Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon all rights go to The Pokémon Company inc. Let's continue.

Chapter 10: An Encounter With the Champion

The five of us, me, Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, and Sawyer were walking on the route that would take us to Snowbelle City so I can get my eighth gym badge. I take a glance at Sawyer who was walking up ahead looking straight ahead also. He got his eighth gym badge so quick and he has gotten so much stronger since the last time I saw him nearly a month back. I would have to train a lot to beat him in the Kalos League. And that means mastering our form that me and Greninja have. I was still thinking why we weren't able to do it earlier today with my battle with Sawyer. But something did cross my mind. I'm so dead set on trying to not let Sawyer surpass me that it has gotten to the best of me. It then hit me. That's why I couldn't connect. I wasn't one with Greninja because I was so focused on my own goals instead of the goals that Greninja and I had. Mastering that form and winning the Kalos League.

"Hey Serena how much longer until Snowbelle City?" I ask. She looks at her tablet

"Uhh let me see... It says another few more miles and we'll be there. It'll be around late afternoon." She says. She then comes over and holds my hand. I smile at that. And I gladly return the hold.

"Cool. We can sleep at the Poké Center." I say. Looking straight ahead still in thought. A thought then crossed my mind. I want to let my Pokémon out. Specifically I want to see Greninja so I can talk to him a bit. But of course I don't want my other Pokémon feeling left out. Using my other hand I then take out 4 Pokéballs and toss them. They all pop out and look around then look at me awaiting orders.

"Hey guys. I thought that maybe you guys would want some time out of balls." I say. But I then look at Greninja and I nod and he nods back understanding what I want from him. They all nod and talk happily amongst each other. I was just about to talk to Greninja when suddenly Talonflame comes up to me.

"Hey Ash. How is that thing with Greninja you've been talking about?" He asks.

"It's been great. We are improving a lot since we first used it." I say smiling. Talonflame just nods and heads back towards the other Pokémon. They wanted to find out, but sent one person or Pokémon to make more sense of, to be the messenger and find out that way.

"So Ash." Sawyer says.

"What's up?" I ask.

"What will be your sixth Pokémon? I only see five." He comments. I take time to reflect on that.

"I honestly don't know. I can't use Goodra because he is busy in the wetlands protecting it. I haven't really thought about it yet." I say.

"Oh I see." He says back then looks straight ahead on the path we were walking.

"Wait. Don't you have Pokémon with you back home? Is that what you're planning?" Clemont asks facing me.

"Yeah most likely." I say.

"You should use your Charizard! Or Sceptile! Or Infernape!" Bonnie says excitedly. The last Pokémon she mentioned of mine was the one that really started turning my gears. Infernape is easily one of my strongest Pokémon. Maybe I could use him in the Kalos League. I'll decide when the time comes.

"Ash I didn't know you had a Sceptile." Sawyer says.

"Yeah! I got it back when I was traveling in the Hoenn region. He has helped me a lot in the past." I say. Although I will not count the time that the King of Pokélantis took over me. That was a scary moment for me.

"Cool. I would love to meet it!" He says happily.

"That may happen." I say. We continue on trail as the trees began to part and fields of grass on both sides of the trail start appearing. I then heard a buzzing and felt a little bit of wind. I looked up along with everyone else. I saw a black helicopter that was heading towards us. My Pokémon then rush toward me and I return them just in case it's Team Rocket trying to steal my Pokémon.

"Hmm I wonder why there would be a helicopter out here in the middle of nowhere." Serena says. When the helicopter came closer to us it lowered its altitude. That's when I figured it was for us. As if on queue a rope dropped down and a person then grabbed the rope and rode it all the way down to the ground. How this person's hand is not rubbed raw is a mystery. But then as I identify who it is a bigger mystery unfolds.

"Champion Diantha!?" I say in an asking, yet surprised tone.

"You bet. And please Ash, call me Diantha." She says as she comes closer to us and smiles.

"It is a pleasure to see you again." Clemont says. Sawyer then pops up his eyes glittering.

"Oh my Arceus the champion of the Kalos Region is actually here. I saw your battle with Magnus. That was awesome!" He said estatically. Diantha just sweatdropped out of embarrassment.

"Uhh thanks. He is a very strong trainer." She said with a sheepish chuckle. Just then the helicopter she came in then started its engines and took off. I guess she was sticking here for a while.

"What brings you here to us Diantha? I mean I know it's an honor, but what does bring you here?" I ask still a bit dumbfounded that she was here. She then walks closer to us and pulls out a tablet and then pulls up a picture of a massive black Pokémon with large white and green hexagonal spots on its body.

