Author's note: I had a test this week, so naturally, this chapter was delayed. Sorry bout' that.

Enjoy!

Chapter 99: The battle she waited for PT1

"You want me to ask Penny about how she gained the third form of Flow?" Morning had come to Paldea. Geeta was on the phone, standing outside the Pokemart in Mesagoza city. "Why? How do you know that she unlocked that power? You have proof? You saw her tap into flow when she spoke with Kai?!" It's just an educated guess? How do you expect me to-... ugh. Fine. Honestly, it wouldn't hurt to talk to her about it. I need to chat with her about what Director Clavell told me, anyway. Okay. I'll chat with you after I've talked with her."

Geeta turned off her phone and sighed. Unfortunately, she would have to miss the battle between Nemona and Kai, as exciting as that was, to talk with Penny. She found herself feeling disappointed, but if it was for the sake of her timeline's future, then she'd do it.

Kai yawned, stretching his arms up after getting out of his sleeping bag. When he turned, he saw everyone around the campfire sleeping in their own sleeping bags. Except for Aeon, who sat on his knees watching the simmering campfire in the middle.

Kai smiled, walking over to Aeon, sitting next to him, and putting his arm around him. Aeon smiled, leaning his head against Kai.

For a while, the two just sat there, listening to the chirping sounds of morning bird Pokémon. A gentle wind caressed the boys along with the trees around them, which shook gently and let out a soothing sound. The sunlight them began to shine down at them, wrapping them both in the warmth equivalent to a blanket.

Soon, a call came to Kai's phone. Kai pulled out his phone, stared at it, then looked at Aeon, who nodded. Kai answered the call.

"Yes?" Kai said. "Wait, this is Nemona-... Hold on, hold on- why are you calling when you're-... oh. You left early?...That makes sense, 'cause I was about to say- if you called me when you were literally like, five meters away from me, I'd kick your butt…. Oh, yeah, I'm going to try and kick your butt today...I'm excited too. Mesagoza city? Okay- sure, if you wanna lose there." Kai smirked and started laughing. "Okay, see you there, bye," He said. He turned off the phone.

"We should wake up the others," Aeon said.

"Not just yet," Kai said, smiling and rubbing Aeon's shoulder with the arm he had over the robot boy. Aeon smiled and the two boys kissed. "Okay…" Kai said. "Now we can wake them up."

The sound of Penny's phone ringing caused Kai and Aeon to spin their heads. Penny groaned as she looked at the phone.

Nemona couldn't wait.

She was trying her best to stop herself from hopping with joy. She was finally going to see what Kai had learned through his journey to getting all the Gym badges. She couldn't help but check the time over and over again on her phone, she was literally counting the seconds that it took for Kai to show up. And as she waited, a crowd of trainers began coming around. Nemona turned her head, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

Why were they coming around? Did people overhear her when she talked with Kai? Maybe she was louder than she thought she was…

But how could she not be loud? The day she'd been waiting for was finally here!

"Hey, Nemona!"

When Nemona heard Kai's voice, she spun so fast that she twirled. She sprinted over to Kai, who was walking her way.

"There you are!" Nemona shouted. "Jeez, I was waiting for you!"

"You can do it, Kai!"

Nemona turned her head and saw Aeon cheering while standing next to Arven. She noticed that Penny wasn't there with them.

"Yeah, you can do it, Kai!" Arven shouted.

"Where's Penny?" Nemona asked.

"She got a phone call, she won't be able to make it. Though she said she'll be back later, so maybe she'll see me when I win." Kai said with a smirk.

"Excuse me?" Nemona wasn't offended at all, in fact, she was welcoming his confidence, so she spoke in a somewhat joking tone. Both her and Kai started laughing, and after that, Nemona took a good look at her rival.

This boy who stood in front of her wasn't the same under-confident boy that she fought long ago. Nemona started chuckling lightly.

"What's so funny?" Kai said.

"I'm not laughing at you, I'm just nostalgic. Because Dios mío, you've grown so much. Before I start, I want to let you know how proud of you I am."

Kai felt a jolt of emotion jolt through him, and he couldn't help but smile and take in everything- all of the people that were gathering around at this moment, his smiling rival whom he caught up to, all of this was a result of his hard work.

