Ash walked into battle class with Zeraora behind him. It was Monday and everyone was walking to one another about challenging one another. He saw half the class glaring at him and then smirked. It would seem they were aware AJ was going to challenge him. The signup sheet had his name at the top, must have come in early to ensure he was first. He jotted his name down although it was pointless.

Ash walked over to the side with Kari and Iris. The two greeted him and started to chat. Apparently, they tried to come early to sign up first but failed to make it before him. In the end, he was going to be challenged. Luckily he felt he would at least have a fighting chance.

Before they could finish their conversation, Koga walked in.

"Gather everyone. Today you will be battling to show one another what you have learned." He grabbed the clipboard and looked it over. "AJ, you are first. Issue your challenge."

"ASH!" he yelled the second Koga finished talking.

"Are you sure? If you win you have little to gain from the fight. But if he wins you have a lot to lose." Koga was expecting a few people to issue challenges to thoughts they have type advantages too. Still, he felt they needed to be warned as such challenges carried very little weight for a win.

"Yeah, I am very sure. He will not win this anyway!" AJ responded.

Koga shrugged. "Ash come forward."

Ash and Zeraora walked up and got to the other end of the area. AJ had his Pokeball out and looked ready to crush him. He looked down at his partner who looked ready to fight. They had a small training session the day before. He hoped it would be enough.

*Flashback*

Cheren, Bianca's friend, looked over his Zeraora for a while. Ash was amazed to have someone under recommendation to be a gym leader at such a young age helping him. He was hoping he could provide insight into how to fight something with a type advantage. It took him a bit but he soon stood up. A smile was on his face.

"So you say someone with a Sandshrew wishes to battle you?" Cheren asked.

"Yeah," responded Ash. "he is dead set on it also."

"Well you are already at a bigger advantage than him," he said shocking Ash. "I can tell that Zeraora is a lot stronger.

Zeraora seemed very proud of this statement.

"Well from what I heard he does some very intense training. Even water attacks barely bother it."

"Well, my advice is this Ash. Too many trainers try to cover for their Pokemon's weaknesses. This is a bad method. There are ways to counter a weakness temporarily, so I suggest playing to Zeraoras strengths."

"Well, he is the fastest Pokemon in the class." An observation he had while training him.

"Then use that. Use his speeds to your advantage."

"You said there are ways to temporarily cover weaknesses?"

"Indeed." He walked over to a small case" And I have just the way."

*End Flashback*

Ash gave a quick nod to Zeraora. The Pokemon nodded back understanding what they had planned. AJ and his Sandshrew looked pretty smug like they had already won. Ash took a deep breath and smiled. He was ready for this.

"You may start," Koga said.

"Dig Sandshrew!" AJ yelled. The Small Pokemon quickly burrowed underground.

"Wait for him."

Zeraora stood still waiting for it. After a bit, he felt rumbling and looked at Ash.

Ash Understood. "Use Quick attack to dodge and hit it!"

Zeraora vanished the second it surfaced leaving the Sandshrew confused. However, it was then hit in the side by Zeaora sending it a short distance away. The Pokemon picked itself up looking confused. AJ was also Flabergasted at what just happened. That should have hit it hard.

"Lucky hit! Agility!"

The little Pokemon Charged around the Arena quickly. Zeraora However was still faster than it by quite a bit. Still, another Agility could match his speed, and a third would make it faster. Ash needed to end this before he lost the one advantage he did have. He knew just how to so long as he had speed. He smiled at his buddy.

"Power-up Punch!"

Zeraora gave a very fast punch. Sandshrew curled up into a ball and was knocked back. It seemed to not do much, no surprises as odds are he worked on his defenses. Still, he could tell that it did just what it needed to do. He could see the Electric type looked a lot stronger now. He hoped it would be enough.

"Sandshrew! Use another Agility!"

"Zeraora! Hurry! Another!"

Sandshrew did not get off an Agility this time. It had to first unwrap and get its bearings. This was all Zeraora needed to land a second, more powerful punch. Sandshrew looked dizzy after the punch landed, it was not able to follow up right away with another Agility. Ash Gave a quick nod and Zeraora followed with another. It was not in a state to dodge.

"Curle up! When it hits you unwrap when you hit the ground and Dig!"

It listened and quickly wrapped up and took the hit. This one was a lot stronger than before, and now Zeraora was powered up thrice. However, it was able to unwrap and Dig. Once again Zeraora waited for it to surface. Unfortunately, it surfaced far away from it and used Agility once again. It must have been something they worked out for something like this as AJ made no commands.

