Enter N!

"I'm headed off for my Gym Battle with Elesa now!" shouted Evelyn.

"All right!" I responded. "Good luck! Philip and I are going to look to strengthen his team up and add some new Pokemon."

"Cool!" said Zach. "I'll be with Evelyn, watching the battle."

As we left Evelyn and Zach at the gym, Philip and I spotted a Pokemon while walking towards the ferris wheel in the amusement park.

"Mienfoo, the Martial Arts Pokemon. In battle, Mienfoo never stops moving, flowing through one attack after another with grace and speed. Its claws are very sharp."

"Hey, Philip," I said. "I think that Mienfoo is wild! Do you wanna catch it?"

He thought for a second, and then responded, "A fighting type would do me some good, so sure!"

He approached the Pokemon slowly, and said, "Hi, Mienfoo. Do you have a Trainer?"

Mienfoo shook its head. "Mien, mienfoo."

Philip smiled and said, "Would you like to be part of my team?"

Mienfoo jumped into a battle position and nodded.

"So, you wanna battle me, and then join me?" Philip asked.

"Mien, mien," it said as it nodded.

"All right!" he said. "Krokorok, let's go!"

"Are you ready, Evelyn?" asked Elesa. "'Cause if you are, we could start right away!"

"Sure!" Evelyn said.

The referee stated the rules, but Evelyn could only focus on the battle ahead of her. But then, something got her attention.

"This is going to be a two on two battle?" she asked Elesa.

Elesa nodded. "Yeah. After that long battle against that Trainer Kyle, my Pokemon are tired! Why, is there a problem with that?"

Evelyn shook her head.

"Very well then! Joltik, come on out!" shouted Elesa.

"Axew, I choose you!" yelled Evelyn.

The first battle seemed easy enough, but Kyle had warned her about Joltik's webs that had knocked out Gabite. She had to be extra careful.

Joltik started the battle off by using Bug Bite on Axew, but Axew rolled out of the way quicklu, then followed the attack by using Dual Chop. It hit Joltik, and the Pokemon flew off!

Axew followed up by using Dragon Rage, but Joltik recovered and countered the attack with Electro Ball, pushing the attack back to Axew.

Despite the damage taken, Axew stood up. It ran to Joltik and attempted to use Bite, but Joltik stopped it in its tracks by catching it in a Sticky Web!

Axew was stuck, and Joltik used this as an opportunity by using Bug Bite on Axew, weakening it. Axew tried to free itself by using Dual Chop, and it worked!

Axew fired a Dragon Rage at Joltik, and Joltik fired an Electro Ball at it. A cloud formed around the two Pokemon.

The battle between Krokorok and Mienfoo started. Mienfoo leaped at Krokorok with a Karate Chop, but Krokorok used Dig and dodged the move.

Mienfoo concentrated on the location where Krokorok would come out, and when Krokorok leaped out of the ground behind it, Mienfoo leaped into the air and used Hi Jump Kick and landed a powerful attack on Krokorok's head.

Krokorok was knocked to the ground, but it still managed to get up. Then, it used Mud Shot on Mienfoo, blinding it. Krokorok followed up by using Crunch on the stunned Mienfoo, sending it flying.

Krokorok jumped into the air and used a move it had newly learned:Assurance. It slapped Mienfoo to the ground, knocking it out.

"All right!" shouted Philip. "PokeBall, go!"

He threw the ball at the unconcious Pokemon, but before it intercepted, a man with green hair knocked it away and said, "You will not imprison this Pokemon, Philip!"

I looked at Philip, who looked terribly shocked. "Philip? What's wrong? Who is that guy?"

"Th-that's N!" he stammered. "N is th-the king of Team Plasma!"

"Joltik is unable to battle, which means the winner is Axew!"

"Joltik, my dear, return!" shouted Elesa. Then, she turned to Evelyn. "That was incredible battling! You are a tough Trainer! But I'm not sure you can handle this Pokemon! Emolga, let's go!"

Emolga came out of its PokeBall. Axew was ready for it, and rightaway shot at it with Dragon Rage. Emolga spun around the burst and used Aerial Ace on the stunned Axew.

Axew was knocked back, but once again got up. It waited until Emolga used Aerial Ace on it one more time, and right before it attacked, Axew used Dual Chop. Both moves made contact.

Although Emolga was damaged by the move, Axew was about to faint with one more hit! But it perservered and used Dragon Rage once again on the hurt Emolga.

Emolga leaped up, dodged the attack, and used Acrobatics on Axew, knocking it out.

"Axew is unable to battle, which means the winner is Emolga!"

"Axew, good job!" said Evelyn. "Return."

Evelyn thought about a Pokemon that could slow down Emolga and damage it badly. Monferno was quick, but its Mach Punch wouldn't work well against a Flying-type like Emolga. Munna was too slow. Swadloon was slow too, but...

"Swadloon," Evelyn shouted, "let's go!"

Swadloon came out of its PokeBall, ready to fight. Emolga started off the battle that would determine the victor by using Acrobatics on Swadloon. Swadloon tried to dodge, but the move hit.

Emolga once again charged at Swadloon, but this time, Swadloon was ready. It shot out a String Shot and tied Emolga up. Then, it used a combination of Razor Leaf and Bug Bite, damaging it. Emolga couldn't escape!