"All of it is thanks to you," Kai said without a second thought. He pulled a Pokéball from his pocket and tossed it in the air before catching it. "You've shown me everything I needed to know to become a great trainer. We've got a master-and-student dynamic going, but it's about time that I let you know…" Kai caught his Pokéball and aimed it at Nemona. "That I've surpassed you a long time ago!"

"Oh really!?" Nemona pulled her Pokéball out and aimed it at Kai while putting her hand on her extended forearm.

Geeta was staring out the window while standing inside of the Director's room, Clavell's room. She could see the growing crowd for Nemona and Kai from all the way up here. Clavell stood beside her and watched with a smile on his face. Naturally.

The sound of a knock came to the door, and both adults swung their heads. They saw Penny open the door and walk toward the desk between her and the adults.

"Hi," Penny said. "Is this about my punishment?"

Geeta remembered everything that Clavell said to her regarding what she had done to get her bully expelled. Geeta drew a shaky breath.

"Before that," Geeta felt the need to say 'before that', to imply that she was indeed going to be 'punished'. She didn't want to get the young girl's hopes up, after all. "I have to ask you an important question."

"What is it?"

"When was it that..you tapped into the power of Flow?"

"Huh?" Penny furrowed her brow. "Flow?"

"I was told that you had awoken to Flow," Geeta crossed her arms. "To the third level, nonetheless."

"What..?" Clavell said. "Penny, is this true?"

"Uh..." Penny's eyes shifted back and forth in confusion. "No? I don't know what you're talking about. I've never had or used Flow before."

"What...?" Geeta said. Had the professors lied to her? She had almost asked that question out loud, but she kept herself quiet and recomposed herself. "I was told that there was video footage of you tapping into flow."

"Really?" Penny said. "Where is it? I want to see."

Geeta sighed. She pulled her phone out and called the Professors. She turned her back to Clavell and Penny, asked the professors to send the video footage to her phone, and after a bit of time passed, Geeta received the video and watched it.

"an issue, no, more of a weakness that I noticed about you..." The recording showed Penny scolding Kai in an attempt to encourage him. "... s that you tend to psych yourself out when you see something or someone intimidating. You just get in your own head so much that you convince yourself you've lost even before the word, 'start'. And honestly, as a person who respects you and wants to see you succeed…"

Penny pointed at Kai. Her eyes began to shine blue, and everyone around her widened their eyes, including Geeta herself. She spun over to Penny and Clavell, and showed them both the recording.

Penny's eyes widened in shock.

"What..!?" Penny cried. "When-...why didn't anyone tell me?!"

"What do you mean by, 'why didn't anyone tell you'?" Geeta asked. "You mean you genuinely didn't know you went into the flow state?"

Penny shook her head. "N-No..." She said.

"Why?" Geeta asked. Clavell began rubbing his chin.

"This is...definitely interesting." Clavell said. "Do you remember how you felt? At that moment when you spoke with Kai?"

"I mean I-. I kind of just- stopped thinking. I...just acted and said what I felt. That's it."

"Really? Is there anything else that you want to add? Maybe you had a lie in your head that you had to stop? Or perhaps you suddenly believed in yourself? Or maybe you had revealed your true self?"

"No," Penny said. "I wasn't thinking about anything. I just acted."

"Hmm..." Clavell said.

"I mean, if me talking like that is a form of me 'showing my true self' then maybe... but- I didn't know that I could do that. I'm just surprised that no one told me..."

"What's making this more confusing is that you don't realize that you tapped into it. You just did it. When I had to work through all three of the stages of Flow, I was conscious of it. I knew what was going on in my mind, and I broke through a mental barrier before tapping into the next level. And you just...you just stopped thinking. Is that right?"

"Y-Yeah," Penny said.

Clavell gasped loudly and Geeta spun her head to him.

"No...No, it can't be..!" Clavell cried.

"What? What is it?" Geeta asked.

"Geeta," Clavell said. "Do you recall what you told me? From what happened during your battle with...Geeta Rojo?"

"Wha- Why are you mentioning her in front of-"

"That isn't important right now," Clavell said. "Please, remember what you told me about that battle. What happened- and I want you to tell me exactly what happened when you delivered the final blow to Geeta Rojo."

