A/N: Hello readers. To make up for the long wait for last chapter, here is the next one. Hope you all enjoy it and the Kanto champion Kaede.

High school was always filled with students busily walking around. Studies, after school activities, hanging with friends. There was a lot to do. One student in particular though sat by herself in the corner of the cafeteria. In her hands was a game console.

She was playing the latest pokemon game that had come out. It was the talk of the school among its students that were gamers. But unlike all of the students that had friends who played the game, she stuck to playing it all by herself. She still remembered the sneers and laughs from when she was in elementary school.

"You play pokemon? But you're a girl."

"I let you beat me cause you're a girl. You're not really good enough to win."

"Girls shouldn't be playing pokemon. Go dress up a doll or something."

"You're weird. Get away from us, you weirdo."

The bullying was still fresh in her mind. Why did they ridicule her for playing a game just because she was a girl? And she wasn't just a hobbyist for it. She was skilled, winning a majority of her matches online. But that was all she could do. It had been years since she had talked to anyone about things pokemon related, outside of online chats and blogs. She was too afraid of facing that ridicule again.

As she was playing her game, the girl saw her phone receive a notification. She glanced at it, seeing an update for the news regarding the upcoming VRMMO, Pokemon World Online.

At first, she had given up on the idea of playing the new game. It was VR, so she couldn't hide behind the mask of a screen. But that was when it hit her. Because it was VR, she wouldn't have to be herself. She could look however she wanted, even male if she desired.

'Maybe I can actually play and make friends with this.' the girl thought to herself. A smile came to her face as she looked forward to playing it.

-The first day of PWO-

Kaede hid near the shadows of the trees for the woods near Pallet Town. So much had happened so quickly. First the announcement that players couldn't log out, then the realization that all players had their avatars changed to look like their real world selves. It had been so sudden, and now the dream world she had imagined turned into a nightmare.

"What am I going to do…" she muttered quietly with tears beginning to form in her eyes. "They're all going to mock me again…"

Despite the fact that her avatar was changed from the male one she had selected to the female look-alike of her real world self, her clothing was still that of the male avatar she had selected. A sleek-looking blue jacket with collars that came up to her neck. She had always admired the cool type of characters in the anime she watched, and how they never let what other people thought bother them. That was the type of person Kaede wished she could be. The only saving grace for the sudden appearance change was her name. She had chosen Kaede because of the fact that it was a name for both boys and girls.

Kaede slowly steeled her resolve. She couldn't give up here, not like this. Her pride as a trainer wouldn't let her. But her fears from her childhood still had a hold on her. So she came up with a solution.

Quickly moving through Route 1 of the Kanto region, Kaede made it to Viridian City with relative ease. Once she did, she found a clothing shop and quickly purchased the clothes that would be her appearance for the rest of PWO.

As she walked out of the shop, Kaede was now dressed in a heavy navy-blue colored trenchcoat and slick blue jeans. A hat was on her head. The bottom half of her face covered by the trenchcoat and her short hair made it hard to make out the fact that she was a girl.

'I'm going to survive in this world.' Kaede told herself. 'And I'm going to make it to the top.'

-Finals of the PWO Kanto League Tournament-

"Go Dragonite! Thunderbolt!" Kaede ordered. Throughout her time in PWO, she had mastered changing the tone of her voice to make it sound as masculine as she could get it. Throughout the tournament, she had also gained quite the reputation for her battling skills.

"Alakazam, light screen!" her opponent ordered. The trainer's Alakazam obeyed his orders and quickly put up a barrier that blocked a large amount of the thunderbolt attack. But Dragonite's power had still dealt a large amount of damage to the psychic type. The trainer knew he couldn't let this continue. "Calm mind!"

Kaede watched as Alakazam's special attack and special defense were powered up. Both Alakazam and Dragonite were nearing their limits. The battle would be decided with whoever landed the next attack.

'I can't lose…' Kaede told herself. 'I've come so far… I won't give up!'

"Dragonite, use hyper beam!" Kaede yelled out. She had been so caught up in the battle that she hadn't even disguised her voice, sounding like her natural female voice.

"Focus blast!" the other trainer ordered.

