Fancy seeing you here. I'm guessing you weren't expecting another update for a while, even if you did read my note last chapter. Anyway, welcome to Chapter 18 of Pokemon Unova Adventure! A bunch more stuff is going to happen this chapter and I'm getting excited just thinking about all of the characters being (re)introduced, but first I'll provide a short summary of what happened last chapter. Owen met two rivals, Dante and Astral on his way to the tournament. Owen lost to Dante in a 3 vs 3 battle, and it was revealed that Sawk through the battle because he lost his love for battling! And while he confessed his throwing of the battle to Heatmor, a Pokemon belonging to one of the group heard everything. What chaos will ensue now? Let's find out!

Owen's team

Snivy, (f), level 10, Tackle, Leer, Absorb, Vine Whip

Tranquill, (f), level 23, Detect, Air Cutter, Gust, Quick Attack

Blitzle, (m), level 15, Quick Attack, Shock Wave

Sawk, (m), level 27, Brick Break, Bulk Up, Mega Punch, Blaze Kick

Heatmor, (m), level 21, Flame Burst, Tackle, Hone Claws, Flame Wheel

"Kanto, it's so good to see you!" Owen heard CJ exclaim as they and Fate walked off of the cruise to look around Vermillion City. Since his journey through the Kanto region, Kanto had stayed the exact same way it was. No new buildings were constructed, no new gyms were formed, and Lavender Town was still avoided at all costs. Gym leaders had been replaced over the four years, including Janine and Giovanni. Owen lagged behind CJ and Fate, who were both ecstatic about returning to the beautiful region, which was where their friendship had started.

"Owen, come on! Professor Oak told us to meet him at the Pokemon Center," Fate told the powerful trainer. Owen didn't say anything, but he did match his friends' walking speed so they could get to the Pokemon Center. Snivy looked around at the new surroundings and sniffed the foreign air actively as she tried soaking in the culture of Kanto. When they finally reached the Pokemon Center, Hez and Leaf sniffed all of the flowers, remembering each one from when they had first traveled the region.

"I wonder what Professor Oak has in store this time," CJ said aloud while holding the Pokemon Egg in his arms. There were several cracks around the body of the egg, and that was left was for the Pokemon to break out. Fate shrugged her shoulders while Owen grunted unemotionally. After thinking about Janine's death the entire night before, Owen was in a horrible place emotionally. He decided that he'd try pushing the memory of her out of his mind, and it had worked up until he began talking about his championship battle against Taylor, which also made him angry because he lost.

CJ and Fate knew Owen would revert back to his typical hyperactive personality that would most likely stick with him forever. Snivy, who was sitting on the depressed teen's shoulder learned that she had to follow the same path Fate and CJ were taking, which was letting Owen deal with his emotions by himself.

"Here we go! Let's see what's inside!" Fate chanted as the group of three walked into the Pokemon Center.

Much to their dismay, no one was their to greet the group. Owen didn't seem to care about the festivities, but Fate and CJ looked devastated. The angry teenage girl walked up to Nurse Joy, fuming that people who knew her weren't present.

"Excuse me!" she screamed unintentionally. Nurse Joy nearly jumped out of her seat, and her Chancey came close to tackling Fate. Lucky for Fate, the counter was incredibly tall, so Chancey wasn't able to attack her. "We're looking for Professor Oak. He was supposed to be here, waiting for us," Fate told Nurse Joy while CJ and Owen walked up to her sides. The pink haired woman checked the computer to her left and began scrolling through what seemed to be a billion files.

"Ah! Professor Oak is waiting out back for you," Nurse Joy replied gently with a smile on her face. The group of teenagers bowed thankfully before walking towards a door that led to the back of the Pokemon Center. Vermillion City's Pokemon Center was much different than most other Pokemon Centers. Along with the normal training grounds for trainers and coordinators, there was a private section that was used by people who waned to sit in the beautiful Vermillion weather without being near the battles that generally got out of hand.

