Trevor returned his unconscious Empoleon back to its Pokéball, before thanking it for doing the best it could in that battle against Ash's Pikachu. He then reached down to grab his fifth Pokémon, as he gazed at the smirking masked trainer, across from him, who was also staring at him, both expressing determination in their eyes.

"So who's up next? I'm waiting." Ash responded as Trevor grinned at his question.

"Your Pikachu is really strong." Trevor began as he complimented the electric type's performance during its battle. "However, it won't stand a chance against my Sceptile!"

With that, Trevor threw his Pokéball into the air and out came the forest Pokémon. Sceptile got itself into a battle stance, as it motions for Pikachu to battle against it. Pikachu seemed to be ready to battle until Ash called back the mouse Pokémon.

"Pikachu, return!"

As soon as the electric type heard its trainer's command, it quickly ran back to where the masked trainer and his Lucario were standing. Pikachu's trainer scratched behind the mouse Pokémon's ears, earning a coo from it.

"Master, who will you choose next?" Lucario questioned, while standing next to Ash, as he reached down to grab his next Pokémon.

Ash smiled, as he unclipped his next choice. "I think I know a friend of ours that would really like to battle, right now. Come on out, Charizard!"

Ash tosses his Pokéball, into the air, to reveal his own Charizard. Ash smiled his Charizard let out a roar. The flame Pokémon then circled, in the air, before finally landing on the, in front of his opponent. It eyed the forest Pokémon, in its battle stance, before letting out another deafening roar, to show that it's ready for battle.

Trevor smiled at the appearance of Ash's strongest fire type, right in front of him and his Sceptile. His thoughts began racing. Finally, I knew you would show up in our battle. This just keeps getting interesting by the minute. Trevor snapped out of his thoughts, as he waits for Ash to make the first move.

"Charizard, Flamethrower! Go!" Ash commanded.

"Sceptile, counter that with Dragon Pulse!" Trevor responded to Ash's attack.

The flame Pokémon released a red-orange stream of fire, from its mouth, towards the forest Pokémon, who reacted to the attack by firing a multicolored dragon-shaped beam of energy, from its mouth, towards the incoming fire type attack. The two attacks collided, resulting in an explosion, that caused smoke to cover the battlefield.

As the smoke faded away, Ash called out the next attack.

"Use Dragon Claw!" Ash commanded.

Ghostly green claws extended from his natural ones, as Charizard took flight towards the Hoenn Pokémon.

"Quick! Dodge it!" Trevor shouted.

Charizard attacked the forest Pokémon, who barely managed to avoid the initial strike. Charizard then gave a smirk, as he heard his master's voice.

"Dragon Tail! Now!"

Even though Sceptile dodged the first attack, he had left himself wide open to an attack from his opponent's tail, which was right next to him. Charizard's tail glowed green as he twisted his body and connected with the grass type's mid-section.

Trevor looked on in frustration, as his grass type companion was sent careening across the stadium floor. The forest Pokémon winced, as he got up to his feet. However, the grass type looked ready to continue on fighting in this battle.

Trevor nodded, before giving a command to the forest Pokémon.

"Fight back with Leaf Blade!"

"Intersect it with Dragon Claw!" Ash countered.

When the forest Pokémon's glowing green arms made contact with Charizard's ghostly green claws, they were at a stalemate, until Charizard, with another smirk across its face, heard his trainer's voice.

"Use Flamethrower!"

As soon as the flame Pokémon heard that command, Charizard threw his head forward and let out the fire type move. The flames struck the defenseless grass type, who was right in front of the flame Pokémon, at close range, causing a scream to come out of its mouth, as it's being sent flying towards the wall. When it hit against the wall, a cloud of dust covered the section of the wall, where Sceptile crashed into.

"Sceptile! Sceptile, can you hear me!?" Trevor yelled out, hoping for a response from his grass type.

He then heard a groan, coming from the cloud of dust. When the dust settled down, it revealed a still conscious Sceptile, but he was breathing heavily. Unfortunately for the grass type, he didn't have enough time to catch his breath, as Ash calls out Charizard's next attack.

"Finish it off, with another Flamethrower!"