"What is it?" Asks Clemont.

"It looks powerful!" Bonnie chimes in. I just smile at her. She looks at Bonnie smiling then back to me, her face getting serious.

"This is the Legendary Pokémon Zygarde. It is the protector of Kalos," She says.

"Recently I have been getting reports of it ravaging many islands that are uninhabited by humans, but were teeming with plant life and Pokémon." She says. She then swipes the tablet and then an island that looked like it once was full of life, but now it is a desolate place and it looked like a nuke was dropped on it. We all gasp in shock.

"Zygarde did that?" Serena asked a little frightened.

"According to reports. But people have reported it to not be looking normal. Like it was the evil version of Zygarde." Diantha says. All of the sudden I get a flashback onto the island. It had a lot of trees and other plant life and the Pokémon were living their lives happily and peacefully. Then, just as Diantha told us the opposite looking Zygarde appeared with a red glow around it and the spots that were once green are now red. It was being controlled. But something was off. It would still retain its green spots so something was not right. Then a thought occurred to me and I was astonished by it. They were trying to create a clone of Zygarde and they were destroying this island to see how powerful it really is. The Pokémon then charged up a massive ball of purple energy then released it from a left to right motion. The trees were instantly annihilated and the Pokémon had to flee into the water and was forced to swim. I then saw a glimpse of faces behind the evil Zygarde. They were wearing orange suits with a curvy "f" on their belts. Team Flare. They are all behind this. That must be why they were trying to take Squishy because it is a part of all of this. I then snap out of my vision and back to reality. I looked up and saw Diantha looked at me with a concerned look on her face.

"Are you all right Ash?" She asks in a concerned tone. Everyone then looked at me.

"I saw what happened." I said quietly.

"What do you mean Ash? What did you see?" Serena asks looking at me while grasping my hand. I saw that Diantha saw that and judging by her look she is making a mental note. I wonder why. That's not important right now.

"I saw what happened on the island." I said. Diantha then looked at me shocked and then a look of epiphany popped on her face.

"So that's what she meant by he has the eye." She says quietly, but of course I perfectly understood her. I cocked my head confused.

"What do you mean Ash?" Diantha then asked intrigued.

"I saw what happened on the island." I said again disturbed and enraged.

"Well what happened Ash?" Serena asked next to me as she continued to hold my hand. Her hand was the only reason why I haven't cracked and exploded in rage because of these Team Flare figures.

"Zygarde, or the evil Zygarde if you will, charged and released a massive purple beam which almost reminded me of Hyper Beam, but it wasn't, and it unleashed it on the trees and the wildlife. The wildlife were displaced and they had to go swimming toward Kalos. The plant life were completely destroyed. Annihilated in seconds. " I say angrily.

"Hmm. That definitely doesn't sound like Zygarde. What could possibly be causing it to do this?" Diantha asked. Luckily I had the answer to that question.

"It was being mind controlled." Bonnie suddenly says. I look at her shocked and so did everyone else.

"H-how did you know that I was going to say that?" I asked stuttering a bit.

"Squishy told me. They're being controlled by an evil organization." Bonnie continued. I suddenly didn't seem surprised. I know that Squishy had to do something with Zygarde.

"I bet it's Team Flare." Clemont said irritably.

"It is." I reply with the same tone. I then turn to Diantha.

"So Diantha. You said "That's what she meant by he has the eye". What did you mean by that?" I asked her.

"Huh. Oh I didn't think that you heard me say that. Well I spoke to Olympia a couple of hours before I came to see you. She talked about you having this special ability to see stuff. She just referenced it as "the eye" so I didn't know. What is it that allows you to see the past?" She asks.

"My aura. It allows me to sense what people are feeling and have super hearing and I can see pasts. That's all that has happened so far." I say.

"Hmm. That's interesting. That sounds a lot like Sir Aaron. Although he didn't have abilities like that. It seems that you are what he calls "Super Guardians". He's not one, but he had a lot of knowledge of it since his great-grandfather was one. His great-grandfather would tell him stories and give him lessons about Super Guardians." Diantha said. Hmm interesting. I didn't learn that from his Lucario when I met him at Camaron Palace.

"It is also very rare. It only happens about every 7-9 generations or so." She said and everyone gasped at that.

"Really?! Wow I guess I'm literally the definition of one of a kind." I say and chuckle nervously.

"Also Ash. Has anything happened between you guys lately?" Diantha asks. I got to think. The form that is something that has happened.

"Me and Greninja are able to do this sort of Mega Evolution." I say.

