Dr. Walkmen had emailed Alex to meet him at The Hub which was where practice battles occurred. Alex thought this was weird as he didn't understand why Dr. Walkmen would want to meet Alex here. Davis was not a battling professor, in fact JJ had shared with Alex that Dr. Walkmen only had one Pokémon, so this couldn't be a battle could it? The email had been quite stern and short in nature which was another reason why Alex had thought it was weird. The last red flag was the fact that Dr. Walkmen had told Alex that Kat was not to come to this meeting. Kat had noticed that Dr. Walkmen had been quite distant since the October break had ended. He was not the same professor that Kat and the others had known. She had warned Alex to be careful with Dr. Walkmen as he was being weird. She didn't know why he was being so weird. Alex, on the other hand, knew exactly why Dr. Walkmen was acting so weird. JJ was not coming back to the Institute. She was staying with Dexter to train so this had pissed Dr. Walkmen off. Of course this wasn't Alex's idea, but he had a feeling Dr. Walkmen blamed him.
Dr. Walkmen had arranged this meeting at The Hub during Dinner hours which pissed Alex off as the walk to the facility was a way to his dorm. Of course he texted JJ that he was meeting up with her uncle just in case something went wrong. All JJ did was send Alex a message that read, "be careful, Alex. Uncle D is very upset with me. I'm worried that he's going to take it out on you." That was not what Alex wanted to hear as he started to walk into The Hub. Alex would check into the front desk as the clerk who typed in his name. The blonde front desk clerk would say that Dr. Walkmen had sent someone to wait for Alex and take the student to their training room. This confused Alex even more than usual. Did Dr. Walkmen want to battle Alex? Could professors actually do that? And who had Dr. Walkmen sent to wait for him? Alex got a really bad feeling about all of this and was prepared to leave the Hub.
Then Alex felt something being put on his head, he turned to see who had put something on his head. "Dragaaaaa", there floating behind Alex was Dr. Walkmen's beloved Dragapult, Chihiro, who was laughing. Alex titled his head to see what the Dragapult had put on his head and found that it was a dunce cap. The dragon and ghost type continued to laugh at her latest victim of her pranks. Chihiro was known throughout The Institute to be a prankster Pokémon and this was just another example of her pranks, "puuuuuullllltttt!" Alex just rolled his eyes at the laughing dragon and ghost type. Chihiro waved her tail in front of Alex's face which meant that he needed to lighten up and accept her prank. "So I assume that you are the one that Dr. Walkmen sent to wait for me?", the pseudo legendary nodded as did her Dreepeys. This again added to the mystery of why Dr. Walkmen wanted to meet at the Hub. "Fine, Chihiro, lead me to Dr. Walkmen so that way I can figure out what is going on.", the Dragapult smiled as she motioned for Alex to follow her.
The room in the Hub was in the back of the facility. Chihiro would lead Alex into the room where Dr. Walkmen stood. He was not in his usual outfit that he wore when he lectured or met with students. Instead he was wearing what appeared to be an outfit that he would wear when he would battle. He stood in one of the boxes as his brown eyes watched Alex, he just stared at the student. This was the guy that had warped JJ's mind into distrusting Davis. The teenager that had manipulated Davis' own system to rig it so he got JJ. Davis had heard the rumors about Jessica and Alex hooking up which pissed him off. Davis thought that Alex just wanted JJ as a mentee to have sex with her. Just to get into her pants. That wasn't the point of the Mentee-Mentor program. Now Davis had learned that his niece had nearly died again on her break and wasn't coming back to the university. This was all Alex Knight's fault and now Davis would take him out.
"Mr. Knight, thank you for showing up. There is a lot to discuss. I assume my niece informed you of her decision.", his eyes just stared holes into Alex. Davis was not supposed to hate students, but Alex Knight brought something out in him. Alex had manipulated JJ, had manipulated Catherine too. He was a manipulator and a liar the worst kind of student. Plus, since JJ had befriended him, Davis had noticed a complete change in his niece's behavior. This was not the Jessica Walkmen that he loved like a daughter. This was someone else completely someone that Alex had created with his lies and manipulations. That was why Davis had to fight him now so that way he could finally stop the lies. Finally show JJ that it was safe to come back to The Institute again. That Davis COULD protect her from Franz. That had been the hardest part Davis had read in JJ's email that she didn't think he could protect her from Franz. Davis would show JJ that he could. "I want to know what you told my niece to get her not to come back. What bullshit did you plant into her head?", Davis seethed.
