"I'm here to battle Valerie, the gym leader of Laverre city." I yelled out into the room as I entered through the gateway, revealing a cleared battlefield. My words echoed through the empty room, eventually fading into nothing. 

"Is that so, and who would I be granting this honor to?" The soft innocent voice reached my ears, my head shifting to the side in return. Out of the side a female, a size taller than me entered the lit up stadium. She was wearing a peculiar dress, accommodated by the darkest shade of hair stretching down nearly below the knees. Sleeves of the dress sliding to the end of the arms, and into the air around sticking around like wings of a beautiful creature. The top part of the lengthy sleeves were filled in a vibrant pink, in the middle the golden yellow making its mark and juxtaposed when meeting with it's black contender.  

Her eyes inhumane, filling the entire socket but still dazzling in light and dancing with passion. Two pieces of a light purple struck out of the top side regarding the hair. Towards the bottom I couldn't help but notice the dark shaded tights running down the legs and reaching those formal high heels sharing the same color, only for a sweet and feminine to stop the mourning and empty set.

"You must be mistaken!" I shouted out towards the gym leader, who shared with me a look of confusion. I grinned at her reaction, the adrenaline had began taking its course, impacting every single fiber my body contained "The only person here who will be granted an honor is you." I continued, her look mimicking mine "I guess we'll have to put those words of yours to the test. Might this be perhaps your first gym battle in the region of Kalos?" I shook my head sideways, looking at my pal by my side.

"Not the first, and certainly not the last." I proceeded to show the gym leader all the other four badges I had gathered during my stay. "Impressive. But I trust you won't find obtaining this badge as easy as the rest. This gym focuses on fairy types. The love and passion I share with my pokemon brings us strength and takes us to greater heights." She walked towards the opposite end of the battlefield, the long sleeves grabbing the dirt along with them. "Use any type you'd like. I'm not one for type advantages, I believe in my pokemons capabilities in facing any match up and still come out on top." I explained to her, giving my side of the spectrum.

"I see you are one who holds strong bonds over obtaining raw power." I nodded to her, agreeing with her stance on my personality. "Will you be using that cutey sitting on your shoulder?" She called out, complementing the looks of my partner. "Pikachu!" The yellow mouse shouted out towards her, clearly satisfied with the attention he had gotten. "Only if you manage to defeat my first entry!" I shouted out to her before grabbing a pokeball off my belt and lodging it towards the battlefield.

"Ninja!" The bright blue light revealed a frog like pokemon standing center of the field, shouting out it's signature cry. Releasing an immense aura through out the room. "Now that is quite something. But how well will you fare against this?" The gym leader said before finally revealing her hands from the beautifully patterned sleeves , along side a pokeball held up high and proud. "Meet your first match up. Good luck to you mysterious trainer." The pokemon released was one that I had heard of, but never actually seen one before for myself. It certainly was a wonderful sight for the eyes.

The four legged, pale cream-colored pokemon stood there on the battlefield, eyeing Greninja and eye with such fierceness and a confidence that look to be unbroken. I guess this is where I come in, that confidence won't stay within them for long. There are two bows on its body, one located on its left ear and the other around the neck. The graceful movement of the feelers was one to enjoy. At the edges, a mix of colors including two shades of blue and a light pink to fill it. It looked as though the pokemon was wearing a hat of light pink, from the looks of its head and ears.

"Veeooon!" Sylveon gave out a roar of power, giving off its own aura, yet no where near as powerful as the one sent out by my Greninja. "Alright let's get this show on the road!" The excited female shouted towards us, indicating for the battle to commence. "Don't you suppose we require a referee to take part and watch over the match?" I asked, slightly disappointed at the carelessness of the girl. I didn't know if it was due to lack of experience or simply because she was full of energy and was ready to release it all.

"You are absolutely right, sorry I just haven't had a battle in such a long time and I've been really meaning to let out all of this excitement. One moment." She said before excusing herself from the field and into another room. Sylveon merely sat down, and began licking her fur, cleaning herself. "Gren-greninja." My companion said out towards her, causing her to stop and send a threatening look. "Sylveon." The quadruped pokemon shot its head to the side, clearly mad or annoyed with something my partner said. "Gren?" Greninja said raising it's hands into the air and an exhale leaving his mouth.

