(Two Weeks Later)

There were few things in this world that Maya loved more than Saturdays. Her and Kadabra had started an adventurous routine that made every weekend feel like a little treasure hunt:

First, they would venture from their apartment in Saffron to the base of Mt. Moon, getting there in just a few jumps thanks to Kadabra's teleport. Through the caves of the mountain they would then scale the walls of rock and climb through the Onyx-carved caverns, in search of rare stones or dropped items that forgetful new trainers would often leave behind.

They would then take their newfound treasures out from the caves and head south down to Celadon City. And on particularly beautiful days like today, they would take their time and walk there through the forest, enjoying the fresh scents of Butterfree nectar and dotting throngs of Oddish who meandered down the paths alongside them.

When they reached Celadon, they'd always hurry to the Department Store and sell off their spoils. On this particular Saturday, Kadabra had found a sizable Moonstone that had a perfect cut and clarity score, as well as an unopened Max Repel snagged between two boulders of the caves. They had to really resist to not open the Repel's canister before reaching the city, as the pesky Zubat seemed to follow them halfway out the caves.

As tradition on these Saturdays, she always let Kadabra choose the restaurant at which they'd spend their hard-earned treasure hunt money for a delectable evening dinner. It was especially warranted today, as that gorgeous Moonstone sold for quite the pretty penny. It was enough not only for a stately dinner, but for another week's worth of groceries for when they returned back to Saffron.

For the occasion, Kadabra chose a new Kalos-inspired eatery that had just opened in Vermilion City's harbor, and after teleporting there, the duo spoiled themselves on hearty soups and Pyroar-roasted potatoes, resting their bones after a long day of exploring. As their eyes were usually bigger than their stomachs, they also ordered a half-dozen colorful Macaroons to enjoy on the journey home.

They were very grateful for the beautiful weather that day—All of Kanto had been experiencing a series of strange thunderstorms as of late, storms that would suddenly kick in over the water that were unseasonably severe. The usual rainy season in Kanto wasn't even due to start for another two months or so, and these storms had nearly ruined the last few weekends for Maya & Kadabra. So they were grateful to not need the umbrella today.

The sun newly set, the Vermilion port glimmered in the half crescent moon that now shined above the docks. Tourists and townspeople alike were dressed to the nines, dotted along the boardwalk as Maya and Kadabra made their way along the south side of the city with the ocean winds breezing at their faces.

"We gotta walk off all that food," Maya laughed, "You really hit it out of the park with that find today, Kadabra. I already know what we're gonna get tomorrow at the Market, I'm making a list in my head. We're gonna get the expensive Moomoo cheese; not the cheap shreds."

"Ka-dabra!"

"You earned it buddy." She gently gave a pat on the back of its soft, golden head, before reaching into her bag for another macaroon. She offered it to Kadabra, who happily gulped it down.

As they meandered past the eastern edge of the docks, they stood for a moment and enjoyed the last bit of lingering light as it hung over the water. The gentle lapping of the waves was as soothing as Venomoth silk, and as the evening darkness settled over them, they enjoyed a moment of silence, and peace.

The soft pinging of lightbulbs began peppering on above them as the streetlamps slowly turned on over Route 11. They stood together, enjoying the new ambient light.

"Dabra?"

Kadabra pointed out towards the water.

Far in the distance, a soft glowing orange light seemed to be emanating off the surface of the foaming sea, rising and falling, like the steady breathing of a meditating Magmar.

Maya's eyes narrowed as she realized that the glow was being reflected into the water from somewhere else; following down the path with her finger, she could tell that the glow seemed to be coming from a source deep in the woods further out on Route 11, somewhere where the ocean met the trees.

This warm, alluring glow;

For some reason, she couldn't look away.

Kadabra and Maya shared a knowing look. They took off down the eastern path towards Diglett's Cave, searching out the source of the mysterious light.

Hustling past the entrance to the famous Cave, they approached a hilltop and peered down over the main valley pathways of Route 11. They stood there for a moment, their eyes glued to the treetops, before spotting the strange orange glow again, now bouncing off the midnight green branches towards the southern most paths of the route. They shared a glance before heading off again toward the light.

