Third Person's POV

"The next town is through this forest, let's hurry it up" Ash says looking at the others before continuing walking a head as the others follows.

Our heroes are on their way to Shalour City Where Gym Leader Korrina awaits Ash and Eli's third Kalos Gym battle challenge. As now our heroes are continuing on walking deep through the forest Dedenne makes a cry getting Bonnie's attention she looks over and see two Pokémon gathering berries then a third Pokémon joins them and put a berry underneath the tree,

"Awe a Sentret, Patrat, and a Pachirisu" Eli points out as Bonnie pulls out her Pokédex

"Sentret, the Scout Pokémon. Sentret is able to see great distances by rising up on its tail. When it spots an enemy or any kind of danger, it emits a loud, shrill cry as a warning."

"Patrat, the Scout Pokémon. Patrat are extremely cautious, they take shifts to maintain a constant watch of their nest. They feel insecure without a lookout."

"Pachirisu, the EleSquirrel Pokémon. It gathers static electricity and hides fur balls along with its favorite fruit under the eaves of houses"

Bonnie sees the three Pokémon with awe "the Pokémon around here seemed to be really good friends" she hears Serena speaking.

"They are, it's fascinating the way they all help each other out gathering berries from the trees" Clemont said.

Maddie nods "Yeah, let's go so they can get on with it" Maddie suggests which the others agree before they leave 

As they were walking, they hear a loud cry of fright which alerted our heroes. 

Whitley was the first to react and quickly turns "What was that?" Whitley questions.

"Was that from the Pokémon we just saw?" Serena then asks.

Eli frown "Only one way to find out!" he said as he and Sylveon run ahead.

"Eli, hang on!" Gary called the blue hair male before he and the others run after him.

When they arrived, they see a Ursaring taking the berries from the frighten Pokémon seeing the scene upsets our heroes especially Whitley.

-flash back-

"Hey, leave drop them these berries do not belong to you!" a young Whitley stated while spreading his tiny arms hiding his frighting expression of three Ursaring who send him flying with a Roar attack.

-end of flash back-

that memory boiled Whitley's blood which Maddie notice "Whitley?" she asked her brother before Whitley runs toward Ursaring "Whitley!" Maddie call.

Bonnie, Ash, and Eli run after him "What are you doing!?" Serena questions.

"Bisharp! Iron head!" Whitley calls his Pokémon.

Bisharp appears before its head glows and headbutts Ursaring forcing the Normal Type Pokémon to drop the berries.

"Sylveon, catch the berries!" Eli instructs the Intertwining Pokémon who use its feelers to catch all the berries and put them all safely to the ground.

"Okay, Pikachu, let's help them out!" Ash tells his partner.

Before Pikachu can do anything, they see a blur gliding above them then land on top of a tree and poses as if it some kind of superhero much to everyone's surprise.

"Whoa! What is that?" Ash asks with awe

"Who's that Pokémon" Gary questions.

"Let's check it out" Ash said as he pulls out his Pokédex

"Hawlucha, the Wrestling Pokémon. Possessing an artistic way of executing its moves, Hawlucha takes great pride in their elegance."

"But it looks different from the Pokédex" Ash points out

"One word: Mask" Eli answers.

Just as Eli said the word Hawlucha takes off its mask and throws it to the side and explodes into a bunch of leaves much to their amazement.

"Wowee! Hey, it's a Leaf mask!" Bonnie states.

"Pika!" Pikachu smiles.

"Yeah, what an awesome Pokémon" Ash agrees.

Whitley sighs with relief 'I guess I have nothing to worry' he thought with a sad expression which didn't go unnoticed by Maddie and Bisharp.

"I wonder if Hawlucha's planning to get the berries from Ursaring and give them back to Patrat and the other two" Clemont then said.

"Only one way to find out" Gary responds.

Eli nods "Sylveon stay close to the berries" Eli tells his partner.

"Sylveon!" Sylveon nods

"Breon!" Umbreon stands next to Sylveon.

Gary nod "Good idea, Umbreon, stay and help Sylveon" Gary tells the Moon Pokémon who nodded at its trainer.

Ursaring gets up and glares at Hawlucha and roars at the Fighting and Flying type.

