AN: Okay... We might need to narrow a few things down about what pokemon Davis gets next. I don't really know much about the pokemon from Scarlet and Violet since I don't have that game. To be honest, I barely know the pokemon from Sword and Shield, but I'll still use them. So, let's try avoiding pokemon from Scarlet and Violet. Same with Hisui pokemon. Aren't those really just pokemon from ancient Sinnoh that aren't around anymore?

"Arf!" Cletus and Davis were doing some battling training together with Lillipup and Poochyena. Lillipup ended smashing against Poochyena, but Poochyena endured the attack.

"Poochyena, now use Fire Fang!" Davis said. Poochyena had fire form around its fangs and bit down on Lillipup. The attack did some real damage with Poochyena giving Lillipup a good throw.

"Lillipup! Are you okay?!" Cletus asked as Lillipup tried to get back up.

"Poochyena and Lillipup both look like they're doing good." Tetsu said as he and Imperialdramon watched.

"Stay tough, Lillipup." Cletus encouraged as Lillipup wasn't finished battling.

"Now use Tackle!" Davis said. Poochyena charged right at Lillipup and smashed right into it. Lillipup tried to endure the attack, but was still pushed back. Just then, Lillipup unleashed a loud roar and began glowing. This was a surprise, especially to Poochyena.

Pokemon

It's a battle, win or lose

It's the friends you make

It's the road you choose

We've got the right stuff

So make your mind up

And find the courage inside of you.

If you're strong, you'll survive

And you'll keep your dream alive

Let the battle begin

Pokemon

Be the best you can be and find your destiny

It's the master plan

The power's in your hand

Pokemon

(Davis' voice) Let It Howl

Lillipup glowing only meant one thing. It was starting to evolve with Lillipup growing bigger. When the light faded away, Lillipup was a brand new pokemon.

"Herd!"

"Incredible! Lillipup just evolved into Herdier!" Cletus said with everyone excited about this. Davis pulled out his pokedex as he wanted to know more about it.

"Herdier, the Loyal Dog pokemon. A normal-type, and the evolve form of Lillipup. It's dark coating is quite dense and springy. Since Herdier are smart and loyal, it is believed that this was the first pokemon to partner with humans."

"This is incredible that you evolved. Let's see how strong you are now." Cletus said. "Herdier, Take Down!"

"Dodge it, Poochyena!" Davis said. Herdier charged right at Poochyena, but Poochyena wouldn't move out of the way. It seemed like Poochyena was too shocked to move out of the way. Poochyena just let the attack came and Herdier smashed right against Poochyena and did some real damage. "Poochyena!" He called as he rushed right over. "What was that? Why didn't you move?"

"Let's talk about that later." Tetsu said. "That Take Down did some real damage. We should probably get Poochyena to a Pokemon Center."

"Good idea." Davis said as he lifted Poochyena and they all got moving to get Poochyena help. What could have caused Poochyena to freeze like that?

...

The Pokemon Center

"Poochyena is going to be fine. Nothing too serious." Nurse Joy said as she finished treating Poochyena.

"That's good to hear." Davis said as he petted Poochyena. "I just don't get why Poochyena didn't dodge when I told it too."

"That was rather weird." Tetsu said. "Poochyena was rather stunned right when Lillipup evolved." Poochyena looked right down at Herdier, but then looked away like it was upset.

"Hey. Come on, little buddy. Talk to us." Imperialdramon said as he tried to comfort Poochyena. Poochyena then started mumbling something with Imperialdramon the only one understanding. "I see. Poochyena's a little upset. Poochyena would like to evolve, a bit excited about that after meeting Jethro's Mightyena. However, Lillipup evolved before Poochyena and Poochyena has been around longer."

"Oh, I get it. Poochyena is a little disappointed that it hasn't evolved yet." Cletus said. "Sorry, Poochyena. It's not like it was planned." He said with Herdier apologizing as well.

"It will be fine. We'll get there." Davis said as he petted Poochyena. "Let's give Poochyena some rest." They all cleared out to give Poocheyna some time to rest, but Poochyena didn't like things settling like this. While they all allowed Poochyena some time, they all waited in the lobby. Cletus used the time to groom Herdier with a brush.

"You're coat looks shiny and healthy. You're settling into your new form nicely." Cletus said as Herdier enjoyed it.

"Hey. Check that out." Tetsu said as they spotted something. They all saw a crowd of people gathered around a monitor and watched a big battle going on. On the screen was the current champion himself: Chase. He and his Hydreigon finished a battle and won again. "That's the current champion up there."

"Chase... Oh man. I would love to meet and battle him one day." Davis said.