"Yeah! It's so cool! A huge spiral of water rises from Greninja and then turns into a watery shield around Greninja!" Bonnie says excitedly. She sure is in an upbeat mood today.

"Hmm. Would you like to show me Ash?" She asks me. I got to think. Well I'm in. Let's see if Greninja would like to. I pull out his Pokéball and then release him. He pops out with his arms folded.

"Hey Greninja. Diantha was wondering if we could show her the form." I ask him.

"Sure. We'll be able to do it this time for sure." He says.

"Awesome. He said yes. Let's do this." I say getting pumped. Diantha then releases her Gardevoir and we walk far away from each other.

"Wait. This is a perfect time to use my device." Clemont said. Oh yeah! We both do have the bracelets on and switched on so we'll be able to see if Clemont's hypothesis of me and Greninja's brainwaves synching with each other is true. I then face toward Diantha and our battle will begin.

"While we are battling Diantha let's see how much progress we have from battling her last time." I say. He nods and turns to face his challenge.

"Alright Greninja let's start this off with Water Shuriken!" I say as Greninja then forms a couple of shurikens then throws them at Gardevoir. I saw Gardevoir look back towards Diantha and they both nod at each other. I then remembered it's their unique and fascinating form of communication. Then Gardevoir swiftly dodges the attack. I looked on in shock. How Gardevoir was so fast I don't even know.

"That is some speed by Gardevoir. It's even faster than when Pikachu battled against it." Serena said worried, but impressed.

"So that's how it's going to be. Hmph. We'll just have to be faster. Greninja go in with Cut!" I say and Greninja runs with blazing speed and then goes in to hit Gardevoir. But of course it dodged with ease. Although I can tell it took a tiny bit more effort. At least we're getting somewhere. I studied Diantha's face. Instantly I knew what she was thinking. She was thinking that Greninja was trained very well, but looks like any other Greninja.

"Don't worry Diantha. You'll see it soon." I say smirking knowing what her reaction would be.

"How did you kno-" she then stopped as she realized how. My aura of course.

"Hmph. Well it's our turn. Gardevoir use Shadow Ball." She says calmly. Gardevoir charged up a dark purple sphere a little bigger than a basketball and launched it towards Greninja.

"Use Water Shuriken!" I command Greninja as he then creates a shuriken of water and launches it towards the oncoming Shadow Ball. The two attacks clash and surprisingly they come out even. It caused an explosion and that was my queue.

"Aerial Ace let's go!" I say as Greninja then races off toward the smoke and appear on the other side of the smoke cloud and I saw him hit Gardevoir and with power too. He then did a couple backflips and come to my side. He then got back into fighting position.

"Hmm. That was well played Ash." Diantha says amused.

"Thanks. I have been training ever since our last battle." I say.

"And I can see that. But let's see how you fare against this. Moonblast!" She commands and that catches me off guard as Gardevoir then charged up a milky pink ball and then hurls it towards Greninja. I was a little slow to react so all I could get Greninja to do was dodge.

"Dodge quick!" I say fast and Greninja does an outstretched back handspring towards me to dodge, but no luck as the Moonblast hit a few feet from him and he got hit and launched back by the explosion. I looked on in shock as he flies back and hits a tree and then falls to the ground motionless for a moment. I rush over to him.

"Greninja! Are you ok?" I ask worryingly. He looked up at me a pained expression on his face.

"I'll be fine don't worry. Let's continue." He says as he gets up and walks back to his battling spot and gets into position.

"Alright Greninja let's try this. Greninja use Double Team!" I say softly then commanded loudly.

"Use Shadow Ball and clear them out." Diantha ordered calmly. It was almost unnerving. Maybe she's gone up against Double Teams before. For Arceus' sake she's the champion of Kalos of course she's been up against Double Teams. But I have a plan. And it was going accordingly. When the Shadow Balls hit the copies of Greninja small explosions of black smoke happened and I would use that to my advantage. There was a clear spot above Gardevoir's head though. And that's what I was going to use.

"Alright use Water Shuriken!" I command.

"Ahh. Look into the smoke and focus on which cloud it'll come out of!" She says seriously. Just according to plan. Greninja jumped above and unleashed a Water Shuriken right towards Gardevoir. Diantha looked shocked and tried to command her Gardevoir to dodge, but it was too late. The Water Shuriken hit Gardevoir and she fell to the ground. Huh. How did I know its gender? That is weird. It must be my aura then. That is not important now.

"Great job Greninja!" I say praisingly.

"Thank you! That was a great plan!" He said.

"Thanks!" I said.