"Bisharp leave Ursaring to Hawlucha" Whitley tells his Pokémon who nodded.

Hawlucha glides down towards Ursaring and performed a head-scissors taking the Bigger Pokémon down

Eli seems amaze by the Pokémon "Damn" he mutters.

The Pokémon cheered as Both Hawlucha and Ursaring got back up. Ursaring attempts to intimidate the Fighting and Flying type Pokémon by roaring but the Wrestling Pokémon charges at Ursaring and strikes with glowing arms as Eli and the other recognizes that Hawlucha's using a move called Karate Chop; Ursaring block the first two chop but stumbles itself and gets down on one knee, Hawlucha runs up and boost itself with Ursaring's knee and hit the Hibernator Pokémon's chin with a High Jump Kick move making the bigger Pokémon fall on its back.

"Alright!" Ash cheers.

"An Amazing Karate Chop with an equally amazing High Jump Kick!" Clemont states.

"Hawlucha's incredible!" Serena speaks.

"Yeah!" Gary agrees.

"I can't believe how strong Hawlucha is!" Bonnie states

"You can say that again" The twins adds

Hawlucha sighs and goes back to jumping up to the tree and poses again.

"What's going on" Bonnie questions out of confusion.

Eli tilts his head "I wish I know the answer of that question" he responds.

"That's Hawlucha's victory pose" a man spoke from behind our heroes who gaining their attention "Hawlucha always does that just before launching into it's finishing move" he explains.

"Yeah, but if it poses like that..." Serena said before pausing herself

Hawlucha flies above Ursaring. It then becomes outlined in white energy and dives into the Hibernator Pokémon who dodges in time before Hawlucha hit itself on the ground making our heroes wince at the sight.

"No! Hawlucha!" Ash calls the Wrestling Pokémon.

"Opponents always dodge it's final moves at the last second" the unfamiliar man explains.

"Maybe is because it shows off like that" Serena points out.

"Hawlucha has to pose even if its opponent runs away; that's just how it battles" the man explains.

"I see..." Gary said with understanding with what's going on.

Ash catches interest in Hawlucha "What an interesting Pokémon" he says to himself.

Hawlucha struggles to get itself back up "Hawlucha's committed to the artistry of battling" the man then explains again.

"Hey Ash, look at that" Clemont points at Pachirisu, Patrat and Sentret who are gathering the berries back to their spot "Hawlucha's battling efforts, gave the Pokémon their berries back" he says.

Eli smiles "that's great" he said as Umbreon and Sylveon run back to our heroes while the three smaller wild Pokémon left with their berries.

Bonnie suddenly looks alerted "Look over there" she points out.

Our heroes see Ursaring heading towards Hawlucha with a big rock in hands.

Whitley enrages "Bisharp!" he yells as Bisharp jumps off.

"Quick Pikachu, use Iron Tail to back Bisharp up!"

"Bisharp use Brick Break!" Whitley yelled.

Bisharp's hand glow in orange light and strikes at the rock Ursaring was holding shattering it to pieces making Hawlucha look at the Dark and Steel Type with awe and Pikachu following behind it strikes Ursaring's head with Iron Tail making Ursaring fall on its back again.

"Alright!" Our heroes cheer.

"Wow" the man spoke out of amazement of Ash and Whitley willing to risk on helping Hawlucha.

Ash runs up to the Wrestling Pokémon as Ursaring gets up and runs off.

"Don't be so mean from now on!" Bonnie yells.

"You okay?" Ash asks Hawlucha who looks at Ash's gloved hand and looks up at the Kantonian before taking the hand getting up with Ash's support "You know, I like your awesome attitude about battling" Ash complimented Hawlucha.

"Cha" Hawlucha nod as a sign of it thanking Ash

Eli and the others went up to Ash to check on him, the twins however stayed behind.

Maddie looks at Whitley "flashback?" she asks her brother.

"Not the good kind" he responds.

Maddie sighs "you know you're not seven years old anymore nor you're weak"

"I know, I know, is just seeing Ursaring again made my blood boil" Whitley said.

Maddie nods "I understand that come on, let's catch up with the others" she said which Whitley nod.

Ash then sees Hawlucha gliding off above the trees with a smile "Hawlucha's so cool" he says to himself.

