Gary walked through the streets of Veilstone, kicking leaves as he went. He realized with a shock that it had been a week ago since he first met Rae, but it had seemed like he'd known her for a lifetime. He sat down on a curb beside an alley and let out his Blastoise, his starter Pokémon.
"Blastoise?" His Pokémon questioned.
"I almost got her killed." He said in an almost whisper. His water Pokémon turned his head and nodded as Gary continued, louder, "But that was then, this is now. I'll die before she goes back in their hands."
"I'm glad you feel that way." Gary jumped up to his feet at the sound of Volkner's voice. He stared at the boy as he recalled his Blastoise back to the Pokeball. "You know, you better watch it. Rae's stubborn, and one wrong move may send her into my arms." Volkner finished with a smirk.
Gary returned his smirk. "Is that a threat?"
"No, a promise." Volkner said with a smile. "Don't you realize she doesn't want to be cooped up because she is wanted by them?" He took a step closer to Gary. "You don't know her. Her Dragon Warrior power makes her a deadly enemy to have. She could beat Drake."
"I know she's tough. She's the first to beat me in the awhile." He took a slight pause and looked around before continuing. He could feel something wasn't right… someone was here that shouldn't be… "That doesn't mean she should just waltz in and attack him! They play terribly dirty, and you didn't see her today. The Elites had a Gallade with its sword to her neck."
"That we did." A voice said, coming from the alley. Volkner quickly ripped a Pokeball off his belt as Gary grabbed for his Electivire's Pokeball as the two boys watched Lucian step out of the shadows. "Now boys, please come quietly with me. We need some bait."
"Rae?" Ash asked as he knocked on the door of the room that was designated as her and Misty's. "Can I come in?"
She nodded as she looked in the mirror, taking her hair out of her towel and turning on the straighter. Under Misty's supervision, the two of them had dyed her hair from the natural black curls to brown straight hair. While they were doing this, Dawn and Paul, (who was forced to) ran to the Shopping Mall to get Rae a new outfit to try to disguise herself to go out. Completely disregarding her purple now, she dressed in completely black in white with a white hat with black bill and pokeball, a black jacket with white sleeves and pockets, and black pants with white accents.
"What's up?" She asked as she began to straighten her hair. She looked unrecognizable even to herself, and Ash almost started to wonder if she really was Rae.
"What happened?" Ash asked sitting at the edge of what he thought was Misty's bed. "Gary never told us where you were, and we had no idea."
She momentarily paused as she looked back at Ash through the mirror. With a sigh, she started, "I'm something called a Dragon Warrior apparently."
"Which means?"
"Which means, apparently I have the ability to call Arceus forth whenever I need him. Supposedly. However, Drake has said that I have a special affinity for my Dragon type Pokémon, which I do." She paused for a moment, her stomach flip-flopping. "Ash, something is wrong."
He looked at her in question as she jumped up and grabbed her hat. "What do you mean?" He half said half yelled as he chased her down the hall of the Pokémon Center and out the front door. He sprinted and caught up to her, bursting upon a Pokémon battle between Volkner and a guy with purple hair.
"Jolteon, dodge!" Volkner pleaded with his Pokémon, but Ash could tell it was futile. No matter what, the Gallade's attack hit, causing it to faint with a cry. Volkner stumbled back as he recalled Jolteon.
"See? The gym leader's attempts are futile." He said in disgust. "Gary, would you like a turn?"
Gary opened his mouth, but unbeknownst to him, Rae was quicker.
"No. It's my turn." She said, walking towards the man. Ash ran over where Gary was giving Volkner a couple of Revives while squinting.
"Does she know who she's battling?" Gary asked while he studied Rae, not actually knowing who she was.
"Well… yes." Ash replied. He dropped his voice. "That's Rae."
"What?" Gary and Volkner both yelled before Ash motioned for them to drop their voice.
Rae… Gary thought to himself, Please know what you're doing.
Rae POV:
I've got the element of surprise, I thought to myself with a smirk as I grabbed for Charizard's Pokeball, knowing he would keep Gallade in.
"Miss, do you know who I am?" Lucian asked me, his arms out wide in a flourish. "I am the last of the Elite Four, the captain if you will."
