*Criesss* Why isn't there any emojis in Fanfiction?

I'm having exams starting the next week, and yet I was so eager to write this chapter that I cut short my revision time! I'm in despair. In real despair.

So here comes my bad habit again: No proof-reading. Please cut me some slack, I've got too much in my hands.

Do R&R! :D

The Stage From 3 Years Ago

"Geho, geho." Mitch gagged as he fanned away the thick, grey smoke with his hand while trying to expel the pesky irritants that had intruded his nasal passage. His eyes watered in reflex to the dust that accidentally entered his eyes. Coughing harder, the Gym Guide shuffled around like a blind man, as he tried to feel for the emergency electricity switch. The immense attack Pikachu unleashed had brutally cut off the main supply, and had cooked up a storm of smoke that rendered everyone's sight blurred and useless.

His fingers touched the familiar lever, and without further ado, he brought it down. The lights flickered, and soon the whole Gym was bathed in light.

Suddenly, the waiting room door slammed open. And in came howling Chuck.

"What in Arceus happened?" He roared, causing Mitch to quickly cover his ears.

"Chuck, it's just a blackout. Lower your volume." Lance sighed as he trailed behind the burly man. Whitney and Jasmine entered, looking rather confused.

"Blackout? Lance, there were two explosions!" Chuck shouted back, causing the Dragon Master to clap his hands over his ears.

"Everything is fine. Fine, I repeat. This happens a lot during battles. Explosions, destruction and whatnot. We should return to the waiting room." Lance calmly replied, and turned around.

"I refuse!" Chuck yelled, causing Lance to freeze in shock.

"What?" The Dragon Master peered over his shoulder, looking somewhat befuddled.

"Lance, look at all these smoke. This match is intense, and I'm not going to wait in there for my turn." Chuck said, firm in his decision.

"So you're saying?" Lance quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm watching."

Jasmine raised her hand.

"M-me too." Her soft voice trembled slightly.

"If Jasmine's staying, I'll stay too!" Whitney said enthusiastically.

"Haaah... Alright." Lance agreed reluctantly. "I'll stay too then."

"Even so, what the hell is going on here? That's a whole lot of smoke." Chuck exclaimed. "Hey, you over there, mind telling us what happened?"

Mitch flinched, and he nervously replied, "Um, sir, um, the U-Undefeated C-C-Champion's , um, P-Pikachu, used an o-o-overpowered gelectricity m-move!"

Gelectricity? The four people thought.

Mitch blushed furiously, embarrassed that he had bit his tongue and messed up his pronunciation. Flustered, he continued to explain, "A-And it hit M-Morty's M-Mega Gengar! I think..."

Mega Gengar?

All four of them exchanged glances. Then they all gazed up at the status screen, which was still in the process of recovering.

"What was Mega Gengar's state before he blackout?" Whitney shot out her question.

"Eh? Um, I think it was paralyzed and..."

"And?" The four people asked in unison.

"Um, its HP is still in the green zone, b-but Mr Matsuba used potions, I think, twice?"

If Morty was forced to use his Mega Gengar and potions...

... Then Red's Pikachu is really a force to be reckoned with.

The Ecruteak City Gym Leader was known to be a laidback person. He hardly gets serious during battles.

"Hahahaha, interesting! Truly interesting!" Chuck laughed.

"Ah, the smoke's settling." Whitney said.

Sure enough, the silhouettes of Red and his Pikachu could be seen. Meanwhile behind the smoky cover, Red was smiling, as if he was certain that Pikachu's attack had ended the battle.

Lance observed Morty's side of the arena.

Whitney and Jasmine squinted at the platform, anticipating the outcome.

Chuck crossed his arms, looking remarkably focused as he looked forward.

Mitch gulped. After that outrageous attack, there was no way the Undefeated Champion did not win against Morty's Mega Gengar.

The smoke scattered in all directions, and it took only one instant.

For all those present to drop their jaws in shock.

