"Are we ready to begin?" Tracey called from the sidelines.
"Pancham!" Pancham happily called, just as Krookodile merely gave a grunt and adjusted his sunglasses.
"Alright Pancham, let's do this then." Serena said. Moments ago, Professor Oak suggested a battle to cheer Pancham up, which Serena ultimately decided was for the best. Maybe he could learn a thing or two.
"Krooka." Krookodile called, giving them the first move.
"Pancham let's go! Dark Pulse!" Serena called. Pancham gathered a ball of purple and black circles before unleashing it at Krookodile. While it was a critical hit, Krookodile did not seem fazed and merely smiled.
"Krooka." It said, before rushing towards the Playful Pokemon with a Dragon Claw at a surprisingly quick speed.
"Stone Edge!" Serena cried. Pancham slammed his fist into the ground, summoning spiked pillars of rock that rushed towards Krookodile, who - very easily - smashed them to dust.
"What do I do? What do I do? Pancham, dodge and use Arm Thrust." Pancham nodded, before narrowly dodged the Dragon Claw and struck the Intimidation Pokemon repeatedly.
"Krooka?" It said, becoming rather amused. It then picked up Pancham before hurling it to the other side of the field.
"I feel sorry for Pancham. While it has some effective attacks, Krookodile is too tough to feel the damage done to it." Delia said sympathetically.
"I believe that Pancham could learn a thing or two instead." Oak replied.
"Krooka." Krookodile spoke to Pancham. A quick defeat could end his suffering, he needed more training to beat him.
"Pancham Pan!" Pancham shouted, saying he refused to give up until the very end. This actually touched Krookodile's heart.
"Krooka, KROOKODILE!" He began to glow in a white light, before summoning a barrage of sharpened rocks as he punched the ground. Pillars of stone emerged as the rocks flew towards Pancham. Pancham responded with his own Stone Edge, but it was clearly weaker than Krookodile's. Just as he closed his eyes, he heard a gasp and a massive explosion. Opening them, he saw that Krookodile had actually jumped in front of him and was hit with his own attack.
"Dile." He smiled, before collapsing. He then picked himself up before walking off the battlefield.
"Huh? Did Krookodile just forfeit?" Tracey asked.
"Indeed, he must have decided that Pancham did not deserve such treatment." Oak concluded, before he felt the vibration of his Poképhone. "Ah, pardon me, but I need to answer an recent friend's call. I'll be right back."
"Pancham? Are you all right?" Serena asked. Pancham looked like it was about to burst into tears. It had one chance to prove to Krookodile that he was a worthy student, and he messed it up.
"Hey, it's okay. Just think this like a performance loss. We can try again." Serena said, slowly patting Pancham on his shoulder.
"Krooka." "Uh?" Serena and Pancham looked up to see Krookodile. It raised a hand to Pancham. "Krooka. Krook Krookodile." It smiled. Pancham gasped, before grasping back. "Pan!"
"What do you know? It looks like Krookodile decided to teach Pancham afterall." Delia said as she came along.
"It must have been during the battle that Pancham convinced Krookodile." Tracey added.
"Yeah, maybe it is." Serena said just as a raindrop fell onto her cheek. They looked up to see several rainclouds gathering.
"Why don't we continue this indoors?" Delia suggested as a storm began to brew.
"Krookodile." The Intimidation Pokemon said, as he lead Pancham to a secluded area of the Oak Corral.
"I think Krookodile wants to start teaching Pancham now, come on, nothing is gonna hurt them." Tracey added as he lead Serena inside, as Krookodile demonstrated Dragon Claw.
"So Samuel, what was that call about?" Delia asked, when they were drying themselves off as Oak entered the room.
"Tracey, why don't you get us some snacks? I think it will do us all well first." Oak said.
"Alright professor, I might as well send Scizor to Nurse Joy. He definitely deserves some treatment." Tracey said as he took out Scizor's Pokeball and left the room. Oak then turned to the two women in the room.
"So I had received a email from my new student David. Delia, I'm sure you know who he is, don't you? After all, you were the one who helped me greet him." Oak started.
"Are you talking about the guy from Roria? I still can't believe was promoted in such a short time. He may have set the record for that." Delia added, when Serena piped in.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't follow. First of all, what is Roria?"
"Oh that's right. Serena. It was rather recent news as well. You see, Roria is a region almost as far as Alola is to Kanto, with the difference is that its located in the opposite direction." Oak explained, before taking out a map. "This is Roria, which even today researchers can't tell when it was made. We do know that there rather few Pokemon native to Roria. Most species found there can be found in other regions, leading to some, like my friend David, to speculate that people of many different regions gathered in the land now known as Roria and formed it here." he explained.
"Wow..." Serena said, glancing at the map of Roria, in particular to a moon shaped island on the lower right end.
"Professor, what-" Serena began, before Tracey once again, poked his head in.
"Professor, Professor David is calling again." He said.
"Why don't we all answer it?' Delia said, as she rose up.
"Well, I certainly was NOT expecting more people than Oak. You sure had me surprised." A young man with brown hair said on the screen.
"David, you already met Delia. Let me introduce you to Serena." Oak said warmly.
"Hi, I'm Serena. I'm-" She began, but David quickly cut her off. "- a Pokemon performer, lost to Aria in the match of Kalos Queen, went to Hoenn to participate in Contests instead, and lost to May of Petalburg City. Did I get anything wrong?" He chuckled, leaving Serena's jaw on the ground.