"Ugh..." Geeta lowered her head, clutching her arm as she crossed her arms even tighter than before. She was still frustrated about Clavell blurting out her name in front of Penny. But then, a sigh of defeat passed her lips. Penny was going to learn about her eventually.

"All right," Geeta said. "What happened was this: I was in the third state of Flow. and Geeta Rojo was threatening to finish me off. At that moment, I felt a sense of calm, so much so that I could feel nothing but the sensation of my weapon, my Kingambit, in my hand. I remembered thinking that 'this moment, this right here, this was what Flow truly was. Then, I followed my instincts, and-"

"Stop right there," Clavell said, extending an open hand. "Repeat that last sentence."

"...I followed my instincts," Geeta said.

Geeta began to gasp loudly. She was beginning to piece together what Clavell was trying to say. Before delivering the final blow, Geeta's weapon... no, Kingambit's form had changed from three floating katanas, into a single Odachi.

The only time a Pokémon's form changes from its original weapon shape from terafusion... is if they evolve...or if the user had unlocked a new level of flow.

Wait.

Wait...!

"It can't be...!" Geeta cried, uncrossing her arms. "Does that mean...For a split second... When my floating swords turned into an odachi...I entered a Fourth state of flow!? That's- that's not possible You can't be serious...!"

"Think back...!" Clive could barely contain his voice, and she could hear it. "You never noticed the increase of power, you only acted, correct?"

"I-...I was purely in the present moment." Geeta said. "I wasn't thinking about anything but the present moment."

"Uh...I think that's what happened to me, too." Penny said. "I wasn't thinking about anything, I was just thinking about Kai in that...moment."

"...I... I have to report this to our scientists..." Clavell said. "if you're correct- then this...this is a breakthrough. There's- there's a fourth requirement if you're correct...which means there is a state of flow that exists where a user has met all...four requirements. If that's the case, then, this fourth requirement, which is theoretically, 'the user must be completely in the present moment,' carries a catch along with it. The user will not even realize that they've reached a higher level of flow, let alone being in the flow state. No- perhaps we should rethink things... But for now, I think we can be certain of one thing: Geeta. I think at that moment before you finished Geeta Rojo you entered...The True Flow state."

All three of the trainers in the room were at a loss for words.

"If- If what you're saying is true-..." Geeta said, "One thing still stands: I was only able to access that form for a few seconds."

"Could it be that the fourth level of flow- True Flow... can only be accessed for a few moments?" Clavell asked.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Geeta said. "We need to test this more. But- this could change everything-"

"Um..." Penny said, "Can you tell me who this...Geeta Rojo person is?"

Clavell and Geeta exchanged glances.

A wind blew past Nemona and Kai as they stared each other down. The crowd around them were already in an uproar, clapping with excitement and joy.

Then, both trainers threw their Pokéballs. Out of Kai's Pokéball came Pawmot, and out of Nemona's was Lycanroc. Both of their Pokémon went to their respective trainers as they both pulled out their Tera orbs.

"Let's do this!" Nemona and Kai shouted simultaneously as they engaged their invoker armor.

Both battle-ready trainers crushed their tera orbs, and the Tera-fusion process began with rainbow-colored geysers rising around them both. Once the geysers faded, the fusions were complete. Nemona's cape flew gracefully into the wind as she clenched her claw knuckles. Electricity came from Kai's thunder gauntlets.

Nemona started jumping for joy and pumped her fists. "íSi, Si, Si!" She cried.

"All right," Kai said, "you read-"

Almost immediately, Nemona dashed so quickly that she seemingly disappeared, then re-appeared in front of Kai.

The sides of Kai and Nemona's wrists clashed against one another. A shockwave so fierce blew against them and ripped the ground apart, causing them both to sink into the crater they created.

The spectators around screamed, running away from the destruction around them both.

"I'll take that as a yes...!" Kai cried.

Both trainers moved as though they teleported, and suddenly, shockwaves appeared in the sky like fireworks. Every trainer including Arven looked up and watched with absolute awe.

"Are...you following any of this?" One trainer said.

"Nope, totally lost," Another trainer said.