CJ threw the doors open, and the group of trainers was met by Professor Oak, Gary Oak, Owen's parents, and a young man that Owen and Fate had never met before. He had pale skin and wore a red hat along with a red vest. His jeans were dark blue, and he wore a pair of black and white runners. He was about 76 inches tall and his muscles were toned. He didn't look to be any older than twenty, but the way he held himself was way older.

"Welcome back to Kanto, everyone!" Owen's mom cheered as she hugged Owen, CJ, and Fate individually before heading into the Pokemon Center to get the food that had been ordered.

"Owen, it's so great seeing you again. And much earlier than expected, too," Professor Oak remarked happily. "How are your Pokemon doing?" he asked curiously while studying Snivy, who was slightly intimidated by the old man that was looking at her.

"They're great," Owen replied in a fake upbeat attitude that none of the adults picked up on. "They're all really strong. We've just run into a few problems," Owen replied. "Come on out!" Owen yelled as he threw the four other Pokeballs into the air. Tranquill, Blitzle, Sawk, and Heatmor lined up in chronological order of capture, while Snivy hopped off of her trainer and ran to the far left.

"Wow, this looks like a very strong team," Professor Oak said aloud while looking at each of Owen's five Pokemon. The elderly man introduced himself to all five of Owen's Pokemon, and he was met with energetic replies, except from Sawk. When Professor Oak greeted himself, he got into a staring contest with Sawk, who eventually decided to bow to the professor.

"How did you manage to catch Heatmor so early into your journey?" the man with the red hat asked. "Most trainers find those after they get their seventh or eighth badges."

"I woke up in the middle of the night in Castelia City and I decided to got train at a complex that had a ton of battlefields. So I went there and got jumped by some two goons. They managed to beat everyone here, and Snivy saws about to go into a two versus one battle until Heatmor swept in and roasted those guys. Right, buddy?" Owen asked the anteater Pokemon. Heatmor nodded emphatically, which made the adults chuckle lightly.

"Owen, we have a surprise for you," Owen heard his mother sing as she reappeared from the Pokemon Center. Before he could turn around to see, a pair of powerful hands grabbed him. In the blink of an eye, Owen was flying about twenty feet in the air. Owen's Pokemon didn't understand what was happening, so Tranquill took to the air in an attempt to get her trainer back.

"It's okay, Tranquill. This right here is my best friend," Owen told the flying type. Tranquill reluctantly landed on the ground, and the Pokemon holding Owen landed also. After escaping the Pokemon's powerful grasp, Owen turned to see none other than Charizard, his first Pokemon. The winged lizard roared happily before firing a small flame into the air and it began to blow up like fireworks, impressing everyone watching.

"Charizard has been working very hard around the laboratory," Gary told Owen. "Whenever someone tries sneaking in to steal Pokemon, Charizard takes care of 'em with no problems. Isn't that right, Charizard?" Gary asked the powerful fire and flying type. Charizard nodded in confirmation and then looked over at CJ and Fate. The enormous Pokemon hugged both trainers, but let them go as soon as he saw Leaf and Hez.

"Jeez, Charizard sure is happy to see everyone again," Fate announced while watching Hez and Charizard fist bump each other while Leaf used his vines to shake Charizard's hand.

"It's been four years since he's seen you, and about two since he's seen me. Heck, he saw Owen a month ago, which is a pretty long time to be away from your Pokemon," CJ told the younger girl. Fate nodded at the comment while also blushing slightly at the attention she had received, but CJ didn't notice.

"It's so good to see you, Charizard," Owen said with a genuine ear to ear smile on his face. His first Pokemon smiled back and nodded before being introduced to Owen's newly caught Pokemon.

First, he met Tranquill. The two flying types inspected each other's wings before smiling at one another. Tranquill, however, was quite nervous when Charizard went in to hug her. His absurd strength combined with her small frame would've made a bad result, so they decided to tap wings.

Next was Blitzle. Charizard was fascinated by the electric type's changing fur when electricity was surging through his body, and the two got along quite well.