Alex was stunned by the accusations. He didn't understand what the professor was talking about. He didn't say anything to JJ to get her not to come back. He had been just as shocked as everyone else when he had gotten then text from JJ that she and the others weren't coming back. Now her uncle was blaming Alex for her decision? That was crazy, but the look in Davis' eyes told the story. He did blame Alex for what JJ had decided to do. "Dr. Walkmen, I didn't tell your niece not to come back. You can even ask her. This wasn't my decision. It was hers. I really had nothing to do with that. I wanted her to come back so that I could continue to help her get better as a trainer. She still has a long way to go, but she's getting better. I was just as shocked as you are.", Davis still seemed unmoved. It was clear that he didn't like Alex which was fine with Alex as he wasn't the professors biggest fan at the moment either. Davis just shook his head as he didn't believe Alex.
"I really don't believe that, Mr. Knight. I know you have an influence over my niece. You're the reason why she has been asking so many questions about the legendaries in Avantura. You're the reason she has decided not to come back. She told me in the email that she had to get stronger if she was going to fight the legendaries. She wants to stop Franz with Nikki. You're the one who put those thoughts in her head. You're the one that nearly got her killed over October break!", Davis was raging. Even Chihiro, who was throwing her Dreepys up in the air in a playful manner, stopped what she was doing. She had never known her trainer to be so upset especially at a student. Chihiro did not like this Davis at all. Ever since Franz Babic had made a unexpected visit to Dr. Walkmen's home, Davis hadn't been the same. Chihiro was worried that he had said lies to Davis. The Dragapult did not trust Franz and whatever he and his alakazaam had done to Davis was not right. "The only way that we can solve this is if we have a battle. If I win then you leave my niece alone forever!", his eyes were angry.
Alex had never seen Dr. Walkmen like this. He was beyond angry, this was pure raw hatred. It was all directed at Alex which surprised him. Yes, Dr. Walkmen was not his usual perky and friendly self. Sure, Alex knew that he was suspicious about Alex and JJ, but never like this. Alex suspected that Dr. Walkmen was being manipulated by something or someone and he figured he knew who it was. "Talked to Franz Babic lately?", Alex asked Davis. Davis was taken aback by the accusation as Alex just smiled. He knew that he had just hit the nail on the head. So Franz Babic had must have talked to Nikki or was reading his staff's emails. Either way he knew that Franz must have gotten into Dr. Walkmen's ear and spread some lies about Alex to Dr. Walkmen. So now Alex knew that the head of The Institute was going after him which worried him. If Alex would have to beat Dr. Walkmen in a battle then so be it. "What would JJ say about the way you're acting now, Davis?", this seemed to piss the professor off even more as Davis as the professor's veins started to pop out.
"Shut Up! You don't know what's best for my niece! I know that you only wanted to sleep with her! You made a mockery of my system! I know you and Catherine went behind my back and talked about how you wanted to be with JJ just so you could have sex with her! You haven't taught her anything! I saw the emails!", Davis was raging. Alex lifted his eyebrows? 'Emails, what email? I didn't email Kat. I talked to her in person and we never mentioned sex with JJ. I explained to Kat that wasn't my intention.', Alex was utterly baffled by Davis. Then it started to click, Franz had doctored some emails to implicate Alex and Kat. So somehow the head of the Institute knew that JJ was close to Kat and Alex which meant they were close to Nikki. This must have been a threat to Franz's plans with Nikki. Now he was trying to get Davis to take out Alex. Alex would have to tell everyone about this, but right now he would have to deal with Davis. "Chihiro, come here. You are going to battle Alex.", the Dragapult reluctantly floated to Davis side with a frown on her face. She could tell that something was very wrong with her old friend. Whatever had happened had completely ruined him. Chihiro and her Dreepys were very, very concerned about their trainer.
Alex knew that Morissey would probably be the best type to take Chihiro out. The Ice and Dark type was perfect to easily batter the Dragapult. The same could be said for Venus as her sheer cold attack would probably do the trick. He probably could have used Poe or Drago as well. But Alex did not want this battle to go quickly in fact he wanted to prolong it. Plus Alex had a Pokémon that he had been neglecting for a while. Yes, she had trained and gotten stronger, but she hadn't seen a competitive battle yet. She had dominated the others newly hatched Pokémon, but she hadn't had a real challenge yet. Alex wanted to give her a chance to show off how powerful she was as Alex's hand hovered over his choice's pokeball. "Come on out, Alpha.", in a flash the pokeball opened and Alex's beloved Avantura rockruff emerged. The steel/rock type snarled at Davis and Chihiro as she was fully prepared to fight. Alex knew that this would be tough, but he wanted to break through to Davis and snap him out of whatever Franz had done to him.