Both pokemon fired their attacks simultaneously, the two colliding in the middle. The focus blast attack from Alakazam was slowly pushing Dragonite's hyper beam back.

"You can do it, Dragonite!" Kaede yelled, her voice sounding feminine again. "Don't give in!"

Dragonite dug in and tapped into all of its power. Gradually, it's hyper beam began to push back Alakazam's attack. Finally, Alakazam could keep it up no longer and its focus blast was pushed back towards it. The combined focus blast and hyper beam hit the psychic type with a powerful explosion. When the debris cleared, Alakazam was seen with its HP at zero, and the pokemon returned to its pokeball.

"Alakazam is unable to battle." the referee declared. "The winner of the Kanto League tournament is Kaede."

Cheers rang around the arena, but Kaede couldn't hear any of them. She was too focussed processing the information that she had actually done it. She had won the regional tournament.

As the players in the crowd cheered, Kaede's opponent in the final round walked up to her. He offered her a handshake. "That was a good battle, Kaede. Congratulations."

Kaede nodded her head. "Th-Thank you." she said, trying to return to her masculine voice.

The player showed her a grin. "You know, you shouldn't try and hide who you are. You let your voice slip earlier."

Kaede's eyes widened as she slowly took a few steps back. "Wh-Wh-What are you talking about? I- Woah!" Kaede was cut off guard as she tripped over and fell backwards. As she hit the ground, her hat fell off. The monitor showed a zoomed in picture of her revealing her face.

Several gasps and whispers were heard amongst the crowd.

"Kaede's a girl?"

"She sounded like a guy the whole time though."

"Why was she hiding her gender?"

Kaede began to shiver in fear. "No… no…"

The other trainer looked at Kaede curiously. "Kaede? What's wrong? You ok?"

Kaede wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. "No… Not again…"

Before anyone else could say anything, a mass teleportation was activated, leaving everyone but Kaede in the stadium. Kaede whimpered and shook until she noticed that the voices had died down and no one else was there.

"Wh-What? Where is everyone?"

"I teleported them." a sudden voice said. Kaede gasped as she turned around and was greeted by a man wearing a mask on his face.

Kaede couldn't believe who she was looking at right now. "You! You're the creator of PWO!"

"Indeed I am. You may call me Kagutsuchi." he nodded. "I suppose congratulations are an order, Kaede. You've won the regional tournament for PWO's Kanto region."

"What do you want?" Kaede asked.

"Simply to give you a reward for your accomplishment." Kagutsuchi snapped his fingers and a bracelet appeared around Kaede's wrist with a rainbow colored stone embedded in it. As Kaede looked at the accessory in surprise, Kagutsuchi showed a smirk. "I've also been keeping an eye on you. Seems you have quite the fear of people finding out who you are."

Kaede fell silent. She had worked so hard the past few months to hide her gender from everyone. But now that had all gone to waste. Her identity had been exposed.

"What if I told you I could make those fears go away?"

Kaede widened her eyes as she stared at the creator of PWO. "Can… can you really do that?"

"I can." Kagutsuchi nodded. "All I need is your cooperation. Are you interested?"

Kaede thought about the offer. Ever since elementary school, she had wanted to rid herself of these fears. She wanted to be like the cool calm anime characters she had seen. She didn't fully trust Kagutsuchi, but what could be the harm in at least seeing what he had to offer. Kaede nodded her head. "I'm in. What do I have to do?"

"Simply relax your mind and close your eyes." Kagustuchi said. Kaede did as she was told. As she did, Kagutsuchi snapped his fingers.

All of a sudden, Kaede felt her head throb in pain. She fell to her knees and held her head with her hands. "What's... happening…?"

"You're about to get over your fear." Kagutsuchi said. "And I added in a touch of loyalty while I was at it."

Kaede slowly felt her mind become filled with fog. Her consciousness slowly drifted away. Soon her eyes showed a hollow expression as she rose to her feet.

"How may I serve you, Lord Kagutsuchi."

Ryota glared at his father, who was looking at them through the monitor screen. "You brainwashed a champion?! Where do you find the nerve to do that after making her go through months on end in a death game?!"

