Pokemon Black and White Rebirth

Chapter 9.2: The Dragon Buster.

Delia couldn't sleep a wink. She turned to find Sabrina next to her in bed sleeping soundly snuggled up with her lover. She turned to find Mr. Mime nodding off by her side. The woman smiled as she patted her longtime friend on the head. She got up, checked on Misty in the guest bedroom, and after finding out she was fine, went down into the living room and made herself a glass of water to calm her shaking nerves. Delia's mind went back to the horrible news she had to hear.

"Delia, I'm not sure how to tell you this…" The eighth Gym Leader of Kanto mumbled before giving a cough to clear his throat. In spite of his shady line of work, the thought of doing anything that might bring horror to her doorstep had the hardened crime boss uneasy.

Sabrina looked at their maid, thinking that this wouldn't be something a young girl should have to hear.

"Misty, why don't you go feed Mr. Giovanni's Persian…and then go see a movie or something." Sabrina offered.

Misty blinked hearing this. Since she had been given no choice but to work for Delia and Sabrina to pay off her debt, Sabrina had acted as the cruel and harsh mistress with a sick sense of humor. Her lack of time off, and what she wore under her uniform, was testimony to that, so she was quite skeptical, it had to be a trap.

Delia could also feel something would happen and Misty wasn't budging.

"Go on Misty, feed the kitty, then enjoy yourself." Misty's more benevolent boss encouraged.

Misty looked a bit more assured when Delia had told her, so she was happy to take the time off consequence free.

"Oh, alright, come on kitty, kitty." The red head tried to coax the snobby looking cat Pokemon. It took one look at its owner, who gave a nod in return, and the Pokemon followed the girl out of the room.

The older Gym Leader put down his coffee.

"So, not to be rude Delia, but seeing the former Cerulean City Gym Leader working for you in that…outfit, is rather odd, could you enlighten me on this?" The former college dorm mate asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

Giovanni noticed the now sour look on the lawyer's face.

"Those good for nothing tramp sisters of hers left Kanto, abandoning the poor girl, and collected a heavy debt, in her name." Delia huffed clearly irritated by what happened to Misty.

"And since we both know what happened to her Pokemon license due to the scandal, Delia took her in, and she has been working for us to pay off the debt. She'll be trying to get the ban off in a year with the appeal." Sabrina explained.

"Ah, I see." Giovanni said.

"So, what did you want to tell me Gio?" Delia asked sweetly.

Giovanni mumbled something that he wished he hadn't. It was going from one uncomfortable subject to the next.

"Shinji Hawthorne…was just given parole yesterday." He answered.

Sabrina's eyes widened. The serial killer! Delia had told her that she was married before, and didn't want to talk about him. Did this madman leave her a widow? Sabrina watched as what looked like the wheels in her girlfriend's head had come to a crashing halt, all the while her smile remained frozen on her face.

"I'm sorry Gio…what was that?" The single mother asked. Everyone could see her hands and body tremble.

"Your monster of an ex-husband got out!" The Boss of Team Rocket grumbled, now waiting for the emotional melt down. The fifth Gym Leader gasped, her mouth was agape. This was much worse then she thought. Delia's mask of happiness shattered, revealing looks of panic, terror, and worry. With flailing logic, she grabbed a hold of her old friend's expensive suit, and started shaking him like a rag doll.

"HE'S OUT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S OUT?! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! HOW COULD HE GET OUT?!" Delia Ketchum screamed at the top of her lungs, her eyes wide, tearing up.

The two Gym Leaders and the mime Pokemon did their best to pry the hysterical woman off Giovanni and back on to the couch. As she held Sabrina and Mr. Mime for dear life, stiff as a board, the brunette's mind played flashbacks to that awful night, showing her that sadistic look in that liar's eye, as she witnessed her son's tiny and fragile body gasping for air. Sabrina, with Mr. Mime's help, used their powers to bring the hysterical woman back to reality.

"Delia, Sweetheart, calm down! It's just a memory, he's not here. Ash and Pikachu are in Unova, safe and sound; please come back to us." Sabrina coaxed into her head as the Ketchum woman took a breath and sobbed into her lover's chest. Sabrina held the woman tightly, patting and rubbing her back.

"How did this happen?" The Psychic Gym Leader asked while she and Mr. Mime comforted Della.

The Ground Gym Leader grumbled sourly.

"Fifty to life was his sentence…however…you know the judges can pardon one criminal per year…and he of all people got picked. I can only assume Shinji found someone to bribe to the judges." The mob boss in plain sight growled.

The two Gym Leaders groaned at the corruption and the incompetently of the Kanto legal system. Normally this would be a good thing for the Boss of Team Rocket, but not this time. Now the crime boss would have just gotten rid of this monster years ago, but he somehow managed to end the lives of his men on the inside, or the bribed guards would somehow manage to get the wrong guy and end up dead later. It was infuriating, so he figured that he'd just let the man who nearly ended his dear friend, and his own son's lives, to rot in prison while they led happy lives…as long as they didn't get in the way of Giovanni taking over the world of course.

