It's been a long time coming, but I'm back. Sorry, it took so long. At first, I was stumped, trying to figure out what to write. Then, once I finally got it, BAM! My laptop breaks. Luckily, I was able to get it fixed, and now, I can update on my story. Remember, a disclaimer- I do not own pokemon in any way or form. Now, it's been long overdue, so let's get started.

We got back just in time to see the conclusion of the match that started while I was talking to Serena. Who was battling? Her best friend Katie and May's little brother Max and they were both on their last pokemon, which were Gallade (Max) and Flareon (Katie). Max shouts on the field, "Gallade, use psycho cut," as his partner did as so. Meanwhile, Katie smiled, saying, "Intercept with a fire blast," as Flareon launched the move, breaking through and hitting Gallade head-on. As the smoke settled, Gallade did its best to stay up but collapsed in exhaustion. The referee called out, "Gallade is unable to battle! Flareon wins! The match goes to Katie"! Katie hugged Flareon, praising it for a job well done. Meanwhile, Max helped. Gallade up, saying, "Don't worry. You did your best, Gallade. We'll get them next time," before returning it to its pokeball.

Afterward, the rest of round 1 flew by very quickly, and many of the matches were exciting and jaw-dropping. In the end, me, Alec, Katie, Alain, Paul, Korrina, Bea, Lillie, May, Tobias, Sawyer, Brock, Nando, Clemont, Mark, Hop, Tyson, Cameron, Barry, Gladion, Hapu, Carl, Proton, and a bunch of other trainers got to advance to the next round. Once the day was over, it was time for us to see who our opponents were for round 2 as we all faced the screen. Our pictures shuffled before pairing up with one another in an orderly fashion. Aside from the other trainers, here were the pairings with my friends and myself. Katie was battling May, Hapu was battling Clemont, Paul was facing Alain, Lillie was facing Nando, my Galar rival Hop was facing Brock, Carl was battling Cameron, Proton was battling Mark, Sawyer and Tyson were battling each other, which was going to be interesting. Barry was facing a trainer named Laura, Tobias was going to face Gladion, Iris was going to face Tracy, Korrina was facing Bea, and to my surprise, I was going to battle Alec.

I looked over and saw him and Ethan nodding at me as I nodded back. In a way, we both made ourselves a mental promise to put on a great match. Korrina looked at Bea, saying, "Looks like we'll finally get to battle"! Bea nodded, saying, "Now, we'll get to see who's the strongest fighting type gym leader is." Katie and May shook hands, promising a contest like battle, Hop seemed excited to be facing Brock, and I couldn't help but laugh seeing Sawyer's Sceptile and Tyson's Meowth glare at each other as rivals. Max and Bonnie were excited to root for their older siblings. Meanwhile, my Empoleon kept glaring at Tobias, who walked away to train but not before catching a glimpse of it from the corner of his eye. Empoleon wanted to beat him more than ever.

As we sat down for dinner later, we all shared how our matches went. Dawn said with a smile, "I may have lost, but this was a great experience for my contests. I know we'll get to come up with a bunch of new combinations," with her Piplup chirping in agreement. Nando strummed his harp as he says, "I can't wait for tomorrow. It will be a wondrous match for the ages." Meanwhile, I was talking to Gary about my match tomorrow as he said, "Looks like your battling your brother tomorrow. Nervous Liz"? I grinned, saying, "Nervous? Me? Not on your life." Alec smirked, saying, "Really? You might be singing a different tune when I beat you," with Ethan adding [ Besides, we are powerful. We are not to be taken lightly ]. I smirked right back at him, saying, "Well, not to brag, but I am the undefeated Kalos Champion. Your attempt to defeat me might not be as easy as you think." Aveon chirped and added [ I do hope we get to move on tomorrow ]. Alec was surprised but impressed as he says, "Well, I guess we'll find out tomorrow. May the best trainer/sibling win," as we shook hands.

Meanwhile, Serena was quiet as May asked her, "Are you ok? We heard about what happened. He had no right to do that, whether he's your husband or not." Lana added, "That man should not have gone that far beating up your pokemon like that"! Serena responded with, "It's not his fault. I should've responded better in battle. Besides, he apologized and is doing his best to make up for it." I asked, "If that's true, where is he now"? Serena responded with, "He said that he needed to take care of work business, so he could not join us tonight." Max then spoke up, saying, "His job should not be as important as you are." Serena knew this, and wanted to dump Carl's sorry butt so bad, but not yet.

I felt my pocket shake as I excused myself for a moment so I could secretly talk to Shaymin. Once I was in a clear hallway, I let him out as he said Ok kid, tonight is the night you two put the plan into action. The Destined Mate will be with a legendary while I secretly stick with you. Tonight, we are meeting up with the squad so you can receive your first mission. We sneak out silently tonight. Got it? I nodded as he happily jumped back into my pocket as I returned to the table to eat. However, my behavior did not go unnoticed as Alec was now wondering what I was doing. Later on, I was doing some training for my match tomorrow. My Silvally was sparring with Snorlax as they both collided with ice punch and crush claw.

I soon rose my hand up, saying, "That's enough. Great job to you both." They both smiled as I returned them to their pokeballs for the night. However, before I walked inside, Conway snuck up on me, saying, "Well, you have some serious competition tomorrow." Aveon yipped in fear as I turned around, saying, "Conway! You startled me. I was just doing some training for my match tomorrow." He then said, "If you want, I can give you a detailed inside scoop about his team, so that you know what you might be facing tomorrow." I said, "Actually, I want to let him surprise me. After all, It's more fun when you learn about your opponent during battle." Conway said, "Ok, but if you want the inside scoop, just let me know," before slipping away. Aveon looked at me and said [ That guy is weird ] as I could only shrug and say, "Agreed."

