Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage

by Halloween Witch

It's been three years since the disbandment of Team Rocket and Gwyn Jalen is beginning her pokemon journey as well in the Johto region. Things seem normal until she encounters a red haired boy gazing into Professor Elm's laboratory and a young woman who seems like she could kick everyone's asses. And is it fight or flight when an old enemy of the young woman's come into play?

22. A New Champion

Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage

Chapter 22: A New Champion

Gwyn's Point of View:

"I hope those two are alright this morning, I didn't mean to hit them as hard as I did… I guess I really don't know my own strength…" I was walking down the hallways of the Indigo Plateau pokemon center, where all of us stayed during the night, and where most of our friends and family stayed yesterday while they waited on us to get there. I can say how shocked everyone was when I came back with soot covered bodies of my two best friends and their main pokemon knocked out. Violet was in a huge fit of laughter, back then, and even now, as she walked with me down these hallways. She had to clutch onto me to keep standing up.

"Oh man Gwyn! I still can't get over what happened! I wish I was there to see that battle! It must have been a hell of a short one!"

"Didn't last more then a minute." I sighed and looked worriedly down toward the boy's wing. "I hope they feel better today. I feel awful for attacking them when they were fighting each other… well, I do now…"

"You were in the fighting spirit Gwyn; don't let it get you down." Violet placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. Sunrise crawled out from behind my hair and rubbed the side of her face against Violet's hand, quickly earning a petting from the older female trainer. "And don't you look so beautiful Sunrise! Ready for the big day?"

"Esp!" Sunrise excitedly told her.

I suddenly saw a movement from behind Violet's hair and out popped Chalcedony who apparently must have been taking a nap behind her hair. He stretched his legs before he lay back down. I reached out to pet him and he easily relaxed into the palm of my hand.

"Looks like someone finally got up for the day, or partly." I giggled. "Good morning Chalcedony."

The pokemon only yawned before he turned his head back went to curl back up on Violet's shoulders when I saw something caught his eye, something by me. I looked around for anything that seemed to be of a high enough reason for Chalcedony to take much interest in, besides his trainer, and finally saw that his gaze was locked on Sunrise, who also had a locked gaze with him. Both of them tilted their heads at each other as if this was the first time they'd met.

I saw Sunrise use her teleport ability and she instantly was on the ground, walking rather then laying on my shoulder. Chalcedony blinked at her in surprise before a grin appeared on his own face and he jumped down gracefully from Violet's shoulder and the two of them walked side by side down the hallway ahead of us, only a few mere centimeters between them.

"Wow, I did not see that coming." I gasped as I watched them walk off toward the dining area.

"Neither did I Gwyn, neither did I." Violet blinked in surprise at the scene before she shook her head and laughed. "But I can't say I wasn't expecting it to happen. They both come from the same species and I think both of them are now at a point where they can really understand each other more then they could back when Sunrise was only an eevee."

"I guess so, so long as they're happy together, but I'll have to steal Sunrise away from Chalcedony for the Pokѐmon League. I'm not sure how that'll go, since Sunrise really loves to battle."

"I'm sure, but which of the challenges do you plan to battle?"

"There's more than one choice?" I whipped my head around to her and looked at her questioning face in shock. "I though I'd just face a line of people."

"Yes and no." Violet sighed and let her fingers connect with each other behind her back as she leaned backward slightly and looked at the ceiling as we walked on. "After I was crowned champion, the Kanto region and the Johto region decided to join together at a certain point due to how close we were and that there was no need for air plane rides or things along those lines between our two regions. Another thing that was changed was the way you could battle the Pokѐmon League. Instead of having a single choice of just battling the people that are there, you now have three, since we have seven Elite Four members and two champions. It makes a lot of sense to split it up if possible."

"So what are the options I can go for?"

"Well, what I think you'll do is most likely the Johto branch, where you face the team of Elite Four members that stand before Lance as Johto's champion. But you also have the option of going for the Kanto branch, and that's where you face the same Elite Four members I did when I became champion, and then you'd face me to get the title. The last option is taking on both branches at once and facing all of the Elite Four members, Lance and then me. A consecutive eight battles compared to five."

"Yeah… I think I'll stick with the Johto branch. Not that I couldn't take on the Elite Four members, but its not really all that fair to go for your title when I can get my own and you've done so much for me and trained me, and are even giving me the opportunity to train further and travel with you."

"Awe… well aren't you sweet." Violet laughed and looked up ahead. "Hey, your boys and mine are waiting, along with the others." I turned my head back to the front and snorted and smiled as I saw everyone out there and waiting for us at a large table, seating eight, but spots for ten. As soon as we stepped into the dining area though, the many people that were around began clapping and cheering for us as we entered.

"Whoa… that's quite a welcome wagon…"

"The same thing happened to me back when I was about to take my Pokѐmon League challenge." Violet grinned at me, leaning before me to show a cheeky grin. "They congratulated me on beating Team Rocket at the time and shutting them down, for good, and wishing me good luck in my battles that day, and now, they're doing the same for you right now."

"Oh wow… I never thought that would happen in my life…"

"Well believe it Gwyn!" My attention was drawn then to the table where everyone sat. An open space was between Tristan and Alex, and another on the other side of Tristan and between him and Aaron. Aaron waved to me in a goofy manor. "Come take a seat and get your fill! If you don't then you'll never be at top shape to face the Pokѐmon League!"

"So you two are alright then?" I hurried over and took the seat between them while both Sunrise and Chalcedony jumped into my lap and laid down there. "I didn't hurt you too badly yesterday, right?"

"Hurt us? Naw, you more or less surprised us though!" Aaron laughed as he shoveled a large spoon full of eggs into his mouth. "I mean, it was really cool to see you with that much power though! Makes me feel a whole bunch better about you going to try and take the title. Can you believe that everyone in this region knows your name now, and even some people in Violet's region are starting to recognize you?"

"Indeed they are." Tristan quietly sat in his spot and sipped at his morning brewed tea. "It's been all over the news; you've been called a hero or Violet's protégé." He smiled and let out a small sigh as he set down the glass. "I'm glad you faced me that day Gwyn, and took my card from me. If you hadn't… none of this would have happened…"

"I think some of it still would have come true, but maybe not just you actually being here." Aaron bit off a large part of his breakfast sandwich that he'd also ordered while he faced once of Tristan's harsh glares. The two of them were locked in that vicious gaze they had between each other and I was worried I'd have to step in and put a stop to it when suddenly the boys started laughing and turned away from each other all in the matter of five seconds before they looked at each other again and laughed.

"You'd almost think that the two of them were the ones in love here!" Violet joked lightly under her breath, but I managed to hear it compared to the boys and I couldn't help but snicker.

"I agree to that Violet." She burst out laughing and ended up crashing her face into the table, thankfully where no food was. I couldn't help but snicker as well before I grabbed my menu.

"Well, I better get something to eat, the faster I get this done, the more time I'll have to prepare for today."

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

When breakfast was done and over with, I left Shelly in the care of my mother and Violet while I would participate in the Pokѐmon League. He wasn't a fighter, with the rare exception when we were facing Team Rocket, but that was only to protect me and I still didn't expect him to fight. With him safely tucked into the arms of my mother and his pokeball with her, I hurried off with the boys to where I would register and get my number as I waited to battle the Johto branch of the Elite Four and the champion.

Once I'd made it to the desk, I was registered for what I wanted and hurried back over to where the boys were on the side. They walked me over to the area off to the side where many trainers were waiting for a battle against the first of the Elite Four. I stood before the door and the boys were behind me. I turned back to face them and they either were smiling or grinning.

"Good luck to you Gwyn," Tristan said to me once more.

"Yeah, kick all their butts and take that title!" Aaron threw his arm around my neck and gave me a soft noogie. "I know you can do it!"

"Hey! Cut that out!" I pushed his hands off of me and flicked his forehead. He cried out and Tristan laughed at that.

"Oh, and just a tip for you before I forget." Tristan calmed himself down and placed a hand on my shoulder to make sure he had my attention. "I heard from some of the other trainers what types of pokemon that each of the Elite Four and the champion use. The first of them, since you're taking the Johto branch, is Will Akira. He uses physic types, but half of them are weak to electrical attacks. I'd suggest Shocker for that battle. The next of them is Koga Noxious; he uses poison types for the most part, or bug pokemon that know poisonous moves. The next one was Bruno Payden, a fighting type trainer, but I think he has a rock type too. Then there's Karen Blakely, a dark type trainer. I've heard that it's possible that she may have an umbreon."

"Oh, Sunrise will not like that."

"And then, as you know, the last of them is Lance Ethelinda, the dragon type trainer and the champion of the Johto region."

"Well, that'll greatly help me out in planning who to battle with, thanks Tristan."

"No problem…" I watched him blush lightly and it seemed to match his hair well. "Aaron?" My first best friend looked over at him. "Would you be kind enough to give Gwyn and I moment alone before she goes off? There's something private I wished to speak about to her quickly."

Aaron sighed and shrugged. "Sure dude, whatever." Aaron patted me on the shoulder one more time before he grinned and took off. "Later Gwyn! Good luck!"

"Thanks Aaron!" I watched as he faded from sight and I turned back to Tristan. "So what do you need to talk to me about?"

Tristan sighed before I saw the blush on his face come back in almost ten-fold. His gaze moved away from me for a moment and I tilted my head in confusion as I watched him.

"Tristan?"

"Sorry, but I don't want to say anything that may hinder your battling today, so can I just make a promise with you, that we'll talk after the day is done and you've found out if you're the champion or not?"

"Sure! I don't mind at all!" I gave him a light kiss to his cheek. "Tonight, we'll find a place after everything has been said and done and we'll talk then! Promise! Now I have to go! See ya!" I left the boy dazed in his spot before I left for the waiting area before the first of the Elite Four. I took a seat by my lonely self and Sunrise let herself out of her pokeball and set herself on my lap, giving me a good distraction as petting her while we waited for our match.

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

"Gwyn Jalen!" I jolted upward when I heard my name call. Sunrise was startled as well, but it only bothered her for a moment before she settled back down and sighed before she returned herself to her pokeball and I stood up. I walked over to the man that had called my name and then he checked my number before he sent me through.

I walked outside of the door that the man had stood before and I was instantly hit with the many screams of the individuals that were up in the audience and watching the battles. As soon as I stepped out, I saw a single man that stood on the other side of the field and watched me approach. He was in a dark maroon suit, even more of a purple maroon then just your ordinary maroon. A black vest was over the top half with gold stitching of three thick lines and the buttons that hooked the two halves of the vest together. A black mask was over his eyes and I couldn't see what color they were while his hair was a wavy pale reddish pink color.

"Welcome to the Pokѐmon League, Gwyn Jalen," the man told me and bowed. "I am Will of the Elite Four, Johto branch, and the one who gets the honor to greet you here to our battle." He then turned his head to audience "Not to mention that our first and second as well as current Kanto champions are up in the audience and here to watch your matches as well, I am honored to be watched by such famous people as yourselves. But never the less…" he turned back to face me with a light grin. "This does not mean that I do not plan to go all out against you my dear. I hope you're ready."

"I have been for a while now." I pulled out Shocker's pokeball and threw it out. "Let's go Shocker!" My electric type soon appeared before me and grinned at the man that stood across from him on the other side of the field. Will raised an eyebrow at him but continued to smile and pulled out a pokeball of his own.

"An interesting choice, Miss Jalen," Will spoke with such a… how do I put it? It was in the form of an evil almost manor with a grin that could only be matched by Violet on one of her most malicious days. "Now here is mine."

From his pokeball came a tall pokemon that reminded me a lot of a palm tree that was quite fat in size and had two feet along with three, large fruit sized heads that were tan in color with bright green leaves over its heads. I blinked at it a few times in confusion before I pulled out my pokedex to see what the pokemon was.

Exeggutor, the coconut pokemon and the evolved form of exeggcute. Its three heads think independently. However, they are friendly and never appear to squabble. If a head drops off, it emits a telepathic call in search of others to form an exeggcute cluster. There are no known exeggutor nests in the region.

I blinked as I looked over this information before I looked back to the evilly grinning man.

Well I guess this gives me a chance to try out some new moves that I learned.

During the couple weeks that I spent training at home, Violet spent some time with me so that I could learn some new moves that my pokemon learned for different types that they may have to face here in the Pokѐmon League. To help out, she had me teach Shocker a fighting type and bug type move that he was able to learn to help him should there be a case where he needed some of those moves to help with types that he didn't have an advantage over and it was helpful to have moves that weren't all electric and normal for a verity.

"First move to the challenger," Will said as he gave a final bow to me with his demonic grin.

"Very well," I looked over at shocker and I nodded to him. "Alright Shocker! Let's start out with shock wave!"

I didn't want to give out my ace in the hole right away…

Will only smiled as he knew my move against his pokemon would only cause minimal, if any, damage. A disk of electricity was made in my pokemon's hands and then thrusted at the opposing pokemon. It took the hit with ease and stood tall as it only smiled and danced at the hit it took. Then it suddenly stopped and hunched over from pain, the hit it took to its face had left a mark, and the pokemon and its trainer was stunned.

"What…" Will stared in amazement and horror at what had just taken place.

"We may be at a type disadvantage, but that doesn't mean we can't do any damage to you." I couldn't help showing a grin of my own and feel another set of eyes looking down upon me. I turned away briefly to the crowd and glanced up to see Violet's gaze, and that of many others that seemed to give off some powerful energy, almost like an aura, in the stands. I could feel their calculating eyes that were registering my power and analyzing it.

I would not disappoint.

"Get in close Shocker! Use focus punch and thunder punch combination!" My pokemon was quick to move and both of its hands lit up, one with just a white glow and the other with electricity. Shocker then pushed his feet off the ground and flew through the air at the enemy pokemon.