"Th-They're on a completely different level..." Yet another trainer said.

Aeon's eyes were darting back and forth as he watched the fight which moved incredibly fast. He could see Kai running across the buildings to catch up to Nemona who was in the air. Even Arven's eyes were starting to keep up with them from watching them spar countless times

They alone could see Nemona leaping into the air, and Kai giving chase by running across a tall building to chase after Nemona. After they clashed fists, they moved with immense speed and zipped away from one another.

Nemona couldn't contain her joy herself as she leapt toward the top of the pom-pom trees around them and allowed it to bend backwards before whipping out and sending her flying toward Kai, who stopped in his tracks as he chased Nemona. Both trainers clashed fists one more time- and another shockwave exploded between them.

Kai was smiling, and so was Nemona.

Nemona threw the next punch, Kai dodged- and the blast of wind coming from her attack flew past his shoulder. Nemona tilted her head to dodge an uppercut that sent a thunderbolt toward the sky. Kai threw a kick, Nemona redirected his kick and pushed his leg away with her hands and then threw a punch at Kai's stomach which sent him flying like a rocket toward the sky.

Almost immediately, Kai flipped his body and recovered, aiming his hand at Nemona, who sprinted before leaping after him. Kai fired thunderbolts from his palm, and Nemona rolled her body like she was a fighter jet in midair, dodging over the projectiles. After closing the distance and soaring above Kai, she clasped her hands together and swung her arms like a hammer, which Kai dodged and slammed his foot onto Nemona's back.

Nemona fell straight onto the ground so hard that her body bounced, but she recovered as quickly as she hit the ground for a second time. After going up to her feet, Nemona looked up and saw Kai gathering electricity from the sky- which had darkened due to the thunderclouds. The thunder blasted down to Kai, who had his hand up in the air.

"Thunder!" Kai roared, He lowered his hands, and a large thunderbolt erupted from the clouds.

Nemona looked up at the blast coming her way. She closed her eyes, crossed her arms…then opened them both as she let out a powerful Hyper Voice attack that clashed with the Thunder, which after a small struggle, canceled each other out in a white explosion. As the explosion faded, Kai landed on the ground with a crouch, and Nemona could see him from afar.

"Good Warm up, huh!?" Kai cried, cracking his neck.

"Yeah! You're getting my blood pumping!" Nemona shouted, punching her open hand.

Both fighters entered a battle stance. Kai moved first, darting forward like an arrow as a lightning bolt trailed below his feet. Nemona crossed her arms in defense, successfully blocking Kai's punch. Kai dragged Nemona toward a distant skyscraper with his fist and a cloud of dust leapt into the air the moment they crashed into it.

Several of the spectators screamed and ran away the moment the explosion rang from the entrance of the skyscraper. After the dust faded, Nemona uncrossed her arms and pushed Kai's Thunder Punch back. Nemona threw a punch at the same time Kai did, and Kai was faster, landing an uppercut on her chest and sending her flying upward As Nemona's body flew up like an arrow, she flipped to recover- and used the glass windows of the skyscraper behind her as a platform. By the time she used rocks to lock herself in place, she saw Kai sprinting up the skyscraper and straight at her.

Kai's eyes were glowing blue. He knew he could win. He believed in himself.

Nemona smirked as her eyes turned blue as well. She had to start trying harder and that excited her.

Nemona let the rocks holding her go as she sprinted toward Kai. Kai opened his hand as intense electricity pulsated around it.

Nemona's grin widened as she prepared to throw a punch of her own. Both trainers inched closer and threw their punches…then at the last second, Nemona moved as though she teleported, and Kai felt Nemona's foot slam onto his back. The two trainers dove into the skyscraper windows and broke it- the business workers screamed and yelled, running away from the two trainers who were back on their feet and dodging each other's punches and kicks. Kai threw a leg-sweeping kick at Nemona, who jumped and landed a devastating kick to her rival's face and sent him flying out the other side of the skyscraper. Nemona looked out the hole she had just created and saw Kai's body spiraling out of control.