"So you like Hawlucha, eh?" the friendly man asks the Kantonian who turns to the male.

"Do you know a lot of stuff about Hawlucha?" Ash asks the man

The man nods "Yes, I've been caretaker of this forest for a long time, so I know Hawlucha quite well" he answers

"It would be so great if you'd tell me everything about it, would you?" Ash asked.

"I'd be happy to" the Man responds

Gary chuckles "here goes the same old Ashy boy" he jokes.

Eli shakes his head "when he's interested in some Pokémon that caught his eyes he wants to know everything about it" he adds.

-scene change-

Our heroes and the friendly man are now inside a shack located somewhere through the forest

The man places a coffee mug on the table "First off, the name's Keaton it's a pleasure to meet you" the man introduces himself as Keaton.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, too; my name is Ash, and this is My partner Pikachu!" Ash introduces himself before Pikachu cries greeting the man sitting across from it.

"My name's Clemont" Clemont sitting next to Ash introduces himself.

"And I'm Bonnie. It's nice to meet you" the younger blonde cheerfully said while being set next to her older brother "This is Dedenne" she adds.

"Na-na-na!" Dedenne smiles

"My name's Serena" Serena said sitting at the edge of the seat where Ash, Clemon, and Bonnie are also sitting.

Eli Gary, and the twins are standing around the table.

"Gary Oak, nice to meet you" Gary first introduces himself.

"Umbreon" Umbreon cry sitting between Eli and Gary

Eli smiles "I'm Eli" he said before looking at his partner "this is Sylveon" he said.

"Veon!" Sylveon smiles standing to the other side of Eli.

"I'm Maddie and this is my twin brother Whitley" Maddie introduces both herself and her brother.

Whitley bows "is nice to meet you" he said.

"The pleasure is all mine" Keaton responds.

"So..." Ash tried which reality hit Keaton nod

"You want to know about Hawlucha" he said looking out the "One day, it simply wandered into the forest there are lots of proud fighting types living here, so I'm pretty sure Hawlucha wanted to see how it stacked up against them in battle" Keaton begins to tell our heroes about Hawlucha's past "One after another, Hawlucha defeated the strongest Pokémon in the forest earning the nickname, Forest Champion" he continues.

"Forest Champion, huh?" Ash repeats.

"Hawlucha defends the gentler against the more aggressive ones which ends up being a big help to me" Keaton then says to our heroes.

"Just like we witnessed before" Clemont points out.

"But today Hawlucha lost" Bonnie said

"Its attacks take a bit too much time" Serena said

"Hawlucha would have beaten Ursaring if only hadn't posed" Maddie then says as Whitley nod agreeing with his twins

"Hawlucha has a special sense of battle artistry, even if it means defeat it's simply something Hawlucha has to do"

"I get it! Hawlucha's really dedicated to its battle style" Ash then concludes

Keaton looks at Ash "Agree, if you're interested, I'd be more than happy to show you the place where Hawlucha does all of its special training" he offers.

"Yeah? You'd really do that? That'll be great!" Ash responds ecstatically while getting up from his seat.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Eli questions and everyone agree.

-scene change-

Our heroes continue on making their way to where Hawlucha normally trains while 

"Its special training area is near that waterfall up ahead" Keaton explains to our heroes while arriving to the waterfall "Hawlucha's always practicing Flying Press" he continues 

They all look up and see Hawlucha standing doing it's training.

"Up there" Ash points before running up.

"Ash, hold on!" Serena tries to stop Ash by calling him.

"One thing about Ash is that he's the most stubborn guy you'll ever meet" Eli tells the others which Gary nod agreeing with him.

Hawlucha jumps off to the water while Ash runs up to the river; the Fighting and Flying type Pokémon emerges from the water and goes to climb out of the river and sees a familiar hand and looks up at Ash and lets it out a hand which Hawlucha takes it and lets Ash help it out.

"My name's Ash; I'd like you to try your Flying Press out on me" Ash tells the Wrestling Pokémon who looks at the Kantonian confused of such request which Ash notices "Oh, you don't have to worry about me. See, it would be really awesome if you let me help you perfect that move" Ash explains.

Hawlucha looks a bit hesitant but seeing Ash smiling at it insisting Hawlucha agrees.