Kagutsuchi showed a faked look of hurt. "You make it sound like I'm some sort of monster. I gave her an offer to help her get over her fears, and she accepted it. What's so wrong about that?"

"How about taking the free will from an innocent person?" Misaki asked with a glare.

A chuckle escaped Kagutsuchi. "I helped her get over her fears, didn't I? Sure she's gotten a bit dry in conversation, but it all worked out in the end."

Asuna narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about with these fears?"

"It seems the Kanto champion has some sort of childhood fear from her past. For that reason, she disguised herself as a male player. After she became champion however, her identity was exposed." the creator of PWO let out an amused chuckle. "Honestly, such a silly childhood fear. You'd think someone with the skill to be a champion would have gotten over something so pathetic."

"Coming from the grown man that hasn't been able to get past his god complex." Ren countered.

Kagutsuchi's amusement soon vanished as he glared at the group. "I'll soon have those mouths of yours shut for good." The battlefield in the room lit up with an ominous glow. "This room has a special property. Only two players may enter the battlefield at a time. So you'll have to take on my special pawn here one at a time if you want to pass, or more preferably die one by one to her. Unless you can get past Kaede, you won't be able to make it to the next floor."

Ryota was about to step forward, but before anyone could make a move, Akio walked up into the battlefield. As he did, a barrier was brought up around it, trapping both him and Kaede in it.

"Let's see what the Kanto champion has to offer." Akio grinned as he grabbed a pokeball from his belt. "Go Sceptile!"

The pokeball Akio threw out opened up and his partner landed on the field, letting out a powerful cry. On the other side, Kaede grabbed a pokeball from her belt and tossed it out. "Dragonite." As the dragon type landed on the field, Akio could see that this was not going to be easy. The Dragonite was well trained, with a strong bond to its trainer. Knowing Kagutsuchi's cunning personality, Dragonite was most likely just as brainwashed as Kaede.

As the two pokemon landed on the field, Kagutsuchi showed a small smirk. "I also notice you all gained the power of Mega Evolution. Allow me to offer my congratulations."

"You can keep it, old man." Akio quipped.

A scowl came to Kagutsuchi's face. "Well since you want a challenge Hoenn champion, I decided to give Kaede a little handicap. Kaede, if you will."

At Kagutsuchi's command, Kaede tapped the stone on her bracelet. As she did, the stone began to glow. "Dragonite. Mega evolve."

The group gasped as they watched Dragonite become veiled in the light from Kaede's key stone. They all shielded their eyes until the light died down, revealing Dragonite's new form.

The horn on Dragonite's head had become longer and curved, while its two antennas had almost doubled in length. The two wings on its back had also become longer, while a pair of small wings extended out on its arms, which seemed far more powerful now. An azure blue gem was on its neck and at the tip of its tail.

"So that's… Mega Dragonite…" Liz gasped.

"It certainly looks powerful, there's no denying that." Kirito noted.

Akio scoffed and shrugged. "Who cares. I've got a mega pokemon of my own." He tapped the key stone on his champion's bracelet. "Let's do this Sceptile! Mega evolve!"

Sceptile roared at the ivory sphere and violet light shined over him. The others covered their eyes once more as Akio's signature pokemon mega evolved into its powerful new form.

Kagutsuchi's gave a humorless laugh at Akio's choice in pokemon. "Do you believe evening the situation up mega for mega will do you any good boy? Such a sad attempt at closing the gap of skill."

"Oh give me some credit Mr. God. Don't Jynx me just yet with your dismissal. I'll show the both of you up yet." Akio smirked when he saw the supposed god cringe at his pun.

"Now isn't the time for your damned puns you moron! Get your head in the game." Ryota yelled at him.

Akio waved off the scream and roll his eyes. "Will all non-champions please shut up? I need to concentrate on how to plan out my victory party over the Kanto champ." The smirk grew even wider, pointing at the mega dragon. "Sceptile, hit it with dragon claw."

The grass type blew right past his partner with a huge burst of speed as its claws lit up with black and red energy. The Kanto champion merely nodded her head to the Dragonite, causing the dragon pokemon to fly out of the way of Sceptile's leaping slash. "Dragonite, thunderbolt."