"You and everyone else. The odds of that are not likely." Tetsu said as he was skeptical. "Keep your focus on Poochyena. I bet Poochyena would be hungry right about now."

"Good idea." Davis said. Davis went and grabbed some food for Poochyena and brought some for it. "Poochyena! I've got some food." He said as he entered the room, but he saw Poochyena was gone. "Poochyena?! Where are you?! Poochyena?!"

...

Poochyena

Poochyena didn't like how things went. It wants to evolve and feels ready. Poochyena just needs it to happen. That's why it snuck out and went into the woods. Poochyena kept tackling a tree and kept trying to train to evolve. Poochyena doesn't care how hard it has to train if it means it will evolve.

"Hydrei!" Suddenly, Poochyena heard some sort of roar and it sounded like a powerful pokemon. A powerful pokemon means a powerful opponent. Poochyena went to check it out. What Poochyena didn't realize was that the two it was meeting was none other than Chase and his Hydreigon themselves.

"Here, Hydreigon." Chase said as he tossed a berry right for the head in the middle and ate it. Just then, Hydreigon spotted Poochyena staring at them with Chase noticing. "Hello there. What's a little one like you doing out here alone?"" He said as he walked over with Poochyena a bit anxious. "It's okay. You don't need to be scared." He said as he dropped down and petted Poochyena's head with Poochyena feeling relaxed.

...

Davis

Davis and the others got to searching for Poochyena once they realized it was gone. With Herdier's sense of smell, Herdier tried to track Poochyena down.

"Poochyena must be bothered more about this whole thing with evolving more than we thought." Tetsu said. "It must have snuck off to try and do some training so it would evolve."

"That does sound like something that would happen." Cletus said. "No worries. I'm sure Herdier will help be able to find Poochyena."

"Yeah, and when we do find Poochyena, I bet something cool is going to happen. I can just feel it." Davis said.

"Yeah right." Tetsu said being skeptical. "I bet you five bucks nothing is really going to happen when we find Poochyena."

"I'll take that action." Davis said. Herdier sniffed around until it found something and started barking. Herdier ran ahead with the others following. They soon found Poochyena and was right there with Chase himself. "There you are!" He said until he realized who it was Poochyena was with. Poochyena ran straight to Davis. Davis still took Poochyena in his arms, but they were still astonished.

"So that's your Poochyena, is it?" Chase said.

"I don't believe it!" Davis said.

"It's Chase himself!" Cletus said.

"It's really him!" Imperialdramon said.

"No way!" Tetsu said. Considering this was cool, Davis held out his hand for the money. Tetsu had to pay up since he lost.

"And look behind him. Hydreigon is right there." Imperialdramon said. Wanting to know more about Hydreigon, Davis pulled out his pokedex.

"Hydreigon, the Brutal Pokemon. A dragon and dark type, and the evolve form of Zweilous. It's center head is the only one with a head. In the past, people once loathed this pokemon believing it was the incarnation of evil."

"Uh... We're sorry if we're bothering you! We only came out here to try and find Poochyena." Cletus said as he and Tetsu were rather nervous about being in the presence of greatness himself.

"It's fine." Chase said as he walked over to them. "So, do you all want an autograph or something."

"No, nothing like that. We didn't even know you were out here." Tetsu said.

"Will you both calm down? What are you getting so anxious about?" Davis asked.

"Are you serious? Chase himself is standing right before us." Tetsu said.

"That doesn't mean you guys have to ramble around like morons." Davis said. "Sorry, Chase. My Poochyena snuck out of the Pokemon Center and we came looking for it. What are you doing all the way out here, Chase? I figured a big shot like you would be staying in a luxury hotel or something."

"You think, but I like to come out here. Simpler, back to basics, like how I started out." Chase said. "I'm camping out near here. Would you all like to join me? I'm rather curious as to why your Poochyena was doing out here on its own." They all couldn't believe that Chase was actually inviting them over.

...

Chase's Camp

All of them followed Chase and Hydreigon to his camp. As the sun was going down, they all settled around a fire and told Chase on what was going on.

"I see... So your Poochyena feels ready to evolve, but it hasn't happened yet." Chase said as he worked on a stew over the fire for them.

"No, and seeing Cletus' Lillipup evolve into Herdier when Poochyena has been with us longer seems to bother Poochyena." Davis said.

"Pokemon evolve at their own different pace." Chase said. "I'm sure when the time comes that Poochyena will evolve, it will. Of course, some pokemon don't need to evolve. They can be great on their own."