Then, Sawk introduced himself to Charizard and bowed respectfully. Charizard followed the fighting type's introduction and bowed, but he almost poked Sawk's eyes out with his wings. The two Pokemon laughed about the incident and they began talking about something in great detail. It was clear that both Pokemon respected the other, even though Charizard was over thirty levels higher than Sawk.

"So you're Owen's strongest Pokemon," Sawk started with a grin. "I always hear them talking about you and your friends from Kanto and how strong that team was. It's an honor to meet you," Sawk told Charizard.

"It's an honor to meet you two. From what I've seen so far, I'm guessing you're the strongest here?"

"I don't want to sound egotistical, but I think so. Owen puts me up against the toughest opponents," Sawk replied. "But, there is someone on this team that has so much potential he could singlehandedly bring down an entire team in a full battle," Sawk whispered to Charizard.

"Seriously? Who is it?" Charizard quizzed. Sawk subtly pointed towards Heatmor, but he didn't notice. "What makes him so special?" Charizard asked curiously. "Strength? Work ethic?"

"Both. We competed in a contest and I was getting crushed. He's on the opposite side of the battlefield, and they guy attacking me is two feet away. Heatmor threw him across the stage before I could get attacked. It's only happened once, but the holes on his wrists were shooting out fire and so was his tail. The brown colored parts of on his body had turned bright red, and the yellow parts turned pure black."

"Hmm… I'll check it out. Nice meeting you," Charizard told Sawk as he walked over to Heatmor with an idea growing in his mind.

After that, Charizard was greeted by Snivy, who used a Vine Whip attack to grab his attention, which caused everyone to laugh, and then it was used to shake his hand. Charizard seemed to take a liking to Snivy, most likely because of them being Owen's starters for their respective regions.

Lastly was Heatmor. Charizard walked up to the fellow fire type and analyzed the smaller Pokemon. Heatmor shook violently while Charizard stared him down, but the two fire types had some kind of natural bond. Owen assumed it was because of them both being fire types. Instead of shaking hands or exchanging bows, Heatmor greeted Charizard by shooting a powerful Flame Burst into the air. Heatmor stuck his chest out proudly because he thought Charizard couldn't best his fire. Oh how Heatmor was wrong. Charizard took the liberty of unleashing a devastating Blast Burn that reached miles into the sky. Heatmor's jaw hit the ground after Charizard walked away as if he did nothing, which for Charizard's standards, it truly was nothing.

"That's one strong Pokemon you got there, kid," the man with the red hat said while looking at Charizard. I haven't seen many, if any Pokemon that strong in my life. How long have you had him for?" he asked while leaning back in a chair while his feet were popped up on a table.

"A little more than four years. He hasn't been on a journey with me in three years, so we don't practice together very often," Owen told the man, whose name he did not know.

"That's special," the man said. "You've got a special Pokemon, and a special talent for training. You have a bright future ahead of you," the man told Owen with a smile. With that, he got out of his chair and shook Professor Oak's and Gary's hands, and patted CJ on the back before leaving. Once the glass doors behind him were shut, CJ turned to Owen and began to freak out.

"Well that was weird," Owen said aloud, completely unaware of who had just spoken to him, and how significant that compliment actually was. For some reason, everyone there thought he was kidding, and acted as if they didn't know who the man was either.

"It's great seeing everyone again, even though we don't really know each other, Gray," Owen told the young man.

"That's Professor Oak to you, Owen," Gary replied jokingly.

"That reminds me; how's retirement treating you, Samuel?" Mr. Plateau asked Professor Oak. Owen completely ignored the boring conversation between the two adults. Instead, he opted to watch Charizard teach Heatmor some fire type attack. While he was watching, Owen sighed and turned back to face the retired Professor Oak.

"It stinks this tournament wasn't in a Pallet Town, Professor. I could've introduced these guys to everyone over at the lab," Owen said while petting Snivy. The grass snake beamed at the idea of meeting Owen's other Pokemon, but then realized that they weren't near his hometown.