Sandshrew, while still a hair slower, was now moving very fast, and with a command, it dug again. Like before it surfaced far away, and while Ash gave the command to quick attack again it got off its last Agility and was now able to avoid Zeraoras attacks with ease. AJ started commanding it to scratch Zeraora when it could. Ash could see he was getting Zeraora weak so to land a single Dig to win.

He had a good feeling that if he could get off just one more attack Sandshrew would go down. After all, he was powered up by the punches and got a few good hits off on him. But it needed it to be uncurled and its guard down. He had an idea but he did not like it. Zeraora would have to take a hit for it to work. He saw the Sandshrew Dig, now ready to finish the fight.

"Zeraora, I got an idea. But it would mean you getting hit..." Ash said to it.

Zeraora said nothing he just turned to Ash, smiled, and gave him what he guessed was to be a thumbs up. Ash smiled back, looks like he had the same idea as him.

Zeraora stood there in the middle of the arena waiting. He could feel the Sandshrew digging around rapidly deciding when it wanted to strike. The plan they both had required very precise timing and could go very wrong if they were off by even a little. Soon he felt it, the rumbling was getting a lot closer and he could feel it a lot more. He quickly pulled out a berry Ash had him hide in his fur before the fight and he chowed down on it seconds before Sandshrew came up.

The Sandshrew came up and struck Zeraora as hard as it could. It had used its speed and claws to wear him down so he was sure that ended it. However, something felt off when it struck. The attack felt dulled, weaker than it should have. He looked to see a small gold aura appear and then vanish around his target. This confusion would be a mistake as it missed Zeraora's glowing fist hitting his exposed stomach sending him flying into the ground. Zeraora landed panting but standing. The dust cleared to reveal Sandshrew was not so lucky.

"Sandshrew can battle no longer, Ash and Zeraora are the winners," Koga yelled.

Ash quickly ran over to see how his friend was holding up. Everyone that had cheered him on erupted in applause. The others just stared with their jaws on the ground. AJ had gone very pale, he did not foresee this. This shock was soon replaced with anger.

"I saw it eat something! That must be cheating!"

Koga shook his head. "There is no rule against Pokemon holding items in battle. In fact, we encourage it. That was a Shuca berry wasn't it?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah. Someone suggested I use it to help with fights against ground attacks."

Koga nodded. "Very good! You did research before getting into this fight I see. I can also see your Zeraora has been well trained and he trusts you greatly." He turned to AJ. "You did good work raising your Sandshrew. I am impressed with your use of Agility and knowing when to defend. But I can't be lenient. You lost to something you had a large advantage to. To keep from everyone challenging anyone with a Pokemon they have an advantage there is a lot to lose and little to gain."

AJ looked to the floor now in silence. His grade was going to suffer badly.

"Now go to the Nurses both of you. you are free till your next class."

AJ had run ahead of Ash most likely to get away from him. He felt kind of bad for him as he knew AJ was one of the hardest-working students in the school. This would not be a massive hit to his grades since it was still very early in the year, but it was going to be a large blemish. Ash couldn't imagine near-perfect grades just to get a very large bad one. But he did not know if he could say anything AJ would even want to hear.

Ash walked into the nurse's station. A few joys were looking over Pokemon while one helped whoever from the care trek was assisting today. He was happy to see Angie was one of the selected for the day. No sign of AJ, he must have already left. He just walked Zeraora over to the desk to get him helped.

"Welcome!" Joy greeted. "I am guessing you are the opponent of the boy that was just here?"

"I am, yeah," Ash responded motioning to Zeraora. "Can you help him out?"

"We never worked with one but we are sure we can help him out!"

"ASH WAIT!"

Ash turned around just in time to be crashed into and once again have his face buried in some nice mounds. He was sensing a pattern.

"Sorry!" Bianca said as she got up and helped him up. "I got word you were in a battle! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Oh, right. Sorry, Bianca." He forgot she was studying him. He quickly explained the story.

"I see. Guess it would slip your mind considering how on the spot you were. Please just tell me next time."

"I will."

She looked at Joy. "I am studying that Pokemon. May I observe?"

"Depends," Joy responded as she looked at Zeraora and Ash. "Is that alright?"

Both nodded at her.

Joy smiled. "You may. Angie! Please come here!"

All four of them took Zeraora to a room. Joy started treating him while instructing Angie. Bianca took notes diligently hoping to learn as much as she could. Ash helped as best as he could telling them what he knew about him. It did not take long till Zeraora was looking a lot better. After giving him some electricity he looked good to go and stood up.

"Your Pokemon is pretty healthy and strong. He was easy to heal." Joy said.

"It was pretty neat working with it," Angie said.

"Thanks! I'll keep it up." Ash responded.

"It is about lunchtime Ash, why don't you join me this time?" Asked Bianca.

"That sounds fun! Sure, let's go!"