"Delia, he doesn't know your new address, the prisons don't get TV, Wi-Fi, or radio, he had no visitors, so I'm sure he doesn't know what your boy has been up to. Even if he does find out anything, I'll make sure he never lays a finger on you, or your son." Giovanni promised as he tried to dry her tears in a tender fashion when his old college friend faced him.

"That goes double for me. I'll turn his brain into mush if I so much as sense this guy!" Sabrina declared.

"You-You can do that?!" The mob boss asked sounding a bit nervous, she in turn just shrugged.

"Never tried, but I could do that, or teleport him into a Beedrill nest, and leave him with the sting of defeat." Sabrina laughed, however her senior didn't look as amused.

"Really, puns now of all times? If you had to joke, did it have to be terrible one?" Giovanni growled, feeling an angry vein forming in his forehead.

"Hey, puns are awesome!" Sabrina argued. They could hear Delia giggle a bit, a small smile returned to her face.

"Oh come now you two, please try to Beehive!" Delia joked while laughing her head off. Her girlfriend and Pokemon cheered, while her old friend groaned.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Sabrina cried as the two hugged her. Giovanni just shook his head with a small smirk.

"Mom? Mom, are you there?" Delia snapped out of her flashback to find herself staring at Ash and Pikachu on the video phone.

"Oh, I'm sorry honey; Mom's just had a few tough cases." Delia said, rubbing her eyes. Her two boys gave each other a look then returned back to her.

"Well it's late, so we could call later when it's morning for you." Ash offered, but his mother shook her head.

"I'm fine honey, now go on, and tell me about what happened next?" His mother asked, wanting to know about her son's travels.

"Well…okay, the day after Cheren caught his new Pokemon, which was two days ago…"Ash started to recall, and try to clean up.

Two days ago. Unova Region.

"Nine years?" Both Kanto natives asked buffered, hearing some new info from Purrloin as they watched Cheren and Bianca battle each other, Cheren mopping the floor with their friend. It was his Pidove verses her Pignite, and in spite of Bianca's Pokemon's higher level, Cheren's bird was able to evade all of Pignite's Flame Charges, using a hit and run dive bomb strategy. Cheren smirked, glad to know things were going to plan. Ash was happy for Cheren, but felt a bit sorry for Bianca. Once the blond and her Fire/Fighting pig had lost, Cheren and his Pidove started bragging and doing a victory dance. In retaliation, Bianca chased Cheren up a tree. While Iris and Cilan tried to play peacemakers, Ash and Pikachu turned back to Purrloin again.

"Yes, you were in a coma for nine years. Luckily our CO, or Commanding Officer, was able to locate and get you to a refugee hospital near the Orre Region before Plasma's goons could find us and raid it." The time traveling cat explained.

Her two boys looked a bit uneasy and confused, so she explained further.

"We found you two right after you woke. The last thing you two could tell us was that you were in the Unova League, when Team Plasma had attacked, starting their takeover of the region. You were pretty vague, but more information came to you as we got out. Sadly, we needed to go quickly since Blade Dewott, one of Plasma's agents, managed to track us down. It took quite a bit of fighting, but we got you out, sadly the world as you knew it changed. One of war and strife, and not many people thought you'd make it." Purrloin went on sadly. "But when you got to work boys, you got to work! Everyone back on the base thought you were just a pity save, but when The Boss gave you a mission, the two of you got it done. Heck, the three of us and my trainer Hilda were a combo team! Pokemon and humans needed rescuing; safe and sound. Enemy Intel needed to be gotten; you were out getting it done before Hilda could. Plasma fools needed to be killed; all dead where they stood!" Purrloin said with a laugh. "Nothing could stop you two from trying to save your friends, and avenging the ones we lost." The Dark type cat purred.

Pikachu and Ash looked at one another, then at the nostalgic look in their purple kitty's eyes. It sounded like the two had turned into a mix of James Bond, and Rambo. However, the two weren't happy that they had taken lives.

"Then…then…just when we thought things were going well…things got bad, then even more bad…then worse." The Dark type said glumly.

"Geez." Pikachu thought.

"Then…I became the only one left." She mumbled. The two didn't know what to say, so Pikachu hugged her, and Ash scooped them up.

"Hey you're not alone, you got us." Ash reminded her. She in turn smiled at him.

"I know, but I need you all to start training a bit more seriously…I have a few ideas on what you all could do." Purrloin suggested as she somehow pulled out a long list.

The two scanned the long parchment full of training tips and strategies.

"We…are gonna have to run this with everyone." Ash said with a weary smile, as Pikachu was wondering where they would find twelve bowling balls and a pit of lava.