"That was impressive Ash. A lot of people wouldn't figure out how to do that." Diantha says very amused. I then heard Clemont gasp and mutter a few words I didn't even care to understand as he kept looking at his machine and then at us and back. I was too focused on the battle.

"Thanks. But we're not done! Because we're gonna get much stronger! Grrr. Let's go!" I say as I bring my arm in front of my face and pump it. Greninja does the same motion as me at the same time as me. My body temperature rises and my heartbeat speeds up. This time I felt the connection.

"Let's do this!" Greninja shouts at the same volume as me. We then pull our arms to our sides our fists facing the sky and let out a loud yell. And then the torrent of water rises from Greninja and into the sky as he starts to change form. Then the torrent dies down into the watery veil that surrounds him. I heard Sawyer gasp out of amazement, but that was it. The battle is just now beginning. We would show Diantha our real power. And I could tell that Diantha was astounded and I could tell she was in a little bit of panic.

"Let's go Greninja!" I yell out.

"So this is what you were talking about Ash!" Sawyer said excitedly.

"Yep! This is our power! Our bond!" I say loud and proud and Greninja nods his head in agreement.

"Hmm. I have never seen a Greninja like yours before Ash. You always know when to surprise me. I can see why you are an important part in Olympia's prediction." Diantha says still shocked. I nod as I want to continue this battle.

"Now let's show them! Greninja use Cut!" I yelled as I get into a position that would look like I was about about to take off running. I was mimicking Greninja's movements. Greninja takes off with speed as he pulls out two blades of Cut. He makes an "X" in front of him for extra power.

"Alright. Reflect!" Diantha ordered quickly. Gardevoir then put up a blue shield and the Cut hit making a huge explosion which actually destroyed the Reflect barrier. Greninja then did three backflips towards me and got back into fighting position. Diantha looked shocked and hesitant. She was questioning herself if they should use Mega Evolution or not. I've seen her Mega Gardevoir in action and she is extremely powerful. Maybe we'll match that power with ours. We had to bait it out.

"Alright now go with Shadow Ball!" Diantha yelled with force. Gardevoir responded with a bigger-than-normal Shadow Ball and launched it towards Greninja.

"Alright now use Water Shuriken!" I yell as I bring my hands behind my back mimicking Greninja and creating an invisible shuriken and threw it at the same time as Greninja. The two attacks race towards each other and clash with power. And just like before the attacks are equal and explode into a cloud of gray smoke.

"Much faster! Use Aerial Ace!" I say putting my hand in a fist and then pretending I'm launching off of my feet. Greninja then jumps into the smoke and then turn my vision into Greninja's.

"Dodge it and use Thunder Punch!" I hear Diantha and I then look around using Greninja and try to figure out where Gardevoir is. Then my vision changes back to mine as I felt a sharp pain in my left side and clutched it as I felt and saw Greninja get hit by the Thunder Punch. Greninja flew up into the air, but then he gained his composure and did a backflip and landed squatting and putting his hand on the ground in like a ninja stance.

"Are you all right Greninja?" I ask.

"Don't worry it didn't hurt that much." Greninja said emphasizing the word "that" letting me know that it hurt, but not that much.

"Alright! Now let's ramp things up! Use Aerial Ace!" I say letting power flow through me and I swipe my hand across the air to show that. Greninja then races off his feet and fins lit up white. The thing though when he did that so much power was put into that move that the ground buckled where he took off at. Diantha takes note of this and then puts her hand to her necklace. I already knew a few seconds before it happened. Then a glow around Gardevoir appears.

"Gardevoir Mega Evolve!" Diantha yells as Gardevoir is engulfed in a pink light and grows in size until she pops out looking big and different and a mini pulse of power comes out of her as she catches Greninja's attack and then throws him back. He did an elongated backflip and landing back in my side of the field.

"We got them to Mega Evolve. Great job Greninja!" I say.

"You too. Now let's do this!" He says as I nod with him.

"Alright! Use Shadow Ball!" Diantha yells as Gardevoir creates a ball of purple energy at least twice as big as before and she then launches it towards Greninja.

"Water Shuriken!" I yell as I copy Greninja creating and throwing the shuriken again. The two attacks clash and instantly a massive explosion of smoke happened and I was about to command Aerial Ace, but I then saw a milky pink ball a couple of times bigger than a tennis ball appear out of the smoke cloud and it hits Greninja. Moonblast. Diantha used my trick. I smiled at that. But it instantly went away as I saw Greninja fly to the ground, but he again catches himself. This one took more effort though.

