Greninja could learn. Ash would have been less worried facing off against Alain's Mega Charizard if Greninja had that.

Really who decided that is a move Greninja can't learn? In the future Ash may have to decide to defy whoever made that decision by getting Greninja to learn Dual Chop anyway.

Any kind of slashing/cutting/blade move would be an improvement over Cut, which Ash really wonders why he and Greninja haven't replaced that with something stronger.

Alain's Starter and one of Ash's Sinnoh Rival's Strongest Pokémon continue trading blows: The Mega Evolved Pokémon alternates between Dragon Claw and Thunder Punch to meet the Thunderbolt Pokémon's Dual Chops and Brick Breaks.

The two seem to be at a stalemate until Electivire's Trainer tells him to take a Thunder Punch head on.

Alain's eyes widen when he realizes too late that Electivire's Ability isn't Vital Spirit as the Thunder Punch connects with Electivire's chest who gives a light grunt before grinning as the electricity flows into and empowers Electivire. His Motor Drive kicking on as golden sparking aura surrounds him before he blurs out of Mega Charizard's sight whose eyes widen.

The Flame Pokémon in its Mega Form roars in pain as he feels a pair of Dual Chops connects with the center of his back. Turning a furious, red-eyed gaze on the cheekily smirking Electric-Type behind him who blurs a few feet back before blurring away again to not take a Flamethrower to the face.

Before long Alain is forced to battle to Nugai's tune as his Charizard can only futilely throw Flamethrowers and Dragon Claws around, not wanting to give Electivire another speed boosts, whilst his opponent's Pokémon keeps whittling away at Charizard with glancing Dual Chop blows.

"Charizard enough!" Alain orders getting Charizard to stop immediately, "Take the air and Blast Burn the whole battlefield."

Alain's Mega Flame Pokémon grins ferally before blasting up to the sky, he might not be as fast or as good a flyer were he in his inferior counterpart Mega Form and remained a Fire and Flying-Type, but he doesn't need to be this high up for a long as he engulfs the entirety of the battlefield in blue and white flames that climb up high nearly reaching where the blue flame bearing Dragon is hovering.

"There's no way that Counter Shield trick can block this when it's coming from everywhere." Alain tells himself confidant nothing can beat his Charizard's Blast Burn when he is in his Mega Form.

Unable to stay in the air for long, Mega Charizard finds an island of stone rising up out of the sea of raging flames. Mega Charizard stares into the conflagration out of breath having had to use Blast Burn twice now noting the largest pyre of flame where he last spotted Electivire at before he took flight, "Char Chari zar-" / "Two down. Four to go-"

Alain's Mega Charizard gapes as he sees something impossible starting to emerge from the flames.

A great crackling sphere of electricity that contains within it a golden transparent cube of light made up of many smaller hexagons.

And at the center of it is Electivire with his arms raised up who despite putting out a lot of electric and psychic power to maintain this double layered barrier, doesn't seem bothered by the conflagration going on outside his shell.

"What- What is tha-"

"Thunder Screen," Nugai answers before Alain can finish asking what that is supposed to be, "I improved Counter Shield by using Thunder together with Light Screen to make a thunder barrier to keep attacks on Blast Burn's caliber out from reaching Electivire. Shatter it!"

On his Trainer's command Electivire pulls his arm back and roars, the Thunder Screen rapidly expanding outward sweeping away the lingering flames of Blast Burn and striking Mega Charizard before explodes discharging electricity and fragments of the light screen everywhere.

Stunned with small sparks of electricity arcing around his form, Mega Charizard curses his helplessness now and waits for the Thunder that'll be putting him in a world of hurt.

It doesn't come though as Alain and his first Pokémon note that Electivire is panting heavily and is standing on only one leg whilst the opposite one's knee is to the ground.

"Unfortunately, Thunder Screen takes a lot out of Electivire, even with the extra juice you gave him before with that Thunder Punch to help make the Thunder Screen bigger." Nugai elaborates some more as Electivire uses what strength he still has to create another Light Screen before he's recalled. The paralysis he left his opponent with should be enough for his Trainer's third Pokémon to finish the Flame Pokémon off, 'Not to mention if he had concentrated that Blast Burn in a single spot rather than spread it all over the place, Thunder Screen probably would have ruptured sooner and Electivire would have been knocked out.'

Nugai thinks while holding Electivire's Pokéball close enough so he can hear his Trainer thank him for his efforts, 'No way, I'm letting this joke of a Trainer be aware of that. I'm here to teach him a lesson after all.'

"Aggron, Standby." Nugai orders sending his third Pokémon out who once she's been released onto the battlefield, she lets out a harsh roar that sounds like metal grinding against metal.