"Do let it get close to you Exeggutor! Use egg bomb!" The enemy pokemon shook its head and from the leaves on its head came small bombs that were flung at Shocker. He raised his fists to defend himself by punching each bomb that would hit his face. When he feet hit the ground again, he was off and running.

"Now Shocker! Hit it!" He finally got in close enough where the three heads of the pokemon all turned worriedly over at Shocker and they tried to back away, but he was too quick for him. One electric punch ran under the pokemon's chin and threw the pokemon back, but it still stood strong, but was sent back flying with a focused fist.

He didn't allow it to get up again as Shocker then leaped over to the pokemon in the air and its fists came first, landing on the faces and smashing into the heads. It cried out in pain and stumbled from where it was standing and Shocker leaped off and gave it a moment then to see if it would fall or stand again. The pokemon apparently had had enough and dropped to the ground. Its faces all bruised up and out.

"Alright Shocker!" I cheered on my electric type and his response to my cheering was to hit his tail on the ground to disperse some electrical energy. I could feel the light static of the shock though the ground, but most of it just faded away while his smirk refused to fade like his power he relieved.

"What a show…" Will was left stunned as he returned his pokemon and pulled out another pokeball. "But I will not have you winning yet! Come Jynx, take her out!"

From his next pokeball came the human shaped pokemon in a flowing red dress, bright ice blond hair and wide eyes with lipstick on its face. It made a smooching sound at Shocker and he cringed at the pokemon, disgusted by it.

"Don't worry Shocker, we'll be okay!" My pokemon turned back to look at me smile at him reassuringly and he nodded. He turned back to the battle and let loose another charge of energy into the ground. "Now we can go all out in our electrical attacks! Go Shocker! Use thunder! Fry that pokemon!"

Shocker grinned one of the largest grins I'd ever seen him let out and for some strange reason; thunder clouds somehow appeared above us. The collective energy was flowing out of the very power of the building and the lights were flashing. Will had to duck as a random bolt came flying close to him and his pokemon had to as well.

"Jynx! Get out of the way!" Will cried out of desperation. He shook his head when he realized the pokemon couldn't move away in time. "Use protect!"

"Jynx!" the pokemon cried out and guarded itself then with a multicolored barrier that was starting to take form around its entire body.

"Don't let it complete the shield! Let's go Shocker! Attack!" My pokemon screamed out and the lighting down poured onto the pokemon below it and much of the area around it as well. The pokemon had not had the time to complete its shield it was counting on and it shattered, sounding like broken glass as it faded and the attack took full effect on the pokemon. I watched as its body was slowly swallowed whole by the attack all for a few seconds before everything faded, the bright light of the lightning gone and the room remaining.

I had to blink my eyes a time or two to get my eyes to quickly register and switch back to their original focus with the certain amount of lighting we now had. Only a few lights remained intact and still working on the ceiling and those others that were in the stands so people could see. The flickered on and off at a rapid pace from the apparent damage that was all around in the room. I could finally see around and I looked to the other side of the field. A black form was there on the ground, it almost didn't even look like a jynx anymore, just a pile of black ashes.

I was a bit relieved when I saw it twitch on the ground. Will hurried out to his pokemon and looked it over before sighing and returning it to its pokeball. "Another of my pokemon defeated… I guess I have no option but to bring out a pokemon that would had the disadvantage to your ampharos." Will pulled out a third pokeball and threw it out onto the field. "Show her your strength Slowbro!"

Another pokemon emerged and I watched as it was a large pink pokemon that had a goofy grin on its face and a large shell attached over its tail that seemed to have eyes of its own. It pointed over at me and Shocker and looked back over at his trainer.

"Yes Slowbro, that's the trainer and her pokemon you need to take down." Will placed forward his arm with an angry look on his face behind his mask. "Now Slowbro, psychic attack!"

I watched as the overwhelming headache came right at my pokemon and forced him to wobble. Apparently it wasn't as much damage as Will had hoped for due to the look I saw on his face.

"But how-"

"Sorry Will, but Sunrise makes a more powerful psychic attack then your slowbro, Shocker's use to her migraines she gives him, this is nothing for him to handle." I wasn't bragging about that fact, it was all true. My pokemon constantly played and battled against each other for training, and it was often Sunrise who could leave quite an impact due to her powerful mental attacks. I've been knocked off my feet quite a few times due to some stray attacks that accidentally hit my head instead of their intended target, but I never bared her ill will.

"Now Shocker! Use signal beam!" It was my ace in the hole for any psychic type that he put me up against. The bug type move that Violet had helped me teach to Shocker. Shocker grinned at my call and let loose the strange beam that came out of his mouth in a multitude of three beams, each of a different colors that circled around each other at violent speeds and almost looked to be in the form of colorful flying pebbles. It hit the pokemon head on in the stomach and it hunched over in pain before

I let Will have a moment to watch this displace and then I turned back to my pokemon. "Now Shocker! Shock wave!" Another attack left my lips and off it went flying at the opposing pokemon, the disk of electricity that slammed into its body, shoving it back before the electricity took over the opponent's body and shocked the heck out of it.

When we looked again and a dust cloud, which had appeared before us and over the pokemon, had vanished, and all that was left was a singed body that lay on the ground, x's over its eyes.

"Things seem to be going down hill for you now Will," I couldn't help but mutter that statement to myself.

"I didn't think that you'd been this strong Gwyn, but it seems that all the attacks you've been using for your poor pokemon are starting to wear it out." I gasped and hurried to look over at Shocker, who was breathing a bit heavier then I thought I saw him doing a few seconds ago. He quickly brushed it off though and got back to his feet, much to Will's disappointment.

"Damn… what is with your pokemon?" Will growled as he glared at us, Shocker mostly. "Don't they know how to faint?"

"Not really…" I shrugged. "Especially not this guy… maybe once, if I remember right, but that was back a long time ago, when he was a flaaffy."

Will only growled at my comment before pulling out a final pokeball and threw it out. It was a strangely colored bird that had a large green head and a tall body that was white with read markings along with a burnt yellow beak and talons.

What is that? I pulled out my pokedex to see what this pokemon was.

Xatu, the mystic pokemon and the evolved form of natu. They say that it stays still and quiet because it is seeing both the past a the future at the time, its right eye sees the future while its left views the past. There are no known xatu nests in this region.

Okay then… quite the interesting pokemon there. I looked back over at William who had a mad look to his face, and somehow it communicated through to his pokemon which gave off the same look, its eyes turning from their onyx color to a red.

"Take it out!" Will shouted and the bird leapt into the air. It screeched out and my eyes widened as it dived down at Shocker.

"Don't let it hurt you Shocker! Shock wave!" My electric pokemon created the disk and threw it at the diving bird, who, at last second, seemed to dodge it by a blinding speed that even I had a hard time picking up on. It vanished off to the right side, by my peripheral vision caught it diving from the far left side now. It struck Shocker in its fit of rage and threw Shocker back into the ground.

Shocker slid back on the ground, well on his butt, and looked at the pokemon angrily, getting to his feet slowly. Having an entire battle to himself was starting to tire him out. The pokemon then turned around in the air and began to make its descent on Shocker again.

"Shocker! Don't let it get you again! Thunder wave!" Around my pokemon appeared hundreds, if not thousands, of small electrical waves that were visible and spread all around him heavily almost hiding him from view. The bird pokemon, too far into its rage, ignored the fearful cry from its trainer and slammed right into Shocker. As the attack hit, the pokemon was forced to slow down due to the pain and that gave Shocker some leeway and he shoved it back against the ground.

"Finish it off Shocker! Use thunder!'

Like the last time, the lights began to flicker and the electricity of the building was wavering. Shocker absorbed the energy around him and suddenly unleashed it all upon that sad creature that we were facing. It screeched out in pain and suddenly fell to the ground, covered in a thick layer of black soot and scrunched up in a pile on the ground.

"Come on Xatu! Get up! Use recover!" Will's cry was unheard by his pokemon and continued to lay there, through the grime and ash that now covered its body, x's could be seen in the places of its eyes.

"Xatu is unable to battle! The winner of this battle is Shocker and the victor is Gwyn Jalen of New Bark Town!" The crowd erupted into cheers and it took me all but two seconds to race out onto the field and capture my electric pokemon in a hug.

"We did it Shocker! We beat the first of them! You were amazing!" Shocker blushed, one of the few times I'd ever seen him do so, and allowed me to cuddle him a bit before he returned himself to his pokeball to rest and not be seen as a 'cuddly pokemon' (he stated that for himself, not me) before other people other then our friends.

I saw Will sigh on the other side of the field. He returned his pokemon with a heavy heart and looked in my direction. He wore the ugly look off his face and showed me a soft smile before bowing in defeat to me. When he then raised his head, he pointed to the door off to the side that led to my next battle.

"Thanks for the battle Will! Good luck to you!"

I hurried off before my good luck would start to run dry and headed into the next waiting area. Along with the low lighting there was a green color that could be seen on the walls. It gave off a bit of a nature feel too it, must have been Koga who I'd battle against next.

I plopped down on a row of seats that were right before the door. Not as many people were here, Will must have beaten most of the ones that come to face him, and I bet Koga does a lot of weeding out too.

From what I'd heard, the second half of the Elite Four tend not to have many battlers, and it's hardly ever seen when a champion is called upon to be faced. It didn't surprise me with how little time I ever heard Violet mention she had to be here, and before I even met her, she had only faced two battles in the past three years.

The champion of any region had to be able to hold their title, Lance and Violet both did that well. Since Lance took the championship three years ago, he still reigns here in the Johto region, and the same with Violet, but I doubt that she would be beaten any time soon…

But Lance, I know I'll get up there to him, it's not any sort of over confidence thing within me or that I'm being cocky. My team is powerful, and we will make it there to Lance, we'll face him and there will be decided if I am the champion of my region or not.

But for my sake I better hope I do if I want to be able to help out Violet…

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

"Gwyn Jalen!" I heard my name a second time, not taking as long as the first, and hurried up to the front where the man stood. After quickly looking over my card that was in my hands with the number, he nodded and allowed me through.

I passed by him through the doorway that led out into the next arena and saw that this one was very nature like. It was almost like a forest with many thick trees and bushes all around. Cynder would have a field day burning this all up…

"Welcome Gwyn Jalen, if fills me with great pleasure to finally face the protégé of the girl who annihilated me three years ago." Looking ahead to the man that stood on the other side of the field, he was dressed in a black ninja like clothes with a thick, long, scarlet scarf that was wrapped around his neck. His hair was a pale black and spiky and his hard eyes were black as well. With a pokeball in hand, he waited for me to reach my trainer box.

"You must be Koga then, I'm excited for our match." I stepped inside and it was then that Koga crossed his arms with a smirk that settled on his face.

"Yes, I am Koga. I was once a gym leader that resided in Kanto and faced Violet Vilmos for my badge, but, as all her battles go, she left me in a pile of dust behind her, as she rammed and pushed right past me with her strength." He raised an eyebrow at me. "Do you possess the same strength as she?"

"You'll never know until you face me!" I pulled out a pokeball of my own and threw it out to the field. "Let's go Scarlet!"

From the pokeball came my bright red gyarados that looked quite hyped up to be battling. She looked over at Koga and howled at him with her screeching cry, forcing him to cover his ears.

"I see… then let us find out! Let us show her our power Ariados!" Out of the pokeball came the large spider pokemon that was pinkish red in color with black stripes and had purple and yellow striped legs and white pincers around its mouth along with a small horn. It's eyes were a bright blue in color but the look on its face was creepy and sent shivers up my spine.

I pulled out my pokedex to see what exactly this pokemon was and could do.

Ariados, the long leg pokemon and the evolved form of spinarak. It attaches silk to its prey and sets it free. Later, it tracks the silk to the prey and its friends. Its silk can be produced from both its rear and its mouth. There are no known ariados nests in the area.

Gross… I never really liked some of the bug pokemon in this world; it's not the face that they were bugs, since I loved butterfree species and Ruby and Bedrill just fine since they were nice and not so creepy. But bug pokemon like this ariados, which I don't know personally or didn't exactly appeal to me, seemed to slightly disturb me.

But nothing like my fear of death.

"Alright Scarlet! Let's start out with surf!" With a screeching cry from my pokemon, she summoned the water from the air to create large amounts of waves that were all around us before she sent them flying at the bug pokemon. I watched as the bug pokemon tried to scrunch its body up to avoid the blow, but it was hit head on and unable to handle the gigantic wave that was flooding toward it.

When the water had settled and evaporated back into the air, I watched the other side of the field and saw that the pokemon was down and out in a single hit. Scarlet must have really put some power or something into that wave if it took out that bug pokemon faster than I thought, or it was that the ariados was much weaker in strength then I originally thought.

No wonder Violet annihilated him.

"Ariados!" Koga shouted of surprise as he watched the pokemon twitch on the ground.

"That's one down Scarlet! Nice job! Keep up the good work!" My pokemon seemed pleased to hear that comment. She roared out and slammed her tail on the ground. She wanted a stronger opponent. Now.

"Tch," Koga hissed at me. "I knew that I'd be able to witness this over whelming power once more, Violet apparently does have a student."

"I hope this isn't too rude to you, but I really want to get on with our battle, Scarlet here is itching for a fight." Scarlet slammed her tail on the ground. "If I were you, I wouldn't want to get on her bad side."

"Hm, we'll see about that. See how you deal with this then! Go Muk!" From his batch of pokemon that he next sent out was a large purple globe of sludge that practically was oozing into the ground. I flinched as I felt the wave of smell hit my nostrils and I unconsciously heaved at it.

"Violet acted the same way you are now when I faced her three years ago." I looked ahead to see Koga calmly standing next to his pokemon that seemed to think it was funny that I was suffering. I looked to Scarlet and I saw her not do well with the smell, growling at it, but she seemed to put up with it for the most part.