She and Ash made their way to the cafeteria. AJ was there and eating alone. Aside from him, there was no one else as the rest of the class was still in battles or getting their Pokemon healed. It bugged him AJ did not stay till his Pokemon got healed but that was up to him. He knew AJ at least respected his Pokemon so perhaps it was more out of shame.

He shrugged it off and went up to order his food. Not long after he and Bianca sat down, others started to enter.

Bianca's phone went off but after taking one look she set it down and ignored it.

"Everything alright?" Ash asked.

"Fine. Just someone I do not want to talk to."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I would rather talk about how you're doing."

He guessed it would be a while till he could figure that out. "Not a lot to say. Just trying to make it as the most unliked guy here."

"I know a lot think you're just the coolest," she said encouragingly.

"It's nice to know," he responded as a few guys walked by glaring at him. "Still it's rough."

Soon the others came out. Only Kari sat with them though. "Hey Ash, good work."

"Thanks. I am guessing a lot are saying I cheated?"

"Of course they are. But Koga has told them you did not and to stay quiet about the matter. Your A is intact."

"How did you do?" Bianca asked.

"I got a B. Was a hard-fought battle but I won."

"Even fight I guess?" Asked Ash.

She nodded. "Yeah. Another Dark type so it was even. Koga still had a few notes for me though. Notably how I need to communicate more with my Pokemon."

"Right. That problem." Ash mussed.

"No worries! I will figure it out."

Iris plopped down in a seat and her head hit the table hard.

"Ummm everything alright there Iris?" Ash asked.

"I lost, bad," she mumbled.

"How bad?" asked Kari.

"One hit. I didn't even get anything off."

Ash was shocked at this revelation. "Who was it?"

"That Gary guy."

"Oh, well you did have a type disadvantage. His is also a Pokemon that was hatched by the best breeders, and with moves normally unlearned." Ash tried to reassure her. "Why would Gary challenge you anyway? I would think he would rather fight a neutral typing to get the full grade."

Kari spoke up. "I think she was the last person to challenge."

"Well, that explains that."

"I guess I should pack up. I am a failer in multiple ways now." Iris said dejected.

"Hey now, maybe he will allow a retake?" Bianca said.

As if on command Koga did show up. "Iris, I want to you come to my class after school."

Iris got scared. "Am I being expelled?"

He shook his head. "I see a fight with a deck stacked too strongly against someone. I am allowing a retake with someone more fair to see what you learned."

Iris looked relieved, well a little she still seemed down. "Thank you, sir."

Koga turned to Ash. "That was very impressive Ash. I hope to see more impressive fights such as that in the future."

Ash smiled at him. "Thank you, sir!"

He left them to continue eating with Kari speaking up. "Well, you got another chance!"

Iris sighed. "I guess. Hope this time it will go better."

"Hey cheater!"

An annoying voice sounded behind him Ash looked to see it was Gary once again. "Leave me alone. I just want to eat." Zeraora glared daggers at him.

"I just want to talk about that very unfair fight you had."

"The one where he had a type advantage and I almost lost?"

"But you had a much stronger Pokemon!"

"So that makes it fair then?" Chloe said as she sat down.

"Agreed. He had a slightly stronger Pokemon and he had a type advantage." Kari chimed in.

"No, it still isn't fair. That is a mythical Pokemon of much greater power! You need to fight something of equal power for it to be "Fair"."

"Gary, again, leave me alone," Ash responded.

"One day Ketchum."

"Huh?"

"One day I will make you fight something fair!" He proclaimed as he walked off

"He really needs to get a life," Chloe said as she sat down.

"Agreed. Can't believe you need to go to classes with that." Bianca said.

The rest of the lunch did go very well. Aside from the glares from the people convinced he was the bad guy it was delightful. He finished out the rest of the day normally and to his delight it was boring. Only Zeraora was unhappy it was boring the rest of the day. A small sacrifice for things to go smoothly.

After classes, Ash opted to head home. After getting off the bus Zeraora's ears twitched a bit and he looked down a small alleyway across the street. He started to spark a little alerting Ash to something. Zeraora never responded in such a way before, even the days they were being followed he did not have that reaction. Perhaps it was best they avoided that ally. He hurried along into the building.

"Hmmm, interesting..." Someone in the ally said. "I should be more careful." He left, making a note to pick a better spot.

Once again he found himself alone. Though he felt he heard that they were going for a study session this time instead of a party. It did not take him long to get his homework done as it was still pretty easy at the moment. Though he dreaded when they decided to ramp up the difficulty. He decided to make use of the pool today and went to change into his suit.

Both he and Zeraora went down to the pool area. He was told the pool was equipt with a device that prevents electrical discharges so electric types could go into the pool and everyone would be safe. As soon as he got down he walked into the pool to find it mostly empty. Only one other person was there and to his surprise it was Annabel. She was just stepping in also from the changing room.