Iris, Cilan, and Cheren were looking over the list very carefully. Bianca was just playing with her Pokemon on the sidelines, since she had gotten over her loss. Cilan raised his eyebrow at a few of the exercises which seemed rather demanding, and almost insane. Iris was quickly, mentally, vetoing any of the training with ice, or Ice Pokemon, in her head. Cheren looked at everything intently.

"Ash …Purrloin's ideas are kinda crazy." The Dragon Master in training muttered.

"I admit it seems rather overboard." Cilan agreed, with Axew and Pansage nodding their heads.

Ash and Pikachu shook their heads, as Purrloin scowled at the now shivering Grass Gym Leader.

"I know guys, but if we're going to beat Team Plasma, and save Unova, we've got to train harder than ever before!" The boy from Kanto proclaimed.

"When can we get started?" Cheren asked, making everyone turn to him.

"Huh?" Both Iris and Cilan asked

"Well if it helps us all get stronger, than I say we all go for it!" The power hungry trainer demanded.

"That's the spirit Cheren, alright everyone let's get to work!" Ash and his Pokemon cheered. Bianca cheered with them, but had no idea why. Then they all heard a very loud grumbling.

"Well…I guess we can get to training after we've all got a snack in us." Ash said sheepishly as Pikachu rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh come on, I just beat Bianca, I can take on the rest of you without breaking a sweat. I don't see why hunger should slow you down!" Cheren insisted.

However, in spite of his bravado, the ten year old boy's stomach gave off a just as loud, if not louder, growl. Cheren's Pidove landed on his head and pecked him.

"Fine Becky, I'll feed you." Cheren grumbled as the bird Pokemon looked pleased.

"My guys and I want snacks too!" Bianca spoke up, hearing food. They all could hear Axew's stomach growl as well.

"It seems that everyone seems to be running on empty, so I'll have to make lunch. However, I'll need a few Pecha Berries for ingredients." Cilan told them all.

"And while Cheren and Bianca help me set up camp…." The moss haired Gym Leader turned to the youngest trainers. "I'll have Iris and Ash collect the berries." Cilan decreed, turning to the other two.

Iris just shrugged and smiled.

"Alright then, come on Ash." Iris said as she and her tiny tusked dragon took to the trees. Ash followed, but looked at Cheren.

"Hey, can you watch my staff?" He asked. The boy nodded while taking it and examining it with interest.

"Ash! Hurry up, Slowpoke." Iris teased. Ash soon followed her direction. However, Purrloin left his shoulder. Pansage followed the Dark type. Cilan's eyebrow had risen as Pansage was explaining something to him.

"Therapy, I see…well good luck to the both of you." Cilan gave an uneasy wave as the two vanished into a nearby bush. As Purrloin's trainer and his friend were leaving to their berry task, Pansage had sat Purrloin down on a small but comfortable couch.

"Now Miss Purrloin, where would you like to start?" The Grass Monkey asked, having gotten a pen and note pad as well. Purrloin looked all the more nervous as Pansage comforted her. "Relax, this is a place of healing, I won't judge, and it'll be between only the two of us."

"Very well...Dr. Pansage…I think I'll start with my parents;" Purrloin was about to open up.

"YAHOO!" Both Pikachu and Ash cried as they swung from tree to tree. Iris and Axew were laughing their heads off as the two flew, and jumped from tree to tree. The four of them had been making a game of who could collect the most berries, and were having a blast.

"I'm gonna win this round Iris!" Ash declared as he and Pikachu found another berry.

"Yeah right, cause I just got three more!" Iris said as Axew popped out of Iris's hair showing three berries stuck on his tusks, and sticking his tongue out.

The taunt raised both of the boys' competitive side, as they swung from tree to tree collecting berries. The two Kanto natives tried to grab another vine to swing off, but they slipped off the vine. Feeling gravity take hold, they both screamed. Iris gasped seeing this, and springing into action, quickly grabbed her friend by his leg, swirling around, looking for a safe place to land. Ash's face was blushing, as he saw the confident and relieved smile on Iris's face. They all landed safely, falling on their backs, breathing heavily.

"Thanks for the save Iris, we would have been done for if you hadn't come in." Ash muttered.

"Don't worry Ash; you'd do the same for me." Iris blurted out, her face a bit red as well.

"Hey guys…we dropped all of our berries." Pikachu noticed. Everyone groaned as they picked themselves up and went back to looking for the berries.

Cilan was busy doing what he did best; cooking. Cheren and Bianca had finished setting up camp, and the table. Cilan noticed the youngest standing right beside him with Ash's Aura staff, his Pokedex, a pen, and paper.

"Can I help you, Cheren?" The Gym Leader asked politely as he started to taste the soup with a ladle.

"Well yeah, I was wondering if you could tell me what Pokemon the second Gym Leader has, and what types they are." Cheren requested.

Cilan had to stop and give it some thought.

"Well if I recall correctly, last time I saw Lenora she had her skilled partner Watchog, a Lillipup, and a high leveled Herdier, which your Pokedex will tell you, is the evolved form of Lillipup, and all three are Normal types." Cilan informed Cheren, who was quickly taking notes.