I shook off the shivers the smell sent down my spine and I pushed away all the effects the best that I could muster. No wonder Violet had suggested this route, three people she'd battled and beaten before were on it, not to mention it gave me multiple different situations on the battlefield to deal with.

"Well, are you going to make your move?" Koga questioned me as he looked bored like over to my side of the field. "No matter, I will not let you have the first move this time, Muk, use sludge bomb!"

The slime creature laughed before I seemed to be hacking up something from the back of its throat and shot a long line of sludge at Scarlet. She growled and while not waiting for any orders from myself, she moved her body to avoid the sludge and dance around the battlefield.

"Sorry about the wait Scarlet! I'm okay now!" I saw her glance back at me as I showed her my grin. "Now let's send this thing packing and all its poisonous sludge with it with a surf attack! Then head in for an outrage attack!" My pokemon grinned at that and took off for the pokemon while in her dance of sorts. It cried out and another wave of water suddenly emerged on the ground and flooded its way at the poison pokemon. It hit it head on and the battlefield was swept under the water. I watched the sludge that had hit the ground was up and carried off with the water and any new sludge the poison pokemon was trying to spit out was hitting a wall of water that suddenly came up in a wave and slammed down on its body.

Scarlet rode the cleanest part of the wave where she wouldn't get hurt; thought I don't think she would have minded it much since it would have given her the change to get madder at the pokemon she was facing. She roared out and suddenly her eyes and the whites around them turned red and glowed at the muk below before a tail came whipping down and slammed into the poison pokemon. I heard the pokemon's body go splat on the ground and under the weight and suddenly force of her tail. When she pulled it back up the pokemon was able to reform itself back into its original shape, but it looked like the attack, or at least the force of it and then trying to rebuild itself was taxing on its energy.

"Muk!" Koga cried out to his pokemon, but there was no use. Scarlet, lost in a fit of rage until her opponent was out, kept up the attack with slamming her tail down on the ground and even so much as threw down her head to slam into the opposing pokemon.

It was then with a final cry that the pokemon didn't reform its body and stayed in a large pile on the ground, its hand was the only thing that still held form, and its eyes were x's now. It was another one down, now only three to go.

"Nice Scarlet! Another one down girl!" Scarlet then shook her head at my comment and took it upon herself to rest her head on the ground to try and prevent a possible confusion that would overtake her from the attack that was just used. By using outrage, it was a powerful attack where the pokemon would go on rampage until their goat was achieved. In the instance that it goes on too long, however, it then takes such a tax on the pokemon's mind and confuses it. Its possible then that the pokemon could hurt itself or those that it was helping or that it cares for in their still fit of rage and confusion.

"You okay there Scarlet?" My pokemon somehow was able to turn her head enough to look over at me and give me a soft growl that I took as a 'yes'.

"Of course… I remember the extent of this power; a single pokemon took out nearly my entire team…" I turned to look over at Koga who returned his muk and pulled out another pokeball. "Now let me see if I can see any others of your pokemon before this battle is done! Go Venomoth!" The purple moth like pokemon with tan edgings and blue eyes batted its wings quickly and flew up into the air and snickered as it looked down at Scarlet's tired form. She hissed back at it before swinging her tail and almost hitting it in the face, if it wasn't for the fact that she was still lying down on the ground, but at least the opposing pokemon saw what it was dealing with when it saw the furious red eyes.

"Oh boy… you did it now…" I shook my head as I looked between the two pokemon and then at Koga, just to see how he was handling the situation. He seemed to be speechless for the moment, blinking as he looked between the pokemon and then to me.

I simply shrugged.

"Alright Scarlet, have some fun with a hyper beam!" I could only smile at Koga as the color drained from his and his pokemon's faces as Scarlet grinned madly to the point where I wouldn't be even able to tell it was her, other then the fact that she was my pokemon and I knew her. I knew the way she acted and this gyarados of mine was quite the crazy one, if anyone else had had her, she might not have lasted this long, or what not.

My crazy gyarados then opened her mouth wide and unleashed a multitude of hyper beams at the enemy pokemon called venomoth that continued to try and dodge until it was hit by a stay one that stunned it in time for Scarlet to send some more at it. She saw the body of the said pokemon then to fall in the air and she whipped her tail forward and slammed it down on the pokemon. I watched it cry out as it crashed into the ground. Its head flew back as it gasped and cried out in pain before its head re-collided with the ground and collapsed there, unable to move.

"Venomoth…" Koga's eyes widened as he watched the half mark of his team be take down. Only two more pokemon left for me to deal with.

"What's the matter Koga? Having a hard time?" I couldn't help it; I had a Violet moment there with a smirk. Scarlet even joined me in that, continuing to whip around her tail as she growled evilly down at the ninja man of the Elite Four.

"Just like her…" Koga sighed and returned his pokemon before he pulled out another pokeball, but he paused for a moment. "I can already see how this battle is starting to turn out, how its ending will be, but regardless of that, I still plan to try and at least beat one of your pokemon here on this battlefield. Go Crobat!"

Another flying pokemon came out this time. It was a dark purple in color and had four wings, two on either side of its body with no legs or arms. It did have, however, tiny feet to grasp onto whatever it would perch on and the under side of its wings were a blue color like that of its previous evolutions. Its body was probably no larger then my head and its pointed ears stood strait up and moved at the slightest movement. Its eyes were a black color in the center with yellow in places of the whites. It looked down at Scarlet and only snorted at her, forcing her to growl at it.

I pulled out my pokedex again to see more abut this pokemon. I knew that Violet had one, but I didn't know much about it other then that.

Crobat, the bat pokemon and the evolved form of golbat. It flies so silently thought the dark on its four wings that it may not be noticed even when nearby, but it also makes it hard to stop and rest. There are no known crobat nests in the area.

"Oh boy…" I sighed again when Koga's pokemon took another stand against my gyarados. With a nod of my head to her, Scarlet swung her tail forward and at the pokemon, it came crashing down on the pokemon. Scarlet quickly lifted her tail to look down at where it was and was shocked, as well as I, to see it wasn't there.

"No more playing around Gwyn!" Koga pointed to the air above, almost the very top of the ceiling and I saw there that it had not a mark on it before it dived back down at us. "Sludge bomb!"

The pokemon hacked a large pile of poisonous sludge at my pokemon while circling around her. Scarlet cried out as the poison hit her and she tired to move away from it. She swung around her tail and tired to bat it off, but the pokemon refused to do so. It continued to go on with its attack and covered Scarlet in large, thick piles of poison that seemed to act like acid right on her scales, thankfully there were thick enough where it wouldn't hurt her as much as-

I was cut off in though when I heard her scream out. The pain looked to be overbearing for my powerhouse of a pokemon. "Hang in there Scarlet! Wash everything away and flood this place with another surf attack!"

Obeying my command with a fiery fury, my water dragon pokemon screeched out, nearly causing an earthquake in all the fuss. Water came from all around and circled up around Scarlet that she used as a barrier to protect herself and wash off all the sludge. The enemy pokemon was forced to hang back and watch as all its hard work was rendered unless, but its eyes widened further when Scarlet began moving in the water, and it seemed to be following her movements.

Scarlet brought the water forward and pushed it in the direction of the flying pokemon, slamming into it head on and getting the bat caught in the current. Scarlet then grinned again and used it in her to glare down at it.

"Don't let it get to you Crobat! Use confuse ray!" The pokemon complied and sent off rays to confuse my pokemon and make it angry.

"Don't think we're down and out because she's confused! Scarlet! Use outrage!" I heard many gasps and screams from out in the audience as they watched Scarlet go mad and crazy in her confused state, but apparently, my command got to her first since she was only swinging at the enemy pokemon, still stuck in the waves. Her tail came down on the pokemon and I could hear something shatter inside of it. I gasped myself. She didn't kill it, did she?

Koga seemed to have the same idea since he called the ref to pause the match and rushed out onto the field. I myself did the same thing, stepping out before Scarlet to make sure she'd stop her attack and take a quick breather that I knew she needed. She was tired, that was easy to see, she'd been facing five pokemon straight while being hammered at with poison attacks and that in itself was wearing down her energy. I had an antidote for her when we were done, but until the battle was over.

"Crobat's okay!" I heard the ref call out as the pokemon was pulled out of the rubble. "Just a couple broken wings! It's just fine!" I sighed as I was relieved at that. No death was hung over our heads, good to hear.

"And now I'm down to one last pokemon… much like my battle with Violet three years ago, I knew I wouldn't win, but I made her a deal, one which I would like to extend to you dear Gwyn Jalen." I watched him return his pokemon and pull out a final pokeball that he held gently in his hands.

"And what deal would that be Koga?"

"If you manage to survive my final attack I send out with my last pokemon, I'll allow you to pass, if not, I won't and you'll have to start over at the beginning, even if you have beaten me with four other pokemon in your arsenal." I raised an eyebrow at this and actually had to look up and over at Violet. In the stands she was next to Alex, his arm around her. She only shrugged at me. It was my choice.

"Fine, I came here to go out with a bang anyway." I looked over to my water dragon. "Be careful Scarlet! Looks like this one's going to be a big one!" My dragon simply 'huphed' at my words and glared down at Koga, waiting for that final attack.

My, my, impatient aren't we?

"Then see my final pokemon! Destroy them Forretress!" When I saw the pokemon come out, I wasn't sure what to think. It looked like it had two shells on. One that was a silvery color that looked steel like, but I had a purple hue to it, then a red one under it that had red short staffs that seemed to stick off the second armor of red, and from inside those two shells, I saw a set of white eyes with a set of black pupils. I couldn't tell what it was thinking from its bland expression, but I knew it must be powerful from the sheer force of its defenses.

I pulled out my pokedex to see what I could find out about it. Forretress, the bagworm pokemon and the evolved form of pineco. Its entire body is shielded by a steel-hard shell. What lurks inside this shell is a total mystery. Its peering eyes are all that can be seen of its mysterious innards. There are no known forretress nests in this region.

Wasn't quite as big as I thought it would be… I had been worried it'd be a pokemon that was just as big as Scarlet that could slam her down into the ground and crush all her bones in her current, worn out, form. But this pokemon still made me fearful of it, I mean, its armor was pretty thick, it wasn't like she'd be able to handle too many direct hits from it. Though Koga had mentioned that he would play a single last move to try and take Scarlet out. It had to be a powerful one that would attempt to take them both out at once.

"Scarlet-"

"Self-destruct!" Koga's voice rang out before I could even say much more than a word to my dragon. I tried to scream out my pokemon's name as a white light enveloped the field. I ducked down as the light and the explosion went everywhere and I heard the many screams of others that were up in the stands.

I suddenly saw a shadow over me, a body that was protecting my own. I looked up and I saw that it was in the shape of my pokemon, in the shape of Scarlet. I could only see her back, which looked black compared to the bright light.

A suddenly force dropped me to the ground and I ignored the pain I felt from my hand that felt twisted wrong again. I looked up the battlefield as the light wore off and I saw that the enemy pokemon was entirely black. It'd fallen on its side and x's were over its eyes. It was out, but what about Scarlet?

I turned my gaze to look up at her black body that was messed up from the explosion. She wasn't moving, even if she was upright. I gasped as I tried to run around the battlefield to see her entirely.

"Scarlet!" She gave me no reply. I got around to the front of her and saw how pitch black she was. She was as black as a void in space. I didn't think I'd seen anything so dark. Her body was entirely covered in it, not a single spot was spared. She looked to be in pain and her eyes were closed.

"Scarlet? Come on girl! Tell me you're alright!"

At that moment, I was more worried about my pokemon then the match.

"It seems that your pokemon didn't make it through the final blow." Koga shook his head. "And Violet's pokemon Ruby was able to make it through; I guess maybe you're not cut out for what Violet has done."

"Please wait! Just another few moments!" I begged him as I turned back to my pokemon, pushing against her charred scales. "Scarlet! Hear me!"

I suddenly felt a rumble against my hands. Scarlet moved. I gasped and stepped back as I saw her joints working and she started to move around and growl again. Her eyes opened, bloodshot and already red in color, she glared over at Koga before she wrapped her body around me.

"Forretress is unable to battle, the winner of this battle is Scarlet and victor of this match is Gwyn Jalen of New Bark Town!" The crowd erupted in cheers and I practically was myself.

"Scarlet!" I nearly cheered as I saw her look back down at me. She rubbed part of her head against mine and hugged her back and gently as I could. She'd won!

"I believe I was wrong then." I could hear Koga laugh though a small space in Scarlet's tail that wasn't tightly coiled around me. "Just like Violet… your inhuman strength that your pokemon possess is just like that of hers. Now go," he pointed to the room behind him that led on to the next battle chamber. "Your next challenge awaits."

"Right." I quickly returned Scarlet to her pokeball before I hurried out past him and walked into the next room.

It was a more earth colored room from the looks of it, but there was a bit of a lava design to it. There was actually two lava waterfalls that were at the end of the room that led onto the third battle, which was Bruno. There was one other trainer in this room with me, but that person was very far away.

I used that moment then to call out Scarlet again and began to treat some of her more serious wounds and deal with the burns and poison she had on and in her bloodstream. She might have washed all the blood away, but that didn't mean that none of it got inside her. I should have done this sooner…

Scarlet used some of her abilities to clean herself off with water from the air that she forced around her. It took off all the soot and it revealed all her gashes and bruises from the last battle. I used some potions and berries on her and quickly managed to make her a bit more comfortable before I returned her back to her pokeball where she could rest.

Now while I wait, who to use for the next match?

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

"Gwyn Jalen!" When I was called again for my third match, I saw that a new trainer had made it through to this room with me. They sighed; looking defeated and glanced a look at me when I stood. They looked away then.

