We were all frozen in our places, unable to think, but still trying to process the situation and put all the pieces in place. Calem who had just mocked Ash, stood there dumbfounded. He was left speechless, serves him right I suppose. Karma does have it's way. Although I'm still not sure what to think, should I be terrified at what my eyes had just witnessed, or be impressed. Either way those pokemon looked completely lifeless.

"D-D... Did, A-Ash do that?" I heard Dawn muster up a sentence. We all shared eye contact with each other, looking for the an answer to the same question we all had in our heads.

"It is most likely, as he did just leave the gym." Paul said joining in on the conversation

"Actually, now that I look back. I saw Pikachu sitting on top of Ash's shoulder and he had a grin plastered on it's face" Misty said thinking back on the moment

"Everyone, stop for a minute. Aren't pokemon battles meant to only last until a pokemon is fainted, not put to the edge of its life?" I asked pointing out the appearance of Viola's bug types.

"I don't understand, that shouldn't happen at all. The referee should make a call as soon as he or she notices that the pokemon is unable to battle" Gary added to the conversation

'What on Earth did you do Ash?' I thought to myself

That's when I remembered, we could just ask him and get a direct answer. He was a primary source after all. I turned my head to look for him, since he was here not too long ago. But he disappeared from my sight, no where to be seen. 

"I'm guessing this means I won't be having a battle today, or for the next week judging by the state of those pokemon" Calem sighed seeming disappointed. 

'Thank Arceus Calem didn't have the battle today. Now we can finally go home, and have an end to this both horrifying and eventful day.' I ended with a smile forming on my face

'But if he doesn't have it today, he will most likely ask me again to come to watch it on another day.' I thought as my smile turned into a frown

"I guess we should go back and head to our homes, since there is nothing else for us to do here" Paul suggested

Then the door to the gym opened, and a woman that looked very similar to Viola walked out, she had a worried expression. Her head was turning in all types of directions, she must have been looking for someone.

"Excuse me, but have you seen Viola, the Santaluna gym leader by any chance? She ran out of the gym with two pokemon being  in critical condition." She tried to explain, but there was panic all over her voice

I took a closer look at the person, her eye color matched that of Viola being dark Green, but her hair color was brown. Her hair style was almost exactly the same as Viola's but instead of having two areas facing downwards, there was one that stuck out to the left.

"Eh-Yeah, we saw here. She was in a rush, going towards the pokemon center. Why do you know her?" Calem said pointing a finger at the direction she went off at.

"Yes, I'm her sister Viola, and I was also the referee for the battle that caused those two pokemon to be in such a bad state" She began explaining

"Why didn't you stop the battle!" Gary yelled at her, clearly angry at the fact that she let that happen to those bug type pokemon.

"I couldn't make a call if I didn't see the state of the pokemon!" She shot back, defending herself against Gary

"What do you mean you couldn't see?" I asked her with curiosity getting the better of me

"I don't have time for this, I need to find my sister" She said and started running towards the Santalune pokemon center.

I glanced at the others, who all seemed to be thinking what I was thinking. I gave them a nod, and with that we ran after Alexa, following her to find out more about what happened.

When we reached the pokemon center, we enter and straight of the bat noticed Viola in the corner of the room, her face completely red and filled with tears. Next to her was Alexa, trying to comfort her.

Alexa noticed us, she stood up and came to us. "Is she going to be alright?" Dawn asked with a hint of worry in her voice

"Don't worry she will be just fine" Alex replied with a smile and a thumbs up.

"Does she or you mind if we ask about what happened?" I said practically begging for her to tell us what happened on the battlefield.

"I think it would be better, if Viola explained it" She answered my question, but her voice was filled with pity.

We all made our way to the gym leader filled with depression in her eyes. She was all curled up, completely vulnerable. I saw Paul about to ask her a question, but was interrupted by nurse Joy walking towards her.

"Nurse Joy, are Surskit and Vivillon going to be alright?!" She yelled the question at nurse Joy, further bursting into tears. At least she was demonstrating how much her pokemon meant to her. I don't know what I would do if this would ever happen to Fennekin.

"They will be fine Viola. Eventually that is" nurse Joy relieved Viola "What do you mean by eventually?" I asked nurse Joy

"The pokemon are completely wiped out and all of their energy is missing. For the next few days or so, they won't even be able to move. I don't know how this happened Viola, but who ever did that had no intention of showing any kind of compassion or mercy." She explained to Viola. 