The people in the city saw Kai's body coming like it was a meteorite, one person pointed and screamed' Look out'! Before everyone started steering clear of Kai as he crash-landed on the ground. As his body bounced off the floor, Kai flipped. His hands and feet skidded against the floor as he was dragged along by momentum. Once his body stopped moving, Kai shot his hand out and fired a thunderbolt at Nemona, who had already leaped off of the skyscraper and flew down toward Kai like a rocket.

Kai leapt away before Nemona landed where he stood, and when she landed, it sounded like thunder. Four pillars of rock erected themselves from the ground around Nemona. Nemona kicked and punched the pillars with enough force for them to be projectiles toward Kai.

This was her Ancient Power attack, and Kai couldn't let it hit him.

Kai moved so quickly that it looked like he was teleporting away from the salvo of rocks that came his way one by one. Then, when he dodged the last one, Nemona herself came darting in. Kai managed to grab her by the hands, and the two of them clasped each other's hands as they hung in the air.

Both of them were smiling wide, the excitement of battle overtook them both. Kai's hair slowly began to turn white, and his eyes turned red. And so did Nemona's.

Kai's gauntlets exploded with electricity as a yellow scarf made of lightning formed around his neck. Kai bent his leg and kicked Nemona off of him. Nemona's claw knuckles turned into a scythe when her hair tie broke. Her long hair flew into the wind.

Both Trainers darted at each other at the same time- and a brown and yellow colored shockwave exploded around them, sending an incredible gust of wind across the entire town.

Kai and Nemona began fighting while hanging in the air, Kai redirected and deflected Nemona's scythe swings. Kai threw an uppercut, which Nemona pulled her body away from, and then Kai swung his arm in an arc, slamming the back of his fist on Nemona's chest like a hammer. As the young girl was sent flying, Nemona threw her scythe at Kai. Kai deflected the scythe with his gauntlet, and it flew toward the sky while spiraling.

Suddenly, Nemona's weapon turned into Lycanroc itself, particularly, its midnight form. Just as Kai was falling to the ground, Lycanroc lunged at him from below, grabbing him by the shoulders and using a Psychic Fangs attack, biting Kai's neck for super-effective damage. Kai let out a scream of terror as Lycanroc kept biting him over and over again.

Kai's eyes flashed in rage as he bent his legs and kicked Lycanroc off of him. Then, he shot a thunderbolt from his hand, and black smoke exploded on impact. Kai finally crash-landed onto the ground, landing on top of an empty glass table and breaking it. Kai groaned and turned his head, seeing Lycanroc falling onto the sidewalk. Kai was certain the rock type was unconscious.

"Lycanroc, return!" Nemona cried. Lycanroc was returned to his Pokéball as Nemona walked by.

"Is… the fight over?" Kai asked.

"No, silly. " Nemona said. Kai was still put off on how monotone Nemona sounded when she tapped into the second state of Flow. "Gym rules state that if you use Terastial fusion with Pokémon and go down, then you lose. But when Lycanroc went down, I wasn't terafused with him anymore- so…"

Kai groaned as he pulled himself up, leaning on his knee for support. "So that means the battle's still on, huh?"

"Correcto. Though, technically this isn't a gym battle…I was told to treat it like one, so…that means you have to let me take out my next Pokémon," Nemona said. She watched as Kai pulled himself up to his feet and pulled a Pokéball out from her pocket.

"The moment I drop this Pokéball," Nemona said, "The battle continues."

"Yup," Kai said, watching the Pokéball.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as Nemona dropped her Pokéball. Kai watched, waiting for the exact moment it would touch the floor. When it did, the light burst from the Pokéball, and Kai dashed toward Nemona fist-first with lightning speed. When the Pokémon that she chose was revealed, Nemona flipped right over Kai's fist, and aimed her hand out at him. A grass vine flew out of her hand and wrapped itself around Kai's fist. When Nemona landed on the ground, time seemed to move back to normal.

"Huh..!?" Kai cried. He spun his head, and beside him was the Pokémon Nemona chose: Arboliva.

Pawmot's afterimage appeared behind Kai like a ghost, and he began beaming with joy. Did Pawmot recognize Arboliva?

"Hey, Kai, you might wanna focus..!" Nemona yanked on the vine hard enough for Kai to be pulled by his fist toward Nemona. Nemona extended her free hand, and grass type aura formed around it which took the shape of a blade.