Alain sees his Charizard moving slowly figures he must have finished recharging and orders a Flamethrower only for Mega Charizard to seize up as the paralysis he recieved from Thunder Screen shattering and hitting him makes itself known.

"Iron Defense twice." Nugai commands of the Iron Armor Pokémon who does as told, her form glowing a light blue for a few moments which soon fades before reappearing again only to disappear for good after a few seconds, "Now, finish this..."

"Head Smash!" Nugai declares shocking Alain that he thinks he can beat his Mega Charizard with one more attack. The hooded Trainer's about to prove him right as Aggron dips her head low, her horns aimed for the Fire and Dragon-Type's chest and starts kicking up dust with her feet as a white-blue aura enshrouds her form.

"Brasto Burn!" Alain cried out in desperation not wanting to risk losing here nor caring for his butchering of the attack's proper name. Ash in the blinks as for some inexplicable reason, he can imagine hearing those words tomorrow if he and Alain had fought. Whether those words would be what Ash hears before being given his 6th League loss in a row or not, who's to say?

Mega Charizard rears his head back, blue and white flames gathering in his maw and growing more and more intense until it looks like he's about to let breath out a storm of flames on the armored Pokémon that's started her charge only for the worst possible thing to happen that moment: Mega Charizard's paralysis reminding him and Alain that it's still here.

His body locking up on him just before he can swing his head down and unleash the deluge of flames on the Steel and Rock, the Blue Flame Dragon Pokémon can only try to take the attack from the other Pokémon. The force behind Aggron's charge so much that it knocks the Charizard of his feet and he gets driven further and further back crashing through one large stone after another as Aggron's aura intensifies until she vanishes from sight, and it appears as if a comet is tearing through the battlefield.

Alain's Starter Pokémon the unfortunate soul to be caught in said comet's path can barely hold on. Once Aggron reaches the battlefield's edge and stops within seconds of arriving, Mega Charizard unable to find a grip on the Iron Armor Pokémon in time is sent flying into the arena wall to Alain's right and leaves a Mega Charizard X-shaped hole there.

The cacophony of noise filling up Lumiose Stadium suddenly dies as everyone is shocked to see the Charizard that had presented his self from this tournament's start to before this battle had started as being undefeatable.

No one is more surprised than Alain though who can't believe this has happened even as his Charizard reverts back to his base form and falls from the whole in the stadium wall to the ground in a heap.

"I- I don't believe it," The MC utters breaking the spell over everyone here as the onlookers to this battle start cheering again, this time for Nugai. There are still those present who believe Alain can come back from this since he has 5 fresh Pokémon to Nugai's 3 as of yet unseen team members for this battle, his Aggron who's still raring to fight, and his previous two Pokémon who likely can't take very many attacks before they're knocked out, "Alain's Mega Charizard X has finally been defeated! This Nugai is certainly something else folks!"

Remo and Astrid are both watching this development in the battle, the former sporting a wicked grin seeing the look on that Charizard Trainer's face whose struggling to cope with the reality he's in now. The latter's reaction is more subdued, but still she sports a small grin on her face. If this Nugai fellow can win this, she'll have to congratulate him after the battle's over.

Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena didn't expect this random guy who came out of nowhere that Ash must know to have done what they figured only Ash and Greninja could do.

Ash and Pikachu aren't as surprised as everyone else is, the two of them actually figure something like this could happen. Alain's Charizard is strong, perhaps one of the strongest Charizards they've seen after Ash's own Charizard but after overcoming Tobias's Darkrai and Latios, the Trainer and Electric Mouse from Kanto know there is no such thing as an unbeatable Pokémon.

Greninja who had decided to pop out of his ball to watch this battle was unnerved seeing the opponent he'd been hoping to fell soon brought low by this newcomer. It's only a cold comfort this Nugai fellow was only able to achieve this with 3 strong and very well-trained Pokémon of his own.

To suddenly have one great obstacle cleared before him and for there to be an even greater one...

The thought of that perturbs Greninja, but also excites him whose looking forward to trying to overcome this Nugai's team alongside his own Trainer.

Malva, one of the Kalos Elite Four and secretly a member of Team Flare, quickly gets over her surprise this happens and wonders what Alain'll do now that he doesn't have his might Mega Charizard at his side. She figures that right about now Lysandre's blowing a gasket given there's no way Alain's Charizard should have lost with the specially modified Mega Ring he'd given to the no-longer-a-Dragon's Trainer.

'I wonder if Alain and his Charizard's self-image could take finding out most of their victories came from the additional power boosts Lysander feeds Alain's Charizard with that Mega Ring the twit has on.' Malva muses looking forward to being the one to break the news to the edgy teen.