"Thanks Cilan, I'll be prepared this time, and get that Gym Badge on my first try!" Cheren shouted, his glasses gleaming with determination. "Oh, and can I borrow some honey?" He asked.

"Honey?" Cilan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's for my Scolipede, I'm hoping to gain its trust with it. You know what they say about catching Bug Pokemon with honey." Cheren admitted with a laugh.

Cilan simply smiled and handed the boy a small jar of honey.

"Just a few spoonfuls will give you the results you're looking for." Cilan told him.

"Thanks Cilan, I'll pay you back for this." the boy promised.

Cilan just gave an amused look and returned to his food.

The young boy placed his friend's staff by a chair and examined his Pokedex to look up the Pokemon. Cilan was right, of course, all three were Normal types, and he knew that the most effective types to beat them in battle were Fighting types. Sadly for him, none of his Pokemon knew any Fighting moves. So he'd have to catch one, trade for one, or just use the team that he had. He'd think about that a bit later, as he unleashed his new Bug Pokemon.

The large centipede Pokemon thrashed about, and then gave Cheren an angry stare, growling at him. Cheren looked slightly intimidated, but shook it off. He remembered Ash's advice, and warnings.

"Hey Scolipede, look I know we didn't meet on the right foot, but let's change that. I'm Cheren; I'll be your trainer. If you think you're strong now, just wait. Stick with me and I'll make you stronger than you ever dreamed of!" The boy proclaimed.

The Bug Pokemon looked slightly skeptical, but gave it some thought since he did catch him with that Pidove, however he remembered all the other humans and Pokemon. Maybe they were some kind of hive?

Scolipede's eyes widened as he smelled the small jar of honey that Cheren opened.

"And I can get you more of this. You like huh? What do ya say? Stick with me, and you'll get more of this." Cheren offered.

Now Scolipede was interested, he might stick around with this tiny human for a bit. He nodded his head, and was given the sweet treat. Cheren grinned; he had his Pokemon's faith. Even if it was for a short time, he'd fix that with the Gym Badges and upcoming victories.

"Hey Cheren, are Ash and Iris back yet? I'm getting hungry!" Bianca asked while sneaking up on the two.

Nearly losing his grip on the honey jar, Cheren looked at his bubbly friend.

"I don't see them Bianca, so I'd guess they aren't back yet." Cheren grumbled, slightly annoyed that they weren't at the camp site yet.

"Well maybe while we wait, we can go catch some cool and cute Pokemon that are around here. Come on!" The blond said cheerfully as she grabbed her friend.

"Wait, wait, Bianca!" Cherie yelped as he was being dragged around at high speed. Scolipede was still enjoying his treat, now making the jar nearly empty.

"AAAEHHHEEEEEKKKK!" Iris and Axew screamed as the two hid behind Ash and Pikachu. Both Kanto natives looked at what looked like a light blue and white floating ice cream looking Pokemon.

"Ice Pokemon, Ash, help please! Get it away!" Iris begged behind her friend. Ash looked at his Pokedex.

"Vanillite, huh? Okay, go-" Ash started to say as he went to throw a Poke Ball, only for Oshawott to come out ready for battle.

"Here I come to save the d-GAHHHH!" The otter Pokemon cried out as the floating ice cream Pokemon froze him solid with an Ice Beam attack. Iris and Axew were freaking out even more. Ash looked flabbergasted while Pikachu just shook his head, feeling bad for the now Oshawott Popsicle.

"Okay, Tepig go!" Ash cried out, unleashing his Fire Pig, who landed on the ground, snorting out his fire and ready to get started. "Tepig, take that Vanillite out, use Tackle." Ash ordered, and soon Tepig rammed right into the Ice type, knocking the wind out of it.

"Yeah!" Axew and Pikachu cried out as Tepig smiled.

The Ice type was about to fire off another Ice Beam.

"Tepig, Tackle it again!" Ash ordered, and soon the Fire Pig tackled the ice cream Pokemon again, forcing the Ice Beam to fire up into the air.

"Now Ember!" Ash cried out, and Tepig shot out a burst of fire, sending their target flying into a tree, the Vanillite passed out with swirls in its eyes.

"Alright, way to go Tepig!" Ash and Pikachu cheered. Iris and Axew now stopped shaking.

"Aw shucks guys, your making me blush." Tepig said with a smile. Everyone then looked at the still frozen Oshawott.

"We can just leave him like this." Pikachu said, holding back a snicker.

"Yeah, it's a good look for him." Tepig agreed, also holding back a snicker.

The two Pokemon looked at their trainer.

"Tepig, get him out of that please?" He requested, and the Fire Pig complied, unfreezing Oshawott.

Iris held on tightly to Ash.