Red widened his eyes. Gengar was not there. Morty, on the other hand, was just smirking, left hand on hips, looking as laid-back as ever.

"Oh-ho?" Lance said in mild surprise. Chuck was just stunned, while Jasmine was just in awe.

"Damn that genius." Whitney muttered under her breath.

Pikachu looked around, finding his opponent a few feet away from him. There was no doubt that Gengar had evaded the attack.

"How?" Mitch gasped. That Gengar was not able to move, so how in the world did he managed to move so far away from his initial spot?

"Gym Guide." Lance called out to Mitch.

"Y-Yes!" Mitch replied as his whole body stiffened.

"How do you think Morty's Gengar had dodged the attack?"

Mitch paused. After some thinking, he answered, "Through sheer willpower? L-Like, forced itself to move despite the paralysis?"

"No." Chuck objected. "Morty's pokemon are not trained that way."

"Yeah. Pokemon takes after the trainer. That Perm's Gengar isn't the type to push through when in dire situations." Whitney said through gritted teeth. "Damn, he pisses me off."

"S-sorry, I don't understand." Mitch said softly.

"Simply put, Gym Guide, Morty's Gengar did not move through sheer force. He used a move." Lance said. "Now the question is, what move did he use?"

A move to force itself to get away from the incoming attack...?

Mitch held his breath. No way.

"Double Team?"

"You catch on quick, Gym Guide. Double Team is in fact an amazingly versatile move. There are two ways to use this move. One, is to accurately and instantly create copies at any spot without any necessary movement by the original. This is what we usually see in matches." Lance explained.

"What's the second way?" Mitch inquired.

"That's a tricky one. For the second way, the pokemon will require more concentration. Unlike the first type of Double Team, Gengar was actually splitting himself into two. When things split, there will be movement involved, so basically the moment Gengar replicates himself, he is slightly pushed to one side. Morty commanded Gengar to use the second type of Double Team repeatedly, and hence for each copy it creates, it moves further away from the path of the lightning attack. By creating successive copies, Gengar effectively avoids the attack completely, with the copies taking the brunt of the attack."

"Amazing." Mitch said in wonder.

Lance chuckled. "Indeed. In most situations, the second method is useless. But Morty had swiftly reacted to the incoming danger by using Double Team to its full potential. His battle sense is really something."

"... Morty has intelligence." Jasmine pointed out. "... And he makes good use of it..."

"Despite how he looks like, Mitch, Perm is a genius. He's way more talented than I am, and his style of battling is so good that it's annoying." Whitney breathed as she glared at the Gengar that was grinning. Oh, that Gengar truly does take after his trainer.

Meanwhile, Red quickly signaled Pikachu to move. The mouse dashed towards his paralyzed foe, dealing a futile Quick Attack. Normal type attacks just don't work against a Ghost type.

"Eh? Why didn't he use a type move?" Mitch asked.

"Simple. His Pikachu ran out of battery. I believe that lightning attack had drained the mouse all the electricity in its body. Every Pikachu has a electricity storage in their bodies. Red had probably wanted to end the battle with that one move, but after it failed, it has rendered Pikachu to only be able to use physical attacks." Lance replied. "Red's top priority now is to prevent Gengar from getting back to his trainer, or else once Morty applies a Paralyze Heal onto his Gengar, the tables will turn against him. Even if normal type attacks have no effect on ghost type pokemon, his Pikachu still has to use them to divert the Gengar's attention."

"He's being pushed to a corner..."

Lance nodded his head.

"Who do you think will win, Sir?"

"Hard to tell." Lance answered.

"Are you saying that Mr Matsuba may defeat the Undefeated Champion?" Mitch exclaimed.

"No one is invincible." Chuck interrupted. "Somewhere in this world, there will always be someone better than you."

"Agreed." Whitney said.

Mitch was now dumbstruck, wordless as he continued to observe the match, where Pikachu continued to strike many Quick Attacks that simply passed through Gengar's ghostly body.