Alain's Mega Ring and it's Key Stone are special despite not appearing that different from any other Keystone-holding accessory and Keystone. Not only does it take in ambient Mega Evolution energy that's generated from battles between Alain's Charizard in its Mega Evolved state and other Mega Evolved Pokémon and transfer it over to Lysandre to be used in their research into Z2 and the Megalith, but it can also use some of that energy to give Alain's Charizard a boost when he's in his Mega Form.

Alain must have been really deluded to think his Charizard had the stamina to overcome 10 other Mega Evolved Pokémon in a row, including Malva's own Mega Houndoom.

Be it a boost to his defenses, a power or speed boost, or even what'd be the equivalent of a Full Restore that Mega Ring around the tool's wrist can do whatever is needed to guarantee a win provided Alain's not battling someone well beyond his League like Siebold, Diantha, or Malva herself when she takes someone seriously.

Of course, power like this has to come with drawbacks to it as Lysandre's old Gyarados knew well. Pitiful thing's lifespan got drastically shortened the more and more Lysandre experimented with the Modded Mega Ring to see what limits the boosts it gave were.

Lysandre still owes her one for the hoops Malva had to go through to obtain a DNA sample of Lance's Shiny Gyarados so Lysandre could have a clone of it created.

Though Alain hasn't been pushed yet to the point anyone'll have to worry about that lizard of having a meeting with Yveltal sooner than he should. Perhaps that Ash and his weird mutant Greninja could be the ones to drive Alain into a corner and do it.

"What a wonderful tragedy that'd be," Malva says letting out a delighted sigh that doesn't pair well at all with the grim subject she's thinking about, "That kid who loves Pokémon so much having to deal with sharing the blame for a rival of his losing their dear beloved Starter."

Jessie, James, and Meowth who are nearby in disguise as the reporter's assistants for the Kalos League broadcast watch the pink haired woman shiver with an unsettling grin appearing on her face for a second and come to the unanimous decision that this lady's nuts and they may have made mistake working for her just so they can get a shot at the Twerp's Pokémon and the Pokémon of whoever else is the finalist in this tournament.

"Are you going to send your next Pokémon out or was your Charizard all you had going for you and the rest of your team can't hope to stand up to the opponents left in this Conference?" Nugai says raising his voice so everyone can hear the insulting tone he's using to address Alain with, trying to snap him out of his stupor given the referee for the battle has failed to get a response from Alain on whether he'll send his next Pokémon out or just forfeit here.

"W-what?" Alain manages to stutter out turning and recalling his Starter with a grimace, now a whole lot more uncertain he can win this battle, 'I can still win this. Right?'

"Is your Charizard the best your team has to offer?" Nugai asks with a sneer not believing this is the guy Ash calls a rival these days.

Seeing Alain get talked down to, his fans and lady fans start throwing jeers Nugai's way, who honestly doesn't care at all what they have to say, whilst trying to encourage Alain to prove him wrong.

Gritting his teeth aware he can't just let this battle end here when Ash, Mairin, and Professor Sycamore are watching, Alain finally sends his second Pokémon out who with a roar unleashes a sandstorm thanks to her Sand Stream Ability.

On Alain's command, his Tyranitar starts off with running down Aggron with a Power-Up Punch reared back forgetting the defense buffs Aggron got right before she KOed Charizard in one attack.

"Catch it," Nugai tells Aggron who does as told and stops the Fighting-Type move from connecting, grabbing the Armor Pokémon by her wrist before that punch can make contact, "Now Superpower."

Gaining a similar blue glow to her earlier Iron Defense, Aggron lets loose another metallic roar as she turns and swings Tyranitar over her shoulder using such incredible strength she's able to toss the 445.3-pound Pokémon into a spire of stone with little effort.

"Flash Cannon! Don't let up until it's knocked out!" Aggron grins ferally before opening her mouth and firing concentrated silver-white beams at the disoriented Rock and Dark-Type who's wondering why the sky is the ground and the ground is the sky.

Alain clenches his fist and dips his head as the barrage of Steel-Typed energy beams continue until eventually it lets up once Nugai and the referee are certain Tyranitar won't be getting back up anytime soon. He's really kicking himself now for not having Tyranitar learn Protect.

"Well, that was pretty pathetic," Nugai comments feeling the need to kick Alain while he's down, "Honestly after facing your Charizard, I was a little worried the rest of your team would be as strong and well-trained as it was. Guess that's not the case."

Seeing Nugai shake his head in disappointment, Alain can only snarl with fury being mocked like this as he sends Metagross out next to prove him wrong.

"Nugai's kind of a jerk." Bonnie observes turning to Ash who tells the 8-year-old she's not wrong, though he hopes that Nugai's just playing up his jerkishness here and still isn't the same prick he was back in Sinnoh.

Fortunately for Alain, the battle between Metagross and Aggron isn't nearly as one-sided as Tyranitar's battle with Nugai's third Pokémon was, probably due in fact to ordering Metagross to use Agility 2 so Aggron can't get an attack in.