"Ash! What a surprise!"

"Oh, hey Annabel," Ash said now having further confirmation she was indeed a girl. "You came for a swim also?"

"Yeah, got my homework done." She responded as she let an Eevee out. "So we are going for a nice swim!"

"Sounds good!"

Zeraora nodded looking at the water. It smelled quite funny, not like the water he has seen before. The Eevee seemed to notice this and assured him it was perfectly fine. She even was the first to get in bounding in and jumping in. Ash and Annabel chucked at this and jumped in also. He shrugged and followed in. Did not take him very long to start to enjoy himself.

Ash had a good time swimming. About an hour later Angie came by and joined them. Her egg hatched into a Shinx and swam around the shallows with help from Eevee and Zeraora. Ash was amazed to find out Angie could swim very well to the point where she could be a competitive swimmer. Apparently, she had a friend back home called Misty who used to swim a lot. Sadly she failed the test and would have to wait to do a retake.

"Well, that was fun!" Angie said. "I think I need a steam."

"Same here. Care to join us, Ash?" Annabel asked.

"Heh, I wish. I will just head to the boys and see you two after!"

Both of them laughed to Ash's surprise. Annabel was the one who decided to answer. "The Sauna is co-ed."

"Oh! Umm well, Ahhh..."

Zeraora tugged at his arm and shook his head giving him a look. Ash understood, if he wanted to, just go.

"Alright then."

They came to the sauna. it was still separated by the locker rooms just after they had towels on they came out to it and relaxed. Turns out they had the gold membership also. Angie's parents ran a very successful daycare and were loaded and Angie just came from a rich family. Angie found the irony in turning down the gifted program free room and such just to take on her large fortune for a gold membership in an apartment. But she wanted not to use the free room.

"So how are the others doing?" Angie asked. "Lilie got a job yet?"

He shook his head. "Sadly all she has got is an answering machine filled with rejections. Mallow is still out at parties all the time also. Save today where it is a study session. Lana just looks tired a lot. I don't really know where things are going for all of them."

"Well, maybe I can help Lilie some," Annabel spoke up. "I know someone who needs help. Though it's not a glamorous job. the local high school janitor needs an assistant for after school."

"I will let her know. How about you two? Anything going on?"

"Not much to say," Angie said. "My egg hatched as you saw."

Ash nodded. The little lynx was enjoying a mineral bath just outside. There was a window for trainers to keep an eye on them. it was a one-way mirror so no one could look in. Annabels Eevee was keeping an eye on him and helping him out. Zeraora was relaxing next to him. The Pokemon seemed to be enjoying the steam.

"He seems to be doing well!"

"Yep! Cant wait to see where things go from here!"

They continued to chat a bit about this and that. Just before they were going to leave Annabel stopped him.

"Hey Ash, mind if I connect with Zeraora again?" she asked.

"I'm fine with it. You buddy?"

He nodded and walked up to her. She took his hand and closed her eyes pressing her head against him. Both Ash and Angie stopped and watched the interaction. It took about thirty seconds before she stopped and pulled away. She had a pretty big smile on her face as she thanked him. She then turned to Ash with an approving look.

"Heh you and him have a very impressive bond! The other Pokemon don't know what they were missing!"

With that, the girls left to change and head back to their room. Ash looked at Zeraora who just shrugged at him. Strange as it was Annabel seemed to like what she saw. That was enough for him and enough for Zeraora also. The two left also to get ready for the day day of class.

"Don't tell me you like him already?" Angie asked from the shower.

"Yeah, I kind of do," Annabel responded.

"You have known him for like a week."

"Trust me, Angie, I can learn more about someone from their Pokemon than even they know."

"So what did you learn? He is a super smart amazingly talented guy?"

"Nope, he is very average. He is average in smarts, average in talents, average in his body, he is just average."

"Your kidding?"

"Nope! But that's not what I was looking at. He is also kind, caring, brave, determined, there is so much hidden in him."

"Heh, so average on the outside, a real catch on the inside?"

"That's a good way to put it."

"Well don't go trying to go after him."

"Why shouldn't I?"

"You know half the school is out to get him."

"I can handle them."

"Even Gary?"

"I was able to connect with him Pokemon in private. Seems his jealousy of Ash is holding him back. Gary can be a really good trainer and yet he just thinks Ash is cheating thus preventing him from focusing."

"How is his Pokemon?"

"He still treats it well. He is not abusive or neglectful. But he could be training it better."

"I see. That all you saw in Ash?"

"No. His Aura..."

Angie remembered Annabel told her about that once. "What about it?"

"I only looked once at it. It was almost blinding..."