Meanwhile, a frown was formed on Lance face. He glanced at the red-eyed trainer with a knowing eye.

Red had just started his journey in Johto days ago.

Have you realized it, Red?

Red was sweating profusely as he urged Pikachu to try his best to charge up. But he can't. The overcharge from before had exhausted the mouse, and he needed time to recover before he can start recharging. But now, they were preoccupied in trying to prevent Gengar from moving back to Morty.

Do you understand where you are now?

The Gengar was slowly moving back towards Morty, calm and collected.

It's been three years, Red.

Red clenched his fists.

Three years ever since you left.

He gritted his teeth.

Three whole years.

Something felt empty. Something.

People change.

No, it was around him. His surroundings felt strangely empty.

People grow stronger.

He felt... lonely.

Pokemon grow stronger.

"I've changed... Everyone changes..."

The words he said to Green a month ago struck him. Like a hammer.

Lance narrowed his eyes.

Red lifted his right arm up, and he looked at his right gloved hand.

Ah. I see. He thought to himself.

No one has remained on the stage from three years ago.

Lance closed his eyes.

In the whole of Kanto, only you stayed on that stage. Those you're currently fighting against is not the Gym Leaders of the past.

Everyone has grown stronger.

And the Johto Gym Leaders are all on a whole different level.

Red closed his eyes.

Everyone you know has became way stronger.

Your opponent now isn't the Gym Leaders.

Red exhaled, steadying his breathing.

It's change itself.

Lance stared at the trainer, while the other four continued to observe Pikachu, who was still making futile attempts to damage his opponent. The only person that intrigued the Dragon Master, was the young teen.

So what will you do now?

Red's eyes flashed open.

Red?

"Blearghhhhhh..."

Green patted me on the back a few times out of pity, as I continued to vomit out the contents of my breakfast into the bushes. Kūki purred out of concern, but I did not have the extra energy to say anything to him. Meanwhile, Silver was just staring at me in disgust, his nose scrunching up. It's not as if it was my fault that I had developed motion sickness!

I don't even remember when this started. I was perfectly fine in flight, but for some reason, the moment I touched ground, my stomach acid would churn and trigger a vomiting switch in my brain.

Exhausted, I flopped onto the grass and closed my eyes.

"Hibiki-kun, are you dead?" Green called out mockingly. "You can't die now, you know, Mr Chariot."

"Urghhhhhh..." I groaned.

"Hey, hey, Gin-kun, do something about him, will you?"

"I told you to call me Silver, didn't I, gel maniac!" Silver barked. "You want a piece of me?"

"Oh, I could say the same to you." Green hissed, his tone dangerous. "No one's ever called me a gel maniac, and no one gets away with it."

"I'd like to see you try." Silver said.

I opened my eyes just slightly, and whether it was an illusion or not, I thought I saw sparks of green and white electricity darting in between Silver and Green.

Ah, these two are just like oil and water.

"Hello, there's a dying person... over here." I mustered out the words.

"Who cares!?" The two trainers retorted immediately, and they continued their staring- no, glaring - contest.

Ah, my glass heart broke.

"Arghhhhhhhhh, you guys are heartless!" I yelled as I pounced onto both of them, and miraculously, I recovered in that instant.

But before I could deal with them, Green's hand grabbed onto my head. He was considerably taller than me, and his grip felt like a claw that was going to squash my brain.

"Owowowowow." I complained. Upon laying my eyes onto his face, I froze.

Let's just say I was so traumatized that I can never describe how he looked like during that moment.

"You're a hundred years, no, a million years too early to attack me, Hibiki-kun." Green threatened.

"Hmph. Lame." Silver snorted.

Ah. I don't give a damn about them anymore.

"Hey, since you're fine now, tell us where are we." Silver said.

Green smirked and replied, "Oya, oya, you don't recognize this place?"