That's all Alain has got going on for him now as Aggron's shrugging off any hits from Meteor Mash or Rock Slide that Metagross throws her way.

The moment the sandstorm Tyranitar created has gone away, Nugai recalls Aggron surprising Alain and sends in his Weavile who starts off with eying up Metagross whose zipping around all over the place and sidesteps a Meteor Mash that shatters a boulder behind Weavile.

Weavile then starts muttering something to himself as a blue and red glow faintly appears around him for a moment. In the next instant Weavile disappears from everyone's sight, and Metagross lets out a pained screech, Weavile's current location being right on top of it tearing a Shadow Claw into the Iron Leg Pokémon's metallic hide.

In a panic Alain orders Metagross to use Psychic and grab the surrounding stones to pelt itself with earth to get rid of Weavile.

That seems to drive Weavile away for a moment only for the Dark and Ice-Type to reappear nearby for a moment to hit Metagross with an Icy Wind, which makes contact and causes small crystals of ice to start forming all over Metagross's form weighing and slowing him down.

Weavile's gone again before Metagross can retaliate with a Rock Slide and Alain orders another Agility knowing they can only down the speedster if they can beat him in speed which won't happen after that Psych Up Weavile started this exchange with.

"I was hoping you'd do that, Punishment time!" Nugai issues out for Weavile with a vicious smirk mirroring Weavile's own who turns into a grey-red blur, his claws growing in length and taking on a purple glow that leaves violet streaks behind wherever Weavile goes.

Before Metagross can finish getting his speed boost Weavile reaches the Steel and Psychic-Type and drives his claw into the center of Metagross's cross, digging it in and then dragging it up to leave a nasty looking rend on the Pseudo Legendary's face who can only let out a bellowing pained scream that forces many who hear it to cover their ears as Weavile returns to his Trainer's side of the battlefield.

When Metagross stops screaming, it's legs give up trying to keep the robotic Pokémon standing and the referee calls this round of the battle over.

"Ash, do you think Alain can win this?" Serena asked giving Metagross a sympathetic look as Alain recalls it, muttering apologies to it for the pain the metallic arachnid had to suffer.

"It'll be really hard for him to pull it off, but..." Ash starts grimacing before trailing off as he lets out a sigh, "No, he can't win at this point. Not against Paul."

"Paul? I thought his name was Nugai." Clemont points out adjusting his glasses trying to figure this new variable out and what it means for Ash should he face him in the finals.

"I don't know why he's calling himself that or why he's kept his identity a secret, but his name is Paul. He's from Veilstone City and given how this battle is going, the strongest rival I've ever had my whole time being a Pokémon Trainer." Ash explains to his friends while nearby Sawyer listens in writing down everything he's seeing and hearing into his notebook mentally agreeing this Paul guy is on a whole other level from Alain. Even if it bugs him hearing Ash hype the guy up.

'He may deserve the hype though. This Paul guy might be on the level of one of the Elite Four.' Sawyer thinks to himself aware that even with all he's writing down about the hooded teen, Sawyer won't beat him in the finals if he defeats Ash in their upcoming battle.

Sawyer was preparing himself this whole tournament to fight Ash, he hadn't made plans to face Paul like the guy seemed to have planned out bringing down Alain.

"Can I just ask, did your Tyranitar and Metagross just evolve?" Nugai questions his tone pissing Alain off along with the few stubborn supporters he has watching this battle who've yet to go quiet like the rest who've realized Alain's not winning this battle, "Seriously, they're Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon. They should not be going down this easily."

Pikachu snorts and crosses his arms, making a comment about he could likely down the both of them no problem.

Ash and Greninja note while that's pretty impressive for Pikachu, (who the former believes at this point that Pikachu still hasn't gotten back to where he was before the Zekrom Nerf.) it doesn't speak well for how strong Alain's two Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon are. (AN: Pikachu's at like 75-80% of his full strength by my estimate. 90% when he defeats Tapu Koko.)

"S-shut up! J-just focus on the battle!" Alain snaps back sending his own Weavile to fight Nugai's.

"Your loss then. This could have delayed your inevitable defeat you know." Nugai tells him flippantly infuriating Alain more who tells his Weavile to start with Double Team, figuring if the hooded jerk's Sharp Claw Pokémon can't find the real Female Weavile it can't win.

That's not to be though as the Male Weavile makes short work dispatching the doubles of his counterpart whose ear feathers are shorter than his.

It's only because of a last second Protect being thrown up that keeps Weavile from landing a Shadow Claw on Alain's. The Mega Evolution Trainer not wanting to find out if even with a Type resistance to all of Weavile's attacking moves, if said moves can still seriously hurt his own Pokémon.