"I know who you are." I stated stiffly. "And I'm sick of you guys trying to take advantage of me, my Pokémon and my friends." I said, throwing Charizard's Pokeball.
"You're… you're kidding me." Lucian said with a fluster. "You're really going to battle." He looked back towards where I knew Gary was, probably waiting to kill me as soon as I was done.
I smirked. "Of course I am. Charizard, Wing Attack, now!" I shouted, pointing towards Gallade. Volkner must have weakened it considerably, because it fainted as soon as Charizard finished its attack.
"You got lucky, girlie." Lucian said, glaring across the street at me. "C'mon Espeon, show the girl why we're the best of the Elites!"
An Espeon similar to my own landed in front of my Charizard. I narrowed my eyes, knowing that I was screwed if I lost this battle. But I had faith in my Pokémon, and knew they'd get me through whatever happened.
"Espeon, Psybeam!"
"Charizard, block with a Flamethrower!" I countered, but flinched as it went through to him. He staggered back and shook his head, dazed and obviously hurt. I knew the Espeon could hit hard out my own experience. "Charizard, now Earthquake!" I yelled as Charizard flew a loop in the air and slammed to the ground next to Espeon as Lucian yelled for it to use a Psychic. I felt the ground shake a fell to the ground on my knees. When I looked up, I saw that both Charizard and Espeon had fallen, fainted.
"Good work, Charizard" I murmured to him as I recalled him to the Pokeball. I grabbed Garchomp's Pokeball and threw it onto field while Lucian did the same with his Brongzong. I grew surprised to see that he only had one more Pokémon left after this one.
"Brongzong, use Block!" Lucian yelled. I felt the Pokeball fly off my belt and levitate in midair right above me.
Frustrated, I yelled. "Garchomp, Fire Fang!"
"Dodge!"
But it was too late. My Garchomp was faster than his Brongzong by a long shot. Garchomp gripped onto the Brongzong with teeth of fire.
"Now, Gyro Ball Brongzong!" Lucian yelled.
"Dodge!"
The Gyro ball hit, even as Garchomp tried to dig out and dodge. The Pokeball dropped from the air and I grabbed it.
"You did good, Garchomp." I said, recalling him to his ball. I took a deep breath and grabbed Dragonite, one of my father's Pokémon that I have never used. "Dragonite, let's do this!" I yelled tossing the Pokeball out. "Now, quickly, use a Thunderbolt."
Dragonite clapped as a bolt of lightning came down out of thin air, completely frying the Brongzong in front of it. It lifted its hand to its mouth as if it was yawning as Lucian let out his final Pokémon, Mr. Mime.
"Don't think you've got this in the bag." He said without any real hopefulness. "We may come back and win."
"Doubtful." I said with a smirk. "Dragonite, Ice Beam please."
"Dragonite." It said smiling. Its mouth opened wide and let out a beam of blue frozen water straight towards the Mr. Mime, actually freezing it in place. "Now, use Brick Break!" I yelled. Dragonite hopped in the air and flew over to Mr. Mime, shattering the ice off Mr. Mime, effectively knocking it out in two hits.
"Wha…" Lucian said as he recalled his Pokémon. Dragonite stayed out, gloating gleefully as Gary ran up and captured me in a hug.
"You scared the hell out of me." He whispered in my ear, squeezing me to death.
We let go of each other and he spun me around so he was still holding onto me while we were facing Lucian. "Give up." I said, glaring at him. "I beat you fair and square."
He analyzed me. "You might have been able to take me down easily, but you have to defeat the other two to get anywhere close to Drake. Good luck with that." Lucian raised his hand, throwing a smoke ball. I felt Gary wrap his arms tighter around me as I buried my face into his chest, coughing as I recalled Dragonite back to his Pokeball.
Gary grabbed me again, planting a kiss on the top of my head. "I thought I was going to loose you again."
"How do you think I felt?" I asked looking at him and Volkner. "I run in seeing my guy best friend get beaten and my," I paused, not entirely sure what to call Gary. "About ready to fight him."
"I promise," Gary started, pulling me back closer to him, "from now on we are taking this organization down together."