I shrugged at that. It was hard for some of these people to face all these battles without any breaks, but we were going to hang in there best we could. So far I'd managed to use only two of the five pokemon that I'd brought with me. I was doing pretty well, not to mention that none of my pokemon had been defeated yet, so in the small chance that I needed them, I know I could count on them for help, but I'd avoid that as long as I can to make sure they don't suffer more than we all have to in order to get the title.

I had thought over who I planned to use for the next battle carefully, and after some thinking and talking with my last three pokemon, I'd decided on who I would use. With a graceful push off the bench, I stood and hurried over to the doorway that led into the next room. With a quick check of my number, I was allowed through to a room that had a bridge that led onto the platform that hung over a large pit of lava.

A large amount of work out equipment was on the other side of the field. From where I was standing I saw a large man with massive muscles that covered every inch of his body. They all flexed as he moved, they also seemed to puff out a bit when he sat up from his bench press to look at me. Long, spikey black hair that was pulled back in an elastic band, out of his face, and hard grey eyes almost glared at me. His only clothing was a pair of ripped white sweat pants and weight bands on his wrists and ankles.

"So Gwyn Jalen, I finally get to face my champion's protégé." A light smile appeared and his eyes softened. "I hope I get to have as an overwhelming battle as I had with Champion Violet three years."

"Your champion?" I questioned him.

The man laughed. "Yes, I am Bruno Payden, I battle in both leagues, Johto and Kanto. Violet is the champion of the Kanto region while Lance is the champion of the Johto region, they are both champions over myself, though I have to admit, Violet's was much more… demonstrating to how much more training I needed if I could be beaten by a thirteen year old girl who had her pokemon for only about a year. Are you in that same position?"

"Yeah, I've only had my pokemon for that amount of time."

"Good, that makes it more interesting. Now like I told Violet many years ago, I don't like speaking much, from now on, all you'll hear is cries of battle! Go Onix!" From the pokeball that he had in his hand, he then threw it out and then appeared the large bolder like snake with a rock horn. It cried out and looked down at me, waiting on the pokemon of my choice to send out.

"Alright then, I was hoping we'd get this one out of the way first!" I cheered inside and pulled out one of my pokeballs. "Let's go Ticky!"

"Toge!" Ticky came out and started to fly around playfully before she looked up at her opponent. She blew it a raspberry and laughed at the pokemon. It screeched at her and threw its tail around at her next. I ducked in fear of that large rock like tail while Ticky flew up and out of the way. She continued to laugh at it.

"Easy there Ticky, don't make it so mad that you can't beat it." She only shrugged and continued to laugh.

"Go Onix! Use iron tail!" The pokemon's cry echoed across the room and from that point it swung its metal covered tail at Ticky. She giggled as she laughed through the air, avoiding it. She was having a blast.

"Alright Ticky, enough of that." I looked up at her with a grin of my own. "Now use magical leaf!"

From before my pokemon appeared sharp sets of curved leaves that looked a lot like boomerangs. They were covered in a thick veil of psychic power before hurled at the rock type. It cried out as it was hit head on and thrown back due to it being super effective. It was still a grass type attack.

"Again!"

Ticky continued with the onslaught as she flew around the arena and threw more leaves at the onix. It cried out in pain as every wave hit until hit the back wall over where Bruno's equipment was. The pokemon, somehow, was still standing and crawling back toward us, even with all the bruising all over its body.

"Okay then Ticky, try ancient power this time, then follow after it with magical leaf and finish it off!"

My pokemon grinned as she set about with more onslaught for the rock type as she hurled her attacks of rocks and leaves, covered in their veil of power, at the weakening pokemon. With the two attacks going off at once, it was finally overpowered and unable to fight any longer. Bruno could only watch from the side lines as his pokemon went down, with no more than a single command from him.

"Alright Ticky! Momma's proud of you girl!"

"Toge! Gee!" She flew around in the air and quickly came down to me and gave me a little kiss on my cheek before she flew back up and waited for the next pokemon. I could hear a mix of cheers and cooing in the crowd from the action of my pokemon.

She can't help that she's adorable…

I watched Bruno sigh. "At least I'm not being beaten by a magikarp…" He shook his head and returned his first pokemon before he pulled out another one. "Let's go then Hitmonchan!"

The first fighting type that he's actually showed me then came out and it punched its fists into the air before showing them up to Ticky. It then suddenly stopped and gave her a blank look before I thought I saw hearts beating in its eyes and it looked up at Ticky with a lovesick look, its gloved hands together as it looked up at her. Ticky was scared by its look.

Seems that my little girl's charms were starting to affect some of the male pokemon…

"Hitmonchan! Don't fall for it!" Bruno tried to shout out for its pokemon, but it was no use. Hitmonchan was under the spell of my little Ticky, which she not even tried to cast.

"Take it out with aerial ace Ticky, you'll feel better after hitting it and getting it out of here." She took on my advice and soon she was engulfed in a thin while light around her before diving down at the pokemon with a high speed and hitting it in its abdomen. It chocked out and saliva spit out onto the ground before it was shoved into the back wall as well, a large amount of dust around it.

When it settled, I saw a small white flag somehow in its hands that it was waving around. I blinked in surprise and Ticky continued to scowl at it before huffing and turning her back on it.

"Well, that was unusual," I muttered.

"Very," Bruno agreed and returned his pokemon. "But it won't happen a second time! Let's go Hitmonlee!" Another pokemon came out, this time, one that seemed to be an expert in kicking with its long legs and its brown, bulky body with two eyes only that I could see for a face. It kicked around its feet a few times before it looked up into the air to see Ticky looking down at it and suddenly the pokemon was frozen. It wouldn't move.

"Let's go Hitmonlee! Use mega kick!"

But the pokemon would not listen to Bruno. It continued to stare at Ticky until the same thing happened as last time. Heart appeared in its eyes and its tiny arms were reaching out for her, as if she would fly into them. She stuck out her tongue at it and turned away from it as well. The pokemon just moved to where he could get before her line of sight and look up to her again, almost begging her to come down.

"Ticky! Take it out!"

Ticky had no problems obeying my command and sent herself into an aerial ace again. She looped around a time or two to gain speed before she chucked herself into the center of the pokemon's abdomen. It cried out in pain before it was sling shoot into the wall behind it. When the dust cleared that had emerged around it, this time, another white flag was up in the air, waving surrender to my pokemon.

"What is going on with you and Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee?" Bruno turned his head away from me and looked over to his pokemon behind him as it sadly looked away, but not before a pokeball opened and there was the hitmonchan back where the hitmonlee was. The two of them apparently didn't see eye to eye on whatever was going on, which I assumed was a mutual crush they both had on Ticky. "Both of you are done battling! Get back into your pokeballs!"

But the two pokemon didn't listen and soon went right at it in a fist and foot fight. Energy they apparently didn't have before they now had as they duked it out between each other and Bruno sighed.

From what I could tell, apparently this has happened before since it was annoying the quite man on the other side of the field. Ticky sighed, seeing as she wouldn't get to battle for a little bit and came back down to me and plopped herself into my arms while we waited.

"Toge… gee," she muttered.

"I know Ticky, boys are stupid." The fight that I was seeing before me reminded me of the many that Aaron and Tristan had had before over me, which I hadn't realized at the time. I can honestly see the hitmonchan as being Aaron, who saw Ticky first and came back to fight after he'd been defeated, while the hitmonlee was Tristan, the one who noticed me second and was almost defending me.

I couldn't help but shake my head and lightly laughed. "Boys…"

I suddenly heard another pokeball open from the other side of the field and noticed another little fighting creature. It was small with its three feet that were larger then the hitmonchan's, but smaller then the hitmonlee's. The same when for its fists, which were larger then the hitmonlee's, but smaller then the hitmonchan's. It had what you could only call dreadlocks on its head that were a light brown color, like all over the rest of its body, while a small blue suit like was over it, just like a wrestler's. A tiny spike was on its head all by itself, you could almost call it a miniature horn. With black eyes and a small mouth to finish itself off, the pokemon then used said mouth to curl into a snarl as it looked over at its two teammates.

I pulled out my pokedex to see what it was. Hitmontop, the handstand pokemon. It launches kicks while spinning. It spins at high speed; it may bore its way into the ground. The centrifugal force boots its destructive power by ten. There are no known hitmontop nests in this region.

Wait, their three of them? I thought there were only two! How many of them are there? My mind had a bit of a hard time getting around all the fighting types that seemed to be a bit familiar to each other. Ticky did too apparently from the way she was looking at them all. She pushed herself out of my arms and then lifted herself back up into the air with her wings before she looked down and flew around the third pokemon apparently from the same family species.

The third pokemon on the other hand jumped over the edge of the battle arena and joined into the fight with its apparent brothers. I couldn't see all the action from all the dust that erupted, but apparently Ticky could from her laughter above as she watched the spectacle.

Bruno only sighed and stood in silence as he let the spectacle run and let his pokemon deal with the situation. Under his gaze, the very battle seemed to stop as two bodies, the ones that Ticky had already battled, were down and out, more white flags in their hands with the new pokemon up on top without a scratch on it.

"Top top! Hitmontop top!" It began shouting at the other two and quickly Bruno returned them to their pokeballs before he turned back to me and the hitmontop jumped back to the battle platform. It made a motion for Ticky to come right at it and she cheered. A battle, finally!

"Hope you don't disappoint!" I pointed out at the pokemon. "Let's go Ticky!"

"Toge!" She cheered and lowered herself from higher up in the air and hovered over the ground, right before the pokemon. It made a 'come at me' motion with its hand and Ticky snickered with excitement as she twirled around.

"Alright Hitmontop! Use rapid spin!" The pokemon suddenly jumped up on its head and hit the small horn to the ground before somehow rapidly spinning its body around so that all it looked like was a small blue and tan tornado.

"Counter it with aerial ace Ticky!" She sent herself flying up into the air before she dived back down at sped at the pokemon spinning.

As soon as the two collided, Ticky was thrown back from the force of the opposing attack and forced to take a moment to catch her breath. The pokemon however gave her no time to recover and flung its body over at her and kicked her hard in the face and in the stomach before she was thrown into the wall behind me. Bruno finally grinned at the fact that he made some headway when it came to my pokemon against his.

"Ticky!"

"Toge!" I was relieve to see that she was alright, apparently she really had developed a thick set of skin as she flew out of the hole in the wall relatively alright. She blew a raspberry at the hitmontop that had jumped out of its role and the pokemon growled at her.

"Alright Ticky! Let's use ancient power and magical leaf! Take that pokemon out!" The pokemon gasped as Ticky grinned and summoned large boulders covered in their purple magic veil before she threw them at it. For the most part the pokmeon dodged the attacks, but one actually hit it and crushed it into the ground. We both cheered, Ticky and I, when we saw that.

My hopes for that battle to be over there were quickly mistaken when the pokemon suddenly moved the bolder that was it under. I watched as the small pokemon lifted the boulder that was nearly ten times the size of itself and chucked it back at Ticky. She gasped a bit, but suddenly remembered my other commanded and summoned leaves with their rainbow colored veil around them. She chucked them down at the boulder that the pokemon and thrown back and it sliced it right up and cut off its push toward Ticky before having it fall to the ground. The rest of the leaves flew past where the boulder once was and hit the pokemon that was below it. The hitmontop cried out as the leaves struck and sliced up its body.

"Hitmontop!" Bruno shouted out.

The leaves stopped and the arena was silent as its spectators and ourselves watched the little pokemon that Ticky and I were facing. It was still somehow standing after the major onslaught it just endured from us. Ticky snorted at this and looked at me for a command.

"Finish this up Ticky, aerial ace!" Without warning, my pokemon flew up into the air and dived down, hitting the pokemon right in its abdomen and throwing it harshly into the other side of the field again. It hit the wall and fell into the equipment that Bruno had below it. Bruno turned his head and watched in shock and amazement as the white flag emerged again, another pokemon was down for the count.

I internally cheered, but I worriedly also looked over at my poor little girl. She was tiring out; she only had about one battle more left in her before she needed a long nap. Her breathing was labored and heavy. Her eyes were starting to drop a bit. It would be a make or break with this last pokemon Bruno would send out against us.

"And now down to the last pokemon of my arsenal." Bruno sighed as he pulled out a final pokeball. "Are you ready for the last of my pokemon Gwyn Jalen?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Ticky nodded up in the air and flew down to my level and looked excitedly, but tired as well, over at Bruno.

"Then face my final pokemon, one who will finally take out your little 'cute' pokemon! Go Machamp!"

From his final pokeball came a large pokemon that seemed to growl at us angrily as it stood before us. It flexed its four muscular arms and gritted its teeth as it looked down at Ticky, chuckling under its breath at her from her weakened appearance.

"Toge!" Ticky yelled back at the machamp.

"She's right! She's not down and out yet!" I looked over at my pokemon as she struggled to lift herself into the air. "You're going to be okay Ticky, just hand in there! Only one battle left!"

"But this one will be her last! Go Machamp! Use vital throw!" The pokemon came barreling forward on its muscular legs of light blue skin and threw its arm forward to grab my little Ticky. With a single one of the four arms it had, it threw her like a rag doll with rocks inside it, with a force only matched by that of Violet or her pokemon, and chucked her into the ground. I could hear the screeching of the hung battlefield protest from the hit it took

"Now seismic toss! Pound that little runt into submission!" The pokemon laughed and grabbed Ticky, holding her tightly in its arms before leaping up into the air, crushing her body to its chest and using the force of the downward fall to add to the force of throwing her into the ground before the pokemon jumped out of the way, midair.

"Ticky!"

"I'm not about to give your pokemon any chance to recover! Now use focus punch!" The large muscular pokemon pulled back its arms, its two fists were right next to each other as they gathered focused energy that was ready to release in only a moment.

"Ticky! Get up!" I gasped as my little pokemon slowly was able to get up, at least to lift her head and look at the soon to be on coming attack. "Use metronome!"