"Is it gone?" Iris asked in a small voice. Ash gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, we took care of it." Ash said grinning, as Tepig unfroze Oshawott. Rather than hear Oshawott bicker with the others, he returned the two back to their Poke Balls.

"Thanks…I really don't like Ice types." Iris muttered, playing with her talisman.

"They're scary." Axew mumbled shivering.

"VANILLITE NO!" They heard someone scream behind them.

The four of them turned around to find an angry girl about their age. She wore a green top with yellow buttons, a matching green skirt, and knee-high green boots. The girl was stroking the Ice type, trying to comfort it. The girl returned the Vanillite into her Poke Ball. Two pairs of green eyes glared at Ash and Iris.

"You two have some nerve, attacking my Vanillite like this!" She yelled.

"Err, look, sorry, we didn't know that that Ice Pokemon was yours." Iris mumbled, feeling slightly guilty.

"Our bad, sorry." Ash and Pikachu mumbled. That however, only got this green eyed girl even angrier.

"Yeah dumbass, it is your bad, I mean were you just born stupid, or did your mom drop you on the head?!" The green eyed girl snapped.

"Hey, lay off, he said he was sorry!" Iris growled, starting to not like this girl.

"Sorry isn't gonna unfit my Pokemon, now will it dragon whelp?" The green eyed trainer ranted.

"Well…no, I guess it won't." Iris admitted, however she really didn't like being called a whelp.

"So you two had better make it up to me, or else!" She threatened. Now Iris's annoyance with the girl had gone to outright dislike.

"Wow Ash, look at this little kid throwing her temper tantrum. We don't need to deal with someone like her, and keep everyone waiting. Let's go." Iris ordered, dismissing the thug as the two left.

This left the Ice type trainer nearly foaming at the mouth with rage.

Cheren and Bianca huffed as the two could now relax. Ash and Iris sat right beside them. Both were very curious about the younger trainers new Pokemon. Bianca was laughing and giggling with her new Minccino, this fluffy grey mouse was playing with Cilan's silver server top. Cheren was inspecting the large red rock looking, karate go wearing Throh.

"Wow, you guys got busy while we were gone." Iris said with a smile as she was playing with Minccino.

"Yeah, hey Cheren lets battle after lunch with your Throh." Ash said with a grin.

"You're on!" Cheren agreed. Pikachu and the new fighter were looking at each other with sparks in their eyes, ready to test their might. Cilan came and everyone started eating the magical man's wonderful bounty.

"So Iris, what's your home town like?" Bianca asked in between a spoon full.

Iris and Axew looked up from their bowls.

"Well, it's a pretty nice place. Everyone gets along with the Pokemon, but the coolest people around are the Dragon Masters!" Iris proclaimed.

"You're trying to be one of those, right?" Cheren asked, talking with food in his mouth. Cilan just gave him a slight tap on the head to tell the boy to correct his mistake.

"A Dragon Master must be able to bring out the potential in their Dragon Pokemon. I've heard that they can even bond their souls with the dragons." Cilan added on.

"Well yeah, it's actually my dream to be a Dragon Master" Iris said as she rubbed the back of her head, blushing, slightly embarrassed.

"Well the way you are with Axew, I know you can do it." Ash said grinning while giving her a thumbs up. Everyone else seemed to nod in agreement, making Iris blush even more.

"So you're a Dragon Master huh?!" Ash and Iris heard a familiar voice. They turned to find the trainer from before.

She went past everyone and slammed her hands on the table right in front of Iris.

"I challenge you to a Pokemon battle, put em up!" The Ice trainer demanded, glaring at the Dragon Master in training.

"Oh great you, look whatever your name is, leave us alone." Iris muttered, looking uninterested.

"My name is Georgia the Dragon Buster, and I'm going to crush all Dragon Pokemon, and their worthless trainers, under my heel. So battle me!" The now named Dragon Buster proclaimed.

"That's nice, now go away. I'm eating." Iris said in a dismissive voice, returning to her meal.

Enraged at being ignored, Georgia yanked Iris's bowl from her hands. Chugging the soup down, she threw the bowl on the ground, which broke the bowl. With a look of disgust, she spat it out.

"Blah, whoever made that garbage needs their brain removed." She spat, turning Cilan white as a sheet from the shock of the insult, to himself and his food.

"Alright, you've eaten, now battle me!" The trainer rudely demanded once more.

"Hey!" Ash protested as he got up and Pikachu's cheeks started to spark up. However, he was met with a gloved punch in the face. Pikachu tried to attack her with a Thunderbolt; however the little Pokemon noticed his attacks were being absorbed by Georgia's rubber gloves. She then smacked both Bianca, and Cheren, causing the two to fall out of their chairs twitching and spazzing out, the Kanto trainer trying to help them back up. Iris was now enraged at the attack on her friends.

"You little thug, ya know what, you wanna battle so much!? Let's battle, just don't cry when you lose!" Iris yelled, having all she could stand from this unpleasant little jerk, who was smirking at her.