As they trekked on, the earth beneath Maya's feet suddenly felt looser, as if it could give way at any moment. This was seemingly the soil's burden after generations of Diglett had dug crisscrossing paths beneath the topsoil. However, the further into the woods that Maya and Kadabra explored, the more she realized the benefit of the constantly turning soil. It had left the meadows here so fertile that the grass was as tall as she was, and it was filled with blooming Vermilion Orchids hanging at every corner, as if a protected sanctuary's worth of the rare flower had sprung forth from the rinds of the earth. For a moment, Maya really envied all the Caterpie & the packs of snoozing Drowzee she saw dotted along the trails, as they called this lush corner of Route 11 home.

They could see the light up ahead now, just beyond the next throng of trees. It was rising and falling with more ferocity than before, casting deep shadows behind them as it rose to its height. Maya hesitated; what if it was some kind of dangerous Pokémon? What if it was an angry Rapidash, or a frenzied fleet of lost Talonflame looking to pick a fight? Kadabra glanced up at her, sensing her restraint.

And so, Kadabra made the decision for the both of them: Grabbing onto Maya's arm, it raised up its silver spoon and teleported them off the path in a hazy, pixilated FLASH.

"Wait, wait!" Maya spit out, disappearing slowly into the light...

...Only for them to reappear again at their destination, tucked just behind the very last row of thick-bodied trees, the last line of defense before the mysterious light.

"Dabra!" Kadabra whispered.

"Shh!"

Maya held a finger to her mouth and hunched lower behind the tree.

And as she looked up to finally find the source of the glow, her heart suddenly dropped.

There in the next clearing, at the edge of a seemingly self-carved grassy battling field, stood Lance the Dragon Master. His eyes were alight with new determination as he raised his arm up and out toward the empty field, his cape whipping behind him.

"Again! Flare Blitz!" He called out, a stoic resolve laced in his voice. From behind him sprung his ferocious Charizard, colossal and terrifying as it launched above Lance's head and out to the field. Spiraling into a mess of flames, Charizard wound itself up with the heat of a thousand suns, igniting itself forward, sending blasts of wild embers all around the grass.

Maya could barely look; the flames encapsulated the ground and sent wave after wave of intense heat out towards her and Kadabra. She shielded her face just in time for the blowback of hot cinder and dirt that kicked up along the treeline, rolling past just inches away from their feet. They hugged themselves to the bark, watching the embers whip past them deeper into the woods.

"One more time!" Lance called out again, his voice echoing against the burnt trunks of the forest, "Flare Blitz!"

His Charizard bellowed out with a roar into the cool Vermilion air as it flew back behind its master, gearing up again for another attack.

And as it launched itself again into the night sky to Lance's command, Maya felt something deep within her chest; a subtle pull in her ribs that left her breathless as she watched Charizard gather its sunfire energy again. And as the dragon began to spiral and glow, it's Flare Blitz garnering more and more strength at the will of Lance's words, Maya found herself simply unable to look away. At the last moment, her eyes scanned down over Lance's eager face, brimming with the waiting force of his almighty dragon, so ready for this blast; ready to erupt alongside it.

The blasting burn from the new Flare Blitz flashed down at the earth, once again kicking up a lethal wave of flames. But this time, Maya was unafraid; She watched the wave crest toward her, feeling the deep pull in her chest again, for some reason unable to stop herself from reaching with an outstretched hand, wishing to feel the full force of the heat on her fingertips.

Kadabra looked up to her in confusion, the cresting fire about to land a direct hit, until...

"Dabra!"

With a rainbow FLASH, Kadabra cast its Reflect shield around Maya just in time, surrounding her in a dome of protection. The waves of fire from the Flare Blitz crashed into the shield like an angry ocean against the rocky Cinnabar shores, peaking up and dissipating into tiny white-hot locks of smoke.

