All rights belong to Nickelodeon, Gamefreak, Nintendo, The Pokemon Company, and Satoshi Tajiri.
After earning the rock badge from Gordie, Lincoln exited the gym as fast as his legs could take him as the excitement of winning his sixth gym badge was still coursing through his veins. And as he made his way through the front door of the stadium, he spotted two familiar faces waiting for him.
"Hop! Sonia!"said Lincoln with excitement as he spotted his friends Hop and Sonia.
"That was one intense battle between you and Gordie. You had me at the edge of my seat the whole time I was watching you, until Wartortle evolved into Blastoise."said Hop with a familiar smile on his face.
"And I'm glad to see you're back to your old self."said Lincoln, glad to see his old friend back to his old self.
"Yup! Lee doesn't need me defending him as he's already unbeatable! But that is going to change when I beat him at the Rose Bowl."said Hop with a determined look on his face.
"Hey, you know what we promised each other. The thing we would do if we met again."said Lincoln, wanting to see if Hop remembered his promise.
"Oh yeah, we would have a Pokemon battle."said Hop, before pointing his thumb in the direction indicating that he wanted Lincoln to follow him.
A few minutes later they arrived in the local Chirchester Hot Springs, the ones famous for a famous hero once bathing in their healing Waters.
"This is the perfect place to have a Pokemon battle between you and me. Now about a three on three."said Hop, causing Lincoln to pull out a pokeball.
"You had me at Pokemon battle."said Lincoln while he and Hop took their positions on the makeshift battlefield.
"I will act as the referee, so you guys go nuts."said Sonia, who volunteered to be the referee.
"Alright, let's do this. Dubwool, come on out!"said Hop, before he called out a Pokemon that looked a lot like his Wooloo.
Lincoln of course responded to this by pulling out his Rotom phone and taking out the Pokedex feature.
Pokedex: Dubwool, the sheep Pokemon and the evolved form of Wooloo. Weave a carpet from its springy wool, and you end up with something closer to a trampoline. You'll start to bounce the moment you set foot on it.
"I see Wooloo evolved."said Lincoln, who was impressed.
"Yup. My best buddy has been training ever since I left him with Professor Magnolia and he eventually evolved after a Non-Stop training."said Hop, who to say was proud of the sheep Pokemon would be an understatement.
"Alright, if you're going with Dubwool, then I'm going with this one. Toxtricity, I choose you!"said Lincoln as he called out Toxtricity for battle.
"Tox!"said the punk Pokemon, as he was ready for battle.
"I was hoping you would choose him!"said Hop, confusing Lincoln until he called out a move.
"Dubwool, use zen headbutt!"ordered Hop, causing the sheep Pokemon to light up his head,bbefore he ran over to the punk Pokemon and struck him with the super effective psychic type move, causing super effective damage!
"Tox!"said the punk Pokemon as he was pushed back.
"Toxtricity!"said Lincoln as he was amazed by how fast the sheep Pokemon moved."I see Dubwool did a lot of special training while he was away."
"Yup, now he's one of my strongest Pokemon."said Hop with confidence.
"Let's see how you handle this! Toxtricity, use discharge!"ordered Lincoln, causing the punk Pokemon to strum his membranes, before he unleash the barrage of electricity.
"Dodge and use headbutt!"ordered Hop, causing the sheep Pokemon to run towards the punk Pokemon before striking him with his head while avoiding using his horns.
As those are meant for ceremony more than anything.
"Now use zen headbutt and finish this!"ordered Hop, causing the sheep Pokemon to run towards the punk Pokemon with a head glowing with psychic energy.
"Dodge it!"ordered Lincoln, but it was too late as Dubwool successfully closed the Gap and struck the punk Pokemon with a super effective zen headbutt, causing super effective damage.
Toxtricity on the other hand fell to the floor and was revealed to have been knocked out.
"Toxtricity is unable to battle! Meaning Hop and Dubwool are the winners of this round."declared Sonia, well Lincoln recalled the punk Pokemon back to his pokeball.
"You did an awesome job out there. Leave the rest to us."said Lincoln, before he noticed that Hop had recalled Dubwool.
"Why are you switching?"asked Lincoln, wondering what his rival was up to.
"I want to show you what my new team is capable of. They are my main team from here on out and nothing is going to change that. These aren't the pokémon I caught and train in order to defend Lee's name. These are the Pokemon I train in order to represent Hop and themselves."said Hop, causing Lincoln to smile.
"I'm glad to hear that."said Lincoln, before he pulled out another pokeball.
"Blastoise, I choose you!"said Lincoln as he called out Blastoise for battle.
"Blastoise!"said the shellfish Pokemon as he was ready for battle.
"In that case I'm going with this Pokemon. Go Pincurchin!"said Hop, as he called out a Pokemon that look like a spike ball.
Lincoln once again pulled out his Pokedex to identify the Pokemon in front of him.
Pokedex: Pincurchin, the sea urchin Pokemon. It feeds on seaweed, using its teeth to scrape it off rocks. Electric current flows from the tips of its spines.