Eli sees this and nods to himself and leave to train by himself with Sylveon following behind him without anyone else noticing the bluette boy leaving.

Eli walks farther away through the woods and suddenly he hears a loud sound of howling wind he follows the sound and when he reaches to where he believes to be a plain field, he notices a small Pokémon floating but it wasn't any Pokémon it was the Shiny Noibat who flaps its wings, releasing multiple light blue blades of energy from them at some berries a Ratata, Zigzagoon and another Patrat thanked the sound wave Pokémon who smiled before seeing them leave.

"Hey, I know you" Eli said recognizing the Noibat who turns, and its eyes lighten up and flies straight towards Eli and hugs his chest, Eli then laughs "I'm happy to see you too" he tells the Pokémon.

"Sylveon!" Sylveon smiled.

"Noibat, have you been following us this entire time?" Eli asks Noibat who nodded and flaps aways and gets to what seems to be a battle stance "I see, you want to battle us to capture you, huh?" Eli asks as Noibat nods Eli thinks before looking at Sylveon "what do you think?" he asks the intertwining Pokémon.

"Veon!" Sylveon runs up and gets set to battle

"Alright Noibat you take the first move, go for it!" Eli states

Noibat flaps its wings, releasing multiple light blue blades of energy from them at Sylveon.

"Use Protect!" Eli tells Sylveon who cry while a pink glowing shield appears in front of it blocking the attack "that was Air Cutter, impressive" he mutters to himself "Okay Sylveon push it back with Fairy wind!" he yells.

Sylveon pulls its feelers together, and the air around them starts to glow light blue. Sylveon then spreads its feelers wide open, sending a gust of wind at Noibat who struggles to keep itself in tack and glides through the Fairy Wind to Eli's surprise "I see, add more pressure to the Fairy Wind Sylveon!" he tells his Pokémon who made its fairy wind grow stronger and Noibat then gets push back but gets back up determined "that's it Noibat, you don't give up until it's over!" Eli encourages Noibat who roar out a war cry before glowing in blue light.

Noibat's body begins to grow big and larger and when the light fades a Green Noivern appears in Noibat's place.

"You evolved!" Eli cheered as Sylveon cry with cheerfully.

"Noi!" Noivern opens its mouth, and a turquoise energy ball appears in front of it. It then fires the ball at Sylveon who took the hit but to its surprise the attack didn't took any effect on it.

"was that Dragon Pulse?" Eli questions.

"Veon?" Sylveon tilts its head before being push back by Noivern's Gust attack.

"Alright, you don't want to be taken lightly "Alright, we'll give it to you, Sylveon Use Fairy Wind again, but this time with everything you got!" Sylveon uses Fairy wind hitting Noivern who was struggling to keep standing and pushes it back with its gust "Now Sylveon Use, Giga Impact and push through the gust!"

Sylveon did exactly as it was told to do, Sylveon's body becomes surrounded in an invisible energy. A bright flash of yellow light appears in front of its face and it faces the Sound Wave Pokémon. It then shoots itself at Noivern and an orb of light purple energy with spiraling light yellow streaks around it appears around Sylveon's body and it slams into the Shiny Pokémon with great force.

Noivern falls on its back Eli then pulls out a Pokéball "Alright Noivern, you're in, Go Pokéball!" Eli shouts before throwing a Pokéball at Noivern who got sucked in the Pokéball by a red beam once the Pokéball made contact with the Sound Wave Pokémon it wiggles a few times before it clicked.

Eli picks up the Pokéball and poses "Yeah, I caught a Shiny Noivern!"

"Sylveon!" Sylveon cried cheerfully but collapse out of exhaustion.

Eli quickly caught it "I got you, take a rest" Eli tells his Pokémon who cried tiredly but agrees before pulling out Sylveon's Pokeball "I'm sorry" he apologizes which Sylveon shakes it head and gives Eli a reassuring smile meaning that it understands Eli's intentions before returning to its Pokéball.

Eli looks at Both Pokéballs before hearing a loud cry from far and he runs after the sound and when he arrived to the waterfall, he sees Ursaring from before but this time its accompanied by a Conkeldurr and a Machamp. Eli pulls out his Pokédex and points it at Machamp.