But Kadabra's Reflect, with its colorful glow casting against the trees, stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of the darkened forest. The iridescent flash immediately grabbed Lance's attention, and his face turned with suspicion as his eyes began scanning the trees. Someone was out there.

Charizard flew with grace, doubling back around to land at Lance's feet as he stepped further out into the battlefield, eyes still glued to the trees.

"Is somebody out there?" he shouted, his voice firm with the challenge. He narrowed his eyes and kept scanning through the brush, watching for any sudden movements.

Charizard stomped alongside him as they approached the eastern edge of the battlefield. "Show yourself!" Lance called again, "Or I'll send Charizard in there to find you!"

Charizard let out an intimidating, snarling cry. Just behind the treeline, Maya and Kadabra stood, frozen in fear.

"Okay, if you insist." Lance called into the forest, "Charizard...!"

"Wait!"

Maya's small voice rung out, echoing through the Vermilion woods. Lance froze in place.

She took a deep, shaky breath, before stepping out from behind the trees, the waning moonlight revealing her heart-shaped face.

And her eyes met Lance's for the very first time.

His silver-grey gaze looked upon her with equal parts contempt and curiosity, two iron shields crashing right into her scared cerulean blues. She held herself tightly, clutching to her black bomber jacket as she stepped further out into the empty battlefield, now face to face with the Dragon Master himself.

"Hsssssss!" Kadabra sprung forward, immediately placing itself between her and Lance, its spoon at the ready to cast another attack if need be. Charizard glanced at its Master, claws gripping closed, awaiting the imminent command to attack.

But Lance's face softened. He signaled for it to back down.

"Who are you?" He asked slowly, "And why do you feel the need to spy on me?"

"I wasn't spying," Maya retorted.

"You're with the Saffron Times?" He asked, gesturing to her jacket. The Times logo was large, imprinted on both sides of the suede bomber.

"No— I mean, not right now." Maya tried to straighten her words, but she could barely get her tongue to cooperate. She still found herself shaking, adrenaline coursing, recalling the fiery performance from moments before.

Lance turned around, walking back to the starting edge of the battlefield. "You journalists are all the same, you don't need to stalk me for a story. You think that'll make for good press?"

"I'm not with the press." Maya repeated, "I thought I saw a fire from the docks, and it turned out to be your Charizard."

Charizard huffed with confidence at the sound of this.

Lance turned back to face her, his cape softly billowing in the ocean-tinged air.

"So, you're not doing a story?" He looked again to the jacket.

"No. We're not reporters. Kadabra and I film production events for the Times, and sometimes I edit graphics and stuff for the writers." Maya finally felt her footing coming back to her. "But we're not undercover journalists or anything."

He nodded. "Well, I guess that's a relief."

As Charizard caught up to him, he patted it heartily on the chest. The last thing he wanted to do was to give another statement about his humiliating loss in Wyndon.

"But this is no place for a girl like you to be sneaking around," he continued, "You could have gotten seriously hurt."

"I didn't mean to sneak up on you. We just wanted to see what all the commotion was." Maya thinks back to a moment ago, to the flames that enticed her so badly.

As she recalls the memory again, Lance can't help but notice a glimmer in her eyes. He hadn't realized that he had an audience that night; for a moment, he wondered if she had enjoyed the show.

He glances at Kadabra, who glares back at him with a suspicious vigor.

"Your Kadabra must be strong, to have shielded you from Charizard's Flare Blitz. Not many can say they've ever experienced it and walked away unscathed." Kadabra is unmoved by the compliment, but senses the flattery in Maya's mind.

"You're looking at the fastest Kadabra in Kanto." Maya tries to smile, hoping to hide her shaking bones. "Tough as nails, right buddy."

"Dabra," Kadabra muttered slowly.

Lance took a moment to study Maya's face, attempting to place her in his mind. She didn't look familiar in the slightest; she had certainly never competed in the Kanto Championship before, he thought, or the Johto tournaments, and certainly never faced the Elite Four. His keen, photogenic memory ensured he would never forget a challenger at the Indigo Plateau. In fact, he typically memorized all the trainers who collected at least 5 badges in the region, studying their profiles and learning all about their battling styles from the prestigious gym leaders who challenged them, lest he finds himself unprepared when(if) they finally reach his dragons at the Four.