"Chihiro, use dragon darts!", Davis would want to send a message to Alex that he was not to be taken lightly. He wanted to humiliate Alex in battle just like Alex had humiliated him. That meant Davis had to beat Alex in battle which the sophomore loved to do. Chihiro fired off her Dreepys right at Alpha who did not move at all much to Davis' shock. Usually a trainer would have tried to move their Pokémon, but not Alex Knight. Davis assumed that this was because Alex was too arrogant to believe that his Pokémon would not be hurt. Davis watched as Chihiro's Dreepys just bounced off of the Rockruff. Both Chihiro and Davis looked utterly confused at this as Alex smiled. Apparently the research professor had not realized that Chihiro's dragon type attacks would not have any effect against the steel type. Alex just smirked he knew that he had just taken away a very powerful attack from Davis. The professor rubbed his beard as he quickly realized that Chihiro's dragon type attacks would not work against the Avantura steel type. "Chihiro, your dragon attacks won't work against that rockruff, use phantom force.", Davis commanded.
"Iron defense, Alpha Keep doing it because we're going to wear them down.", the rockruff nodded as she started to glow silver which meant that her defense was rising. Yes, Alex had a plan in place in order to finally breakthrough to Davis. That would require prolonging the battle for as long as possible. Right now Davis was too reckless and careless to be able to talk. He needed to cool off for a little bit as Alex remembered what Bunny and Ava had done for him to make him see what he had done to Kat. Alex was going to do the same for Davis to make him see that Franz was playing him. Chihiro had disappeared from the battlefield and then re-emerged behind Alpha. The Dragapult delivered a powerful blow to the rockruff, but Alpha remained firm as she used iron defense again. Alex looked over at Davis, "tell me Dr. Walkmen, if Kat and I were conspiring against you then why would we put it in email? Why wouldn't we just meet up in person? Why would we put it in writing?"
Davis was not in the mood for discussion. He was trying to figure out what exactly Alex Knight was trying to do. Alex had not attacked at all which was odd. "Aren't you going to try and fight me? Why haven't you sent out a attack yet? Fine, then Chihiro use psychic fangs.", his beloved Dragapult's fangs started to glow pink as she approached Alex's Rockruff. Davis finally got a chance to process what Alex had said. That was a good point as students putting their schemes in emails didn't make sense. In fact Davis was wondering why the hell Katherine be involved in all of this. She was his trusted assistant and had been the most honest student that Davis had come across. So why would she betray Davis? That was weird. "Remember that he is a liar. He has manipulated everyone that he has come across. You have to take him out!", there was a voice in Davis' head that told him that he couldn't trust Alex Knight. For some reason Davis listened to that voice as he continued to watch as Chihiro's attack landed flush which made the rockruff wince a bit. Davis had finally gotten a good attack off on Alex's Pokémon.
But then Chihiro cried out in pain as some stones had dug into her body. Alex just smiled as he loved when a plan came together, he had whispered for Alpha to use stealth rock which he knew would dig into Chihiro's body. Alex typically did not like to be very defensive battler, but he had been taking notes from Kat. She liked to counter attack which was how she best Alex in the tournament last year. So Alex knew that it would work against the highly aggressive Davis. Alex knew that Davis would continue to be very very aggressive. "Alpha, I want you to continue to use Iron defense until it's finished raising up your defensive stats.", the rockruff nodded though a part of her started to doubt what Alex wanted her to do. She was a sitting ducklett and if the Dragapult landed another powerful attack then Alpha couldn't do anything. Of course, Alex had a plan and was setting Davis up for something. Alex then looked over at Davis with a smirk on his face, "Dr. Walkmen, have you ever asked JJ what I have taught her? I mean really asked her. Because when she came to me she was broken. I mean a total mess lacking in self confidence and it reflected in her battling. She was too cautious and careful. She didn't realize who she really was until I started mentor her. Didn't you notice a change in her after I worked with her? The real Jessica Walkmen is a beautiful, confident, intelligent, young woman. You should actually talk to her one day."