"Machamp, the Superpower Pokémon. Machamp's four arms move reflexively, which makes it very fast and allows it to deliver rapid-fire punches."

"So it's Machamp. It's been a long time" Keaton says looking at Machamp.

Clemont looks at Keaton "Do you know that Machamp?" he asks.

"Yes, the truth is... That Machamp actually used to be the Forest Champion, helping keep things calm and peaceful, but when Hawlucha arrived, the two of them became rivals. Over the course of time Machamp began to lose more and more battles; finally, having been forced to hand the title of forest champion over to Hawlucha, Machamp disappeared" the older man explains to our heroes.

"How come Machamp became one of the Forest Bullies?" Eli hears Gary asking.

"I've heard rumors that Machamp has been living up in the mountains, training hard" Keaton responds as Hawlucha walks up to the tree bigger Pokémon "I wonder if it's come back with Ursaring and Conkeldurr to settle the score" he said.

"Typically, a Face vs Heel dynamic" Eli said making everyone look at the Blue hair male confused "Hawlucha's known as the Wrestling Pokémon, so if you put them in a wrestling perspective, in wrestling there are two roles, the Baby face and a Heel, basically a Face is a wrestling term for a good guy and a Heel is a wrestling term for a bad guy" he explains which most of our heroes seems to understand clearly about what the bluette meant.

"In other word in this scenario, Hawlucha's the Face and the Forest Bullies..." Bonnie tries.

"are the Heels" Serena finishes.

Eli nods "it's what it seems like"

Hawlucha makes a taunting hand gesture to the Forest Bullies. Ursaring and Conkeldurr were about to step up but Machamp stops them much to our heroes surprise.

"So Machamp want a one-on-one battle with Hawlucha" Keaton states.

Both Hawlucha and Machamp charge at each other and grab on each other's shoulders doing a test of strength.

"Machamp must be challenging Hawlucha for Forest Champion" Serena assumes.

Maddie nods to herself "I've been assuming that as well" she explains.

"I mean I couldn't blame it I would be training so hard after being humiliated of losing and fight to regain the title that I lost" Whitley agrees.

"I guess the answer is hidden in the outcome of this battle" Keaton said.

Eli nod agreeing with the old man "yeah, only thing we can do now is watch the battle" he said.

two of Machamp's arms were covered in white light and strikes Hawlucha's shoulders, the Wrestling Pokémon shrugs it off before striking Machamp with its Karate Chop Move. Machamp pushes it back then Hawlucha goes back on hitting Machamp with Karate Shop.

Whitley looks at the battle with concern "Am I the only one who feels uneasy for this battle?" he asks the others.

Eli shakes his head "no you're not Whitley" he responds.

"Machamp isn't countering at all. Why?" Clemont questions pushing up his glasses.

"I'm pretty sure it's gauging just how firm Hawlucha's resolve is" Keaton tells Clemont.

That seem to make Clemont understand "so they're sizing each other up" he concludes.

Keaton nods "that's right" he replies.

Eli notices Conkeldurr and Ursaring nodding at each other making Eli gasp before he could even warn Hawlucha, Ursaring and Conkeldurr attacked Hawlucha much to our heroes shock.

"What's that all about?" Ash questions not liking what's just happened.

"Battling three against one isn't fair" Serena angrily states

"They use Machamp to their advantage to strike Hawlucha down while it was distracted" Eli states.

"How can you be so sure?" Gary asks the bluehead.

Eli points at Machamp "look at Machamp" everyone looks at Machamp who looks shocked and unaware of what just happened "judging by Machamp's facial expression it's clearly unaware of this dirty move, so I'm guessing that those bullies use Machamp to their advantage to overpower Hawlucha like a Heel would do to a Face" he explains 

"Eli's right, the other two were planning this from the very beginning" Keaton agrees.

Hearing this Whitley enrages now Eli notices Whitley's rage "Whitley?" he asks. 

Everyone now looking at the male twin before flinching once they see the most intimidating expression even a Pokémon with the Intimidate ability will feel the shivers up their spine.

Bisharp comes out of its Pokéball and tries make Whitley snap out of his anger by shaking his shoulder "Bisharp..." he mutters pointing at Ursaring and Conkeldurr who are getting closer to Hawlucha "Metal Sound, now!" he shouted.