I knew it was a last ditch effort, one that would need a miracle to save Ticky from this bind. Metronome was an attack that could summon any attack in our world, but it was entirely at random, you had no choice of the attack that would come out. It was up to fate if I win or not with this attack. A gamble…

Ticky was somehow able to lift one of her arms and gently wave it from side to side in the effort of using metronome. Her hand glowed lightly as she stopped and her hand then took on a brighter glow and suddenly markings that looked just like that of Cynder's appeared all over her body and suddenly the white fire blazed out of her glowing had and took over the entire field as it exploded in the face of the machamp and engulfed it in the white flames.

My eyes, and I'm sure that of Bruno's too, were widened as I watched the fire rage on and take over the field. I could hear the screams of the machamp from the other side as the flames ate away at it and all its energy. I barely had the sense enough to look away from the battle, but I did to bring out my pokedex to see what just happened.

The move just use by the togetic was a move called metronome, which randomly chooses a single pokemon move from all over the world to use, in which case it then chose 'assist' a move similar to that of metronome, except its range of move choosing is limited to that of its team members, in which case, this time around, it selected the move known as 'blast burn' from the typhlosion.

All of that from metronome? I wasn't about to argue with it, it seems that fate decided to save our butts rather than have them creamed.

The fire was gone when I looked up again and saw that I didn't see the machamp at first. It seemed to be not there until I looked down onto the field, closer to where there was a ground. In the middle of the field was the pokemon, hiding behind a few charcoaled rocks that covered its soot-covered body. It seemed to be knocked out cold from the attack with the x's over its eyes.

"Machamp is unable to battle, the winner of this battle is Ticky and victor of this match is Gwyn Jalen of New Bark Town!" When I heard the referee call that out I almost didn't believe him since I was still so entranced by what happened. But it was a voice that reached out to me that brought me back to reality.

"Toge!" My eyes drifted over to my little girl as she was trying desperately to fly back over to me but she was having a hard time with all her wounds.

"Ticky!" My instincts as a mother kicked in and I rushed out toward her. I jumped the ledge over onto the platform where she was and picked her up into my arms. She was all dirty and covered in bruises and cuts, but for the most part, she was still awake and kicking. She even grinned at me as I took her off the field on Bruno's side (since that's the way we had to go anyway to get to the next battle room.

"Good job Ticky, just hang on a second or two and I'll get you some berries and potions to make you feel better and you can take a nice long nap." She nodded and curled into my arms, she was already out.

I looked over at Bruno who had his face hidden underneath his hair. "I have nothing more to say to you other than you really are Champion Violet's protégé. Go to the next room and face the last of the four of us."

"Thanks Bruno." I nodded to him and quickly hurried out of the room and to the doorway behind him. A long hallway of an actual pitch black room met me as I walked inside.

Dim lights were on the floor to the pitch black room, and when I saw the door close, I could hardly see anything for a moment. With Ticky out cold, I pulled out a small potion or two from my bag and cleaned up her wounds and sprayed her all over to help her heal before returning her. I'd feed her later when she was well rested.

A sudden opening of another pokeball startled me and it was Sunrise who sat herself in my lap, eagerly waiting for her apparent battle that she'd claimed that she would face, and all because of another umbreon that wasn't Chalcedony…

"Are you sure you want to face this team Sunrise? They're all dark types, the type advantage over you."

"Esp!" She looked up at me with a very determined look in her eyes. It said it all to me.

"Alright, I'll do my best to help you win that battle, okay?" She nodded and curled into my lap. In only a short amount of time, the last of the Elite Four would face us, and we were ready to take them down.

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

"Gwyn Jalen!" I was startled a bit when I heard my name be called again. It'd been a bit of a while since I'd gotten here, the battle the was apparently taking place while I was resting for a moment with Sunrise much longer then I imagined it would, so we ended up taking a nap.

Sunrise was eager though, especially to prove that a dark type could have the advantage over her and she'd still beat them (and something about how another umbreon or even another pokemon can't claim her because she'd beat them up). She jumped off my lap and led me off to where the man stood at the door where the only source of any brighter light was coming from. He used a flashlight to check out my number before he allowed us to pass through.

Within the next room I saw that it was also very dark in color, but an elegant purple color. I saw few lights in this stadium, only beams of light that shined down on the trainer boxes. I stepped into mine with Sunrise at my side and noticed that there were many crystal formations that seemed to glow and be living and growing in the very walls of this room. They provided most of the lighting other then the two beams in the room.

From the other side of the field, I watched as a woman suddenly showed herself there, the only female member on the Johto side of the Pokѐmon League. She was an interesting person to look and gave you the vibe that she was a bit different not only in appearance, but also in personality. Her eyes and long, curly hair matched the same tone of silvery-blue while her pale skin glowed in comparison to them. Her bright colored clothes of a yellow top, that was cut off jagged like under her breasts with a black line on the top part that hung over her breasts and the two straps on both shoulders that held it up, and a white set pair of capris tightly hung on her body. A belt of some kind that had ovals of yellow attached to it hung off it and she also had pale yellow high heels. She grinned almost madly over at me and it gave me a bit of a nervous feeling as I watched her look me over.

"So you're Gwyn Jalen? You look entertaining… for such an innocent young girl you've certain caused quite the uproar as Champion Violet's protégé." She chuckled lightly. "Not that I'm complaining, I always love a challenge, its what brings out the best in all of us when we face each other on the battle field because we do all we can to win."

"I know the feeling." I couldn't help but smile at her; she reminded me a lot of Violet in those few moments.

"As for myself, since I've yet to introduce myself, I'm Karen Blakely, the last of the Elite Four of the Johto branch. To be honest, you are one of the few challengers that actually managed to make it to me within the last few months. I've been quite bored and I finally meet a challenger that I know will give me a run for my money. Let me tell you though," she cut herself off and pointed down at Sunrise with a harsh finger and gaze, "if that's the pokemon you plan to send against my team, you best be prepared to lose, psychic types don't do well here at all."

"Esp!" Sunrise shouted out at the woman.

"She's right, you'll never know until you face her, us, Karen." I stared down at the woman with a harsh gaze of my own and Sunrise hurried out onto the field. The fur on every inch of her body was already on edge and she was a mad espeon.

The woman only shrugged and pulled on of her pokeballs. "Whatever you say Gwyn dear, so let's get started, shall we? Be warned, my dark types are malicious, they won't hold back."

"Good, it wouldn't mean anything when we win and you did." The woman rose her eye brow at my comment. I even felt like I had taken a bold step in staying such a crud thing like that. Sunrise, on the other hand, turned back to look at me and gave me a grin. I snorted a laugh and nodded back over at her. "Let's go girl!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Karen threw out the pokeball. "Let's go Murkrow!" From her pokeball came the small devilish bird that's black feathers look liked a hat on its head. It landed lightly on Karen's shoulder before it chuckled at us and flew out onto the field. It continued to laugh out there in the air though as it flew overhead.

"Alright Murkrow! Start out with peck!" The bird laughed and dived at Sunrise, its beak looked to almost have some sort of a shine to it.

"Block it Sunrise, protect." Without moving a single inch from where she stood, a barrier appeared around my pokemon and she watched silently as the pokemon slammed its head into the field and was thrown back. Karen blinked in surprise and looked at Sunrise as the barrier quickly faded to be able to call back on it just as well again while we were battling. The murkrow cawed out in anger before chirping angrily at my psychic type. She only snorted back at him and turned her head away and flicking her tail angrily.

"Take it out Sunrise, use quick attack!" A gleam appeared in her eyes that I saw were directed back at me before she grinned and bound forward toward the impending pokemon. With a white glow around body, she disappeared and pushed herself back the from the pokemon using her teleporting ability to give herself more speed before slamming her body into that of the murkrow that was up in the air. The pokemon squeaked as the attack hit and threw its body back into the battlefield and on the ground. It screeched out violently before the x's appeared over its eyes and the first pokemon of Karen's was down.

"So quickly…?" Karen was stunned as she looked down at her pokemon before looking over at mine and myself.

"I hope you weren't thinking that my pokemon would only know psychic moves." Sunrise snorted and I couldn't help but laugh at the woman's possible first single minded though that she'd just displayed for us.

"I just made a small mistake, as any trainer or human being would do!" Karen snorted and flipped her silvery-blue hair. "Don't think that Murkrow showed the level of my team, its much stronger then that!"

"Good, then let's see it before Sunrise takes them on before they can come out of their pokeballs." I could see Sunrise's temperament starting to flare as she waited on the woman. She was already mad about the fact that there was an umbreon that wasn't Chalcedony on this team that she for some strange reason would have to face herself. To add to that, she's facing against an entire team of dark types that she was prepared for a harder battle, but she's faired much better then Karen or even I would have guessed.

"Fine then!" With a snap of her wrist, away the murkrow went and out came another pokeball that she threw into the air. "Come on our Sneasel! Take care of her and that espeon!"

From out of the pokeball came another one of the dark types that Karen seemed so fond of. It looked identical to the one that was in Tristan's arsenal, but this one seemed a bit calmer in nature compared to the rambunctious and nervous one that my best friend had. It surveyed the field and then looked over at myself before turning to its trainer and nodding, its feathers straitened to a 't' and its bright eyes glanced back at Sunrise before it raised its claws.

"Alright now Sneasel! Use quick attack!" The pokemon raced forward with a blinding speed before it suddenly vanished and appeared again at Sunrise's side and was about to slam its body into her, but she teleported her body away to the other side of the field. She kept doing such a process and wore the pokemon down as it had to keep moving about too much to get to her as she appeared in the strangest of places. She even landed herself on the ceiling and the sides of walls from time to time. It was quite the spectacle to see them rushing about, or at least the sneasel was.

"Alright Sunrse! Play time is over! Take it out with swift!"

My pokemon disappeared again and reappeared high up in the air where she used her over psychic power to hold her up there before she released a multitude of glittering stars from her mouth that flew down to the sneasel below and just barely started to nick its tail before it turned on its heels and ran from her attack. Sunrise followed after the pokemon with her attack until he stopped it for a moment and fired ahead of the pokemon and forced it to stop, sliding right into the mist of the attack.

The pokemon cried out as its body was inflicted with pain on coming from falling into that small trap of my pokemon's. She could be quite devilish and cunning when she wanted to be. She kept the attack up for a good long minute before cutting off the attack and sitting down stiffly and watching as the dust settled down. When it did, I saw that the dark type was also knocked out cold. Its proper feel to it was gone with it now k'od.

"What?" Karen was stunned once more at the display. The second of her four pokemon were taken down and now she was left with only the other two remaining. I hoped that she'd send out something a little stronger soon since Sunrise had a lot of pent up energy.

Though from the bad feeling I suddenly had felt come over me, either a really powerful pokemon or that rumored umbreon of Karen's would appear next.

"Oh this will not go on as it has!" Karen returned that other pokeball and sent out another. "Take her pokemon out Umbreon!"

And of course, it had to be the latter of the two…

I watched as from the pokeball the pokemon came and Sunrise's eyes suddenly widened as she watched the other male pokemon that was of the exact same breed as her new boyfriend. His eyes looked over Sunrise for a moment before I saw a grin curve into its face. He pranced around her in a slow and even motion, using the usual balance and elegance most eevees and all their evolutions seem to possess. He looked at every curve and every detail of Sunrise's body and I saw her glare back at him as she did a similar thing, jumping out of the circle he made around her and looked at all his imperfections, or at least that was how it seemed.

Sunrise seemed to be judging, comparing; she was seeing how incompetent this umbreon was compared to that of her boyfriend. I could see her taking extreme notice in his markings and eyes, which she no doubt snorted at, apparently they weren't the prefect shade like Chalcedony's were. She stuck her nose up to the male and snorted a quick, single star swift attack at the umbreon's face. Upon impact the pokemon coughed and suddenly glared at Sunrise, baring its teeth before it made the lunging attack, and Sunrise did the same thing back.

Karen and I watched from the sidelines along with all the other spectators and the referee as the two of them went at it in the middle of the field. Karen was shouting at her umbreon to cool and tried to shout out commands for it, but the pokemon refused to listen. From the way of its rigid posture and its furious movements while it tangoed in a battle of tackles, scratches and bites with Sunrise, I could easily tell how it wanted to show her what he was all about.

Didn't that give me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside…

I watched as Sunrise threw back the pokemon as it attempted to hold her down to the ground. While she was extremely powerful with her mind and psychic attacks, it didn't mean that she had no physical strength. That's all she relied on as an eevee, she got into street fights with pokemon and was always fighting to get stronger. It wasn't possible for her not to be strong with physical attacks, especially if she had a deep hatred for them, and this umbreon seemed to be taking the cake for that category at the moment.

"Umbreon! Listen to me! Stop attacking relentlessly or we'll never win!" I watched as Karen still tried to cry out to her pokemon, but it continued not listen. It wanted to teach a lesson that my pokemon would refuse to accept no matter what. She would not fall to his taunts or the pain, should she have felt any. She was a tough girl and I knew she'd be fine. It was her battle anyway; it'd be wrong to get in the middle of it and try to give her commands. I could only cheer her on and show her she has my and the rest of her siblings support.

"Go for it Sunrise! We believe in you! Take him out and show him whose boss girl!" I saw a grin appear on her face for the first time this battle as she heard my comment and dived toward the umbreon; teeth extended and took a large bite into his back, where he couldn't reach her to bite her back after he howled in pain. With his growling echoing all over the room, the umbreon tried to swing around his body and Sunrise's to a certain point so he could bite her back, but she swatted her tail in his face instead.

"Ouch…" I flinched and looked away for a moment before hesitantly looking back.

"Umbreon!" Karen cried out helplessly to her pokemon, even though she knew it was no good, she was still trying.

Hey, at least it showed she cared.