"Well, Charizard wasn't the only Pokemon we brought," Mrs. Plateau told her son. Owen gave his mother a confused look, but he saw that she was serious, which lead him to think about which of his Pokemon was brought along with Charizard. CJ and Fate laughed as they watched Owen make a list of all his Pokemon, and he tried using equations to determine which Pokemon of his was in Vermillion.

"Here, Owen." Gary extended his arm across the circular table everyone was sitting at. Owen saw a Pokeball resting in Gary's palm and he took it excitedly before calling over the six Pokemon that belonged to him.

"Do you guys want to meet another Pokemon of mine?" Owen asked. Even if his Pokemon had said no he still would've shown them which Pokemon it was. The five Unova Pokemon nodded, so Owen threw the Pokeball high in the air. He watched as it opened when the max height was reached, and a beam of white light flashed, causing everyone to cover their eyes. After the temporary blindness was over, Owen uncovered his eyes and saw Prinplup standing in front of him.

"Wow, a Prinplup? Why didn't you use that during the Sinnoh League?" Fate asked Owen while she kept her eyes on Prinplup.

"Well, I kind of blew him up once or twice, and then I forgot him in a city. So I didn't catch him until the start of the Sinnoh League, and he was a level 21." Fate rolled her eyes at the series of events Owen went through, and he still managed to get Prinplup.

"Why don't you bring him back to Unova?" Owen's parents suggested in unison. Their son looked at them and then over at the group of seven Pokemon. Charizard was returning to the lab on his own choice, so he'd be left with a full team.

"And you could use a water type," Professor Oak pointed out while looking at Owen's team. Owen didn't even waste a second to ask Prinplup to join his team, as he hopped out of his chair and squatted so he could be eye-level with the water type Sinnoh starter.

"Prinplup, I was thinking since you didm't travel with me in Sinnoh, you could help me out in Unova. Are you up for that?" Owen asked, hoping the Pokemon would say yes. Prinplup jumped up in glee, and he began to introduce himself to his new teammates. Snivy, Tranquill, Blitzle, and Heatmor all introduced themselves to Prinplup and began to talk to one another in Poke-Speak.

"Well, we better head out now if we want to catch your tournament tomorrow," Owen's dad told his son. "Remember to give it your all!" Owen nodded at his dad's advice, and he hugged both of his parents before they left. After they did, CJ and Fate released their other Pokemon so they could all play with each other.

"Hey, have you noticed Sawk hasn't really said anything to anyone of your Pokemon?" CJ asked before pouring himself a glass of soda. Owen and Fate watched as Sawk looked out of place with the rest of the Pokemon. Though it was common for him to not talk, the way he looked seemed a bit off.

"Yeah… I did. I'm gonna go talk to him in private," Owen said. The tall teenager's amber eyes danced from Pokemon to Pokemon, smiling at all of them. When he finally made his way to Sawk, he looked down at the fighting type and smiled. "Sawk, could I talk to you in private?" Owen asked. Sawk looked up at his trainer nervously, but he nodded. Owen's Pokemon turned and watched as their trainer and strongest team member walked into the Pokemon Center and disappeared from everyone's vision. Heatmor continued to stare at the door before smiling.

"Good for Sawk. Owen will definitely ask him if he's sure he wants to compete in contests, anybody in their right mind would ask Sawk that. But Owen… he'll let Sawk go if it makes him happy," Heatmor thought to himself. He then looked around at his teammates and he began to get butterflies in his stomach. "Oh man, now I'm the go-to Pokemon, just like Sawk said. Snivy isn't strong enough, Blitzle can't store his electricity, Tranquill's a flying type and they're never a trainer's strongest Pokemon. That just leaves me and Prinplup. I don't know if I'm ready for this! What if I lose in the tournament, and that's why Owen get's knocked out? I can't do this!"

Heatmor snapped out of the conversation he was having with himself, and he saw that Charizard was walking over towards him.