I sighed. I had expected that, since it has been ages since he came here. The town had some construction work going on the last few months, so it was pretty different from the last time he was here.

"New Bark." I replied.

A furious glint lit up in his mercury silver eyes, as he suddenly grabbed my collar with two hands.

"What are you playing at? I told you I'm not returning to her!"

Green thrust an arm in between the two of us, separating the two of us. He glared at the both of us, causing us to flinch. Green Oak's glare was enough to paralyze anyone's nerves.

"We came here for business, not to entertain whatever is going on between you and that Lyra girl. So, back off." Green said under his breath. "Either you wait here for us, or come along. It's your choice."

Silver opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it and fell silent. He skipped away from Green and I, and mumbled, "I'll wait."

Then he turned around and pointed towards a tree.

"I'll be right there. Don't keep me waiting for too long, blockheads."

"Alright then." Green said and swiftly dragged me along, with Kūki following behind us.

"Oi, Green! We need to bring him along!" I insisted. "Lyra, she-"

"Shut up." Green cut short my words. "I told you we're not here for melodrama. Do that another time."

I wriggled free from his elbow lock, and after returning my Togekiss into his pokeball, I walked alongside Green, towards the town. I could not retort back, and instead, could only solemnly follow him as he headed towards Professor Elm's lab. Both of us did not forget to put on our cloaks to hide our appearance.

The lab was just a plain, white building and there was not much to look at from outside. Green cocked his head towards the building and I nodded.

Now all we have to do is to have Lyra come out.

I puffed my chest out as I took in a deep breath. I paused, and then, with all my might, I shouted, "LYRAAAA! COME OUUUT!"

I was bonked in the head by Green, who glared at me.

"Ow." I said.

"You reckless idiot!" He hissed irritably. "People will hear you!"

"Nah, they won't. The town's pretty much empty by this time."

Green looked at me skeptically. He glanced at our surroundings, and seeing that was indeed no one tumbling our way, he gave a sigh of relief.

"Will she come out?"

"She will."

Minutes passed by idly, and for some reason, I could feel the glare of a menacing creature eating at me. I shakily shifted my gaze towards Green, who was clicking his tongue, a murderous vibe coming out of him.

Oh dear Arceus, where is Lyra?

"Ethan, what are you doing out here?" A familiar voice came from behind of us.

I've never been more glad than to see my childhood friend.

"Lyraaaa!" I yelled as I dashed towards her. Evidently shocked at my actions, she reacted like how she always did.

Kicking my shin.

"Owowowowow."

"What the heck? Did you hit your head or something?"

Well, in fact, yes. Someone hit me in the head.

"So you're Lyra Kotone Elm." Green said.

"Sorry, you are...?" Lyra asked.

Green removed his hood, and introduced himself, "Green Oak."

Lyra started blushing furiously. Well, she always does that when she sees a good-looking guy. Not that Green is good-looking, in my opinion.

"G-G-Green Oak? That Gym Leader?" She stuttered, her whole face as red as a tomato.

"Yes." Green said as he casually held onto Lyra's hand. He did a small bow, and gently kissed her hand. Looking up, he winked and said, "Pleased to meet you, Lyra."

By now, Lyra's head was giving off steam. I smacked my forehead as I was reminded about something.

Green Oak is a flirt. And he can be horribly good at it.

"P-P-P-P-P-P-Pleased to meet you!"

Uh-oh, she's completely in his trap. That's why I wanted Silver to come. You know, to protect his girl from this monster.

Oh well.

"So, Lyra-chan, the two of us would like to talk to you." Green said.

"A-A-About?" Lyra squeaked.

Green's gaze suddenly turned serious.

He smiled. "The Major Arcana."

Lyra's blushing stopped in that instant. Her expression became very neutral, and she calmly nodded her head.

"Let's talk somewhere else." She turned around, and both Green and I widened our eyes. At her nape, a conspicuous symbol of the Roman Numeral V was neatly tattooed there.

