Kenan sighed as sat back against the wall of the Trainer Course building. Sydney was next to him as she was eating some Pokemon food that Kasumi had been kind enough to leave for both of their Pokemon.
"Hey."
Kenan looked up and saw Kasumi standing before him, Chun Li was behind her holding another bowl of food for itself while Kasumi was holding a bottle of water.
"Here, with all the work you have put in so far, it looks like you need it." Kasumi said as she gave the water bottle to Kenan.
"Thanks…" Kenan said as he took the water bottle from her and drank some of it while Kasumi sat down next to him.
"You know Sydney is getting stronger, it is only a matter of time before she evolves into Clodsire." Kasumi said to him.
Kenan gave her a grim smile. "Well I appreciate the optimism Kasumi, but I am still worried. The deadline is approaching soon and we still haven't achieved our goal." He said as he turned to Sydney who also looked worried.
"Well that is why I said that I think something may be holding you back, and judging from your reaction earlier, I think I might be right." Kasumi said to him.
Kenan soon sat back as Sydney jumped into his lap.
"Well yeah, your are right." Kenan said to her as he began to remember what lead him to want to come to the academy in the first place.
It was a hot summer day in Unova as Kenan was walking the path from Opelucid City to Humailu City.
He had just won his seventh badge by defeating Drayden in a tough battle and was feeling pretty confident in himself and his team especially after his trips to Kalos and Paldea.
"Kenan is that you!?" An unknown voice called out to him.
Kenan turned around and saw Hugh, a old frenemy and his childhood friend that also started out from Undella Town like him.
"Hey, fancy meeting you here. I heard that you got your seventh badge right?" Hugh asked as he stopped in front of Kenan.
"That is right, I can assume the same thing for you?" Kenan asked knowing the answer that he will get from him.
Wordlessly, Hugh pulled out his badge and soon showed him seven sparkling gym badges that he had on him.
"I just defeated Elesa recently and was heading to Humailu City when I saw you, so I was thinking you wanna have a battle?" Hugh asked him.
Kenan pondered it, it had been a while since the two of them battled and he was eager to show off how strong he and his Pokemon have gotten.
"Sure! Let's do it!" Kenan said agreeing with a smile.
Hugh smiled as they settled on a three-on-three battle. The battle soon started with Kenan sending out his first Pokemon.
"Now Starstreak I choose you!" Kenan said sending out his Clefable while Hugh sent out his Unfezant.
"Alright use Moon Blast!" Kenan said taking the first move as Starstreak soon sent a blast of fairy energy toward Unfezant.
"Unfezant dodge then use Aerial Ace!" Hugh commanded his Pokemon.
Unfezant dodged the Fairy-type move and soon went for a powerful Aerial Ace right in front of Starstreak.
"Counter with Meteor Mash!" Kenan commanded.
Starstreak's fist soon glowed with blue power and soon smashed Unfezant with the Steel-type move making fall to the ground.
"Unfezant get up!" Hugh commanded as Kenan soon commanded Starstreak to use Thunderbolt as his Pokemon let out a powerful bolt of thunder that shocked Unfezant for super effective damage and made him get knocked out earning Kenan the first victory in the battle.
"Alright great job Starstreak!" Kenan praised as Hugh returned Unfezant and thanked for him for working hard.
"Alright here is my next Pokemon, Eelektross let's go!" Hugh said sending out the snake-like Electric-type.
Kenan was confident given his last victory, perhaps too confident as he ordered Starstreak to use Moon Blast once again on Eelektross.
"Alright Eelektross, counter with Flamethrower." Hugh ordered his Pokemon to use. The two moves collided causing a huge explosion that obscured both Pokemon from the vision.
"Now use Wild Charge!" Hugh commanded.
Eelektross soon appeared from out of nowhere and hit Starstreak with the powerful Electric-type move and paralyzed.
"Crap not good, Starstreak can you move?" Kenan asked his Pokemon.
Starstreak attempted to answer as Hugh soon had Eelektross use Flamethrower to add additional damage to Starstreak.
"Use Life Dew!" Kenan said to his Pokemon but before he could heal himself, Hugh had Eelektross use Bite to completely knock out Starstreak and make them even.
Kenan was stunned. Starstreak had been defeated by Eelektross so easily that he was stunned for a bit.
Kenan soon returned Starstreak and soon sent out Sydney hoping to regain his advantage.
"I have heard about those Woopers, they are from the Paldea region and are Poison/Ground types right?" Hugh asked Kenan.
"Yeah and Sydney is really strong as you are about to find out." Kenan said as he commanded Sydney to use Bulldoze hoping to hit Eelektross with a super-effective move.
"Eelektross use Dragon Claw!" Hugh commanded as Eelektross soon slithered with amazing speed and struck Sydney with the powerful move.
Sydney was struggling to get up not really used to being in a long battle like this.
"Sydney stay strong and use Poison Jab!" Kenan said as he attempted to regain some momentum.
Sydney's body soon glowed purple and ran towards Eelektross while Hugh commanded Eelektross to use Wild Charge.
The two Pokemon clashed with their respective moves creating a huge explosion that revealed both Pokemon to be knocked out.
Both Kenan and Hugh soon recalled their respective Pokemon leaving both of them with just one though their choices were quite obvious.
"Nami I choose you!" Kenan said.
"Serperior let's go!" Hugh said.
Soon both of them sent out their respective starter Pokemon as they faced each other down.
"Well well, just like old times right Kenan?" Hugh asked with a smirk.
"Yeah I guess you could say that." Kenan said as memories of picking up their starters from Professor Juniper began playing in his head.
"Alright Nami use Ice Beam!" Kenan said as Nami let out a freezing beam of icy energy towards the Grass-type.
"Serperior dodge then use Dragon Tail!" Hugh said. Serperior soon jumped with his tail making the Ice Beam miss while easily hitting Nami with his Dragon Tail.
"Nami stay strong and use Aqua Jet!" Kenan said as Nami covered herself in a veil of water and headed towards Serperior.
Hugh soon calmy ordered Seperior to dodge and had him use Leaf Blade. Soon Serperior's tail became a straight-edged blade and soon knocked Nami to the ground.
Kenan pleaded with Nami to get up, Hugh soon told Seperior to finish this with Leaf Storm which finally knocked Nami out and made Hugh the winner of the battle.
Kenan fell to his knees in disbelief that he had lost before running to Nami to see if she was ok.
"Wow! That was a fun battle, though I was expecting you to put up more of a challenge considering you have seven badges now." Hugh said recalling Seperior before heading out leaving Kenan with his injured Pokemon and his own thoughts.
As Kenan finished telling his story, he saw Sydney looking down as if she was disappointed in herself for what happened in that battle.
"So that is it right? You lost to your old rival and that made you wanna come to the academy?" Kasumi asked him.
Kenan nodded. "Hugh's words got to me and made me realize if I had been going about my journey the wrong way. So, I talked to my parents about it and decided to come here."
Kasumi soon stared in silence as if she was trying to come up with something to say.
"Well Kenan, after hearing that story I think you might be one of the strongest trainers I have ever met here at the academy." Kasumi said to him.
Kenan soon looked up to her in surprise as did Sydney.
"I mean think about it. You were one badge away from the Unova League but you decided to sacrifice it for the chance to grow as a trainer here at the academy. I think that is really strong of you."
Kasumi soon held out her hand to Kenan.
"Now come on, let's show Hugh what you and Sydney are made of!" Kasumi said to him.
Kenan and Sydney looked at each other and then at Kasumi before Kenan took her hand, as he was filled with new found determination to see this through to the end.