"Hi, Charizard. Do you need something?" Heatmor asked. Charizard looked down at the pure fire type in silence, which drew the attention of all the Pokemon. Though he didn't react, Charizard sensed something strange. "Did I do something to bother you?" Heatmor asked nervously as he got up and began backing away from Charizard. The sense Charizard began to strengthen, even though Heatmor was moving away from him. Having battled plenty of strong opponents, Charizard was always able to tell how strong they were based on instincts. This strength, however, was not normal.t

"No. But we need to talk," Charizard replied with a smile, causing the strange power surrounding Heatmor to disappear. The Pokemon watching didn't understand Charizard's antics, but they didn't dare question the fully evolved Pokemon.

000

"What's on your mind, Sawk? You haven't acted like your usual self the last day on the cruise, and today. Is someone bothering you?" Owen asked like a concerned parent. Sawk looked at his trainer as if he were the world's biggest idiot after asking the second question. "Yeah… that was a bad question, haha." Owen rubbed his neck sheepishly afterwards, but regained his composure.

Sawk began twiddling his thumbs while sitting across from Owen at their booth table in the Pokemon Center. He wanted to tell Owen how he felt about contests, and Owen could tell that Sawk really wanted to tell him something.

"Sawk, listen," Owen ordered. The fighting type obeyed the teenager and looked Owen right in the eyes. "If you think I'm going to be mad at you, or disappointed, I totally understand why you can't say what you want to. But I promise," Owen stuck his hand out for a handshake. "I won't have any problem with what you want to tell me." Sawk looked at Owen and then at the hand extended towards him. Sawk unsurely reached his arm out and waited a few seconds to reach for Owen's hand. He wasn't 100% certain Owen would stay true to his word, but he needed to tell his trainer. Sawk shook his hand, and Owen took out his Pokedex and turned on the translator app.

"I… I just want to say thank you for being such a great trainer. I wasn't totally sold on you when I joined your team, but you proved that you cared for all of us like we're you're own kids," Sawk told Owen. His voice was shaky, Owen noticed, so he smiled to make Sawk calm down.

"That's because you guys are my friends. I'd never treat you like anything less, because I know that you guys go out there and fight your hearts out just so I can achieve my dream," Owen told Sawk, causing the fighting type to take a deep breath.

"I feel like a traitor saying this, but I don't have any interest in battling anymore. Ever since I competed in the Castelia Contest, I just lost my drive to fight," Sawk confessed. He hung his head after finishing his confession because he didn't want to see Owen's reaction.

"I'm totally fine with that." Sawk's head shot up, and he looked at Owen like he was crazy.

"Are-Are you s-sure?" Sawk stammered. Owen nodded and slid out of the booth. Sawk did the same thing, but was caught off guard when Owen embraced him.

"I'm gonna miss battling with you, but I know you'll be awesome at contests," Owen whispered while still hugging the fighting type. Sawk made no attempt to break away from his trainer, and he hugged Owen back. After another ten seconds of silence, the two broke away from each other. Owen began to tear up, but tried laughing to hold off the tears. Sawk did the same thing.

"Owen, thank you for being my trainer." Owen nodded and held the tears back. He made sure not to talk until he knew he wouldn't cry, which took five minutes. After the time elapsed, he looked up at Sawk.

"So do you want me to give you to Fate? Or do you want me to release you?" Owen asked quietly.

000

"Puff, I told you to use more finesse," Fate whined. While Owen was inside with Sawk, Fate decided to start practicing her opening routine for her next contest in Nimbasa City. Fate wanted to make the performance cute and adorable to win over the judges. Puff, on the other hand, wanted to use Dynamic Punch on anything that moved. "Let's try it one more time. Use Sing and then hit a note with Dynamic Punch!" Puff refused to listen to the singing aspect of the command, and instead she ran straight at a tree and punched it with her glowing red fist. The thirty foot tree was completely destroyed by the small Pokemon, which made Wotter laugh so hard he started crying. All of the other Pokemon were either sleeping or playing tag.