"Attract." Alain tells his Weavile, personally not a fan of the incredibly cheap move feeling any Trainer or Pokémon who is overly reliant on it deserves being looked down on.

Somewhere in Johto right now Iris's Emolga felt like someone was insulting her.

Well, whatever. Back to having Iris's Gible wrapped around her finger, so she doesn't have to do anything herself.

Unfortunately when the pink hearts strike Nugai's Weavile, he was able to grab and unravel the red thread Alain is just now noticing with frustration was tied around the opposing Weavile's waist.

Nugai's Weavile disappears and reappears at Alain's Weavile's side, the power of love bolstering his speed even further, and ties the red thread around the paw of his beloved and does the same with his own paw before she can react quick enough to fight him off.

"What just happened?" Ash asked cluelessly as the two Sharp Claw Pokémon both have pink hearts in their eyes and giving each other googly eyes.

"That's a Destiny Knot," Serena of all people is the one to tell Ash surprising him and Clemont, but not so much Bonnie who gives the short-haired honey-blonde girl a sly look, "When a Pokémon gets hit with Attract, if they can tie themself together with the Pokémon that used Attract on them, they'll both be infatuated with each other instead of just one of them."

Honestly Serena had only known that because she was curious if Destiny Knot could work on humans. Sadly not, which killed Serena's plans of having Sylveon learn and use Attract on her to get Ash to acknowledge/return her feelings.

"Huh, neat." Ash answers simply unaware of what Serena was planning to do to him to force her feelings onto him as the girl has neared the point of not caring about the morality of whatever method succeeds in getting Ash to be hers at last.

Serena sighs as Ash gets back to watching the battle intently, wondering if she should have pursued Pokémon Battling like Alain, Sawyer, and Paul did since that seems to be the only way to get Ash's attention on you, "Why can't he look at me with the same kind of interest he looks at his rivals with?'

Bonnie in her time traveling with Serena has gotten pretty good reading her expressions and guessing her thoughts, so her sassy grin grows as she notes how Serena being jealous of Ash's male rivals could be misconstrued.

"While our Pokémon are going gaga over each other, can I just ask what are the Abilities of your Charizard in it's base form and what is Metagross's Ability?" Nugai suddenly brings up as Alain pulls his hand from his face having dragged it down as he let out a groan.

"Solar Power and Clear Body, what's it matter to you?" Alain tells Nugai, not believing he's picking now to ask this.

"So, you got a Charizard with the Hidden Ability of the species and you decide to only use it's Mega X Form when it's Mega Y Form can synergize better with Solar Power." Nugai explains shaking his head wondering how this guy has gotten this far without any of Kalos's Gym Leaders coming up with a strategy to hard counter his Charizard's preferred Mega Form.

"Synergize how exactly?" Alain has to ask the ideal of his Charizard using his lesser Mega Form just sounding ridiculous to him. Let weaklings like Trevor play around with that joke of a Mega Form.

Trevor who is watching this battle with his Charizard and reveling in seeing Alain get stomped suddenly feels like he should come down to that battlefield and try kicking Alain's butt. He'd probably get stuffed in a locker for trying, but at least he tried.

Trevor's a wimp and he knows it. That's why he went with a Charmander so people wouldn't pick on him so much once it evolved. Hopefully.

"Start the battle off with Mega Evolving your Charizard into it's Y Form to set up Drought, then revert it to it's base form so Solar Power can use the sunlight to power up his Special Attacks." Nugai details for Alain while Trevor quickly pulls out a notepad as his Charizard tells him to write this down, write this down.

"Mega Evolution doesn't work like that. You can't have your Pokémon go back to their base form on command." Alain responds shaking his head not believing this guy.

"You sure about that?" Nugai throws back dubious of Alain's claim.

"Whose the one who can Mega Evolve their Pokémon here?" Alain counters wanting to settle the matter prompting Nugai to shake his head and glance to the hand he still has hidden in his pants pocket before looking back to the ongoing battle.

"The infatuation ended, and you should send your next Pokémon out." Nugai stated plainly causing Alain to snap his attention back to his own Pokémon to see his Weavile KOed and Nugai's standing bored examining his claws.

'Did he just- Did he just do that to distract me!?' Alain thought angrily starting to see red as the Weavile still standing glances his way and smirks mockingly at him, making Alain's rage grow stronger.

"Guillotine." Alain orders sending Bisharp out, wanting to see at least one of Nugai's Pokémon KOed. So of course, before Bisharp can do that or before Alain can realize he should have led with Thunder Wave, Nugai's Weavile retreats and is recalled seconds after to be replaced with-

"Oh, come on! How is that- Gaahhh!" Alain curses wanting to pull at his hair seeing a Hariyama take Weavile's place who despite his lumbering gait quickly meets Bisharp and trips him up with a Low Sweep before pressing a Force Palm into the Sword Blade Pokémon's stomach to drive them into the dirt.