"I know that, but I'm not sure this little guy does." Davis said as he petted Poochyena. "I've got some pokemon that haven't fully evolved, but they're still pretty strong. Take my old Charmander for example. It was pretty strong before it became a Charmeleon. It waited until it thought it was ready to evolve."

"So it's Poochyena that's the impatient one." Chase teased. "That's perfectly fine. In fact, I know how you must feel. I was rather impatient myself when I wanted my pokemon to evolve."

"You were?" Tetsu questioned.

"That's right, even with Hydregion here." Chase said as he petted Hydreigon's head while Hydreigon was eating. "Back when Hydreigon was just a Deino, I couldn't wait for it to evolve. When it did, I was so happy. Of course, I saw what a great pokemon Hydreigon was when it was a Deino. I kind of miss those times. Even so, Hydreigon's my closest friend."

"Hydreigon!"

"That kind of sounds like someone else I know." Davis said. "Chase, have you ever met a guy by the name Ash Ketchum?"

"Ash Ketchum?" Chase questioned. "Hold on a minute. I've heard of that name. He's the only trainer who has ever been able to defeat Leon and became the new Monarch in the World Coronation Series. I've never met him personally, but he must be a skilled trainer to defeat Leon."

"He's a great friend of mine." Davis said. "Ash feels the same way you do about evolving. He has this incredibly powerful Pikachu, but Pikachu doesn't like the idea of evolving. Ash might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I've never seen anyone who loves pokemon as much as Ash does."

"Sounds like quite a guy." Chase said.

"He really is." Imperialdramon said.

"I learned a lot about being a trainer from Ash." Davis said as he remembered his friend well. "He keeps going on about being a Pokemon Master, and now he's considered the best in the world."

"Pokemon Master?" Cletus questioned.

"What's that? Does that mean it was his dream to be the best in the world?" Tetsu said.

"No. It's..." Davis said, but when he thought about it, he didn't know what to say. "Honestly, I don't know what he meant. All I know is that it's what he kept talking about."

"Well, one thing to be taken from this is that pokemon are all something incredible no matter what form they take." Chase said. "Holding a strong bond with your pokemon no matter what they look like is quite important. That's why I spend every moment I can with pokemon."

"What do you mean? Other than being a champion, what do you do?" Cletus asked.

"Not much. I just like to spend my time with pokemon." Chase said. "Of course, I do offer my services wherever I can to help pokemon." Chase seems like a great guy. Not only is he considered the champ of this region, but he seems like a regular guy with a strong fondness for pokemon. "Poochyena..."

"Arf?"

"Don't worry about evolving. When the time is right, you'll feel it." Chase said. It was certainly something for Poochyena to think about. Poochyena doesn't need to evolve, but it would like to. Maybe Poochyena was just thinking about it too much and should just let it be a more natural process. Just then, Poochyena jumped off of Davis and looked up to the sky. When it did, it saw a faint trace of the moon up there.

"Something up, Poochyena?" Davis asked. Poochyena stared up at the moon like a wolf at the night. Poochyena just let it's mind go and felt relax and actually howled at the moon. Then, it was finally happening. Poochyena glowed and began to grow. Poochyena just let it go and let things happen naturally as it became Mightyena now.

"Migh!"

"It happened! I knew it wasn't that far!" Davis said as he and the others were excited. Davis went over and petted Mightyena's head. "Either way, you look great and a great pokemon." Mightyena was rather pleased that it evolved. It could really feel that power as it ran towards a tree and hardened its tail with it smashing against the tree.

"Davis! Mightyena just used Iron Tail!" Cletus said.

"Awesome! You evolved and know a new attack!" Davis said as he was loving this more and more. Chase seemed rather pleased with what he was seeing.

"Davis is your name, is that right?" Chase asked.

"That's right." Davis said.

"I'm rather pleased to see this." Chase said. "Many trainers I've seen prefer one pokemon's form before or after it evolved, but you seem quite pleased with however your pokemon are. I can also see your Mightyena is really happy with you. You must be a great trainer."

"You'll see for yourself one day." Davis said. "I'm planning to enter and win the Centros League. After that happens, I'll be coming for a battle with you."

"Is that right? Well, we'll just see what kind of trainer you are then." Chase said as he enjoyed seeing an ambitious trainer. Just then, he had a cell phone that was going off. "Excuse me for a moment." He said as he took the call in private.

Not only has our heroes met Chase, but they're pokemon are evolving. Even if they evolve, the bond and love they have for them will never change. Their pokemon will continue to grow and become stronger...as the journey continues.

"Hello?" Chase said and heard about what was going on. "Really? They're here in Centros? Very well. Keep an eye on things and let me know." He ended the call at that. Looks like he's getting involved with something else.

To Be Continued...