Michelle's POV

Nikki had invited us to watch Trevor's next battle in the Pokemon League and we had accepted. So far, Trevor was leading with all of the Pokemon left and his opponent had two Pokemon left.

As the battle continued, Trevor's first Pokemon fainted. As he returned it and lowered his hand to his belt, Nikki called out to him.

"Go, Trevor! You can do it!" Nikki shouted.

As Trevor released his second Pokemon, I looked at Nikki and asked, "Have you always cheered for Trevor like this in his battles? I mean, you two weren't exactly the best of siblings when we first met you."

"Well, I've always cheered for Trevor, even if he's never acknowledged it. He was always in the stands for my contests, mutely cheering me on and supporting me. Trevor may not have spoken any words of encouragement to me, but he never missed any of my contests. He was in the stands at every single one, even if it meant giving up time when he could have been training." Nikki replied.

"Wow, he may not have always shown it, but he does care about you and your goal to become a Top Coordinator, right?"

"Yep, just like Adam and Jason care for you and your goal to become a Top Coordinator. They've watched all of your contests too, right?"

"Yeah, they have."

"Trevor wins!" the ref announced.

"Wow...Trevor's really strong." Adam said as we left.

"Yeah...I didn't know that he battled like that." Jason added.

This was the first time that any of us had seen Trevor battle and Trevor didn't play around. Once outside of the stadium, we were waiting for Trevor to come out.

"Way to go, Trev!" Nikki cried once she spotted her brother.

"Thanks, Nikki." he replied.

"Good battle," Adam and Jason said.

"Thanks, and good luck in your battles."

We said goodbye to Trevor and Nikki, since Adam and Jason's battles were starting soon. Once again, Adam and Jason's battles were at the same time in different stadiums.

"Who's battle are you going to watch?" Adam asked, facing me.

"Yours again," I said, after thinking for a moment.

An unsurprised look came over Jason's face as I spoke.

He looks so unsurprised with my answer. Is he mad at me? I wondered to myself as I followed Adam to the next stadium.

Adam's POV

Today I was battling on the Ice battlefield where Jason had battled Hayley yesterday. We found my parents and Brittany waiting by the entrance to the stadium.

"Who are you using?" my dad asked.

"I'm using Pidgeot, Charmeleon, and Pikachu. Jason had the right idea to attack from the air with the ice as the field and Charmeleon can melt the ice like his Charizard did, in case I face off against an Ice Pokemon.

I was wished good luck and they left to find seats. I headed inside and to my side of the field and waited. I was facing a girl named Tessa. She was in her mid-teens with dark purple hair pulled into a braid that fell over her shoulder, dark blue eyes, and her skin was tanned. She was wearing jean shorts that reached her thigh with rips in them, a black vest over a white tee, and black knee-high boots.

"The battle between Tessa and Adam Ketchum will now begin! The battle with be three-on-three and will be over when all Pokemon on one side are unable to battle. Begin!"

"Kirlia, come on out!" Tessa cried, tossing her Pokeball.

"Charmeleon, let's show 'em!" I cried, tossing my Pokeball.

"Kirlia, use Magical Leaf!"

"Counter with Fire Spin!"

"Teleport!"

I watched as Kirlia vanished and Fire Spin easily burned through the leaves, but Kirlia appeared behind Charmeleon and hit him with another Magical Leaf. The first Magical Leaf attack had just been a distraction!

"Use Flamethrower!" I cried.

"Double Team!"

Flamethrower went through one of the copies and soon Charmeleon was surrounded.

She's countering everything that I throw at her. She's almost battling like this is a contest. Was she a coordinator? Well, then it's time to use the techniques that I've seen from mom and Michelle to win. I thought to myself.

"Magical Leaf, once more!"

"Use Fire Spin to burn them away!"

I watched as every Kirlia fired a Magical Leaf and then I spotted the real one. I didn't know how I could tell, it just flashed with a blue light for a split-second and in my mind, I just knew.

"Charmeleon, use Flamethrower to the left!" I cried. Charmeleon stopped using Fire Spin and used Flamethrower, hitting the original Kirlia and causing the others to disappear.