"Great, can't wait. You, moss head, judge our battle!" Georgia demanded.

"Um…very well." Cilan muttered, barely coming out of his shock from the assault on his culinary creation.

A moment later, Iris and Georgia stood facing each other on a field, surrounded by some very large boulders. Axew was out and ready to attack whatever their opponent would throw at them. The Dragon Buster pulled out a long black whip from her bag, and a Poke Ball. Pikachu and Ash suddenly got a case of Déjà vu, remembering one of their rookie fights against a guy with a Sandshrew who had the same kind of whip.

"You really think that little baby Pokemon can beat me? Wow, that's just sad. At least the last Dragon Master I fought actually showed off his best dragon before I beat him." The Dragon Buster trash talked.

Iris however, smirked at the Dragon Buster.

"Only a little kid judges a Pokemon by appearance. Axew can take any Pokemon that you wanna dish out." Iris declared.

"Yeah!" Axew cried out, getting pumped. The two felt ready for a victory, that nothing could stop them now.

Then Georgia smirked, and threw out her Poke Ball. It unleashed a massive, intimidating, white colored bear Pokemon with a light blue icicle pattern by its mouth that roared loudly, making the area feel like it had dropped in temperature. The bravery Iris and Axew had, slowly started to vanish as this powerhouse stomped onto the battlefield. Iris shivered looking at this beast.

"Is that a Beartic?" Cheren asked, having never seen one in real life before. Ash was checking his Pokedex and saw this bear was an Ice type. Still, in spite of Iris and Axew's obvious type disadvantage, he was still hoping they could pull off a win. Pikachu then noticed that Purrloin and Pansage were coming to watch.

"Where have you been?" Pikachu asked as Purrloin found a spot.

"The session took longer than we both thought…Oh my, Axew that is a huge Ice type. Sweetheart, do your best!" The cat Pokemon cried out to be supportive, noticing the little guy's opponent.

"GO AXEW, GO IRIS!" Bianca cheered, while Cheren just sat there, ready for the fight to begin.

"Kick her butt Iris!" Ash cheered giving her a thumbs up, as all of his other Pokemon did a victory chant. Iris in turn, gave them all a very shaky thumbs up before returning her attention to the battlefield.

"The battle between Iris and Georgia shall now commence. The battle will end when either opponent is unable to use anymore Pokemon, begin!" Cilan declared.

"Axew use Dragon Rage!" Iris commanded as Axew began charging up his attack. If she could keep that thing at a distance, they might have a chance.

"Icicle Crash." Georgia ordered while cracking the whip. Iris and Axew's eyes grew the size of dinner plates as this mountain of an Ice Pokemon rammed his body into Axew. The tusked dragon felt his blood turn to ice, and the rest of him felt nothing but pain as he was sent flying into the dirt, having blacked out from the sheer cold.

"Axew!" Iris cried out as she grabbed her Pokemon and tried to use her body heat to warm him up. After a quick hug, she placed him inside her hair to let him rest.

"Axew…is unable to battle. Round one goes to Georgia." Cilan sadly stated. There was many a booing and hissing from the crowd.

"Ha, was that it? You, a Dragon Master, please? You're more like a dragon slave!" Georgia taunted with a sneer.

"Shut up!" Iris snapped, getting out her other Poke Ball. The Dragon Trainer knew this was a gamble, but with her pride on the line she chucked Excadrill's Poke Ball, only for fate to give her a bad hand, showing the Steel/Ground mole Pokemon, in his pod form.

"Excadrill, hey, I need your help. Will you battle with me? Pretty please?" Iris requested sweetly. The pod didn't respond.

The self-proclaimed Dragon Buster, and her titanic sinking Ice type, looked at the two with anger and disbelief.

"Are you kidding me? What kinda joke is this?! Get out your Dragon types!" The Dragon Buster demanded.

"I…I…I don't have any other Dragon types." Iris growled, hating to admit this.

Georgia growled, and started laughing her head off.

"Oh wow, this is a letdown. Here I am all hyped up, ready to take down a strong Dragon Trainer, and instead, I'm wasting my time right now with some loud mouth brat, who's got a baby runt as her only sad excuse for a Dragon type. Like I said before, you're no Dragon Master, you're not even a Dragon Trainer, more like a baby trainer…Beartic, finish off this sham of a battle." Georgia ordered while cracking her whip.

The large Ice type charged at Excadrill's pod form, shooting the Steel/Ground type into the air like a rocket, only for it to spin around, and use the move Horn Drill on the polar bear Pokemon. That forced the bear to land on the ground, grunting in pain, as the mole Pokemon drilled into his fur.

"YES!" Everyone on the sidelines yelled as Iris started to get her spring back into her step, maybe she COULD turn the tides on this battle.

"Crap! Beartic, toss that mole into the sky." The Dragon Buster snapped.

Beartic was in a quite a bit of pain, but was able to grab Excadrill and toss him into the air.