And to wrap things up, Hariyama grabs Bisharp by his leg and Vital Throws him through a boulder knocking him out bringing Alain down to his last Pokémon.

"This is a nightmare," Alain tells himself as now even the most die hard of his supporters have to face the writing on the wall here, "I'm about to get clean sweeped."

Astrid who is seeing the misery Alain is in turns to Remo, "Yeah, I'm giving that Nugai a congratulatory kiss for giving me this."

Remo nods understanding the sentiment having snapped pictures of Alain losing his cool and being made a fool of repeatedly, he's not sure which one will be the new wallpaper for his phone, "I'm getting him a beer after this."

With a sigh and little hope of things turning around at this point Alain sends his Unfezant out and orders him to take to the sky, hoping Hariyama can't get him from up there.

One Thunder Punch later, the referee declares Nugai the winner of the battle. Which the MC whose shocked to see this happen, having had money on Alain winning it all, announces that Alain's lost.

"HOW!? Just how!?" Alain demands an explanation as Hariyama returns from having leapt straight up into the sky after Unfezant so he can one-shot the less impressive Unovan Pidgeot with a Thunder Punch.

"Hariyama is what you'd call acrofatic." Nugai answers cleaning one of his ears out not concerned Alain is having a meltdown.

"That isn't a thing!" Alain fires back his cool completely gone.

Ash wisely decides to not tell Alain about the time his Snorlax learned Quick Attack and Hi Jump Kick to add onto his already busted move set. Ash is still trying to figure out if Snorlax having more than 4 move slots is a thing only he can do or if his other Pokémon can do that. Alain would probably direct his anger on Ash and only Nugai seems to enjoy being the focus of Alain's ire. (AN: Snorlax's current move set: Body Slam, Giga Impact, Hyper Beam, Quick Attack, Protect, Ice Beam, Rest, Hi Jump Kick.)

Nugai shrugs dismissive of Alain's bold claim, "By the way, you're pathetic."

"What." Alain stated instead of asking.

"You thought you could get by with just your Charizard and it's Mega Form that you half-assed training up the rest of your Team," Nugai specified before rolling his heard around to take his hoodie down revealing to no one's surprise at this point a head of purple hair and small dark eyes, "I used to be the sort of Trainer who only spent his time Training up Pokémon whose potential seemed obvious to see and dismissed ones who required more work and time to bring out their full potential."

Ash grew more attentive hearing this along with Pikachu.

"I did some pretty shit things back then to Pokémon I caught and threw away when they'd lose thinking they'd let me down when the opposite is the truth: I let them down." Paul continued his expression conflicted sharing this as he stared toward the ground before bringing his gaze up to meet Alain's, an intensity appearing in it now as he meets the Kalosian Trainer's gaze, "I'd like to believe I've changed from who I was then thanks to this really persistent knucklehead from Kanto I lost to."

"I've come to acknowledge within every Pokémon is the potential to be something great if they can find the right Trainer to bring that potential out," Paul speaks with fire in his voice gaining the approval of many here who before weren't sure how to feel about the powerful Trainer from Sinnoh after hearing how he treated Pokémon in the past. Those smart enough to figure out who this knucklehead from Kanto are turn to look at the Trainer with the unusual Greninja and Pikachu watching Paul speak finding new reason to respect him for bringing such change in Paul.

"So, as you can understand hidden potential is a big thing for me now, and what I can't stand more than anything else is wasted potential or potential going untapped and every Pokémon you have aside from that Charizard of yours has so much potential going to waste because they have to play second-fiddle to that Charizard of yours!" Paul declares throwing an accusing finger Alain's way, the intensity of his gaze growing hotter as anger leaks into his voice.

"You have two Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon I demolished easily that you could have sought a Tyranitarite and Metagrossite for." Paul keeps going before Alain can try to deny Paul's claim, "If you could Mega Evolve them, then people wouldn't expect and be able to come up with a strategy to outplay that Charizard of yours like I did."

"And even if that isn't possible for you, then why not train them and the rest of your team to be on your Charizard's level?" Paul asks rhetorically and starts speaking before Alain can realize that's not a question Paul wants him to answer, "It's at the level where I'd say it's about as strong as an Elite Four member's main team. The rest of your Pokémon are on the level of a Gym Leader's team for challengers looking to earn their 8th badge."

"Seriously there's an obvious gulf in strength between your Charizard and the rest of your team." Paul follows up before giving Alain a look like he's asking the other teen if he's an idiot, "You're not one of those fools who never get anywhere as a Trainer thinking all you need to get by is one powerful Ace Pokémon to win all your major victories for you?"

Again Alain doesn't get the chance to say no before Paul starts talking again, "Because a skyscraper won't be standing tall for long if it's only got one pillar holding it up."