More fir began to fly once Sunrise was shaken off of the umbreon and he flung himself at her. The two of them hissed and snarled, growled and charged at each other. Every time that they came in contact with one another, I saw large patches of fur flying in the air from their fight as they got even worse as time went on, and the people above us in the crowd could see it. I even heard a few screams as some people were watching the two of them.

They should know better if they plan to come here that battles aren't exactly always the prettiest. After all, this is the Elite Four and the champion, it's to be expected that some battles like this would arise. I saw women trying to cover the eyes of their child and shield their own eyes as well, but it didn't work since the kid would just look around the hand. I shook my head and turned back to look over at Sunrise and the umbreon on the field. They both seemed to be tiring out, especially the umbreon.

Getting in a final hit now would settle it…

"Finish it off Sunrise! I know you can do! Take that umbreon out!" Without giving her an actual command for a move, Sunrise commanded a quick attack all on her own and sped fast over to the enemy pokemon, shoving all her body weight into the attack and in a single second, the pokemon was impacted and from the force of the blow was thrown into the back of the wall behind Karen. She watched in horror as her pokemon slowly descended on the wall to the ground, and it was knocked out cold.

"Incredible… never have I witnessed or face such destructive and raw power, other then Champion Violet that is." She returned her latest dark type and pulled out a final pokeball that seemed to have quite a bit of wear and tare on it. "And now I'm down to my last pokemon, I never thought that it would come to this…"

"Yeah, my team and I tend to do that a lot." Sunrise laughed quietly at my words, heck, even Karen was laughing lightly.

"I suppose so." Her eyes seemed to be almost glowing as she looked at me in admiration. "I like your style Gwyn Jalen, so let me face you with my final pokemon and let's see how well you fair! Let's go Houndoom!" From her pokeball came her last pokemon she had on hand. It was the large black and red dog with some horns on its head like that of Izzy's companions. It snarled and rattled its head, waiting on the command to attack.

"Alright Sunrise, let's finish this battle off! Start off with swift!" Now in command of my pokemon again and her moves, Sunrise obeyed and she used the attack at the pokemon that we now faced.

"Dodge it Houndoom and slash at that pokemon!" Karen's final pokemon nodded and off like a bullet it flew. It raced around Sunrise's attack as if it was in slow motion and it came up on her quick to the left.

"Teleport!" Sunrise was gone in the next second, but the ground still remained and felt the damage as its long claws were thrown into the ground and deep slash marks followed with the pokemon as it attempted to slow down. Dust flew up into the air and I looked just off to my right to see my pokemon safely unharmed. As the dust cleared, I watched and gazed in amazement at the long claw marks that were deeply engraved into the ground. For at least twenty feet the mark ran, I watched as the houndoom wrenched its claws from the ground and brought them up to its face. Some blood seemed to be dripping from the tips of its skin and where the nail met, but it didn't seem to care much.

"Oh man…" I looked over at my pokemon nervously. This pokemon didn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling on the inside. "Be careful Sunrise! This one looks to be really powerful!"

"Espe esp!" She swished her tail around a bit as she kept her eyes on the opponent. It was fast, faster then Sunrise if it wasn't for her teleport attack. We have to find some place where she couldn't get hit as easily since I bet that houndoom could climb and run all over that ceiling. But what to do? It's not like Sunrise could fly or levitate like she does others…

"Wait a minute! I got it!" The idea suddenly came to me in a rush and a gleam came to my eyes that I knew my pokemon saw. "Sunrise! Use psychic on yourself and send yourself up into the air and hover!" My pokemon grinned and did just as such, hurling her body into the air from a jump and then using her own abilities onto herself to keep her afloat. "Now use swift! Then send yourself back down closer to the ground and use dig!"

"What? How doe she know all these moves other then psychic ones?" Karen questioned aloud as Sunrise fired off the attack and then cut it off before she dived for the ground. She jumped in and dug and before long, she was gone. The houndoom looked around for her, its eyes twitching at the slightest movement from anywhere on the field. I looked as well, seeing a slight shift in the earth as she came up right behind it.

"Now!" She shoved the dirt out from around her and surfaced right behind the houndoom. It looked around rapidly for her until it turned around and saw her in its face, throwing her body out of the hole and then slammed into the enemy pokemon. It fell flat on its back and was shoved down and off to the side before it rolled over and got back up to its feel. Sunrise quickly floated herself back up into the air and looked down at it.

"Okay, let's try something different." Sunrise turned her head to me and looked back as I debated over my plan once more to make sure I wouldn't get her too mad at me for what I was planning. "You ready to go wild girl? Take this pokemon out?"

"Esp!"

"Use flamethrower houndoom!" The enemy pokemon obeyed the order from its trainer and flames burst from its mouth and at my pokemon.

"Protect!" Another shield came up and covered her body as the flames reached her, but prevented her from the pain. "Sunrise, don't hate me for this, but head down to the ground and use confusion on yourself and let loose!"

"Espe espe esp!" She eagerly agreed with my idea (I have no idea why) and shot herself down to the ground before she used the psychic attack on herself and forced her brain to be in pain. She cried out before I saw a red haze overtake her eyes while she focused in on the opposing pokemon and raced at it. Her teeth were bared and she launched them into its back side while almost sending out a barrage of a swift attack to where its mouth was attached to the pokemon's body. It howled out in pain and tired to shake her off, but the pain was suddenly becoming too great and it collapsed to the ground.

Sunrise released the body and staggered backwards, she plopped herself down onto the ground and shook her head a few times before I saw her eyes turn to normal and she sighed as took a large deep breath.

"Houndoom is unable to battle, the winner of this battle is Sunrise and victor of this match is Gwyn Jalen of New Bark Town!"

The crowd went into another endless roar of cheers as my match ended. The loudest I could hear coming from my family and friend's section of the crowd. All of them were cheering with all their hearts and even Violet had a large grin on her face and showed me a thumbs up.

Only one more match was left, just to become the champion…

"Strong pokemon…" I turned my head quickly to Karen as I walked across her field, toward her, and picked up Sunrise. "Weak pokemon… only selfish people would choose based on that face. A real trainer should win with what pokemon they believe in and help them to become strong and to face any obstacle." She returned her pokemon and snorted a laugh as she hid her face behind her hair. "You showed me that, Gwyn Jalen. Now please continue on, the champion waits for you."

I nodded and walked passed her to where another hallway seemed to appear. There was no waiting room as it was only a long path that led all the way up to an apparent dome that was a good couple mile walk from here. I could see many people flooding from the main building of the Pokѐmon League to where this dome was off in the distance.

"I guess that's where we're going to face Lance." I quickly set down my bag to pull out a potion to use and heal up Sunrise before I returned her for her good long rest and then followed the long path to where my final battle would be taking place.

And Cynder was dying to battle him.

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

After the incredibly long walk from Karen's battlefield to that of the dome where apparently my final battle would be taking place, I finally arrived at where I was supposed to be. The large dome was a golden like color, extremely bright. Two large oak doors were what kept me outside, but once I stepped up the last of the stairs that led up to the building, the doors opened and inside was a red carpet that led all the way down another long hallway to a battlefield. Pits hung on the walls were lit with fire that glowed off the golden walls and it was incredible to watch it as I slowly walked in, Cynder's pokeball in my right hand and at the ready.

"It's good to finally see you here Gwyn Jalen, protégé of Violet Vilmos." I looked up ahead of myself and watched as I saw a young man that was dressed in a darker colored sort of suit with a black and red cape that had over his shoulders. Vibrant red hair was spiked on his head, not too long, but not too short either in length. His pale white skin stood out in comparison to the darker sets of hair and clothing.

"I'm glad to see that you made it, its good to see someone who I know will finally give me a good challenge, I haven't had one of those since just about the time of the Kanto champion's crowning. In fact…" I watched him look up to the stands. "Would you like to be the referee of your own student's battle Violet?"

"Wouldn't that be considered unfair?" I looked at the woman that I'd come to really treasure as a sister over all this time and a powerful friend. I took my stand in my box on the opposite side of the field and Violet looked back over at Lance. "I don't mind if you and everyone else is okay with it."

"I trust you champion, I know you too well to give the match to her. You'd view that as unfair since the girl wouldn't win it for herself."

"Point taken." She turned her head to me. "Do you want me to do that Gwyn? Or do you want me to just watch the match?"

"It's your choice Violet, I really don't mind." I told the young woman and the girl who had taught me so much. "I trust you, so I don't mind either way."

"Good, because I always wanted to do this." She took the flags from the referee and grinned as she stood up into the podium between both halves of our battlefield. I couldn't help but snort a laugh at her.

Typical Violet, always doing things her own way…

"Alright you two, this is a battle for the championship, make everyone proud to see this match up! Now let's go!" Violet raised up the flags in the air with a flick of her arms and the battle had commenced.

"Forgive me for not formally introducing myself earlier, but I am Lance Ethelinda, champion of the Johto region." He flipped his cape off to the side and threw out his first pokeball. "Now face my team of mighty dragons! Go Gyarados!" A blue version of my beautiful Scarlet appeared before me. It roared out with a similar looking face to her's, but this one seemed a bit tamer.

Oh how Scarlet would hate to see that.

Regardless of that, I kept the comment to myself and I pulled out my fire type's pokeball. It was the only pokeball of mine that actually was a normal color of white and red with a black center line. I could see some of the color that had faded from it; I might have to get her a new one in the future. I couldn't help but smile as I looked down at my fire misfit's pokeball. Remembering all that had taken place since the beginning of our journey and how much we had changed since then. My little fire misfit, and all the rest of my team, gave me the courage I didn't have when I first began my journey. I learned so many morals I didn't know before, I made so many amazing friends…

And now we were nearing the final section of this chapter…

"Let's go Cynder! Let's take this team out and take that championship!" My fire misfit came out of her pokeball and roared, bringing her fire to her mane. She snorted out some fire from her nostrils before she looked at her opponent. Cynder's red eyes almost matched that of the gyarados', although, I have to admit that the pokemon seemed to be a bit intimidated by my little fire misfit.

"Now that's what I'm talking about! Save the best match ups for last!" Violet couldn't help herself but cheer and I was surprised to see all her pokemon come out of their pokeballs and spread themselves out around her. They all had their eyes on me, especially Amethyst, who eyed Cynder under a gaze that Cynder promptly ignored.

"Sion!" she cried back at me.

She was right, Amethyst wasn't our opponent now, it was this gyarados and Lance.

"Let's go Cynder, start out with flame wheel!" Cynder roared again, but this time in eagerness before she jumped into a roll of fire and sped off at the flying and water type dragon.

"That isn't going to affect my gyarados!" Lance shouted confidently.

"I wouldn't be so sure," I shook my head as I snorted at him. "Did anyone ever tell you how I beat Karen's entire team of dark types with my espeon, a psychic type?" Lance's eyes widened and Violet laughed as the attack hit and the water dragon screeched out as it was burned. It thrashed about to get away from Cynder, but she bounced right back, literally. If she was thrown away, she pushed her still rolling body off the ground and shot herself right back into the flames that were quickly taking hold of the gyarados' body.

"Gyarados!"

The cry was helpless from Lance as the fire took hold of the entire body of his water dragon pokemon. The flames were torching all the scales of its body and it was thrashing about its tail just to do away with the pain. Cynder threw herself back at the pokemon a final time before the gyarados fell from the pain of the fire. With a loud crash it fell to the ground with the fire still lingering around it. An alarm was sounded off and sprinklers from the ceiling released a whole bunch of water. Cynder growled and hissed out at the water dropped on her, but it was all quickly redirected toward the burning gyarados. The fire hissed as the water hit its vibrant flames, but soon the water over took the fire and out it was, leaving a charcoaled gyarados behind. Lucky for all of us though, it was still breathing.

"That's one down and out Cynder! Only three more to go!" My fire type grinned back at me before she huffed out some more of the hot flames from inside her body as she turned back to look at Lance with a devilish look, ready to fry another one of his pokemon.

"It seems I very much underestimated you." Lance sighed as he returned his first dragon. "But I don't do that this time! See how you fair against Aerodactyl!"

Out from the pokeball came a pre-historic pokemon that was purple in color that had its wings attached to its arms. It's hard body was due to it being a rock type, certainly a challenge for Cynder to face, but not impossible. We just proved that with the gyarados.

"Alright Cynder, take it out with hyper beam!"

Oh yeah, Violet showed me that attack a long time ago. She thought another normal type attack would do Cynder good since she mostly has fire moves, and some of the few others we knew wouldn't be effective against flying types since they wouldn't be on the ground.

My pokemon chuckled as she gathered power before her mouth and the aerodactyl flapped about to get out of the way. Lance was shouting at it to dive into the ground or something, but after what happened to its teammate from just a flame wheel attack, it was fearful and flew off and away toward the ceiling.

"Now Cynder!" Her blast of pure white energy was released from her mouth and the blast swallowed the pokemon whole. Everyone could hear its screams and some people from the crowd could also be heard as they shielded their eyes from the blast. Through it all, I could still hear Violet and her team laughing, enjoying the show. I glanced off to look at her all she did was smile, showing me a quick glance before she turned back to the battle, just barely motioning that I should do the same.

The white light soon disappeared and another pokemon was down for the count when it came crashing down and hit the battlefield with no remorse. This pokemon was also charcoaled from the heat of the blast and x's were over its eyes.

"Wow, this is easier than I thought." I snickered and looked over at Cynder. "Either that or you're really super strong."

"I can't believe this, I feel even more overwhelmed then I did when facing Violet…" Lance shook his head and pulled out another pokeball. "No, I'm stronger since then. I will take down you pokemon Gwyn Jalen! Let's go Charizard!"

An orange colored version of Amethyst appeared before us. The parts under its wings were a blue in comparison to her maroon. It roared in our faces before taking to the air. Cynder huffed at it and I couldn't help but laugh.