Later on, once everyone was asleep, I woke up and quietly got Aveon and Empoleon to come with me outside. However, Alec saw me sneak out and could ask himself, "Why would a trainer sneak out at this hour"? He decided to get some answers and woke up Ethan before heading out of the room. That night, while everyone else was asleep after an epic first round, I snuck out to meet up with Shaymin's squad. Aveon was on my right shoulder, and my Empoleon trailed softly beside me. Little did we know was that someone was following us, curious as to what we were up to at this hour. I didn't even notice that someone was following us until I heard a voice say, "Up for a little late-night training, I see"? Shaymin remained hidden in my pocket while my pokemon and I turned around to see who it was. It turned out to be Alec, with his Umbreon Ethan by his side. He was both curious and suspicious as to what we were doing outside when usually we would be asleep just like everyone else. I sighed a small breath of relief as I say, "Just doing a little more training before I turn in. After all, I am conjuring up a strategy set to defeat you tomorrow." I gave a sheepish grin, hoping Alec would buy it, only to end up being half-right. Alec raised his eyebrow, saying, "Oh, I see. Then, why do you look like you're hiding something? I can tell when someone has a secret."

I sighed and looked around before going towards my new brother, saying, "What I am about to tell you, you cannot tell anyone else, and I mean anyone else! At least not now. Swear by the life of Arceus that you won't say a word about this." Alec swore on the promise as I then tipped my hat, asking, "Have you heard of a trainer called Ash Ketchum"? Right after hearing the name, Ethan asked [ Isn't Ash that trainer who beat you in the finals with his battle bond Greninja ]? I nodded at Ethan's response with Aveon adding [ He's also one of the few people who died during the dreaded Kalos Crisis, or so I heard Liz tell me ]. I then faced Alec again, saying, "Well, recently, I found out that there may be a way to revive him. However, I didn't want to tell anyone because if other people knew about this, then either I hurt them by crushing their hopes and dreams if this fails or I put everyone in danger with this knowledge."

Alec luckily seemed to understand as he went up to me and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, saying, "You're brave doing this. I promise that I won't tell anyone about this and, if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know." An idea suddenly came into my mind as I said, "Actually, there is. Do you know Carl? Serena's husband? Well, somehow, I found out that the real reason he's married to Serena is to gather information about me, her and all of Ash's friends and rivals for Team Rocket. He and one of the admins, Proton, are working together in this contest to try and set things up for Team Rocket to attack during the semi-finals. If you can, can you try to follow Carl and Proton around and gather any intel from them? That way, we can use it against them when the time comes to stop Team Rocket once and for all." Alec nodded, saying, "We'll do our best to gather as much as we can. Right now, though, I'm going to turn in and go back to sleep. Come join us when you can, ok, sis"? I nodded as he and Ethan started to head back towards our room as I went into the forest.

Once we reached a clearing, waiting for us was Mew and Celebi. Mew was the first to speak up, saying, For your mission, you need to collect three items from three very special pokemon that Ash has met throughout his journey. These items are only half of the objectives required to bring Ash back to life. The Destined Mate will complete the other half of what is needed. Celebi then said, To figure out which pokemon you need to find, you will receive a riddle from us. Solve it as you try to find the pokemon we are describing. Once you do find that pokemon, they will give you the item they possess. Keep it safe in your bag for later on, once we start the revival process. Do you understand? Aveon, Empoleon, and I nodded as Mew giggled before saying Now, here is your riddle for your first pokemon. It is a fighting type who can sense a trainer's emotions. Celebi added To find this pokemon, head north to the stadium's nearby lake. We went in the direction they told us, soon coming across the pond in only minutes.

I then say, "Ok, now to find the pokemon. Let's see. They said that it was a pokemon who could that can sense a trainer's emotions. Sensing...that seems to relate to the aura. Lucario...no...it's main thing is aura...I got it! Riolu! We need to find a Riolu! Empoleon, Aveon, spread out, and give the word if you find a Riolu." Aveon took to the skies, while Empoleon looked through the grass and in the trees. Suddenly, I heard a rustle in the bushes behind me as I turned to look. Abruptly, an aura sphere fired out of the bushes as I dodged it quickly. I looked in the forests and saw that standing in a battle stance was a Riolu. This was no ordinary Riolu though. This one was the one that knew aura sphere from Sinnoh.

Empoleon and Aveon joined up with me as I said, "That must be it." I slowly went up to it as the Riolu was hesitant first, but seemed to calm down after sensing my aura. It said You must be the trainer Shaymin told me about, the one who's strength is equal to his. The one who will aid the Chosen One's Destined Mate in reviving the Chose One. I nodded, saying, "Yes. My name is Liz. These are my partners Aveon and Empoleon. I believe there is an item you have for us." Riolu nodded and gave me what looked like a tray with symbols on it. Aveon and Empoleon looked on in wonder as Riolu told us These are the Battle Frontier symbols. Ash was able to earn all seven of them to conquer the Frontier and was even offered a position to become a Frontier Brain. You only need two more items now. I must go, but I wish you the best of luck in reviving Ash. He's the kind of human I'd want as a trainer. Riolu then left as I placed the Frontier Symbols in my bag as I say, "One down, two to go." As I started to head back, all I could hope for is that Serena was having luck on her mission too.