Swadloon prepared itself for a final Bug Bite, but Emolga cut through the strings that tied it up with Acrobatics, and then used Discharge on Swadloon, sending it flying! While it was in mid-air, Emolga used its final Aerial Ace and knocked Swadloon to the ground.

"SWADLOON!" shouted Evelyn. This looked bad. It could've been over.

"GET UP! You are very strong, I know you can do this!" she continued. "I believe in you!"

Swadloon looked ready to faint, but it stood up. Suddenly, a blue light shone around it. It was evolving due to its strong friendship and bond with Evelyn!

Out of the light came a tall Pokemon that Evelyn was familiar with.

"Leavanny!" Evelyn shouted.

Leavanny was ready to fight and beat Emolga once and for all. Emolga glided towards it to use Aerial Ace, but Leavanny stopped it with Razor Leaf. Then, Leavanny used String Shot to tie Emolga up. This was Evelyn's chance to win this!

Leavanny used Bug Bite on Emolga, and the battle was over.

"Emolga is unable to battle, which means the winner is Leavanny, and the victor is the challenger, Evelyn!"

Evelyn went to praise Leavanny, who ran to its Trainer and hugged her. Then, Elesa approached them and said, "That was some glistening battling! You two shone like stars. Here, take this badge!"

As she handed the badge to Evelyn, she turned to Zach and said, "You better get ready to present that Musical to me today, by the way! You did win that ribbon, right?"

Zach looked stunned. Evelyn laughed. He had forgotten!

"So you're the one behind that evil organization!" I shouted. "You should be ashamed of yourself, covering your evil actions up by saying you're liberating Pokemon! We all know that you're not!"

N looked stunned. "I don't know what you are talking about, but we DO liberate Pokemon to get them away from harmful Trainers like the bunch of you."

Philip looked to his former leader and said, "N, you are blinded! Ghetsis and the other Sages are manipulating everything! They torture Pokemon and call it an 'experiment'."

N shrugged. "Even if that were true, I would NEVER tolerate that kind of action!"

Then, he looked at me. "You, Trainer. You think your Pokemon are just appliances?"

I snapped, "NO! They are my partners and friends!"

He looked at me blankly, "Then send out one of your Pokemon and let them talk to me."

"TALK to you?!" I shouted. "You can do that, too?"

Suddenly, N was interested. "You possess the ability, too?"

"Yes," I responded. "Although, it only happened once, when Servine and I were battling against a mysterious Trainer. Servine shone green and it... turned into me, kind of. It sort of looked like me. I knew what it was thinking, and it could talk to me! I didn't even have to say anything to give it commands!"

N smiled. "I want to have a battle with this Servine of yours. Just to see the bond you share."

"Deal!" I responded. "Servine, come out!"

"Ok," N said, "Liepard, I choose you!"

Liepard came out of its PokeBall.

Liepard started the battle off by using Dark Pulse. It blew Servine into the air. Then, it smacked it down with Assurance.

Liepard carried out its attacks by using Fury Swipes repeatedly. Servine was getting hurt!

Servine landed on the ground in front of me. 'Servine,' I thought. 'We can do this together! Merge with me and become one with me!'

Suddenly, a green light shone around Servine, until its skin turned blue and it had the same brown eyes as I did. I could hear it think!

Servine got up and looked at me.

"Let's do this!" it said.

I thought, 'Leaf Tornado?'

I nodded.

Servine spawned a Leaf Tornado that was as big as an actual hurricane and blasted it towrads Liepard.

A cloud of dust exploded. Liepard fainted.

As Evelyn watched Zach's Romeo and Juliet musical once more, she cried. It really was a heart-breaking and beautiful play!

When it was over, Zach and his Pokemon bowed on stage. The whole audience applaused and even threw roses!

Elesa stood to greet Zach on stage. "That," she said, "was an awe-striking mix of talent and beauty! Your Pokemon glistened like a sun to me, and I couldn't have enjoyed it even more!"

"So it is true," said N. "You do possess those abilities?"

Philip said, "And he could do a whole lot more!"

N turned to Philip and said, "You know what, if you are going to be around a person like Kyle, hopefully you could be influenced to treat your Pokemon like they were actual people. Here, take another go at catching this Mienfoo!"

Philip looked at N, then looked at Mienfoo. He threw a PokeBall, and Mienfoo went inside.

"Alright," said Philip. "I got myself... a Mienfoo!"

N turned to me. "I would very much like to see your abilities grow. Hopefully, we could meet again sometime, and we could have a battle of unknown strengths!"

I nodded. "Sounds good. For me, N, please try to put a stop to your organization's hurting of Pokemon. Even if you don't believe me..."

He nodded. "I understand."

Then, he left.

We met up with Evelyn and Zach and shared with each other about our day. We all laughed and were surprised, but now, we realized, was time for Philip to got back to Nuvema Town .

As we went to the airport, we all hugged Philip. I said, "Good luck to you!"

He laughed. "I could say the same for you, too!"

"Don't go back to evil while we're not around!" joked Evelyn.

"I'll try!" Philip responded.

Zach then asked, "We will be seeing you in Driftiveil City, right?"

He nodded. "With Professor Juniper's help, Nuvema to Driftiveil will take as long for you guys to reach Driftiveil! Plus, Mienfoo and Krokorok are stronger than the Pokemon that are in that area, so I'm good."

We all laughed and said our goodbies as Philip got onto his plane.

Driftiveil City, here we come!