It actually thought it could take Cynder on… I shook my head at the thought. It was quite rude of me, but I'm sure that was exactly what my pokemon was thinking right at that moment.

"Alright Cynder, catch your breath for a moment after that hyper beam." She shook her head and bent down, ready to jump. "What do you mean Cynder? You need to rest for at least a moment!"

"Well I'm not about to give you that chance to recover Gwyn!" Lance threw out his arm before himself. "Let's go Charizard! Attack with slash!" The beast roared and threw itself into the air, lettings its wings catch the gusts under them before hurling itself at my pokemon with its long claws outstretched. It brought them both before its face before it chucked them forward and Cynder and no chance to move from the fatigue she felt from the last attack and was thrown into the wall behind me. I could hear the gasps in the audience as they watch and Violet's judging eyes watched intently.

"Cynder! You alright?" I watched the rubble be chucked aside in seconds before I watched her emerge with just a few small scratches on her, she was hardly hit.

"Not for long she won't be!" Lance looked back to his pokemon. "Dragon rage!" The charizard then breathed out a blast of dark red, purple and black energy that had come flying at my fire type that she had no choice but to take it head on. I watched as she stood in the way of the blast and continued to stand like that, even while being swallowed whole inside of it.

"Cynder!" I cried out to my pokemon. "Counter it with fire blast and send that pokemon packing before you really get hurt out there and can't fight anymore!"

Just as I had ordered, the pokemon of mine, my fire misfit, somehow conjured up enough strength, while being practically held down by the attack, to blast it with her over powering flame that absorbed the blast of the fire and quickly sent it back at the charizard on the other side of the field. It cried out as it was hit with the attack of its same type and I watched as it was shoved back into the wall. I heard more gasping from the crowd as they watched. Violet had another grin on her face.

The fire pokemon surprised us though by quickly making its way out onto the field again, though limping heavily. It shook some of the soot off of its face and I watched it roar out again.

"Flame wheel Cynder!"

"Counter it with slash charizard!"

The two of them rushed at each other with their two different attacks, Cynder in the form of a spinning fire ball and the charizard with its claws extended before its face for protection and for attacking with. I watched as the two met and clashed, one time, two times, three times, and the cycle went on. Cynder refused to give up and so did its rival fire pokemon out on the field at the moment.

The crowd was cheering as they watched them battle. I glanced once again over to Violet and watched as she gave her pokemon looks of her own as they glanced back to the fight.

"Finish it Cynder!" My fire type was somehow able to speed herself up enough that when she made contacted again with the fire they she apposed, she broke though its attack and defense this time around and slammed her body right into it before the two of them went flying into the wall behind Lance. Cynder quickly pushed herself out of the hole and, still in a fire ball mind you, she rolled back over to me before releasing the hold of the fire over her and standing on her hind legs.

I watched from the other side of the field as I the charizard fell from where it was thrown and hit the ground with a loud thump. It was down and out, no arguments about that. I watched as Amethyst, from next to Violet, shook her head and the fire type before not looking again at the field until it was returned to its pokeball.

"Only one left? How can this be? We've only battled but for a few minutes!" Lance's eyes were wide as he looked over to me for an answer and I only could shrug at him.

"No idea. We're just battling and having fun!" I couldn't help but grin after that comment and Cynder snickered at it too. "Oh hush Cynder! You're having even more fun then I am!"

That didn't work though, not that I expected it to.

"Then its time to face my final pokemon Gwyn Jalen, and let me tell you, I plan to go all out with my final and most powerful move." He pulled out his pokeball and threw it out. "Go Dragonite! Take down her pokemon!"

From the pokeball came the lightly orange colored dragon that looked much like Zircon, but much more serious then playful and cute. Its eyes were hard and it glared at me before it looked back to its trainer for a final move to be sent at me, one that I knew I'd have to rival with-

"Draco meteor!" From some sort of portal that appeared out of no where form the area above our heads, heading the dragon pokemon's cry, large meteors of extreme power were hurled down at my fire misfit. She jumped out of the way of some of them before she started to make a mad dash over to the enemy pokemon, just like I'd hoped.

"Alright Cynder! Let's finish this up with blast burn!" From her mouth came the glow of the white fire and the markings all over her body. It was amazing to watch as she glowed up before the blast escaped her and vaporized all the rocks in front of her before hitting the dragon pokemon head on. Not a single cry could be heard over to roaring of the fire and the cries of my own fire pokemon.

And then all in the next second, after the blinding light had overtaken everything so that no one could see a thing, it and the noise stopped and all vanished. I blinked my eyes to re adjust to the lighting and gasped when I saw the scene before me. Cynder was tired, but still standing strong as she was out on the field. She looked over at her opponent that wasn't in the same boat as she. It was lying out on the ground and its head buried into a small hole there. It didn't move, but I saw a shallow breathing coming from it.

The dragonite's body was all dirty and covered in burns, ones we all know came from the hottest fire that I knew my fire misfit could produce. I could almost not distinguish it from the pile of vaporized rocks that covered the ground. But having the great eyesight I had, it made things easier to figure out.

We'd won…

"Dragonite is unable to battle!" Violet cheered in the middle of the long period of silence. "The winner of this match is Cynder and the victor of this battle is Gwyn Jalen of New Bark Town! We have a new Johto champion!"

"Cynder!" I broke the silence again with my scream of joy. "We won!"

My fire type looked back at me with the brightest glow in her eyes that I'd never thought I'd see again since the first day I met her and she became my pokemon as a cyndaquil.

The crowd erupted into cheers and in a sudden rush of excitement, I hurried up to my pokemon and hugged her with all the force I had in me. She crushed me just as hard back with a hug of her own before she threw me up onto her shoulders and proudly showed me off to the Johto and Kanto worlds that I was the new champion of the Johto region.

"Nice Gwyn! You did it! I knew you would!" Violet and all her pokemon rushed over to me and she brought me quickly into a hug I'd been waiting a long time for now. The day felt like an eternity had passed by, but it was well worth it. I was now the most powerful trainer in my entire region. I was the Johto champion.

"Congratulations Gwyn. You out classed me in every way possible." I turned my attention to the dragon master and he bowed to me. "I guess my reign is over and yours has now begun. Let's get your pokemon rested up in case someone also makes it thus far to steal your new title, and if not, a celebration tonight will be in your honor."

There were no other battles for me that day.

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

"You look incredible Gwyn; I knew corset dresses would just look amazing on you!"

"I wish I had known that in the past, I would have brought her up on some…"

"That might not have been a good idea Mrs. Jalen, she might have hated them and then never let me try them on her. She's got a rockin' body for a thirteen year old and these corsets seem to look really well on her. I'm really glad I suggested them all that time ago."

"No one will question it, will they?"

"Compared to what I'm wearing, which is about the same as hers? Probably not, and no one's going to argue with either of us champions."

My mother and Violet were well at it while talking to each other over all our dresses for the night for my coronation as the new Johto champion. There had been no other battles for the championship on my side that day, though one had come close on Violet's side, which made Lance happy that he could battle another trainer. This battle was much longer than mine with him though.

"Either way, I really just want to get out there so I can see the guys, I've been away from them all day, my pokemon and my human friends." Violet had dressed me in a solid pale pink dress that had a corset top to it for style that covered all my necessary parts. It came down to almost my ankles in length and for shoes; Violet let me borrow her silver and black ones again. With lavender nail polish on all nails and a paler shade of the same color applied to my lips, it gave me enough of an accent to my look that made Violet proud. She told me that brighter colors worked better for me with my darker colored hair and just my overall look in general. She used a more normal shade of pink on my eyes before she deemed me ready for the coronation. Normally she didn't agree with much or any pink at all, but she said it seemed to be my color.

In contrast to myself, Violet was dressed in a similar dress to my own; though without the corset sort of design, but with the cut off on her chest the same. She wore a strapless dress of a dark plum that was long like mine and had a flow to itself. It hugged her body well and was open in the back to show off her largely elaborate tattoo (which I think she was finally going to reveal to the world, or at least her brother). Also to go with the dress she wore black nail polish and black heeled shoes that brought her up another three inches to match her to her boyfriend and brother's tall height. Finishing it off with a lighter shade of violet on her eyes and a shiny, transparent purple lip gloss, she deemed herself ready for the night.

My mother had also gone all out for the night, her dress had sleeves compared to ours, but her dress was elegant on herself. It was a dark caribbean color that was actually much brighter than her black, curly hair. With just a bit of light blue to accent her eyes and some French tips for her nails, she was also set. She wore flat dress shoes for the night, she figured she'd be talking a lot and was prepared to that sort of situation.

"Violet, let the pokemon and the others in now please!" I begged my fellow champion, or soon to be since the coronation was still a few minutes away.

"Oh alright, relax a bit Gwyn, we'll get out there." She shook her head. "I just wanted to breathe in one of my last breathes of freedom before we opened those doors."

"Freedom?"

"We'll be swamped by reporters after this and my boyfriend expects me to come back to Kanto with him." She sighed. "Your freedom in this region and mine will be gone once you accept to be the champion. Of course we can sneak out and go to my mountain to train and get away from it for a while, but that doesn't mean that we can't come back every now and then, or a lot."

"Oh, I forgot about that…" I looked away for a moment before I looked back at her. "But I'm not going to back away."

Violet smiled at me and gently patted my cheek. "That's my girl."

"No, she's my girl." my mother laughed. "But I think I can share."

"Toge!" I could hear my little baby pokemon calling out from the door and her little fists were on it as well. "Togeee!"

"We're coming Ticky, just give me a second. Momma's coming." I loosely checked that my locket was around my neck before I walked over to the door and opened it for my pokemon and Violet's. They all came rushing into and Ticky was into my arms in the next second. We'd cleaned and healed everyone up before we even got ready ourselves. With everyone clean and what not, we were then able to get ready for the coronation.

"And now it's time Gwyn, you ready to face the music?" All of her pokemon, to my surprise, stood around her rather than on her like Amber, Zircon and Chalcedony did often.

I nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be Violet. I'm ready." She nodded and held out her hand for me to place mine into. Her thumb gently held down on my fingers with our hands held out before us and she began to walk. All our pokemon were behind us as we walked down the long corridors that led to the same location Violet and Lance were crowned as champions.

A large ballroom stood before us with a red carpet in the center for us to walk on. My friends were off to the side, but close to the front where I would be crowned and my mother quickly joined them, Shelly releasing himself from his pokeball to watch. Clapping was echoing in the room, I could feel the vibrations of its very force that traveled through the air. All seven of the Elite Four members stood at attention at the very front, but also the very edge of the stage, were they all bowed to me in their own way.

Violet led me past all of them and up onto the stage. Our pokemon followed us onto there and stood on opposite sides behind us with their apparent trainer. Violet stepped out before me and turned me as well to face her. It was there that she took my right hand and placed it on her own, where a ring of her championship was already placed upon the ring finger.

"Gwyn Jalen, you have overcome many obstacles as you grew as a trainer. Your pokemon are all proof of the talent of yourself and the trust that they have in you which brought you thus far," Violet began her speech with a voice that commanded all the others to be silent and watch the event unfold. "You have faced challenges that most people in their lives have never endured. You have faced Team Rocket; you have beaten them and sent them packing from your region. You honestly remind me a bit of myself when I think of that." The crowd and Violet lightly laughed at her small joke. "But you are not me, you are yourself. You have many adventures waiting for you in the future, and we are honored to see you join our ranks, hopefully for a very long time."

Violet reached off to the side next to here where Amethyst had brought forward a small black box. Amethyst opened it for her and inside it was a beautiful ring, stones on it were a multitude of colors, but unlike Violet, I had no idea what their names were or how she could tell them apart. I saw one stone was red, one yellow, one purple, one clear, a brown one and two blue ones, each a different shade. All of them on a band made of gold. Any other time I would have questioned Violet about this, since she ordered the ring for me, but for now, I just let it slide and would ask her later.

"With this ring, I crown you champion of the Johto region." She sipped it onto my finger and allowed me to look over at it in wonder. She turned back to the crowd and turned me back to look at them as well. "Now my dear people of Kanto and Johto and any other regions that may be present, I present to you the new Johto champion, Champion Gwyn Jalen!"

The crowd erupted in cheers and I couldn't help but smile at them all, we did it. I was champion, and I had the best team I could ever ask for.

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

It was after that that the crowd died down and everyone was enjoying the party. Lance had tried to make a speech, but it didn't end well when Will needed a fun moment and poured his drink on his head.

Since being crowned champion, I was sitting down at the table with my friends and family. Violet had since walked off and was dancing with Alex. Vince had yet to see the tattoo on her back due to her long hair and the dimmed lighting. It would be a lucky thing to make it out of here in one piece and her tattoo not revealed.

A photographer was apparently coming to take an official photo of myself and all of my team in a little while, but for the moment, while we waited on him, we were all just relaxing, snacking and talking. My team had all darted out in different directions to go and play about, with the exception of Ticky who wanted to stay with Momma, but opted to have some fun with Grandma while Momma went to take care of something.

It was well past time for me to have my conversation with Tristan. I'd waited all day to talk to him, but things just kept piling up. It was crazy! I finally managed to drag him away after I all but begged Aaron to drag away people's attention from us while I talked with Tristan.

I led him out onto the balcony where I saw no one was. With the cost clear, I pulled him out there and got him to face me.

"Alright Tristan, let's talk." The boy hadn't looked me strait in the eye since he came out here. "Hello? Tristan? Are you home?" I gently touched his cheek and he nearly flipped out of his own skin as he looked back at me finally.

"Sorry Gwyn, I just don't know how to tell you this…"

"Well, there's only one way to, directly." I gestured to him that he had the floor. "Fire away.

"Gwyn, I have fallen in love with you."

My heart stopped.