"Now Blizzard!" Georgia commanded, and with another crack of the whip, her Beartic shot out a bursting wave of icicles. Iris ducked for cover, as did her Pokemon, who was now underground. The ice bear looked around, wondering where Excadrill could have gone. The mole Pokemon sprung up, ready to claw into Beartic.

"Fire Punch!" The Dragon Buster called out, much to everyone's surprise. The two clashed, but Beartic turned out to be much faster, and stronger, than Excadrill had thought, and he paid for his arrogance by getting sent flying into a nearby boulder by the flaming fist.

"Excadrill!" Iris yelped as she ran to find that her Pokemon was knocked out cold. She returned him back into his Poke Ball to rest.

"I'm sorry guys, I messed up." Iris thought to herself as she sank down to the ground on her hands and knees, growling in frustration at her loss.

"Excadrill is unable to battle, victory goes to Georgia" Cilan stated. Cheren, Bianca, Ash, and the Pokemon watching felt bad for Iris, and were disappointed. The Dragon Buster returned her Beartic back into its ball, but not before giving him a well-deserved rub down, treating it more like a dog Pokemon rather than a bear one.

"Don't feel too bad Iris, I'm not gonna consider that a real victory. I want to destroy strong Dragon Trainers, and it's clearly obvious you're not one. You're more like a baby trainer pretending to be a Dragon Trainer…" Georgia mocked.

"J-JUST GO AWAY!" Iris growled, blushing at the embarrassment of losing, and that last comment.

"Aw, but I wanna savor the moment. You look great on your hands and knees, bowing to me like that. It's so cute, also it's very appropriate for someone like you" Georgia gushed in a mocking tone. "Did you just have an accident baby girl?" The Buster mocked.

"Hey! Iris has never had any accidents expect that one time in the-" Bianca tried to defend her before she closed her mouth as she almost spoke of the incident that no one dared to speak of. However, that was more ammunition for the tormentor.

Iris's face went bright red as Georgia was laughing her head off. For Iris, this felt very familiar, as her mind went back to her humiliating childhood, the laugher of many joining in with the Dragon Buster's. Ash, now growling, was really, really sick of this jerk insulting and humiliating his friend. So on instinct, and in a blind rage, Ash head butted Georgia. She was taken aback in pain, and in retaliation, was about to use her whip when the others surrounded Iris, and stood by Ash's side.

"Didn't you hear Iris, she told you to go away! You had your battle, you won, now leave." Ash snapped, feeling like he was gonna punch her this time.

"Unless you wanna take the rest of us on that is!" Cheren growled, wanting to wipe the floor with her in a Pokemon battle.

"You suck; you're not nice at all!" Bianca added in her two cents. Georgia then noticed that the Pokemon that were willing to watch the fight looked like if they were given the order would attack her. Cilan just gave her a cold stare.

"Fine, whatever, I'll leave. I've got better things to do then hang out with a bunch of losers anyway. Get stronger Iris, if that's possible. I wanna break you at your best. If you can't, you've got a future in being a great footstool." The Dragon Buster taunted as she walked away.

Bianca gave Iris a loving hug; however Iris wrung herself out of that hug and climbed a nearby tree.

"Why, why'd she do that?" Bianca asked flabbergasted. "Did…was that my fault?" She asked, now feeling bad.

Cilan gave her an understanding pat on her shoulder.

"I believe that it would be wise that everyone give Iris her space for now. She's like a pie that just came out of the oven. She must be allowed to cool off. That means you too Ash." Cilan told everyone, but Ash slightly blushed at being singled out.

"Well, I'm gonna go make Iris and Axew flower crowns. That'll cheer them up, and then she'll forgive me!" Bianca declared as she and her Pokemon got to work.

"So Ash, you still wanna battle? It'll take your mind off that jerk what's her face." Cheren offered, seeing as Ash looked a bit down, almost like HE had lost the fight.

"Yeah Cheren, let's go battle." Ash said, slowly nodding his head.

Cilan watched the three leave, and looked at Pansage as he approached him…

"So…will Purrloin be needing your services often?" Cilan asked his partner, trying to not have a quivering lip at the mere thought of the Dark type cat Pokemon.

"I have much, much work ahead of me Cilan." Pansage sighed in sign language.

Iris hated crying. Crying was for little kids, for babies, for the weak. She was mature, wise for her age, and strong. Or that's was she had been telling herself over and over again as tears kept landing on her sleeves. She had been sitting on this tree branch for a while. Axew still wasn't up, Excadrill still hated her guts, and she bet anything that her friends thought she was a total joke. Oh Zekrom, she hoped that she had changed, but her insecurities were still playing around in her head. She had changed from a Dragon Master to be, and regressed back into the runt of the village. She could even hear the many taunts, insults, and mocking laugher from all the kids at the orphanage. Then Ash and Pikachu came into her line of sight.

"Hey." He simply said smiling, which caused Iris to shriek and back away a few inches.