But her face, while striking, was a new one.

"Are you from Kanto?" he asks slowly, "It's rare that I see a new face so far off the path into the Vermilion woods."

"I am", she says proudly, "Born and raised in Viridian City. But I live in Saffron now."

"Viridian is a beautiful place," he says thoughtfully. His grey eyes turn back to Kadabra, it's guard slowly lowering with his words, "You say your Kadabra's strong. So I assume you must be in the middle of the gym challenge? How many badges do you have so far?"

"None." Maya says plainly, "I've had my share of travels, but early on I realized that the gym challenge wasn't exactly my cup of tea." She thinks back to the younger Maya, an eager, energetic girl. "Actually, I did have one gym battle when I was first starting out, but I won the match so fast that I told the gym leader to just keep the badge. I didn't really see the point."

Lance crosses his arms, attempting to mask the condescension. Surely, that must be a joke.

"'The fastest Kadabra in Kanto' is quite the title for a Pokémon whose trainer holds zero badges." He can't hide the pompousness in his tone.

"You want us to prove it?" She places a gentle hand on Kadabra's shoulder, it's psychic black eyes never peeling away.

Lance scoffs to himself, looking over at the two of them in a veil of humored disbelief. Did she even know who he was?

"What did you say your name was?" he asks, his curiosity now taking hold.

"I didn't. It's Maya." She stands proudly now, the fear from before all but melted away.

"Maya," he repeats it again, dancing the name around in his mind. "I don't think its fair, to host a full battle right now. But if you're feeling up to it, we can still run a little test on Kadabra's speed." He turns back to Charizard. "What do you think?"

"Zaaard!" Charizard roars proudly, blasting a stream of burgundy flames into the night air.

Maya grins at him, glancing over at her ace with a new confidence.

The crescent moon hung like a dragon claw's hook in the Vermilion sky, the only other witness still awake to watch this fateful spar on Route 11's clearing.

Maya and Lance stood at opposite ends of the makeshift battlefield, Kadabra already standing at the ready in the center of the circle, its claw gripping hard at its spoon like a cowboy's hand on his holster, its feet planted firm in the cool grass below.

"Ready?!" Lance calls up to Charizard, who flied above them all, encircling Kadabra and Maya's watchful eye. "Flamethrower!"

With a great FLASH, Charizard BLASTS down a stream of red-hot flames, the blaze uncoiling as swift and direct as a diving Braviary fishing off a Sinnoh mountain range.

"Now, Kadabra!" Maya called to her partner, and in another FLASH, Kadabra vanished. The fire SLAMMED into the ground where it once stood and radiated outward, a solid miss.

"Dabra!" It reappeared again just off-center of the circle, in an untouched plot of wet grass. But not for long.

Charizard cried out in anger, it's howl echoing into the night sky.

"Don't let it get to you!" Lance called up from the sidelines, his cape whipping wildly now with the heat of the dragon's fire. It gave a singing roar in agreement. "Again!"

With a new breath, more feral flames began spitting down now in a torrent of red-hot fireballs from Charizard's vicious jaws, two, four, six eight, attempting to coat the battlefield and prevent Kadabra from getting an opening.

"Let's go! Teleport!" Maya called, and Kadabra obeyed; it jumped again and again, rolling its way toward the opposite side of the battlefield in FLASH after FLASH.

"Dabra! Dabra! Ka-dabra!"

Maya watched with a knowing grin as Kadabra bounced around the grass, dodging Charizard's assault with ease as it vanished into thin air over and over, her clever little magician. The flames couldn't touch it.

Lance couldn't help but notice her smile. How cute, he thinks, that she's really this arrogant.

"Again, Charizard! Don't give it an opening!" The sly smile he hadn't felt since Wyndon crawled over his face, watching his trusty dragon spiral back up into the sky to begin another battering.