"Don't be surprised. During the time I thought Cypress was on a research trip, I took the news and the Pokechannels to a obsessive degree. And you were one of my favorites." He quickly explained.
"Okay David. We were just talking about Roria. Would you like to do the honours, or do I?" Oak said.
"Of course. Hello. My name is David. I am the Pokemon Professor of Roria. My predecessor focused on resreaching the bond between Trainers and Pokemon, which I have continued in addition to my interest in Pokémon behavior. As some may have heard from the news, it turns out my predecessor, a man by the name of Cypress, was the head of Team Eclipse, a organization who believes that Pokemon and Humans are not in harmony, and who has vanished with his admins into a new world, and how I acquired my position. The Roria Region is a curious place. While we don't have many Pokemon native to our region, those who are appear to have evolved from Pokemon under conditions different than those in other regions." David spoke with a sense of pride.
"Wow..." Serena said, taking in what she heard.
"So back to the reason for this call. Because of the incident, many were losing faith and were concerned for their own safety. And so, the Rorian Champion has decided to uphold a league conference, to attract visitors as well as to inspire hope for Roria." David continued. "He wanted some recognizable faces in the league as well, so I asked some of the other regional professors to recommend some Trainers to attend."
'I see. So I'm going to guess you want me to do the same?' Oak asked.
'Actually no. I was actually hoping to speak to a Ash Ketchum? The champion has heard about his win in the Orange League against Drake, as well as the recent Alola League victory, and would like to extend an invite to him.' David said, making Serena blush and Delia burst into laughter.
"Huh? Was it something I said?' David asked, looking mildly confused. Oak merely gave out a heartily chuckle.
"No, you're just talking to his mother and someone who has a crush on him."
"DOES EVERYONE KNOW?!" Serena yelled, forcing David to cover his ears and scaring Oak and Delia to the ground.
"Well, first of all, your screams are like a Boomburst attack, ouch." David said as he rubbed his ears. "Second, this simplifies things. Is he with you now?"
"Unfortunately, not now. In fact, he's currently returning from Alola after his graduation at the Pokemon School a few days later." Delia said.
"Hmm...This is turning out to be better than I expected. Tell you what. Why don't I meet up with you so I can ask Ash himself? I only hope it won't be a trouble." David requested.
"Fine by me, Serena, why don't you come as well? It certainly will help you." Delia added with a wink.
"Sur-sure! What ti-time then?" Serena stammered, couldn't believing in her luck.
"Oh Serena, I forgot to mention, the champion also will hold a Showcase Festival a few months before the League begins. I could pull a few strings and add you to the list." David added. "However, you're gonna need more than just charm to win that one."
"Really?" Delia asked. "I thought that you only needed to get more points than your opponent to win."
"Well, this isn't like a normal Contest nor Showcase. I wouldn't spoil too much, but I'll leave one hint for you: cooperation." David grinned, before noticing something.
"It appears I've got another starter to hand out. See you so!"
Battle Frontier, Anthian City Battle District, Roria
"So what you're trying to say is, you barely managed to lose sight capture the last Eclipse admin, A man wearing a narwhal mask shouted in disbelief to Looker. "You don't know how she snuck in, or what she DO YOU KNOW THEN?"
Looker tried his best to remain calm. "Look, I know that right now this is not the best way to tell the entire region that we have everything under control. But at least we got every other member from what we have salvaged. Is that not good?" The narwhal masked man turned away.
"Anyways, I've conducted a bit of research myself and I've come up with something of interest." Looker continued, piping up the other's interest.
"Carry on."
"There were large traces of Ultra Wormhole energy." Looker started, before taking a deep breath. "We have reason to believe that she may not be working alone."
"What!" The man shouted before the ring of the doors came.
"For Arceus' sake, what is with the racket. I can hear it even from the noisiest parts of my gym." A man with a top hat and glasses came in with a irritated tone in his voice.
"I apologize Stephan, but we were conducting a investigation following Cypress's disappearance. Looker here believes that a third party is responsible for the escape of one of their last admins." The man said.
"Wait, Brad, you can't be serious! Someone assisting Team Eclipse!" Stephan cried. "If this goes on, Roria will be like when Hoopa had wrecked havoc crossed it!"
"First of all, chill. Hoopa was already caught by that trainer whose parents were kidnapped by Eclipse. Although I have no idea where he went, I saw him dispose that monster into his PC, so no need to worry."
"Fine...but keep your voice down!" Stephan said before he left. As he walked back to his gym, he accidentally ran into a young lady, knocking her down.
"Oh, my apologies madam." He said as he helped her up, before taking in her appearance. Her white suit seemed to be tailor-made, with a large R on her chest.
"Thank you sir. I don't suppose you could tell me where is the housing district, could you?" The woman smiled, with a hint of Kalos origin in her accent.
"Of course. It's a left turn after that gate, I do hope you'll come to visit Anthian City again someday." Stephan gladly answered. The lady merely gave a mesmerizing smile, before leaving. Once she was out of his sight, she put a hand to her ear.
"Sir, they have suspected another's involvement. Yes, sir. I - but, so soon? ...of course. Sierra out." She then turned back to the gym, a smile on her face. "Yes we will."