"What?" Alain finally utters thrown for a loop at that.

"It's some dumb saying my brother got from some book he reads." Paul elaborates throwing Reggie under the bus for that nonsensical saying, "Getting back to my point, if the rest of your team got as much attention as you give your Charizard, you'd probably have a shot of getting past the Elite Four and facing Diantha."

'Granted she'd still stomp him hard because you need more than just power to topple a Champion.' Paul thinks recalling how his 'battle' with Cynthia went.

"But before you take that as an excuse to feel some confidence in yourself, let me show you this." Paul quickly adds seeing Alain start to feel better about his loss.

Paul first releases his Aggron for everyone to see before finally pulling the hand he'd kept hidden in his pants pocket the whole battle to reveal he's wearing a black glove to match the one on his opposite hand, the only difference being...

"A- A Keystone?" Alain states seeing the same kind of stone he has on his Mega Ring, feeling his legs grow weak as the realization starts to sink in, "Then this whole time you could have..."

Paul's Aggron turns and waves her tail around slowly so everyone present in the stadium can see the silver band wrapped around the base of her tail which has inlaid in it an Aggronite.

"Yes, I could have Mega Evolved my Aggron and more easily crush your Mega Charizard." Paul tells Alain before putting his Mega Glove away not caring for showing the thing off, "I had 3 reasons I didn't though. Reason 1: Mega Evolving would mean Aggron becomes a pure Steel-Type and loses Rock Head. Head Smash might have not have had enough power without the boost Rock Head and being part Rock-Type would have given Aggron."

"Reason 2: The point needed to be made I didn't need that power to win unlike you Alain whose allowed it to become your crutch." Paul tells Alain that letting his disdain for the Mega Evolution Trainer show through, "And Reason 3: I wanted to give you a lesson to nip that hubris of yours in the bud and using a Mega Evolved Pokémon to beat your own would have just reinforced that rubbish mentality of yours instead of break it."

Alain lowers his head hearing that, not able to find a response as his legs finally give out on him and he falls to his knees, his shoulders and clenched fist shaking as he grits to keep his yell of frustration and anguish in.

"Your long overdue a loss Alain," Paul states drawing this breaking speech to a close, "Now it's time for you to decide whether you grow from this like I did after my loss to the knucklehead, or you stay as you are and continue to regress as a Trainer."

Turning around to leave so that Ash and that Sawyer kid can have their match, he doesn't spare a second glance Alain's way as he slumps forward and starts beating his fist into the ground whilst finally letting out what he'd kept contained since Paul started giving Alain that dressing down.

"Paul!"

The Trainer from Sinnoh stops and turns to see Ash who leapt down from the stands to speak with Paul giving Alain in his defeated state a concerned glance, wondering if speaking with him might help or just undo what Paul did to help him.

Turning back to Paul, Ash is about to start asking his past and now possibly current rival how he's doing, only to be interrupted as the purple-haired teen pulls a CD case of all things from his satchel.

"Here, give this to your Greninja." Paul tells Ash taking out a light blue disc and handing it to the Kanto Trainer, "It's no Night Slash, but Ice Beam still has to be a step up over basic move like Cut and that'll give you an edge over Sawyer's Mega Sceptile and any other Dragon-Types you fight with a severe weakness to Ice-Type moves in the future.

"Uhh, thanks." Ash tells Paul awkwardly not wanting to let the other Trainer he has no idea what to do with this disc.

"Just ask your four-eyed friend about it and he can explain TMs to ya." Paul says sighing wondering how this knucklehead could travel with a Gym Leader for years and not know about TMs. What was Brock doing most of the time? Ogling girls?

"I better be seeing you in the finals." Paul tells Ash his tone serious and giving Ash an intense look, "I'm the only one allowed to defeat you."

With that Paul turns and walks away to get his Pokémon looked at.

"What about Tobias?" Ash asking stopping Paul prompting a small tick mark to appear on the purple-haired teen's head.

"He doesn't count." Paul answers not looking back and moving again.

"What about if I battle a Champion or-" Ash follows up making Paul wonder if he's being a smart ass with him.

"They get a pass."

"Okay, what if I fight a bunch of Legendary Pokémon at onc-"

"Only Human Trainers count, dang it!"

"What about Pokémon Trainers, because I had this dream (or memory maybe) about a Psychic Pokémon that was a Trainer and claimed to be the strongest Trainer and Pok-"

"Whoever they are, if you lost to them I'll beat them to wipe the slate clean. Now just stop!"

"Okay, thanks Paul."

Paul can only sigh wondering why he agreed to letting Celebi mess with time to drop him here to rain on Alain's parade if it meant putting up with Ash screwing around with him.