Gwyn's Memories (Also her Point of View):

"Damn it!" the boy hissed and returned his pokemon. "I lost…"

"Yes, you did, now give me back what you stole from me and the professor!" Cynder and growled at him and my pokemon blew out puffs of fire to prove her point.

The boy looked back at me with another dark look in his eyes, but this time, they looked very real… "I don't care what you say, I may have lost, but I need Tododile and this pokedex to become a strong trainer! And until I achieve my dream, I won't rest or look back on my mistakes!" He pushed past me without another glance and was about to head out of town when he stopped and noticed something. He looked through all his pockets before he looked back at me and I took a step back. I then felt something in my hand that I hadn't felt before, it was behind the golden colored pokedex that was in my hands. It was a card, a trainer card. I looked at the name and saw that the original one was crossed off and another name replaced it in a male's handwriting. But I could still make out nearly three letters from under what was crossed off.

"Hey! That's mine!" The boy leapt at me for it and I jumped back in fright from his shouting. Cynder jumped between us and blew fire at his feet to make him back off. She growled at him and I could tell she was daring him to try and get any closer to me.

"I think I may keep this card." I told him with a glare. "In return for the pokedex and Tododile I'll give it back to you however, deal?"

The boy had to think about if for a moment before he glared at me and jumped toward the woods. "No deal." He was gone in the next second, hidden within the dark trees and forest to conceal him.

He was so frightened at first; I never thought that I'd see any other emotion on his face then fear and anger. The first day I ever met him I knew there was something there, but what it was, was a mystery to me.

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

"Wh-what?" he stuttered as he looked at the small piece of plastic. "But I thought…"

"I didn't give it to the police if that's what your wondering." I sighed and relaxed into the back of the tree. "I told them I'd only gotten a quick glimpse at it before you snatched it from my hands and ran off. I would have gotten it back to you sooner, but you ran off the last time I ran into you before I could give it back." Tristan didn't say anything as he took and pocketed the card in his hands.

"Do you know what my real name is?" he finally asked me after a moment.

"Only you're first name, but only with the help of a friend did I figure it out." His eyes lit up like a blazing fire when I said that and he grabbed the base of my neck, but he didn't grip it harshly. It startled me and I used my only hand to grip his wrist should I have needed to pull his hand away.

"What is my name?" I could feel his body shaking through his fingers as he questioned me.

"Tristan," I replied softly. He tensed and his body shook more as the rage and fire grew in his eyes.

"And who helped you figure out my name?"

"I don't know her last name-" he cut me off with his fingers slightly squeezing in more on my neck and I couldn't move them away with his overpowering strength. "But I know her first name, its Violet."

He suddenly froze and his hand instantly came backward, releasing me. He also leaned away and I was free to run, but I didn't. "Violet?" he questioned me. "As in Violet Vilmos? The champion of Kanto?"

"I don't know, I'm not good at putting faces to names, plus, I haven't seen a picture of the champion or a video of her since over a year and a half ago."

"What about her pokemon? You must have seen at least one of them or know their names."

"Well, I saw two of her pokemon, her raichu named Amber and her umbreon named Chalcedony-" I suddenly cut myself off when I realized what was going on. Champion Violet has those exact same pokemon and exact same names on her team, and the rest of her pokemon never came out since they didn't like too… or maybe it was so that Violet Vilmos was never found by the public.

Tristan seemed to notice too that I'd finally figured it out and took a step back from me. "So Violet knows I'm here?"

"I think she's known for a while," I whispered gently. "She's been searching endlessly for you for a long time, but at some point, I think she found you, but saw how happy you were to be free from your past that she didn't want to hurt you and left you be." I looked away from him and turned my eyes to the ground. "She's been protecting us all she can from Team Rocket you know."

His eyes widened when I uttered that name and he shoved me painfully back against the tree, his wrists gripped tightly at my upper arms, startling me and almost forcing me to drop my egg. Both of my pokeball's opened up and out came Cynder and Shocker who angrily stood at my feet, ready to hit Tristan with all they had. His pokemon then came around him, ready to hit them.

"Stop it! All of you back off!" I used my foot to push back my pokemon and prevent them from attacking. "Everyone is alright, no one is hurting anyone!" My pokemon growled, but stayed at my feet, Tristan's pokemon also continued to keep growling, but did indeed back up behind his feet. I looked back up to Tristan's face. He still had a furious look on his face.

"What are you talking about?"

"Team Rocket's been after our pokemon and our pokedex since just about day one that we started our journeys." I felt my chest swell with sadness and fear when I thought back to what happened in the cave, and what it led to today. "You were going to be attacked on the day you'd left Violet City, a small group of them were going to ambush you and she hit them up for information. You, me, and Aaron, we're all their newest targets. Violet told me first, and then Proton did in the Slowpoke Well when I faced them."

I think I really shocked him into believing I was really ready to work toward being his friend at that moment. He was so shocked by the fact that I'd actually brought him back his card that if it wasn't for all the trees in the forest and his pokemon, he would have fallen over.

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

"Gwyn calm down! It's me! Tristan!" I instantly froze when I heard that name and allowed him to drag me out of the smoke cover before in the darkness I saw his face with a small amount of light from his pokedex. "What are you doing out here? Better yet, what the hell happened?"

"I think that was Alex Oak, he was apparently keeping an eye out for me for Aaron…" I let out a heavy sigh and fell through his arms to the ground. "Just thinking about facing him makes me anxiously worried."

"So you came to the tower to escape him?" He got down on the ground with me and looked me in the eyes.

"No… I was already on my way here for a small bit of training and to bring a lunch for our pokemon, you and I. We spent all morning working on it so you wouldn't have to worry about the amount of money you had on hand, at least, not now anyway with us still being only beginning trainers."

He blinked in surprise at me. "Oh… thanks." He moved over a bit to the side and called out his pokemon. "Here, let me lead you to a spot further in the Burned Tower where we can eat and not have to worry about them finding us quickly." I nodded and allowed him to pull me to my feet before my pokemon and I followed after him further into the tower filled with darkness.

He was so sweet at the time while I was dealing with Aaron, so kind and so ready to help, even though he was still fearful and angry at many things, especially Team Rocket.

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

"You can let him down now Bayleef, I think he's calmed down enough." The pokemon nodded and set down its trainer. When his feet hit the ground, he huffed and pushed off the vines that covered his body.

"You didn't have to have my own pokemon grab me…" he growled under his breath.

"Oh hush Aaron, now let's get going, we still need to catch a boat ride to Cianwood and beat the gym leader there before we can come to Olivine and battle the gym leader here." I shook my head. "Now do I dare ask what you two were arguing about?"

"I won the race!" Aaron cried out quickly. "This dumbass over here doesn't seem to get that."

"If you ran as fast as you ran your mouth, you would have beaten me." Tristan's comeback even had me taken back and to the point of laughter. Who knew Tristan could make a joke.

"Why you-"

"Alright! Enough!" I hunched over a bit as spews of laughter escaped me. "Let's get over to pokemon center for some lunch and then we'll get going."

Who knew he could also make a joke? He certainly had a sharp tongue.

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

She was cut off when Tristan broke the screen with his fist and all communication was cut. The boys moved around destroying everything while I stood there with Cynder, unable to do a thing while off in my own mind.

Fight! My father's last word to me. Fight!

"Gwyn, we'll get him back, I promise you."

Fight!

"Gwyn, I know that was hard to see about your dad, but are you okay? Hello?"

Fight!

"Fight…" my breathing became labored as the word started to settle into my system. "Fight."

"No Gwyn!" A hand shot out before me and tried to stop me. "Violet said we needed to avoid a fight with her."

Fight!

"No! Fight!" I ripped myself away and ran back down the hallway. Cynder obediently followed behind and prepared for the worst. She threw me up onto her shoulders and hurried off.

Fight!

"Gwyn!"

Fight!

"Gwyn! Come back!"

Fight!

"Miss Jalen! Don't do this! Please!"

Fight!

Cynder tore out of the underground and howled in rage, rage that I felt racing through my heart as everything got hotter and she blasted away the roof before she jumped out and took off toward the tower.

I promise Dad, I will fight!

I hated how I left him hanging when all he was trying to do was help, I wish maybe I had listened to him, but at the same time, I didn't.

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

"Gwyn!"

I didn't know exactly how much time had passed since that had taken place, but it was nice to hear someone's voice. A voice that wasn't 'his'.

"Gwyn!"

Scarlet lifted her head first, crying out and letting her voice echo among the tunnels. The rest of my pokemon soon followed after her and they were all crying out for help for me. I could hear some footsteps from a distance away, but it was hard to hear where they were coming from. I tilted my head against Cynder's fur and looked over to where I could see a tunnel now on the other side of the room. A light was at the back of it and I suddenly saw two shapes emerge from it, stopping for a moment to look around before they saw me and rushed toward us. My pokemon quickly moved to the side and let them through as one of them hurried right up to me and started using a changeling ability, healing.

"Violet?" I couldn't get a good glimpse of my saviors in the lighting. I looked over to the side and saw an image that looked similar to Tristan, but I couldn't tell for sure. "Tristan?"

"Shh. Don't talk Gwyn." With my head spinning a bit less, I felt myself be picked up from the hold of my pokemon and I leaned against the flat chest of whoever's arms I was in.

"Are you sure you're okay with carrying her?" I heard a female voice say. "I can take her-"

"No, I need you to keep that putrid excuse for a best friend away from her, I'll carry her." I felt myself be pulled close to the young man's chest and I was grateful that he took so much care in me. Tristan was sweet like that; it's what attracted me to him in the beginning.

"Then we better go, she needs medical attention after the crash she apparently took to her head."

"Okay, lead the way Violet."

I let their conversation drown out around me as I slipped back into my own mind. The events of the day were taxing on me, but who could be blamed for that? Aaron was out of control of his actions and had no right to force himself onto me like that. In fact, I wasn't sure if I could forgive him.

I knew Aaron would never be the one for me, he was too far away from what I could handle, and he needs a person who has just as much energy as he does in order to tend to his needs. I, on the other hand, needed someone who was much mellower but still had some character to him and some energy, just not an overwhelming amount like Aaron.

That left Tristan.

I was always attracted to him. I might not have made it look clear, but he was always sweet and he treated everyone with respect, even to some others that didn't really deserve it, like Aaron who must have been giving Tristan a whole bunch of heck about him being around me. It put all the pieces together now, the ones that never made sense to me that I never questioned about since it was none of my business. He put up with him for so long, just for the sake of trying to get along, and maybe even for me…

It made me realize, in that moment, just how much I cared for Tristan Agustino…

And that I loved him.

To realize that I loved him was such an amazing thing. I knew one day I would try to tell him, and now, now I don't have to worry…

Because he loves me too…

Present (Still Gwyn's Point of View):

In the moment that I had been frozen, Tristan had not moved a single inch in fear that what happened with Aaron when he tried to kiss me would happened here as well. My hand raised to my mouth and covered what small gasp managed to escape my lips.

"Gwyn?" Tristan worriedly questioned me.

I pursed my lips before I leaned forward and pressed them to his own lips. His eyes widened shock and I quickly pulled back when I felt him not move with them.

"Sorry, I don't know what came over me…" I rubbed the back of my head and looked away. "But…" I looked back up to his eyes with my own. "I love you too."

I watched as his jaw slightly dropped and fell a gapped. I couldn't help but giggle at his appearance and gently raised my own had to close it.

"Can… can I kiss you?"

I leaned forward and pecked his lips with only a ghost of a kiss. "If you promise to be my boyfriend in return."

"I believe that won't be a problem." I squealed as he suddenly took hold of me and dropped me in his arms, holding me so close to the ground, but still holding me up.

"Well aren't you flexible?"

He shook his head. "I'd rather focus on you right now; after all, it is your night."

He didn't let me argue with him again because our lips were a little busy with a real kiss.

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

"Gwyn! Hurry it up out there with making out with your boyfriend!" I bolted up and away from Tristan after I heard Aaron shout. My new boyfriend had done the same thing and we both blushed madly as he strolled out to grab my hand. "I'm sorry to ruin the moment and everything-"

"No you're not." Tristan snorted.

"But," he continued on as if he hadn't heard him. "The camera guy is here and your team and Shelly are waiting on you for the picture. You better get going." I nodded and pulled Tristan up with me and held both of the boys' hands while Aaron led us over to where Violet was standing with a man I'd never seen before. He was dressed in a grey suit and red tie with a large bag with him with a whole bunch of equipment hanging out of it, only part of it he seemed to be using. He was thickly bearded with dark hair and he grinned when he saw me.

"Ah! Violet told me much about you Miss Jalen! Or should I say Champion Jalen now?" He laughed and held out his hand for me to take. "Right this way please, I am Maxwell Porter, an old friend of Violet's and a photographer of pokemon and people from around the world." I released the hands of the boys and was led up to a small platform where he had me stand and then my pokemon all came around me (with the exception of Ticky and Sunrise who were either in my arms or on my shoulders). Once everyone was settled and we got into place, Maxwell got behind his camera. "Now everybody say cheese!"

"Sion!"

"Amp!"

"Toge!"

"Esp!"

"Shuckle!"

"Kya!"

"Gesundheit!" He took the picture before everyone burst out laughing from my comment.

Witch's Note:

Finally damn it! I FINALLY GOT THIS THING DONE! Oh my God people, you have no idea how long it took me to actually write this! I was working on it for almost a month before I finally go to the end of it! But you managed to only have to wait a week since I wrote this ahead of time!

And I can finally say this! GWYN AND TRISTAN ARE TOGETHER~! Oh that felt good…

Alright, so now we have a second champion in our story! So cool right? Now I can finally move on to the next part of the story!

Who's ready to take a vacation to Kanto?

Love you all and please remember to Review and send in Questions and I'll see you guys next week!

Halloween Witch