This was Nemona's Leaf Blade attack.

She dashed toward Kai with blinding speed, and the sound of a blade slashing the air rang out. Then, when Nemona re-appeared behind Kai, she flicked her wrist as the grass aura faded, and the green-colored slashes she made on Kai's body appeared and exploded with grass-type energy.

Nemona's hair flew in the violent winds blowing against her. She saw several parasols fly off into the wind and nearly carry the entire tables they were on with them. Nemona turned around, and her heart began racing. Surely, she hadn't overdone her attack.

Surely, Kai was planning something, right?

Meanwhile, Kai groaned as the smoke continued to cover around him. He crawled up to his hands and knees, and then pulled out Pawmot's Pokeball.

"Pawmot's not out yet…cause that move wasn't very effective…" Kai muttered as his electric gauntlets disappeared.

Nemona watched the smoke fly out, and her heart was slowly beginning to drop. She felt herself beginning to frown, and fought with all of her might to not call out to Kai, and ask if he was still able to fight. Something in her refused to give up on Kai, so she said nothing.

Suddenly, a geyser of flame erupted from the smoke, causing it to fade away like a firework. Amid the geyser of flame, two silhouettes appeared. The moment she saw them, Nemona began grinning wide with joy.

The geyser of flame faded with time, and revealed Armarouge and Kai, standing back-to-back with their arms crossed.

Nemona took a step back. If she was holding back like she had multiple times before, Nemona would test her luck and fight Kai despite the setback, but she couldn't afford to do that. She'd have to keep Arboliva healthy for his Quaquaval.

If she chose to return Arboliva to its Pokéball, for a moment, she would be alone in the battle and have absolutely no defense against any of Kai's attacks. If she went down in that short window, then the battle ends, no ifs or buts.

Would she risk Arboliva in this fight? Or switch?

Nemona lowered her head for a moment and closed her eyes. Then, she opened them.

"Arboliva, Giga drain!"

Arboliva stomped its foot, and large, almost tree-sized vines erupted from the earth and slithered toward Kai and his Pokémon.

Kai turned his back as Armarouge stepped forward. A fiery aura exploded from Armarouge's body, and disintegrated the vines flying his way.

Meanwhile, Nemona pulled her Pokéball out quickly.

"Arboliva! Return!" Nemona shouted. She returned her grass type Pokémon into her ball and quickly pulled out another.

Nemona felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Kai about to throw a punch directly at her fast. Nemona couldn't even gasp for air let alone react- that punch was going to land directly for her face and she knew it.

Her hair reverted back to normal, and her red eyes turned blue again. She braced herself for the impact of the punch...

But the punch never came. Instead, Nemona felt the heat of Kai's Fire punch standing firmly in front of her and slowly opened her eyes to see Kai smirking and pulling his fist back.

"This is my way of thanking you," Kai said, walking past Nemona and toward his Armarouge, who approached him "For pulling your punches against me while I was learning the ropes."

Nemona's eyes widened. She was so shocked that she couldn't even turn her back to face Kai. Then, a smile came to her lips. Then, she began chuckling.

She began chuckling for a while, longer than she thought she would. Soon she went into full-on laughter. Even Kai started snickering.

"It all went full circle!" Nemona said. She sniffled as tears glistened her eyes. "I'm so proud of you…! I'm so… proud…! You have no idea. You have no idea how happy I am right now…!"

"Hey- we're supposed to be fighting," Kai said, he could hear Nemona tearing up. "Don't cry.."

"But I can't- I can't stop- I'm so happy now I could burst…!" Nemona shouted.

All her life, she thought that no one could catch up to her. But that was a lie. All of that was a lie. Kai had caught up to her.

She had dreamed of this moment for a long time, a moment when things would be reversed, where he would be the one pulling the punches instead of her because of how powerful he became. She wanted so badly for someone to match her potential, her rate of growth, her talent and prowess. Because if that person existed, then that would mean she could grow as much as she wanted without being able to surpass them- because they would grow alongside her. An eternal rival.

So why wouldn't she laugh?

When Nemona caught her breath, she silently pulled her Pokeball out, and dropped it. Out of it came Skeledirge, who roared.