These words seemed to infuriate Davis as he shook with rage, "shut up! You know nothing about what Jessica was or is like! Chihiro, use phantom force again." Chihiro, though, paused for a second as she stared at Davis. The Dragapult actually had tears in her eyes, as did the Dreepys on her head, as she shook her head at her trainer. She was not happy with what Davis was doing and how he was acting. "Dragapult pullllt!", Chihiro disappeared as she prepared to deliver the phantom force attack to the rockruff. Davis blinked as he let her words sink into him, "JJ would hate how you are acting, Davis. I hate the way you're acting." That was what Chihiro had told her trainer. Chihiro was the only Pokémon that Davis had raised. Davis had raised her from an egg and he only trusted her. He had no eyes for other Pokémon besides Chihiro as he had taken care of her. She was his trusted advisor and knew JJ just as well as Davis did. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps Davis was acting off his rocker and should actually speak to JJ to explain what happened. But then the voice started to come back up. "No! She has been manipulated by Alex as well! You must stop him and then his group of friends!", Davis shook his head. He was sick of this voice, but couldn't seem to shake it.
"Alpha, when Chihiro tries to attack use gyro ball!", Davis had fallen into the trap. Alpha turned around as Chihiro had prepared to attack her, Alpha absorbed the phantom force attack and then sent a gyro ball right into Chihiro. "Draga!", Chihiro cried as she got hit by the steel attack. Both Pokémon were panting as they had taken some decent attacks on one another. Still being a steel type who had been making out her defense, Alpha may have been in the better shape then Chihiro. Alex was proud of the rockruff, but he also figured that she had to be close to evolving soon. She had been training extremely hard and had beaten the other new pokemon in training fights so Alex knew that she had to be close. But that was not his main concern right now, his main concern was trying to get through to this stubborn professor. Alex had been setting Davis up this whole time and now it was his chance to see if he could finally break through to the professor. "Dr.Walkmen, think about it for a second. JJ isn't coming back which means that Nikki isn't coming back. So the person Franz wants to control isn't coming back. So he wants to take it out on the people that JJ and Nikki are close to. That means you and me. Can't you see that he's playing you.", it made so much sense. Of course he had to get through to Davis.
Chihiro listened to Alex's words. She knew that the student was right. Davis was being manipulated by someone or something. Chihiro floated directly in front of Davis which put a pause on the battle. She was so sad as she looked at the Davis that stood before her. "Draaaa", the Dragapult sounded in pain as she looked at Davis. Chihiro grabbed the Dreepys from her head and held them up to Davis so he could really see what he was doing to Chihiro. It wasn't the battle that upset her, she loved battling as much as she liked pranks, but rather it was the fact that Davis was not his kind ordinary self. The Dreepys looked scared with tears in their eyes. They could tell that their mother was really worried about Davis and thus the Dreepys were worried too. Davis hardened expression seemed to soften as he looked at his beloved Pokémon. He would never want to concern or hurt Chihiro, but he could tell that he had which upset him. "Puuuuullt! PULT PULT. DRAAAAAAAAAA DRAGAPULT PULT!", she shouted at her trainer. Davis stumbled back from the pure anger that Chihiro had shown to him, she never had acted like that. Davis had such a good relationship with Chihiro that he knew what she was saying, "You think JJ would want this? She would be so angry with you Davis! In fact she would hate what you are doing today! You're so lucky she isn't here or she would never talk to you again!", those words stung.
Alex could see that there was a little hole that the Dragapult had made in Davis' demeanor. Now was the time to drive the point home to Davis that someone was messing with him intentionally. "Dr. Walkmen, there were no emails between Kat and I. She's my best friend and girlfriend, we would not be dumb enough to put anything in writing. But I must confess that I did have the system rigged because I did want your niece as my mentee.", there is was the confession that Davis had wanted. Davis was about to say something. But Alex held up his hand. Alpha meanwhile was just licking her wounds as she was ready for another attack from Chihiro. "I wanted JJ to be my mentee because she reminded me of myself before Kat was my mentor. Someone that was unsure of themselves and didn't know exactly who they were. Someone that had tremendous pressure and doubt in their abilities as a Pokémon trainer. Well Kat helped change that about myself. She made me who I am and that's thanks to your program. That's why I wanted to work with JJ because I wanted to help her reach her full potential. So yes, I did rig it." There was still one more point that Alex had to make. One last card he had to play, " who would benefit the most from you and me fighting? That would be Franz. He must know that I went looking for the legendary trio same with our little friend group. He must know that you talked with JJ and Nikki and Kat so he wanted us to fight against one another. Think about Dr. Walkmen."