The Hierophant.

She led us to the usual spot: behind the lab, a place where hardly anyone goes. This was where the two of us usually hang out. And as usual, she sat down onto the soft grass patch. Then, the both of us followed suit.

"When?" Lyra inquired. "When did the two of you became one of the cards?"

"3 years ago." Green replied. I blinked my eyes in surprise.

"Just a few days ago." I answered.

"Mine was two weeks ago." Lyra said. "You two saw my tattoo, right?"

Both of us nodded our heads.

"So, show me yours."

Green and I exchanged glances, and then we proceeded to reveal our tattoes.

Green removed his cloak, and tugged at his V-neck collar, showing his symbol: The Roman Numeral I. The proof was engraved on his left clavicle, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Lyra blushing again. I gave an audible sigh, and rolled up my sleeves, showing the Roman Numeral VII that was on my right shoulder.

"I guess that's the end of the introduction." Green said, as he adjusted his collar. "Now, first question, how were the two of you made aware of your status as cards?"

Lyra appeared rather confused. Similarly, I was rendered muddled in the head by his words.

"You mean you didn't have any dreams or anything?" I asked in incredulity.

"No, it was Mew who told me I'm the Magician three years ago. According to it, Arceus only knows the identities of the Fool and the Magician. We have to find the rest ourselves."

"I see. By the way, who's the Fool?" Lyra asked.

"Oh. It's Red. He just knew about it recently." I answered. Lyra gasped, her hands covering her mouth in shock. She blushed furiously, possibly out of embarrassment.

"What? Don't tell me he has a spot in your Hot Guy List." I teased.

I was instantly delivered a heavy punch to my sides, the wind knocked out of me.

"Hot Guy List?" Green asked out of curiousity.

"Nonononono, it's nothing!" She shouted, looking flustered.

"Did you do something to Red? Like punching him, for example." I said again, and Lyra started looking really annoyed and angry. Looks like I've hit the mark.

"Ah, so you did." I grinned mischievously.

She punched me yet again at the sides, and this time I was grovelling on the ground. Her punches stung as usual. Meanwhile, Green looked rather dumbfounded, probably surprised that there was someone else other than him that could punch me to such an extent. He almost had that look of respect on his face.

Don't respect her for her violence for Arceus' sake! I thought angrily in my head.

"Ahem." Lyra cleared her throat. "Let's ignore Mr Chariot, shall we, Magician-san?"

"Ah. Sure." Green said whole-heartedly.

Ah, my glass heart cannot take it anymore.

"For Ethan and I, I believe we went through something called the Initiation." She explained. "And yes, we have dreams that tell us which card we are."

"What kind of dream?" Green asked immediately. The sparkle in his eyes was a rare sight to behold.

"It's actually... hard to describe. Hey, Mr Chariot, make yourself useful." Lyra glanced over at me and said.

"Weren't you ignoring me seconds ago?" I muttered.

"Ugh. Okay, I'm not ignoring you anymore, so please contribute."

I sat up with a huge grin on my face, and scooted over to her side.

"The dream was all 'Woahh'! And 'Whoosh'! And 'You're the Chariot'! Yep, that's it." I shouted while doing all the elaborate hand actions. Lyra face-palmed herself, and I could faintly hear her saying, "I shouldn't have asked."

"You're hopeless." Green stared at me with a disappointed look. Lyra gave a sigh, and she decided to describe the whole thing herself.

"In the beginning, it's just a very wide space. All white. Then a mirror appeared before me. I couldn't see my reflection, until there's this black figure that started talking from inside the mirror."

"It started reciting something, like a poem of a sorts. It went something like this:

The beginning of the end, the end of the beginning.

Twenty-two shall rise. Twenty-two shall fall.

Twenty-two shall live. Twenty-two shall die.

Thou shall be Earth's proxy, mind and soul.

Thou shall be the Fifth Card, the Hierophant.

Thou shall Believe. Thou shall Restrict.