Bisharp looks taken a back but nod and use Metal sound to stop Ursaring and Conkeldurr from continuing on hurting Hawlucha Machamp charges and jumps over Ursaring and Conkeldurr and knocking them out cold with one punch each forcing the Hibernation Pokémon to let go of Hawlucha and Bisharp catches the Wrestling Pokémon.

Our heroes were surprised by this "Machamp stopped it" Ash states.

"Bi-Bisharp" Bisharp calls for Hawlucha who looks up at Bisharp "Bi-Bi-Bisharp?" it cries as if it asking if it was okay.

Hawlucha looks at Bisharp with a hint of pink on its cheeks "cha" it nods as Bisharp help it get up.

Machamp picks up the two unconscious Pokémon before turning its head towards the Fighting and Flying type Pokémon and put a index finger up seems like Hawlucha knew what it meant and nod at Machamp before the Superpower Pokémon leaves.

"It seems like Machamp and Hawlucha have agreed to battle at another time" Keaton explains to our heroes.

Ash seems satisfied with this "What do you know? Machamp was really cool about the whole thing, awesome! That's the way it should be" Ash said then a idea pop in Ash's mind "Hawlucha, that's too bad about your battle with Machamp" Ash tells the Wrestling Pokémon who turns its attention to the ravenette Kantonian "But if you still want to have a heated battle, let me take its place" Ash offers Hawlucha looks unsure "I told you, I think you're an awesome Pokémon; I'll tell you the truth I'd like you to come along with me" Ash then proceeds to tell Hawlucha who nods at him and makes a taunting gesture meaning that he should battle it first.

Eli chuckled which Maddie notices "what so funny?" she asks.

"Ash isn't the only one with a new friend" Eli answer.

This caught Whitley's interest "You mean?"

"I'll introduce it later" Eli said with a wink.

-scene change-

Hawlucha stand in a distance from Ash and Pikachu while the others gather in the sidelines about to be witness the battle.

"Hey Eli, where's Sylveon" Bonnie suddenly asks realizing that Sylveon is not around.

Eli pulls out his Pokéball "it's resting in its Pokéball, come on out Sylveon" he said while the Intertwining Pokémon appears from a blue beam of light.

"Why was it resting in its Pokéball" Serena then asks.

Eli then pulls out another Pokéball "while you guys were entertained with Ash helping Hawlucha perfecting it's Flying Press move, I was wondering the woods to get some training of my own and I gain a new friend in the process, come on out Noivern" he said before the Shiny Sound Wave Pokémon appears spreading its wings much to everyone's shock.

Gary then remembers "Hey didn't you talked about a Shiny Noibat back at Mabel's Manor at Pomace Mountain?" Gary asks Eli for confirmation.

Eli nods "Yeah, apparently Noibat has been following us since we left there" he explains while Noivern "and while we were having a friendly battle it evolved into a Noivern, and that's where we realize that we can't hold back" he adds.

"That's awesome your fourth Shiny Pokémon you've caught" Clemont said.

Gary sigh "Honestly, one of these days you're going to make every Shiny Hunter look bad" he said.

"Don't blame me they have a thing for me" Eli defend himself making the other sweat drop.

Meanwhile Pikachu was about to go to battle but Ash stops it

"Wait a minute buddy" Ash tells Pikachu who looks up at it's trainer with confusion "there's someone else I'd like to try out against Hawlucha's fierce battling style!" Ash says before pulling out a Pokéball throwing it up in the air and then Froakie appears from the blue beam that came out of the Pokéball.

"Froakie!" the frog Pokémon cried.

"Ara, Ara, Ash sent out Froakie, this is going to be interesting" Eli said.

"Ha!" Hawlucha cries signaling Ash to take the first move.

"'Kay Froakie, let's give it all we got, Water Pulse!" Ash said.

Froakie jumps his and creates spheres out of water but to its surprise before it could launch the attack Hawlucha charges at the Frog Pokémon and glides pass it and making Froakie throw the Water Pulse but the Fighting and Flying type dodges with ease. Hawlucha then jumps from tree to tree and charges at Froakie.

"Froakie, use double team!" Ash commands.