"Zaaaard!" Charizard roared in anger, blasting another swath of white-hot flares down at the field. This new line of flames formed into a curling wave, followed by another and another, creating a swirling angered oceanstorm of fire like the coat of an alpha Arcanine running in the sun, with less than an arms-length to breathe between the undulating waves.

"Keep it up, Kadabra!" Maya yelled, the fire dancing in her eyes. There it was again; that pull in her chest, at the sight of the raging flames.

"'Dabra!"

Faster and faster Kadabra bounced around the field, teleporting with undeniable speed between the scorching hot waves. Maya's heart pounded with the raging inferno; she felt her hands clench up, her nails digging sharp to her palms, unable to fight the growing signal pulling in her chest.

And as the fires raged, in a stolen little moment, Maya's eyes peered up to lock with Lance's own: Two steely iron swords sharpened by these dragonborn fires, cutting through the smoke and staring right back out to her.

And in this moment he finally truly sees her, alive in the heat of her element, something moving inside of him as he studies her vivid azure gaze, as cooling and captivating as a Dragonair's shining blue pearl.

The seconds slowed to a halt as he attempted to decipher this feeling... this faint, fragile strum in his chest, in his veins; his rigid brow was now thawing in the light of her gaze, his impenetrably firm shoulders feeling as if they may melt beneath her burn.

What was this calling in her eyes? And why couldn't he look away?

It suddenly dawned on him: Her trembling little body, her hungry oceantide eyes... She was getting some sort of rise out of this, he thought, from the fiery danger, from this blazing rush!

He couldn't stop the devious smile from overtaking him with the idea, of his little Vermilion voyeur, and this Dragonborn power that those gorgeous eyes had surely spied from behind the trees, so tempting that she could not stay away!

Well, he thought, if it's a show she wants, then a show I will give her!

He grit his teeth and broke away from the stare.

"Thunder Punch!" He called out, his voice tinged with a confident plan.

Without a second of hesitation and with a blaring HOWL, Charizard dove down head-first towards the center of the battlefield, falling like an anchor into its own fiery sea, its arm outstretched and ready to punch the open ground.

"Look out!" Maya's voice called, now watching Charizard SLAM into the earth, the boom resonating in her gut and blowing back her hair as a sparkling blast of electricity detonated out from the dragon's leading fist right down into the soil.

Kadabra had escaped it; another miss, she thought! But what was this?

The vicious shards of white lightning cascaded out from the blast site and instantly began conducting over a single trail in the field, riding down the path angrily, a flare of fury focused and growing, traveling right for Kadabra across the grass!

Maya cried out: "Reflect!"

"Dabra!" Kadabra raised its rainbow shield up just in the nick of time as the vicious wall of sparks came CRASHING into the shimmering psychic screen, just barely blocking the bulk of the electricity from reaching Kadabra's body. Maya shielded her eyes from the blinding flash as the lightning crackled out into the open air behind Kadabra's forcefield, before fading away almost as quickly as it came.

Silence. This was the end; Maya clutched at her chest, her lungs trembling in the new darkness, the candleflame embers of the grass all but extinguished now. Kadabra's shield dissipated into the black and it stumbled out of place, drained but not beat, its chest heaving in exhaustion. Her eyes locked with Lance's across the field again for a ringing little moment, but she saw that they were lined with something curious and sly, as if daring back to her with the devious question: Did you like that, little girl?

She stood silent, unsure of what just happened. She watched Kadabra slowly lean down, grazing an outstretched claw along the last remaining patch of green, un-burnt grass beneath it. It was wet with midnight dew, and stretched in a narrow trail from Kadabra's feet right to Charizard's fist.

Incredible, Maya thought. All the rest of the field was burnt to a crisp, but Lance had guided Charizard to purposefully salvage a single pathway of grass so that the lightning could conduct!

Incredible! Unbelievable! Her mind raced, the aching pull reeling in her chest at the realization.

Extraordinary! Amazing!

And... And...

Absolutely terrifying.

Kadabra turned to her, sensing her newfound fear. A sudden wave of horrid nausea washed down over her. If Kadabra hadn't gotten the Reflect up in time...