All shall gather. All shall betray.

All shall gain. All shall lose.

The day of the promise. The day of the betrayal.

The end of the beginning. The beginning of the end."

"Rise, fall. Live, die. Gather, betray. Gain, lose." Green mumbled, as he rubbed his chin with his fingers. "They are all contradictory words. Twenty-two, that's us."

"But that's different from what it told me!" I said. "Mine was completely different from yours."

"What was yours?" Lyra glanced at me.

I smacked my lips, and breathing in slowly, I started narrating,

"Beware, beware.

The betrayer awaits.

Beware, beware.

Find all before it's too late.

Thou shall be the Earth's proxy, mind and soul.

Thou shall be the Seventh Card, the Chariot.

Conquest. Destruction.

Victory. Aggression.

With power and determination.

With spirit and domination.

Beware, beware.

All is at stake."

"Well that's interesting." Lyra remarked. "Sounded dangerous."

"Okay, okay, let's take everything slowly, Lyra-chan, the black figure told you that you are 'the Earth's proxy, mind and soul'."

"Yes. I assume it means that we represent the Earth's will."

"Indeed." Green said, his eyes looking really focused. "But why. Why us? Why the Major Arcana?"

"More importantly," I pointed out. "What does Earth want us to do?"

"That too. And those contradictory words... He's asking us to choose."

"Who?" Lyra asked.

"That black figure. Or whoever he or she is. We have to choose between the choices he gave us." Green said as he frowned.

"To rise." Lyra breathed.

"Or to fall." I continued.

"Okay, that aside. It said 'believe' and 'restrict' in my Initiation." Lyra stated. "Any ideas?"

We fell silent for a while, until Green perked up and said excitedly, "Upright and Reversed!"

"Huh?" Both Lyra and I said in unison.

Green's initial excitement fell short, as he stared at us. "Upright and Reversed, you know?" He urged.

Both of us shook our heads in denial.

"Hahhhhhh." He ruffled his hair impatiently. "Wait a minute."

He took out his Xtransceiver, and after pressing some buttons here and there, he said, "Ethan, I'm sending you something."

"Okay." I replied as I whipped out my Pokegear.

My device beeped, and my inbox notified my of the new message. Green had sent to me the link to a website. I glanced at him, and then without further ado, I clicked onto it.

It was an site that was entirely dedicated to the Major Arcana. Lyra leaned towards me, wanting to get a good look at the site. The both of us scanned the webpage for quite some time, and finally did we understand Green's words.

"Each card has a Upright and Reversed side. And each side has a different meaning."

Following that, there was a whole list that labelled all the cards, and all the meanings of its Upright and Reversed sides. Both of us quickly skipped the first few, and started reading from "the Hierophant" onward.

The Hierophant (V):

Upright: Religion, group identification, conformity, tradition, beliefs

Reversed: Restriction, challenging the status quo

I quickly scrolled down, and stopped the moment I spotted "the Chariot".

The Chariot (VII):

Upright: Control, will power, victory, assertion, determination

Reversed: Lack of control and direction, aggression

Thoughts ran in my mind as I picked up the pieces instantly. Belief, restrict, victory, conquest, destruction, aggression...

"They were referring to us, I mean, these meanings!" I exclaimed in delight, and nudged Lyra. "Mine is so cool! Cooler than yours, I mean."

Lyra narrowed her eyes, and replied sarcastically, "Oh, so lacking in control and direction is cool. Yeah right."

"But, you do fit them perfectly. With your occasional hot-headedness and idiocy, I mean." Green chuckled.

"Call it determination!" I replied indignantly. "Plus, I bet yours doesn't even fit you!"

"Oh really." Green said with a challenging tone.

"Yeah!" I answered.

"Take a look then."

I furiously scrolled back up the page, and laid my eyes onto the section about the "Magician".