Froakie makes multiple clones of itself Hawlucha hits one of the Froakies turning out to be a clone and land hard on the ground.

"Now use Bubble!" Ash tells the Water Type Pokémon.

Froakie jumps again and fires a barrage of blue bubbles from its mouth at Hawlucha; Hawlucha sees this and quickly glides away from the bubbles and then glides up the waterfall as Froakie follows behind climbing up the waterfall

"Alright, Froakie I want you to jump and grab Hawlucha, go!" Ash instructs his Pokémon.

Froakie attempts to grab on Hawlucha who dodge making Froakie fall into the water.

Keaton seems amazed "Wow, that's what I call, Incredible jumping power and speed" he states.

"That's Froakie for ya" Maddie and Whitley states.

Ash looks at the river and smirks "Now, Froakie, Double Team!" he yells.

Froakie uses Double team from under water before it jumps out of the water with the clones following behind it and Hawlucha seems to look around and jumps off.

"Froakie, use pound!" Ash said as Hawlucha dodges Froakie's attempt to use Pound on it.

Both Pokemon made up to a top of a tall tree and Hawlucha strikes Froakie with a High-Jump Kick attack as Froakie falls hard on the ground.

Hawlucha looks down at Froakie before posing "here it comes, Hawlucha's Flying Press for the final move" Keaton informs.

Hawlucha jumps and spins around while diving down and spread its arms once more falling faster than normal.

"Check it out!" Ash cheered.

"That's fast" Bonnie comments.

"it's working" Clemont said.

"You can say that again, Clemont" Gary agrees.

"Ash did you forgot you're battling Hawlucha?" Eli reminded the Kantonian.

"Oh, right! Quick, Froakie use Pound!" Ash commands.

Froakie's hand glows and both move made contact making a dusty explosion making everyone blind from sight as Shiny Noivern protect them from the impact once the dust clears up they see both Hawlucha and Froakie laying down on their backs with swirls on their eyes.

"Hold on, what happened?" Serena asks looking over Noivern's wing.

"Easy both Hawlucha and Froakie are unable to battle meaning the battle ended in a draw" Eli speak as Noivern moves it wings away.

Ash smiles at the two unconscious Pokémon.

-scene change-

"Hawlucha, thanks; having a battle with you was great. I think you're a really special Pokémon" Ash tells Hawlucha who looks up at him "Getting your Flying Press perfect like that during a real battle was amazing!" he praises "It may have looked like a draw, but the truth is I totally lost; I know you're gonna be fine from here on out" Ash then says which Hawlucha seems interested in Ash.

Eli notices this and giggles to himself.

Keaton also notices "You know what? I think you want to go with Ash" he tells Hawlucha.

"Machamp!" Everyone looks up and sees Machamp looking down on them from the waterfall nodding a Hawlucha that it should go with the Kantonian.

"Now don't worry, the forest will be fine" Keaton reassures the Fighting and Flying Type Pokémon who looks up at the old man and nods.

"So, Hawlucha, want to come along?" Ash asks, Hawlucha looks at Ash and nods before Ash pulls out a Pokéball "Great! We're gonna be really good friends, I promise!"

"You're wrong Ash, is not that you are gonna be, you already are friends" Eli corrects Ash.

"Sylveon!/Vern!" Both Sylveon and Noivern agreed with their trainer.

Hawlucha fist bumps the Pokéball and gets suck in the Pokéball and clicks after the ball wiggles few times.

"Yes! I caught Hawlucha!" Ash cheered posing with the Pokéball.

"Pika-pika!/Froakie!" Pikachu and Froakie also cheered

"Ash" Keaton calls the ravenette "I trust that you'll take good care of Hawlucha" he tells the younger male "Please make sure you give it lots of action-packed battles" he adds.

Ash nods "right!" he agrees.

And so, Ash and Eli have new Pokémon friends in Hawlucha and Shiny Noivern, with its strong battle style, and determination; now, our heroes' Shalour City Gym battle challenge awaits as the journey continues.

To. Be. Continued...

Author's note: July 17, 2024; 11:42pm

Thank God I get to finish this chapter just before my birthday, well I hope you guys are having a wonderful week and that you enjoyed the chapter bye~