Tessa looked surprised and puzzled that I could tell right away which Kirlia was real. I was just as confused as she was.

"Now use Metal Claw!"

"Stop it with Psychic!"

Charmeleon was now outlined in blue and unable to move.

"Fight against it and use Flamethrower, Charmeleon! I know that you can do it!" I desperately called out. Charmeleon was struggling to fight against Psychic and didn't get to use Flamethrower before getting thrown into the ground. But Charmeleon stood up and immediately used Flamethrower, catching Tessa off-guard and Kirlia took the attack head-on.

Looking at Kirlia, I saw that after a few more hits, it would faint.

"Fire Fang, Charmeleon!" I cried, since Kirlia hadn't fully recovered from the Flamethrower.

"Teleport, quickly!" Tessa cried.

Charmeleon missed Kirlia as it vanished and appeared in the sky.

"Magical Leaf!"

"Use your counter shield, Charmeleon!" I cried.

Just like when we battled the Haunters and Gastly in Lavender Town, Charmeleon was protected from the attack.

"Now finish this, Charmeleon! Use Fire Fang!" I cried. Charmeleon quickly stopped spinning and ran towards Kirlia, who had landed on the ground.

"Dodge it!" Tessa cried. Kirlia spun out of the way at the last second. "Now use Psychic!"

"Flamethrower, quick!" My practice had paid off, Charmeleon was able to use Flamethrower before Kirlia could use Psychic.

"No!" Tessa cried as Kirlia fell to the ground.

"Kirlia is unable to battle. Charmeleon wins!"

Tessa returned her Pokemon and removed another Pokeball.

"Delcatty, let's go!" she cried, tossing the Pokeball.

"Charmeleon, use Flamethrower!" I cried.

"Double Team!" Tessa cried.

Once again, Charmeleon was surrounded by copies. But this time, my mind couldn't figure out which one was the real one. Why?

"Shadow Ball!"

"Jump and then use Fire Spin!"

Charmeleon was able to dodge the attack and used Fire Spin. The copies disappeared as Fire Spin hit them. I kept looking for the original Delcatty, but I couldn't find it.

When I got down to the last one, I watched as the last Delcatty was hit and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"That's Substitute. So where's-" I started and Tessa smirked.

"Iron Tail, now!" Delcatty jumped and slammed into Charmeleon from behind.

"Incredible! Tessa managed to pull off a sneak attack!"

When had she ordered Delcatty to use Substitute? Unless using Double Team meant that she wanted Delcatty to use that, too. Impressive, I had to give her credit for that.

"Use Flamethrower!"

"Use Shadow Ball!"

The two moves collided with one another and canceled each other out. Looking at Charmeleon, I knew that he couldn't last much longer. The battle with Kirlia had weakened him and so had this one.

"Delcatty, use Shadow Ball again!"

"Flamethrower again!"

"Now use Iron Tail!"

Delcatty ran towards Charmeleon as he destroyed the Shadow Ball with Flamethrower. Delcatty jumped into the air and was coming towards Charmeleon with its tail, ready to slam it into his head.

"Fire Spin!" I yelled. Delcatty managed to slam its Iron Tail into Charmeleon's head, but Charmeleon didn't go down and used Fire Spin at close range, trapping Delcatty in the flames.

"Delcatty!" Tessa cried as her Pokemon burned in the fire.

When Fire Spin stopped, Delcatty was still standing, but cried out in pain as flames covered its body. Delcatty had gotten burned.

Charmeleon stood, panting and covered in scratches. "Char..." Charmeleon said, falling to the ground, fainting.

"Charmeleon is unable to battle. De-"

Delcatty cried as the flames covered its body again and it fell to the ground, also fainting.

"Delcatty is also unable to battle. It's a tie!"

"Thanks, Charmeleon. Rest now." I said as I returned my Pokemon.

"Pidgeot, let's show 'em!" I cried as I removed my next Pokeball and threw it.

"Swellow, let's go!" Tessa cried.

It would be an aerial battle between two Flying Pokemon.

"Swellow, use Quick Wing Attack!" Tessa cried.