"You know, Fate, maybe Puff isn't cut out for this contest thing. I mean, you saw her during Owen's battle a couple days ago. She wrecked Aura," CJ opined while he was laying down on a row of four chairs that he had arranged himself.

"No way! Puff loves contests. Right, Puff?" The Jigglypuff turned to Fate with a Dynamic Punch ready and a look of anger on her face, causing Fate to sweat drop. "So let's say she's not cut out for contests, I can't catch a low leveled Pokemon and throw it out there! I need a high leveled Pokemon!" Fate screamed.

"She does realize you and Angel are like, level 10, right?" CJ asked Wotter. The water starter shook his head no and began banging his head against the table because of how frustrated he was by Fate's stupid comment. Owen and Sawk walked out of the Pokemon Center and shook their heads at Wotter. The two made their way over to Fate and Puff, and the small normal type was elated when she saw Owen walk over.

"Hey, Fate, I know you have a full team for contests right now, but Sawk really wants to compete in contests, so I was wondering if you could take him," Owen told the lone girl of the group. Fate's eyes lit up at the proposition, and she hugged Owen while squeezing as tight as she could.

"That's perfect! It turns out Puff hates contests and likes destroying things a lot more," Fate replied. Owen looked down at Puff, and the pink ball smiled happily. The look on her face was one of desperation. Puff wanted to battle so badly ever since watching Owen's battle against Dante.

"Are you two okay with this?" Owen asked Sawk and Puff. The two Pokemon nodded happily which brought Owen and Fate to the trade station. CJ watched the two place their Pokeballs on the trade machine while he held the egg he received from the Day Care Center tightly, and it was covered in a blanket. Owen and Fate watched as two small white dots passed through the green tubes, and they switched sides. Sawk went from the left over to the right, which was Fate's side, and Puff went from the right to the left, which was Owen's. A loud PING! echoed through the Pokemon Center, confirming the trade between Owen and Fate.

"Sawk, come on out!" Fate sang.

"Puff, you too!" Owen followed. The two Pokemon each appeared in front of their new trainer with bright smiles on their faces. The traded Pokemon were happy not because they hated their trainers, in fact, they loved their trainers. The reason they were so happy was because they were with a trainer that had the same interest as them.

"Guys! Guys! The egg's hatching CJ cried. Owen and Fate turned to see CJ holding the glowing egg. The egg began to take the shape of the Pokemon it was going to be, and the white light surrounding was thrown in all directions. After the group gained their vision, they saw a rathe large mole with gigantic white claws sitting in CJ's arms. "Sweet! It's a Drilbur!" CJ shouted victoriously. "I'm going to name you Excalibur. How do you like that name?" CJ asked in a baby voice, which creeped Owen out. Fate, however, giggled at the voice, which creeped Owen out even more. The teen rolled his eyes and went back outside with his newly acquired Pokemon, Puff.

As Owen and Puff walked around their area in the back of the Pokemon Center for the day they began gathering the team of six. Snivy, Tranquill, Blitzle, Prinplup, and Heatmor were told of Sawk's decision and then introduced to Puff. The normal type was welcomed warmly, and she got along well with the other five Pokemon. Owen turned to see Fate introducing Sawk to her team, and for a moment, he and Sawk locked eyes.

Owen gave the fighting type a thumbs up, and Sawk bowed to his former trainer.

Turning back to his team of six, a bright smile was present on Owen's face. "Alright, let's start training for this tournament!"

Fin. You know, I would say that was a quiet chapter, but with a trade and the arrivals of two new Pokemon, I guess it's really not. Well, that concludes the end of Chapter 18. I know that the Charizard and Heatmor scene wasn't in this chapter, so don't worry. That scene will be put into one of the next three chapters, and it's going to lead to a huge change! Till next time, peace out.

1) Who was your favorite addition out of all the teams? (Puff-Owen, Prinplup-Owen, Sawk-Fate, Drilbur-CJ)

2) Do you think Charizard would be a good mentor for Heatmor?

Next Chapter: An Explosive First Round