Suddenly, the power of Flow erupted around Nemona's body, forming a blue aura around her.

"Do you know how afraid I was?" Nemona asked. "I was terrified that you wouldn't be able to keep up with me. I was terrified no one could keep up with me, and yet here you are...!"

Nemona's hair turned from black… to blue.

"I'm so excited." Nemona said. "I'm so excited. I'm so excited, I'm so excited…! Nothing else matters but this moment..!"

Nemona pulled her Tera orb from her pocket and held it up in the air.

"I'm so… EXCIIIIIITEEEEEEEEEED!"

She crushed the Tera orb, and an eruption of light exploded around her and her Pokémon. Kai took a step back, shielding his eyes from the brilliant light while Armarouge looked on.

Geeta gasped, spinning her head toward the window behind her, Penny and Clive, and looked outside the moment she saw a silver light radiating from the distance.

"Is that-...!" Geeta cried. "That's Nemona...I know it's Nemona..!"

Clive spun and ran to the window. "Wait- if that's Nemona..! Then that silver glow- is that..!?"

The light that erupted turned from Nemona turned rainbow-colored, to grey. Kai could feel an incredible surge of Flow rising within Nemona.

"Not a lot of people know this…" Nemona's voice was no longer monotone. It was its usual, excited tone. "But on the very end of Skeledirge's snout, there's a baby bird flame."

The moment she said this, a flock of birds made of flame flew out into the distance from the surge of Flow energy. Soon, the eruption of power faded and revealed Nemona.

Nemona's armor now had the colors of her Skelederge, red trimmed with white. There were two flaming wings behind Nemona's back.. On top of Nemona's head was a hat shaped like a nest, or a sombrero. On top of her hat was an egg, which cracked and released more flaming birds that orbited around Nemona and formed a sort of 'aura' around her. In her hand, she had a long microphone stand with a microphone attached to it.

For some reason, Nemona's hair was back to its normal color. A white calm aura radiated around the young girl as her eyes shone with silver light. Something about her had changed, and because her hair reverted to normal, Kai didn't think much of it.

Neither of them had a clue that Nemona had tapped into the hidden fourth level of flow.

Nemona aimed a finger at the sky, and slowly aimed it at Kai, who glared and stepped forward with his Pokémon.

"¡¿Estas preparado!? Are you prepared!?" Nemona shouted.

Author's note:

Fun fact, I've foreshadowed there being a fourth rule for flow more than once. One of them was when Kai dodged Nemona's punch when she first went all out. If you want to find more points of me foreshadowing this fourth rule, ask yourself something when you see someone tap into flow: Are they fulfilling any of the three rules that I've placed before?

If not...then... Heh.

Anyway, I apologize if the 'Flow' system is too bloated. I think it may be too much to think about during battles. Admittedly, this is my first time implementing a rule system like this. But I figured that if I'm going to improve as a writer, I've gotta take risks. Plus, I've foreshadowed enough in it that if I didn't implement this fourth rule, then the foreshadows I put in would turn into plot holes.

Not only that, but for this battle, Nemona has fulfilled all four of the requirements at once during this battle with Kai, so if I introduced this fourth rule there would be no way that she wouldn't have achieved the form.

The pros outweigh the cons, so here it is. Fourth form. I will say this: This is the last form of flow. There will be no fifth form...LMAO. But since this fourth form exists now... It will pack a punch. Implementing and tweaking this form will be fun for me.

Here's another fun fact: I was already against putting a fourth level of Flow because I thought four was too much. But again, pros outweigh the cons. I do have a few regrets here and there while writing this story, I could have done better here or there, but I think I'm doing a decent job.

Here's another fun fact: I was thinking about not implementing a fourth level at all since 'four levels of flow' seemed like too much, but this was after I put in the foreshadowing. On top of that, there's a whole timeline BS going on...Tl;dr, Writing is hard- forgive me if there just... too much. I'm already this deep into the story, so there's no turning back and 'undoing' anything. That's a rule that I've had while writing this out.

End of the day, this story ain't perfect, and that's okay. Regardless, I'm glad you're still reading, and I hope you enjoy the upcoming conclusion.