Trevor quickly responded, "Sceptile, use Dig to dodge that Flamethrower!"

The forest Pokémon began to dig into the earth below, avoiding making contact with the fire type attack, as it hit the wall, that Sceptile crashed into, instead.

"Charizard, follow Sceptile, down there, with Dig! Then, finish it off with Seismic Toss!" Trevor looked at Ash, with a stunned expression on his face. Charizard roared, before diving into the ground below.

The stadium fell into an eerie silence, as those, watching the battle, awaited what would come out of the ground next. A roar shook the stadium floor before it was busted open, revealing Charizard flying through the air, with Sceptile in his clutches. Charizard ascended further, into the air, before doing loops. After a few loops were made, he dived to the floor below.

Trevor watched, knowing that his Sceptile wouldn't survive this attack, as the two Pokémon smashed into the battlefield, causing dust and rocks to fly everywhere.

The dust and debris quickly settled to reveal Charizard, standing over his unconscious opponent. He roared and let loose flames, into the air, again, as it looked for another challenge.

"What a show-off," Lucario muttered to Ash.

"Yeah, it was a bit much this time," Ash commented, as he returned the Kanto native to his Pokéball. "But you have to admit, he did well out there."

"Yeah, whatever." Lucario shrugged, as his trainer chuckled at the Aura Pokémon's response.

---

"Poor Sceptile," Ashley stated.

She felt bad for the forest Pokémon getting defeated by a Pokémon that her father also had.

"Don't worry, Ashley," Brittany comforted her daughter. "The battle isn't over yet. I'm sure that daddy can pull off a win from this."

Ashley's expression, on her face, changed from sad to happy, as she, along with her Pichu and Charmander, who were standing in front of the little's girl feet, continued to cheer on her father below.

Brittany chuckled, before hearing a response from Brock, who sat on the opposite side of the elite suite.

"Maybe," Brock began his response while thinking his words carefully. "After all, Trevor's last two Pokémon are his strongest. While Aaron still hasn't used Lucario yet, his other two Pokémon hadn't taken much damage from their previous battles. So it's tough to say who's got the upper hand, right now."

"Come on," Dawn said while looking at Serena, who sat in front of the Sinnoh coordinator. "It's clear that Aaron is winning right now, by one! So no need to worry, Serena, your boyfriend will be alright."

Serena gave a nervous chuckle to Dawn's remark, as she knew Trevor was no pushover. She remembered Trevor's battle against Ritchie and how his Mewtwo easily beaten the rest of Ritchie's Pokémon, without a single scratch on the genetic Pokémon. The memory of that battle made her shivered. She shrugged the feeling off, as her eyes gazed upon the masked trainer, who had just send out his Pikachu once again. Her thoughts began racing, as she had concerned look, in her eyes. Ash, please, be very careful out there.

---

"Good work, Sceptile. Take a good rest." Trevor stated to his fallen grass type, as a red light hit the forest Pokémon and returned Sceptile back to his Pokéball.

Trevor then turned to look at his masked opponent, showing him that he wasn't afraid of him, with a smirk across his face.

"I'm really impressed, Aaron!" Trevor began to say to Ash. "And that's something I don't normally say to trainers, who challenged me to a battle."

"Thanks, Trevor!" Ash replied back, with a smile on his face, which his mask hid from his opponent's eyes. "That really means something, coming from a someone like you."

"I would hope because Aaron," Trevor responded while reaching down and unclipping a Pokéball, before turning back to the mouse Pokémon, who was now standing in front of the masked trainer, as sparks were flying off from its cheeks. Trevor smiled, before continuing his statement, "I thought it would be a good idea for our starters to battle against each other, right now!"

Ash chuckled, before answering back, "Sounds fun! Then, let's do this!"

"Pi-ka!" The mouse Pokémon shouted out with determination.

"Alright, Charizard! I choose you!" Trevor yelled, as he threw the Pokéball into the air and out came his longtime and strongest partner, who was standing in front of his trainer when the light, from the Pokéball, faded away.

When it appeared, the flame Pokémon let out a deafening roar, before turning to look at his next opponent. As his eyes met the eyes of Pikachu, both Pokémon expressed eagerness and determination, as the two starters were ready to battle each other out.