Unfortunately, after a hard-fought battle with Sawyer made harder due to him picking up a few tricks from Paul's battle with Alain and getting some new ideas of his own, Ash's battle with Paul the next day was interrupted by Lysandre trying to destroy the world.

Neither Ash nor Paul were amused with having their battle interrupted and made short work of the megalomaniac and his weird-fake Zygarde before it could spread it's roots everywhere and force Ash and Greninja to part ways afterward.

Alain tried to help, but Lysandre would have to be an idiot to give him the power of Mega Evolution without a means to take it away from Alain if he tried using it against Alain.

At least he was a good enough distraction for Malva who didn't suddenly switch sides to the good guys until Paul could take her down after she swept Alain's team due to deciding to not hold back this time against him.

Alain was able to achieve at least that much in this timeline which is a lot more than he deserved given Malva narced on him by letting everyone know Team Flare wouldn't have caused as much damage as they did if not for Alain's help attacking and helping capture Z2/Zygarde.

People were a lot less sympathetic with Alain due to how ineffectual he was actually stopping the Kalos Crisis.

All's well that ends well, right?


AN: And done. My tribute to Paul and confirmation I'm probably a simp for him is finished.

Personally, once the DP series has ended, I just felt like with Paul the door for him to grow and change is a lot more open than it is for Alain once the XY (&Z) series concludes.

Alain initially was the anime writer's tool to make a cool, edgy, and interesting teen-looking character to show off Mega Evolution and appeal to Gen 1 fans with having a Charizard (because that is the only kinds of fan they should incessantly appeal to) to get people to buy the games.

Once the initial appeal of Alain wore off: His goals were pretty meh, he let himself be pulled in by the most obviously evil villain in Pokémon before Faba and Rose existed, he got the new cool thing all of us wanted Ash to get back then rather than now years later, he became the Harrison/Tyson/Tobias/Virgil for the XY anime, he gets no consequences for being the reason Pokémon Hitler nearly destroyed the world, he turned out to be a simp for his Charizard.

Should I keep going?

Freaking Trevor getting the other Charizard Mega was just adding insult to injury. Screw you, Trevor.

Meh, if you're an Alain Stan then good for you. (What are you doing reading my trash? This stuff probably ticked you off.)

And I don't think I have any more to add. Brain fried after typing out a 10k word fanfic. (Over half of which I did in a single sitting.)

Do I wanna say anything else? Maybe tease getting back into a Journeys series fanfic? Something else? Maybe some other time.

Until then, Bye-onara!

Oh, right! I forgot.


Ash: So why'd you call yourself Nugai?

Paul: It was Reggie's idea.

Ash: Is Nugai your last name or something?

Paul: No, it's Ikari.

Ash: Huh, Paul Ikari. Think the name would work better if you're name was Shinji or something.

Paul: It wouldn't, guys named Shinji generally suck.

In the Nasuverse and the Evangelion world, two different Shinjis felt that before getting back to just generally sucking.

In the Soul Society, a not-so-sucky Shinji had to get back to all the paperwork his former treacherous lieutenant who was the previous Captain of the squad he's leading again. Damn, smooth four eyes bastard had to volunteer to tackle all the paperwork of the other two traitorous Soul Reaper Captains. No wonder Hinamori was such a wreck after the bastard went off to Hueco Mundo to screw around and gain more drip.

But back with Ash and Not-Shinji...

Ash: So any idea how your brother came up with Nugai.

Paul: (Shrugs.) Don't know ask him. Anyway I have to go be the edgier and cooler Shiny version of Silver.

Ash: Good luck with that, I have to go beat up Kalosian Hau.


AN: Nugai comes from the fan nickname Paul got when his character was first revealed to the masses in a CoroCoro magazine scan since they didn't reveal his actual name or role in the show. (Nugai being a pun for New Guy.)

Like imagine Paul was originally going to take Brock's place for the DP series?


Ash: (Cradling his stomach looking pathetic.) Paul, we're hungry.

Dawn: (On the verge of tears.) Please, make us some food.

Paul: (Enjoying a 5 star meal he and Chimchar cooked whilst sitting in a chitzy restaurant he made from just his camping supplies that's staffed by the TRio who are subservient to him and just ignores Ash and Pikachu's existence, turns to the two scrubs who follow him around for some reason.) I missed the part where that's my problem.


AN: Probably would have been funnier than Brock's constant simping for everything female with a pulse that isn't Ash or Dawn's age. (No offense to Ash's OG bro.)

Anyway Ikari comes from the Dawn x Paul ship that could never happen given the former likely thinks he's a douche and that won't ever change and the latter doesn't give a shit about her.

Comashipping as much as I'm not a fan of it either (When not using it to taunt Amourshippers) is more likely to happen than that.

So with all that really needed to be said for realsies this time, Bye-onara!