The voice in Davis head tried to tell him that Alex was living. That this was all a scheme. That Franz Babic was his boss and his friend. This time Davis shook that voice out of his head. Chihiro wouldn't be manipulated by Alex and Alex had raised some very good points. That Franz would of course want Davis to not work with the students. Franz knew that Davis had raised concerns about what Franz was doing with Nikki. So this would explain why Franz would be trying to drive a wedge between Davis and students who were close to Nikki. Davis looked across the battlefield at Alex, he didn't hate the student. He just didn't want him to mentor JJ, but Alex's explanation was actually sweet and kind. Davis had noticed that JJ really admired Alex and had talked about what a good mentor he was to her. So perhaps Davis was wrong about Alex. Davis also looked at Chihiro who was still sadly looking at her beloved trainer. "I'm sorry girl, I was not acting myself. I didn't mean to make you sad or angry. That was my fault. Please don't be mad at me.", Chihiro processed what Davis had said and wagged her tail in front of her trainers face as a sign she accepted his apology.
"I'm sorry, Alex. I didn't mean to take this out on you. I was utterly convinced you wrote those emails, but if you didn't write those emails then who did?", Alex shrugged. He really didn't know what Dr. Walkmen was talking about. He didn't know that there were any emails at all. Dr. Walkmen searched his memory to try and figure out what exactly had happened. All he remembered was being called to Franz's office and sitting down in the chair. Then Franz's Alakazaam had moved behind Davis, the professor's eyes widened. That damn Alakazaam had manipulated Davis. There was a theory in Pokémon circles that Alakazaam could implant thoughts into people's minds. It was clear that Franz's Alakazaam had implanted those emails into Davis' mind as a way to cause Davis to go after Alex and Kat as well. Davis turned pale as he looked at Franz, "it's Franz's Alakazaam. He implanted the emails into my head. I am so sorry, Alex. This was my fault. I should not have challenged you to a battle. If you want to not finish this out I will understand."
Alex looked at Alpha, who nodded in her trainer's direction. Alpha suddenly started to glow white. Her whole body had been covered in light as her body started to transform. She went from this little rockruff to now a transformed wolf/dog like Pokémon. After Alpha stopped glowing, she emerged as a Avantura version of the Dusk form of Lycanroc. Alex's Pokédex started to ring and Alex looked at it, "your Lycanroc can learn the move Accelerock." Alex smiled and looked at Davis, "Dr. Walkmen, we aren't done yet."
Davis nodded as he had a plan. This Avantura Lycanroc would be a tougher Pokémon to take down now since it evolved. Davis though would try to use misdirection to slowly chop down on the powerful steel type. "Chihiro use dragon darts then psychic fangs!", Davis hoped that this would work. Chihiro smiled at her trainer as she was happy that he was back as she reloaded her Dreepys back into her head cannon. She fired off the Dreepys as they just bounced off Alpha just like last time, it this time Chihiro followed this up with a psychic fangs attack that landed flush. "Roc!", the newly evolved Alpha cried as she shook Chihiro off. The stones from the stealth rock dug into the Dragapult which caused Chihiro to flinch a bit. This meant Alex saw it as a opportunity to attack.
"Alpha, use Accelerock", Alpha charged at the flinched Chihiro as Alpha continued to build up some more speed. The steel and rock type was actually quite fast. Alpha had built up enough momentum that she rammed right into Chihiro. The Dragapult cried out in pain as she skidded in front of Davis. Davis looked concerned at the state of his best friend/Pokémon. Chihiro struggled to get back to floating as more stones dug into her skin. Davis had to admit that Alex was a very smart and clever trainer. He was going toe to toe with a professor of all people and holding his own. If Jessica could learn half of what Alex was showing then Davis was sure she would be fine. But Davis also knew that the battle was going to come to an end soon. That both Pokémon were quite fatigued and damaged. Davis had one last trick to play on the Avantura Lycanroc and her trainer.
"Chihiro, use steel wing!", the Dragapult's side wings started to glow a whiteish silver as she flew at a high speed towards Alpha. Alex and his Lycanroc would counter that with the powerful Accelerock attack as Alpha moved quickly towards the charging Chihiro. The collision in the middle of the practice field echoed throughout the area. Both Davis and Alex looked on to make sure their Pokémon were ok because that collision did not sound good. Davis and Alex both looked and saw that their Pokémon had both fainted. It was a draw. Both would recall their Pokémon as Davis walked over to Alex, "come on Mr. Knight, we need to discuss with your friends what we just figured out."