"Use Quick Attack to dodge!" I cried.

Watching Swellow, I saw that Tessa had combined Quick Attack and Wing Attack into one move. But Pidgeot flew upwards and was able to avoid the attack.

"Now use Gust!" I cried.

"Ride it out! Then use Aerial Ace!"

"Air Slash now, Pidgeot!" I cried as Swellow sped towards him.

Swellow managed to avoid Air Slash while using Aerial Ace and slammed into Pidgeot, who lost some altitude.

"Gust!" I cried. Pidgeot regained height by using Gust to keep him from hitting the ground.

"Wing Attack, now!" I cried. Pidgeot shot towards Swellow.

"Dodge it!" Tessa cried, but Swellow was too slow and was hit.

"Double Team!" Tessa cried. Again? Did all of her Pokemon known Double Team?

"Now use Aerial Ace!" Every Swellow was using it. I tried to spot the real one.

Then I remembered a battle of my mom's that I had watched. Piplup had spun to gain speed and to avoid an attack.

"Spin and use Wing Attack!" I cried. As the Swellows approached, Pidgeot started to spin and managed to strike all of them with his wings.

"Now use Quick Attack!"

"Quick Attack as well, Swellow!"

Both Pokemon hit each other.

"Peck!" Tessa cried. Not being able to call anything out to Pidgeot, he took the attack head-on and Swellow wasn't letting up.

"Wing Attack!" Pidgeot managed to hit Swellow and Swellow stopped the Peck attacks. Neither Pokemon would be able to take much more.

"Aerial Ace!" we both shouted at the same time.

Both Pokemon flew towards one another and collided, fighting for dominance. A cloud of smoke appeared as the moves canceled each other out. I heard cries of pain come from the Pokemon. Which attack had landed or had they both landed?

Watching the smoke, both Pokemon appeared, but they were falling towards the field. They weren't flapping their wings. They hit the ice and fainted.

"Both Pidgeot and Swellow are unable to battle. All of Tessa's Pokemon are unable to battle. Which means that Adam Ketchum wins!" the ref announced.

Tessa returned her Pokemon as I removed my Pokeball.

"Thanks, Pidgeot. You did great." I said, attaching my Pokeball back to my belt. Pikachu hopped onto my shoulder and I walked across the field.

"Great battle, Tessa." I said, holding my hand out.

"Thanks. You too, Adam." she said, shaking my hand.

"Were you a coordinator?"

"Yes, I was, for about three years. But then I decided to try being a trainer for a change and it's really helped me become stronger by experiencing two different battling styles. This is my first Pokemon League challenge. You managed to counter my attacks and I give you credit for that. Not many trainers are able to counter contest techniques. Good luck in the rest of the tournament." she said and walked off.

I had managed to win my third battle and my opponent used to be a coordinator. Her Pokemon were also from Hoenn and I had faced mostly Kanto Pokemon up until this point, so I think that I did great.

I walked out of the stadium and found my family and friends.

"Great job!" Brittany cried, hugging me.

Michelle also hugged me and congratulated me. "That was amazing! You used contest techniques and beat her own." Michelle said, impressed.

"You did great, Adam. I'm proud of you for combining contests and battles to become a better trainer, just like your dad has done." my mom proudly said, hugging me.

I guess having a mom who was a coordinator and a friend who was a coordinator had paid off. Michelle had seen my techniques when practicing with her, but she had never seen me use contest and battle techniques together in a real battle.

Jason and his parents walked up.

"Did you win?" I asked.

"Yeah, I won my battle. My opponent nearly beat me, though." Jason replied.

Things were getting tougher now. Everyone wanted the title of Pokemon League Champion. Soon, I would possibly have to battle Jason or Trevor. And when that happened, if it did, it wouldn't be an easy battle. It would be the most challenging battle that I could experience.

Author's Note: Things get tougher as the Pokemon League carries on. Adam and Jason see firsthand how strong their rival Trevor is. The boys have won three of their preliminary battles and are one win away from going to the top sixteen.

Find out if they can overcome their next challenge in the next chapter of Pokemon NG!