"So it's an electric type Pokemon. Nice."said Lincoln, now that Hop was playing by the traditional handbook.
"Let's see how your Blastoise handles my electric type Pokemon."said Hop, causing the two to get ready for battle once more.
"Blastoise, use water pulse!"ordered Lincoln, causing the shellfish pokémon to fire an orb of water with one of his cannons at the sea urchin Pokemon.
"Pincurchin, dodge and use discharge."ordered Hop, causing the sea urchin Pokemon to jump out of the way, avoiding water pulse.
Then she charged up electricity before firing a blast of electricity at the shellfish Pokemon, causing super effective damage as soon as Blastoise was struck!
"Blastoise!"said the shellfish Pokemon as he was pushed back.
"Oh no. Your still not a hundred percent after your battle with Gordie."said Lincoln, who realized his mistake too late.
"Too late for regrets! Use spark!"ordered Hop, causing the sea urchin Pokemon to surround herself with electricity before she jumped over and struck the shellfish Pokemon with the electric type attack, causing super effective damage.
"Blastoise!"said the shellfish Pokemon, before he fell on his back and was revealed to have been knocked out.
"Blastoise is unable to battle! Meaning that this part of the battle belongs to Hop and Pincurchin."declared Sonia, while Lincoln recalled Blastoise back to his pokeball.
"I'm sorry I put you out there when you're still not ready for battle. Next time things will be different."said Lincoln before he put the pokeball away and pulled out another pokeball.
"Urshifu, I choose you!"said Lincoln, before he called out the Kung Fu pokémon for battle.
"Urshi!"said the Kung Fu pokémon before he did some air punches.
"Great! Then I guess I'm going with this guy! Corviknight, come on out!"said Hop, before he called out the Raven Pokemon for battle.
"I see your Rookidee evolved all the way to Corviknight."said Lincoln, knowing that he was dealing with a really powerful Pokemon.
"Let's see who goes down first! Corviknight, used drill peck!"ordered Hop, causing the Raven Pokemon to begin spinning his beak like a drill before he flew towards the Kung Fu pokémon.
"Dodge and use wicked blow!"ordered Lincoln, causing the Kung Fu pokémon to step out of the way before striking the Raven Pokemon in the gut with wicked blow, causing a great deal of damage.
"Use steel wing!"ordered Hop, causing the Raven Pokemon that quickly begin glowing his wings before he struck the Kung Fu pokémon up close, causing damage.
"Hse drill peck!"ordered Hop, causing Corviknight to follow up with drill peck against the Kung Fu Pokemon, causing super effective damage as soon as Urshifu was struck!
"Use iron head!"ordered Lincoln, causing the Kung Fu Pokemon to surround his Head with metallic energy before he struck the Raven Pokemon, causing damage.
"Use pluck!"ordered Hop, causing the Raven Pokemon to pluck his beak at Urshifu, causing super effective damage to the Kung Fu pokémon as soon as he was struck with the super effective flying type move.
"Now finish this off with fury attack!"ordered Hop, causing the Raven Pokemon to strike the Kung Fu pokémon with a barrage of pecks.
This casued the Kung Fu pokémon to fall to the ground, where it was revealed that Urshifu have been knocked out.
"Urshifu is unable to battle! Meaning that this battle and the match goes to Hop and Corgiknight."declared Sonia as referee.
"Urshifu!"said Lincoln as he ran over to see if his Pokemon was okay.
"Urshi."said Urshifu, cool though had his pride hurt was all right.
"It's okay, we may have lost but we will get him next time."said Lincoln, assuring that his pokémon that I lost was a loss and there was nothing they could do about it.
"Yeah! I finally beat you Lincoln!"said Hop while jumping with joy.
"Man Hop, just the other day I easily beat you and today you easily beat me. You have talent like Leon has always been saying. Now I know that's the truth as you're going to be one heck of a rival at the gym challenge finals."said Lincoln, knowing that he had a lot of catching up to do as at some point Hop got ahead of him.
And now he needed to get ahead of Hop.
"Oh, before I forget I need to tell you guys something. I found another tapestry here in Chirchester."said Sonia, before she pulled out her Rotom phone m
She then showed the image to Lincoln and Hop, and the image showed a half burnt tapestry of two kings standing in front of two graves with a sword and a shield on the front.
"Man, what do you think it even means?"questions Lincoln as he wondered if this was the end of the story.
"Man, swords and shields are so awesome. I prefer a shield myself."said Hop, who knew that more battles were one with shields.
"Well give me a sort any day of the week."said Lincoln, as there is a reason the sword has survived the test of time.
"Hehe, how about you two get your Pokemon in that hot spring so they can heal. I'm sure they're exhausted after their long battles."said Sonia, causing the two rivals to look at each other for a moment before nodding their heads in agreement.
"Yeah, we can do that."said Lincoln, before he and his rival enter the hot spring with the intention of having their pokémon bathe in the healing water so they could heal.
Lincoln knew that his Pokemon especially needed this after losing to Hop's Pokemon. But he wasn't worried at all as he can take a loss, and it was always another day to beat Hop!