With a mighty roar, Dragonite shot out bolts of thunder from his horn right at the grounded pokemon. Akio just shook his head with amusement and pointed upwards. "Sceptile, you know what to do."

Sceptile nodded his head and moved his tail up to face the wicked bolt. It struck dead center on the tip of the large tail which didn't even phase the pokemon in the slightest. "Haha! Lightning rod baby! Thanks for the attack boost darling!"

Kaede narrowed her eyes at the cocky behavior of her opponent and signaled her dragon to come down. "Your cockiness is merely a facade that masks your uncertainty. You cannot fool me Hoenn champion Akio."

"Geez, look at you with the full title. What are you my mother? I can't Bayleef the nerve of this girl. Sceptile show her what for with a dragon pulse."

Kaede stood silent for a moment to process his statement but shook it off with a command. "Dragonite counter that with your own dragon pulse."

Both pokemon shot out a huge burst stream of energy from their mouths. They met with a explosive clash that caused a huge black smoke cloud to block the trainer's vision. "Sceptile, keep on your toes buddy!"

The grass type nodded more to himself and keep his eyes peeled in every direction for any sort of attack. The flapping of wings tipped the pokemon off to where the Dragonite was coming as it quickly jumped back to avoid the dragon rush from the mega. All the smoke cleared out from the wind blowing from the impact, letting everyone see the huge crater formed from the smashed ground. Sceptile skid across the floor from its jump and looked to his trainer.

"Quick, dragon claw!"

The Dragonite was knocked back by its trainer when Sceptile jumped at it with slashed it right in the face while it was defenseless after missing that dragon rush. "Move Dragonite!" Kaede's command snapped her partner back into form just in time to avoid a leaf storm coming directly at it. She covered her face to stop the leaves from cutting her face, but the wind blew off her hood from her head. "You seem to have no objections to hurting the trainer during a fight, Hoenn champion."

"Hey what can I say but you asked Furret." Constant groans coming from around him let Akio know that he was doing his job right. "But I'm gonna be frank with you girl. Your chances of winning seem way too Farfetch'd to actually happen."

Kaede once again took a moment to understand the Hoenn champs wordplay skills, if one could call them that. Unbeknownst to anyone around her, the Kanto champion's lips raised a ghost upwards. But she paid it no mind as she continued the fight going on. "Dragonite, hyper beam."

The Dragonite started bolting around the area with incredible speed as it began to charge the devastating attack in its mouth. The command of the attack made it perfectly clear what she was going for in Akio's mind. A final gambit to end things now. It wasn't the first time that he had seen this and it wouldn't be the last he knew. So Akio decided to handle things like he always did.

With a smile, a pun and a dash of well earned cockiness.

"Gotta say, Kaede was it? You really should've kept your big Meowth shut. Because now this whole show is gonna be over."

"Indeed. But I will be the one to win." Kaede could do little to prevent her rising lips from his puns. Keeping the mask of composure was growing all the harder with how he treated this fight as if it was just any other with nothing at stake. "Now Dragonite! End it!"

Akio shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "And with that you dug your own grave girl. Sceps, you know what to do."

Sceptile dashed forth just as Dragonite fired the orange beam from its mouth. The bursting stream vaporized the ground it made contact with and continued to do so as the pokemon moved its mouth to aim the beam at the grass type. But with its quick footwork and jumping prowess did Sceptile manage to avoid the powerful attack. Dragonite started to hover downwards with exhaustion from using the strong move. The recoil of the attack taking its toil on the dragon type. Just the kind of opening that Akio was hoping for. "Leaf blade!"

Dragonite's eyes widened once Sceptile made the huge leap upwards to its eye level and slammed the glowing green claws down on its head. The powerful dragon fell down to the ground with its health in the red.

Akio knew the victory was his for the taking. "One more leaf blade Sceptile. Let's wrap it up." The grass type let out a cry as it went in for one final strike. "Well it looks like you lost, Kanto champion." The teen mocked with a smile. "Spheal with it."

A kick to the barrier caught Akio's attention to his friends which showed their displeased faces. Mostly Misaki who was practically seething from his cockiness. "Will you shut that Arceus damned trap of yours!? No one wants to hear those stupid puns!"