Lance began walking out to the center of the battlefield, where Charizard stood proudly in its fresh electric crater. His cape billowed behind him with every step.

"Excellent job, Charizard. Return." With a flash, the dragon collapsed into a beam of light and retracted back into its pokeball. Lance grasped the cold ball firmly in his hand, looking it over fondly before glancing back up to Maya.

He took a step towards her. She took a step back.

"Dabra..." Kadabra warned. Don't you take one more step. Lance froze in place.

"You did well. Very well." Lance began, attempting to defuse the tension, "I'm genuinely impressed. Kadabra, you truly are fast on your feet."

Maya's heart was still pounding, her fingers still gripping at her shirt, face glowing hot, as if she might cry. She held it in; what was this nagging feeling, aching in her bones, tethering her ribs together? She looked around at the burnt, obliterated battlefield; such a stark contrast to the lush, floral meadowlands and delicate Vermilion Orchids just on the other side of Route 11.

Lance's eyes stared down at her, eager for them to connect once again. But her eyes were glued to the ground now. In this moment, she couldn't bear to look at him; she couldn't bear to speak. She replayed it again and again; the Reflect had truly saved them.

A flood of conflicting thoughts consumed her; a wave of blame on herself, for putting Kadabra on the field at all. So stupid!

But mainly anger, hot fresh anger at this man for nearly hurting her closest companion with such a brutal, underhanded tactic, with that all-consuming, egotistical power that he believed could strong-arm any fight.

And worst of all, this pang of guilt; because she couldn't deny the enticing thrill of that power, a near perversion as she attempted to make sense of the pull that it had on her. And this gnawing pit of fear, at how devastating it truly could be.

Finally finding her nerve, she peered back up to him. Those true cerulean eyes, so terrified in this moment, yet so disarming; and so very beautiful.

Lance's eyes softened, his face falling in confusion at her new angry gaze.

And after the longest moment, she found her voice again.

"Do you know why you lost? At the Masters 8?"

The words hung heavy in the air. The shame of that loss still stung so badly in his mind, the wound still so fresh. But in this moment, he did not care. He listened with curiosity, eyes still glued to her own, not wishing to scare her any further.

"It's because, you had no defense." She tried to stop them, but the words fell out of her in shaking breaths, "You used all your strength, and all your... power. And focused it all into a worthless fistfight."

Lance remembered the day so clearly. He could hear the unending roar of the crowd towering from behind him, echoing from all directions at his defeat.

Her piercing blue eyes cut right through him.

"I was there. I saw it all."

His heart began to race. So she did know who he was, after all.

"But you had no defense," her words spat out, "you had no guard. And that's why you lost."

Her words stung, every last one, as he recalled his every wrong move against Diantha. He couldn't stop remembering the millions of watching eyes, the cheers, the icy hailstorm raining down. He felt the rage of that day boiling up inside of him again.

But he couldn't be angry. He couldn't feel anger at those cerulean eyes.

Because she was right.

He took another step towards her, his throat unable to clear, his face unable to form the stoic, cold glare it usually wore so well. Kadabra threatened its spoon like a dagger in the air at him in dire warning to stay back. Stay away! Stay away from her!

"I'm, sorry," he stammered out, crossing an arm across his chest, "I truly didn't mean to scare you." He took another step towards them, walking the very same path that the Thunder Punch had followed just minutes before.

"Da-BRAH!"

With the glow of its eyes and the rise of its spoon, Kadabra and Maya were enveloped in the glow of its teleporting light.

And just like that, they were gone.

Lance stood there in shock. He looked around him for a moment at the battlefield, now utterly destroyed by his dragon's flame; the coils of burnt russet grass, the charcoal black of the dying thicket of trees; the massive crater carved from the Thunder Punch, caved in from the impact just like the locker back at Wyndon Stadium.

This crushing loneliness; he should have been use to it by now.

He looked up to the moon, still hanging over him past the trees, the last remaining witness to this fiery encounter on Route 11.