"ASH! YOU LITTLE KID! ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK!?" She yelped as she held onto her chest, and tried to dry her eyes out with her other sleeve.

"Errr, no. Sorry Iris." Ash mumbled

"Sorry, we'll knock next time." Pikachu said with a small laugh.

As Iris caught her breath she looked at the two.

"What do you two want?" Iris grumbled, making the Kanto boy frown.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Pikachu thought he her heard you crying, and I thought you and Axew could use a snack." Ash said as he and Pikachu put two apples in her hands once they were free.

"Well thanks, but Pikachu, I can guarantee you didn't hear crying." Iris said, trying to save face, but her two friends looked like they weren't falling for it. "Okay, I was crying; you wanna call me a little kid, fine. Wouldn't be the worst thing I've been called today." The Dragon Trainer grumbled.

"Last thing on my mind Iris, I was gonna ask if you wanted to train with me once Axew's up." Ash said, getting that look in his eye. Iris nearly gave him a raised eyebrow.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because you two are my friends, I know losing to a rival is tough, but that's why we've got make you tougher." He said simply.

"Next time you meet that Ice jerk, you guys are gonna knock her flat on her butt!" Pikachu proclaimed, making the Dragon Master to be show a small smile.

She looked at the two, and after taking a bite of her apple, she smiled. Soon after, her dragon popped out of her hair, giving out a yawn, and then swiftly munching on Iris's apple.

"Someone's hungry." Iris said with a smile as she scratched Axew's sweet spot.

"Sorry I lost."Axew mumbled sadly.

Iris plucked her dragon from her purple hair.

"You did nothing wrong Axew. It was my fault, but we're gonna get better. We'll just need some help from our friends, that's all." Iris assured her Pokemon who, like Ash and Pikachu, was grinning.

"Hey, hey, hey, guys!" Bianca cried out as the two looked down to find the ever cheerful blond. "I made flower crowns! I made a lot of flower crowns! Flower crowns for everyone!" Bianca stated as she, her Pignite, Munna, Minccino, and Lillipup all had flower crowns on the top of their heads, and she had plenty for everyone else.

Iris dragged her boys down the tree in a matter of seconds, as she joyfully joined the newly made flower crown club. Cheren, his Snivy, and the rest of his Pokemon looked slightly annoyed but kept them on. Cilan and Pansage looked rather pleased. Oshawott and Tepig seemed fine, while Purrloin and Lady Snivy felt very unsure about them. The Pidove were using them as nests to roost.

"I'm sorry Iris, I didn't mean to make things worse…please forgive me, and still be my friend, pretty please?" Bianca nearly begged as she was ready to put on the flower crown.

"Aw, thank you Bianca, they look so pretty!" Iris gushed, while placing the crown on her and Axew's heads. "And I forgive you, so don't worry, we're still friends." She assured Bianca, hugging the now beaming and victorious blond. Everyone smiled at the display of friendship. "Well, I'm feeling much better, thanks guys." Iris started to say before cracking her knuckles. "And now that I'm done feeling sorry for myself, let's get to work." She declared.

"Alright, that's what I like to hear! Oshawott, play us a beat!" Pikachu said.

Everyone looked at Oshawott, who now had sunglasses, headphones, and a boombox playing X Gon' Give It To Ya! No one knew where he got any of these things, and no one asked as everyone was more focused on Ash and Iris, with Axew and Pikachu duking it out.

"Pikachu sweetheart, I find it hard to believe that Oshawott had a boombox or any of that stuff." Delia spoke over the phone.

"Well, it would have been cool." Pikachu mumbled, getting caught.

"Nice try buddy." Ash said, patting his head.

"Well, I'm sorry your little friend had to lose to someone so…pleasant." Delia said with as much sarcasm as possible.

"So what happened next? What did you guys work on first?" Delia asked, and as Ash was about to tell her, they heard rustling, making Delia jump.

"Do you have any idea what time it is? You have court first thing in the morning!" Sabrina shouted.

"Sabrina I-" Delia started to say before getting dragged by the arm.

"Nope, I don't wanna here it missy, bed right now." Sabrina ordered.

"Ugh, Sabrina! Goodnight Ash, I love you, Pikachu be good." She tried to yell before being taken away again.

The two teenagers just blinked as the screen was empty for a few minutes until Sabrina came to the phone.

"Hi Sabrina." Both Ash and Pikachu said smiling.

"Hello boys, shocked to see me?" Sabrina laughed at her own pun as Ash and Pikachu groaned. "Okay, I won't make my step kids deal with anymore of my jokes, and sorry about taking your mom away from you. Had to put her back in bed, she's had a few rough days; I bet you know what that's like." The Psychic Gym Leader informed the two boys, who nodded their heads in understanding. "So now that you've told most of the 'safe for mom' part of the story, has anything come up with your Plasma problem?" She questioned.

"This morning we ran into some problems." The two said frowning.

End of chapter.