"Oh no!" I say as Greninja gets hit full force and then falls to the ground and then a sharp pain came to my right side. The pain appeared. Man Diantha's Pokémon were strong.

"Using the same thing over again will eventually get old pretty quick." She then says. For us nothing gets old. And I will give her a lesson about us.

"Hmm. Let's see about that." I say warningly. She smiles at my determination.

"Alright now Greninja go in with Cut!" I say.

"Thunder Punch now!" She then commands and the two race off towards each other attacks chambered and ready. Then the two attacks clash and they began to spar with the attacks. I can see through Greninja again. I was also copying his movements again. I then see that opening when Gardevoir was ready to strike Greninja.

"Alright now!" I say as Greninja does a turn and strikes Gardevoir with all of the power he has and yells while he his doing it.

"Oh no! Gardevoir are you ok?!" Diantha asks concerned.

"I've had worse." I hear her say. But there was a falter in her voice.

"Alright. Wow Ash that was powerful." She says dumbfoundedly.

"Yeah. But Greninja we'll reach the top together. BECAUSE WE WILL GET STRONGER!" I yell with determination and he then yells out with determination as he brings his arms to his side and fist facing the sky like we normally do when we are getting into the form and the watery veil then rises back into the torrent and then explodes around him spraying water everywhere. I didn't care that I got wet I am so into this battle. The water then forms into an "X" on Greninja and then forms a small sphere and then expanded into what looks like a massive Water Shuriken on his back. This is it. This is the final stage. We were definitely getting this form. Everyone gasped and looked on in awe as the final form of our so-called Mega Evolution takes place. I can clearly see Greninja's features now. His left two fins on his head was a white in color and the big middle fin was red. His hair was black and red zigzags were in it just like on my face. His torso was a darker shade of blue just like my shirt and his white engraving looked like the style on my shirt. Almost like a sort of wishbone style. His eyes are red. Pure red. Just like the color of Mega Evolved Pokémon. I look at Mega Gardevoir's eyes to confirm and it was the same color as hers. Red. This has got to be a Mega Evolution. But Mega Evolution without the stones is something that is apparently impossible. But in Mega Evolution there has to be a strong bond. Maybe our bond is just so strong that we can Mega Evolve without the requirement of the stones. I'll look into it later. Now, we finish this battle.

"Your Greninja really is special to being able to change forms without having Mega stones." Diantha said dumbfounded.

"Uh huh. Me and Greninja will get much stronger together! Because we're going to the top! Greninja use Water Shuriken!" I yell out with a smile as I feel all of the power rush through me. Greninja then reached for the massive Water Shuriken on his back takes it off and throws it towards Gardevoir. This Shuriken had to be at least 3 times bigger than a normal one.

"Gardevoir use Moonblast!" Diantha says. She must sense the power emanating from both of us so she is using a stronger move. Gardevoir then creates the milky pink ball and chucks it towards the Water Shuriken. They collide and a huge explosion of white smoke occurred. Wind whistled past my ears and I let it help me.

"Aerial Ace let's go!" I yell as Greninja's fins light up white and races off with speeds I haven't seen before.

"Uhh counter it quick! Reflect!" She says and Gardevoir was just barely able to put up the Reflect in time. The Reflect once again shattered and that was my chance.

"Now. Water Shuriken again!" I say and this time I copy his motion of taking the shuriken off of his back and throwing it towards Gardevoir. It was the same size as before.

"Shadow Ball full power!" She yells a little bit of panic in her voice. Gardevoir then charges up the biggest Shadow she can muster and throws it at the Water Shuriken. The two attacks collide and I wanted this one to push through.

"Let's go!" I yell putting force behind my voice. The Water Shuriken then outpowered the Shadow and went racing towards Gardevoir.

"Gardevoir no!" Diantha yells in despair. The shuriken then hits Gardevoir. She attempts to block it, but to no avail as it exploded and went flying towards Diantha with a pained expression on her face. She lands on the ground and didn't get up, but was still her Mega Evolved form. Then tunnel vision came into effect and it was towards the motionless Gardevoir. But soon my vision cut off from Greninja. I was breathing heavily and I couldn't move. No matter how much I told my body to move it wouldn't budge. What in the world is happening? It appears the same thing is happening to Greninja. He looks back at me.

"Ash what is going on? Is it happening to you too where you can't move?" He asked also breathing heavily.

"Yes. I don't kno-" I stopped as I began wheezing. I fell to one knee.

"Ash!" I hear Serena yell. The pain is surging throughout my whole body. I then saw Greninja fall to the ground face first. Then, all I saw next was black.