Viola was now looking at nurse Joy with a confused expression. This indicated for her to continue her analysis of the pokemons health. "You see, I checked over both Surskit and Vivillon. They were both critically injured as you said, but beyond that. These aren't normal critical hits. The person who you were battling knew the exact weak spots of these pokemon. Those weak spots cause extreme damage, beyond even a critical hit" 

"Viola can you please try and explain to us exactly what happened during that battle, and make sure not to skip out any details" I asked the Santalune City gym leader, demanding an answer.

"I'll try my best" She sobbed.

"It began this morning. I usually open the gym at around midday, as I do some training in the morning in the gym. But this trainer came extremely early in the morning, when I was in the middle of my training session, my sister came and said there's a trainer at the entrance waiting for the gym leader." 

'That explains the beginning, but why did Ash wake up at such an early time, and go to the gym before it was even open?' I thought to myself

"Of course being a gym leader, I could never back out of a challenge. So I accepted of course, I was determined to win another match. But the trainer had a different expression from anyone I had ever met. He entered the battlefield with a grin on his face. My sister began explaining the rules, that each trainer would be allowed to use two pokemon, and the trainer with the last pokemon standing would win." Viola now changed her expression to a darker one

I changed my eye contact to Alexa, and she looked away, with the exact same expression.

"Then what?" I asked

Viola took a look at Alexa who then nodded, telling her it was fine.

"This trainer, who introduced himself as Ash, then requested for me to use both of my pokemon at the same time. I'm the type that's open for ideas, so I accepted happily. The battle then began, or if you could even call it that" She explained

"But when I released my two pokemon, I was confused when he only chose to use one of his pokemon. That pokemon he had, the Pikachu. I-I" She began stuttering her eyes now filled with fear, thinking back on the moment "I couldn't do a single thing against it. No matter what combination or moves I sent it's way it immediately dodged it with speed I had never witnessed before" The story was getting more interesting and tense by the minute.

Viola picked up again trying her best to finish "My strategy, the one that is barely ever beaten, ice field, where I have Surskit use ice beam on the field, Ash didn't even seemed fazed at it. His Pikachu used iron tail on the ground and smashed my plan into bits. The rocks that came from the ground, he smashed them into my pokemon"

Viola couldn't carry on anymore she just burst into tears. Alexa took over. "When the smoke was cleared, the two pokemon barely even standing, but refused to give up. From one move, not even that. He used his surroundings. Ash then made Pikachu use quick attack, that mouse pokemon became invisible." 

"Invisible, what does you mean? Wait, was Pikachu actually that fast?" I questioned Alexa in awe

 "The speed of that pokemon, it was simply... too much. It kept on hitting and hitting Viola's pokemon without even letting them react. I couldn't call it if they were fainted or not because I couldn't see their faces and the quick attacks only made them look as if they were standing up." Alexa finished explaining the brutality the pokemon had to go through.

Viola continued telling about the battle "It got to the point where I couldn't even hear my pokemon grunt from pain. Ash then commanded to use iron tail while still in quick attack" This shocked all of us, two moves used at the same time? How is that possible?

"Over and over again I could hear that iron tail making contact with my poor pokemon. It was using so much power that it caused smoke to appear, making barely anything visible" Viola said, but got interrupted by Alexa "Which is why young man" she said towards Gary "I didn't make a call, I couldn't see any of the pokemon"

Viola nodded and understood that her sister couldn't say her pokemon were fainted unless she saw them. "Alexa wasn't able to see them, but I was able to feel them. We share a strong bond, my pokemon and I. In that smoke I could feel their presence, but it was getting less noticeable by each attack"

"I had to put a stop to it. So to try and save my pokemon I yelled out to the trainer to stop the attacks, I practically begged him." Viola said rubbing her tears 

The whole gang froze when we heard the next phrase that escaped Alexa's mouth "Instead of stopping, Ash responded by asking Viola if she forfeits the match. This shocked both my sister and I. Viola immediately forfeited her match. Ash went up to me and grabbed the badge out of the tray it was located on."

"And with that, he just left. No hand shake, no appreciation for the battle. With his cold expression, he left the gym. It took me a while to even process what had just happened in the mere minutes our battle lasted" Viola put with a sad tone

"Ash really did that? With only one pokemon? That is a lot of power" I said outloud

"He didn't even give her time to think, and by the sounds of that Pikachu, it must have been trained extremely well and for a long time" Paul added to my comment

"That means this isn't the first time he has been in a gym battle. He gained experience from somewhere else. Tomorrow we will confront him about today, and lets hope we get some answers!" Calem said determined to find out who Ash was.

I glanced at the direction of where we last saw Ash heading 'So, you have loads of experience in battling from your past I see. I found out something about you, and I am one step closer now to getting to know you'