The Magician (I):

Upright: Power, skill, concentration, action, resourcefulness

"Gu..." I muttered. Everything is spot on. I glared at him, with him returning a cocky smirk. I gritted my teeth, and quickly looked at the portion on the Reversed side.

Reversed: Manipulation, poor planning, latent talents

"Bwahahahaha!" I chortled. "Poor planning, it says! Poor planning!"

"Shut up." Green growled, as he averted his gaze.

"Can we get back on topic?" Lyra said. "We don't have all day."

"Hmph." Green snorted. "Fine by me."

"Let's begin with mine. The black figure said, 'beginning of the end' and 'end of the beginning', I think it is also another choice we have to make."

"I doubt so." I cut in. "It sounds more like the Major Arcana can trigger the start of destruction. Plus, at the end of the so-called poem, it ended off with a reversal of the first line. I think it means that the end and the beginning are two sides of a coin, possibly telling us to be careful, and to choose wisely."

I paused, and saw Green and Lyra staring at me with flabbergasted expressions.

"Did I hit him too hard in the head?"

"I think I hit him too hard just now too."

"Huh, why?" I asked while looking at them, confused.

"Hibiki became smarter!" The two of them shouted in unison.

"How rude!" I yelled. "Come, I shall prove myself!"

"Go on." Green said.

"Okay, so after all the live, die, gain, lose and whatnot, he said 'the day of the betrayal', I think it refers to the first generation. Someone in the deck betrayed the first generation of Major Arcana, so it's a given. And I assume that 'believe' and 'restrict' is telling Lyra her characteristics as the Hierophant."

"Moving on to mine, it first said 'beware', confirming that we need to be careful. Afterwards, it said 'the betrayer', and even in Lyra's part, it said 'all shall betray'. In short, there's bound to be a betrayer among us. 'Find all' is a no-brainer, since it means to gather all the cards, but there will be risks involved."

Silence.

"Hey, say something!" I said as I looked from Green to Lyra. What was with their looks of shock?

"Call-" Green began.

"Call?"

"Someone call the mental hospital!" Green shouted. "Lyra, do you have the number?"

"Yes!"

"Call them now! We've got a crazy guy in between us!"

"Roger!"

"Hey!" I snatched Lyra's Pokegear away immediately. She was really about to dial the number for Arceus' sake!

"There's a limit to how insulting you can be!" I protested while waving her Pokegear.

"There's a limit to how smart you can be!" Green answered.

"Damn you Green!" I howled and got ready to punch him, until my head was gripped by his large hands a second time. I froze indefinitely.

"I told you, Hibiki-kun, you're a million years- no, a zillion years too early to attack me!"

"The Red I knew would get out there! Get out into the world! And prove to cocky bastards like me that he's strong!"

The trainer eased his breathing. In and out. In and out.

For some reason, he felt unusually calm.

Pikachu was losing.

He was losing.

"I've changed... Everyone changes..."

He was the only left on the stage.

"But does that stop you from moving on?"

Yet he did not felt like giving up just yet.

His eyes flashed open.

Lance's lips turned up into a smile. He closed his eyes, feeling a wave of relief rushing at him.

Red pulled onto his gloves, making it fit more snugly to his hand. Afterwards, he reached out for the one thing he had been dying to wear since day 1.

He wasn't wearing his red vest, he wasn't wearing his usual pants.

But this one thing was what he needed.

Mitch gasped in surprise, attracting Whitney's, Jasmine's and Chuck's attention. They blinked their eyes, none of them expecting that Red would take that out at such a crucial timing. It was totally random, and totally uncalled for.

His trademark cap.

Taking it by the bill, Red casually swung the cap onto his messy black hair. He adjusted it slightly.

"Hoooo..." He breathed out.

Time for the counter-attack.

Urgh. Poems. When was the last time I did one? When I was nine? Anyways, I sucked at it.

I'm extending the battle duration between Red and Morty.

Why, you ask?

Because Morty is a goddamn badass. Yep, I like him, hurhur.