He strode on up to the barrier separating him and the others, only offering a smarmy grin of satisfaction. "Hey, is it my fault that so many people are Su-Sceptile-ble to my puns?"

In that very moment, Sceptile froze and stopped its attack. It slowly turned its head around to face its trainer, giving a growl of disapproval and a slow shaking of his head. As if saying to his trainer 'No. Just… Just no.'

"Wait a minute, did you just-"

"... Snrk…"

Everyone's attention all fell to the person who made the snorting noise which broke the air of tension. The Kanto champion was currently doubled over with hands on her stomach as snorts and giggles began to leak out of her mouth. It wasn't long before she burst out in a loud fit of laughter. "Hahahahahahahahahaha! S-S-Su-Sceptile-ble! Ahahahahahahaha!"

Everyone stared blankly at what was going on, trying to process the sight they were seeing. The calm and collected brainwashed Kanto champion was rolling on the ground laughing hysterically. At one of Akio's pokepuns.

"Hahahahaha! O-Ow, my sides!" Kaede laughed. After a bit more laughing, she finally sat back up. She blinked in surprise. "Hey, how'd I get here?" She looked at her surroundings. "Last thing I remember, I was fighting in the Kanto regional finals. Then the creator of PWO appeared. And then… what happened next?"

"You got your butt kicked, that's what happened." Akio said, walking along the battlefield and over to Kaede. He offered her a hand to help her back to her feet, which she gratefully accepted. "You were good, but not good enough to beat the one and only Hoenn champion."

"I…" Kaede held her head in pain for a moment before suddenly widening her eyes in realization. "That's right! I was brainwashed by that Kagutsuchi guy!" She turned around towards the monitor, and glared at him. "You tricked me, you jerk!"

Over by the others, Sinon was the first to break their silence. "Ok, so we're all in agreement that that did not just happen, right?"

"Agreed." Kirito nodded.

"Agreed." Misaki nodded.

"Agreed." Liz nodded.

Even Kagutsuchi chimed in. "Agreed."

"No one asked you, asshole!" Akio yelled up at him. "And screw all of you for not appreciating true genius!"

"I thought it was funny." Kaede said.

Nothing could have brought a grin to Akio's face faster than hearing those words. "Finally! A person of culture!"

Ren groaned and facepalmed himself. "Well she's not brainwashed anymore, so… that's a win I guess?"

"Let's just keep moving." Asuna said. "Remember, we're here to rescue Yui."

"Huh? Who's Yui?" Kaede asked.

"We'll explain it on the way. Let's go." Akio said.

The group all collectively ran to the end of the room and towards the new elevator. They got in and the device shot up towards the next area of the tower.

Looking at the screen, the Laughing Coffin trio watched as Kaede's brainwashing was undone by Akio. The fact that it was pokepuns of all things that ended up doing it though left a bad taste in their mouths.

"That Kagutsuchi clearly has a lot of work to do if his brainwashing was beaten that easily." Kira said.

"Look on the bright side, Kira." Izumi said with a smile. "This means that we can get our revenge ourselves. We don't have to watch them all fall to someone else."

A chuckle escaped Kira. "Yes, I suppose you're right. I'll finally be able to have the rematch I've been waiting so long for against Kirito and Ren." He grabbed a pokeball from his belt and stared at the pokemon inside. "You know, I might actually feel a bit nervous about fighting them again with their newly acquired mega evolution. If it wasn't for this little gift Kagutsuchi gave us that is."

Izumi let out a dark giggle. "I can't wait to freeze Asuna solid and watch the life fade from her eyes." She glanced over at Ju, who was still staring at the screen. "What's up with you? You're even more quiet than usual. Don't tell me those dumb pokepuns got to you."

"Wh-What?! No, of course not!" Ju exclaimed.

"Enough." Kira commanded. "We can joke around later. Right now, we need to prepare for those trainers. Let's take our places."

As Kira and Izumi walked away, Ju did the same. As he did, one thing echoed in his mind. 'They can never know. But I will stand by their side, even if they can't appreciate true comedy.'

A/N: Never underestimate the power of pokepuns, no matter how cringeworthy they may be. Hoping to get next chapter out in around the same amount of time as this one, if not sooner.