"Alright I'm back, let's get this started now." Valerie stated before running back to the battlefield. Her pokemon ran up to her and began crying out towards her, then pointing at Greninja. A look of shock had entered her "It appears that your Greninja had said some things that weren't quite nice to my Sylveon." I battered my eye at this and raised my eye brow "You can communicate with your pokemon?" I questioned, interested in the ability. "I can with fairy types, but not with others." She stated, petting her pokemon.

"And what exactly did my partner here say that caused offence?" She stood up and established eye contact with me. "When Sylveon was cleaning her fur, Greninja put that there was no point in cleaning something that will turn into a mess in a matter of moments." I grinned at the response, and looked at my own pokemon. "I see no issue with what he said, it's frankly quite entertaining to say the least." I gave out a slight chuckle

"Then we will have to show you other wise, we are to be taken seriously as gym leaders. We stand tall and true to our title. You shall see and regret ever walking through the doors of this establishment." She pointed out, now fury in her voice as it boomed across the empty room. "If you say so." 

"The battle between the Laverre City gym leader Valerie and trainer..." The referees voice trailed off as he had no idea about my name, also motioning me to give one. "Ash" I said in a cold, threatening tone towards him. He gulped and carried on with the announcement. "The battle between the Laverre City gym leader Valeria and trainer Ash will no go under way."

"Both trainers are allowed the use of two pokemon. Once both pokemon on either side are unable to battle, the match will be finished and a winner decided." The referee carried on, and on with the useless rules 'Honestly, anyone who still actually listens to this shouldn't even be here in the first place.'

"Since each side has already decided which pokemon they will use, the battle can begin. Are both trainers ready?" I nodded to the man, signalling him that I am ready to crush my opponent. Same as all the others, if they don't put up a good fight. Then they need to know and be put in their place, in hopes that they may reflect on this occurrence and improve both themselves along side their pokemon.

"Time to make you eat those words, Sylveon start this off with your most powerful move. Use Giga Impact and send them flying back to where they came from!" The feminine voice called out, aggressively yet still soft. "Greninja, meet that attack head on. Aerial Ace." I commanded my companion, earning a nod in return. The two pokemon dashed into each other with speed insurmountable. Crashing directly into each other, the force of the energy caused a sudden rise in kinetic energy resulting in an explosion, vision being blurred for the gym leader, but not me. I stood there, watching through the eyes of my pokemon for any movements, when finally I saw the outline of a figure in the distance.

'Time to finish this quickly... No mercy...'

I looked down at the badge, and shot a look back at the sulking gym leader on the floor, caressing her pokemon with worry and empathy filling her voice. I walked up to her, badge still in hand. "I need to be able to beat weaklings like you to get into the pokemon league? When I show this at the entrance it should lower my chances not raise them. What a shame, and here I was looking for a battle to fill my hunger. You disappoint me Valerie, although the other gym leaders did to, so don't feel too bad." I let her know exactly how I felt about her performance. Poison in my words, stinging every bit inside of her. She broke down there, right in front of me.

"Well, I wish your pokemon the best of luck in recovery. They will certainly need it, I know the previous ones did." I waved back with my hand, back faced towards her while exiting the gym.  The moment I did leave the fashionable building, I couldn't help but keep my attention off of the sky. A bright amber ran from one side to the other, stretching all across with the moon already visible above. Frozen in awe, I admired the sight for a little longer before refocusing my attention on the road which I had followed to end up here. "Time to go back." I said to myself.

"Sorry you didn't get to battle today Pikachu. I know you really wanted to, and I can understand your frustration with all that happened last time with Alain. I'll make it up to you I promise, and from now on, I will remain my calm and collective self. What happened was just a day off. I don't know." I talked to my buddy, while we were traversing through the forest. Light was barely covering the ground beneath, as the amber above our heads had began dying down, like a fire only leaving darkness and cold all around.

Out of nowhere I heard the cry of a pokemon. It wasn't the typical symbolic cry that pokemon give out, but a call for help. My head shot at the direction of the shout, eyeing the treeline in hopes of finding something hiding behind. My eyes couldn't make out anything from the plantation, green near me yet darkness ahead. Without a second thought, I dashed towards the direction of the cry. A pokemon in danger, is a pokemon in need and I am not about to let a pokemon stay in harms way.

I ran through the grass path, stumbling at one point because of a root in the ground causing me to fall over and smashing my head in the dirt. "Urgggh!" I made an annoyed noise, slamming the ground underneath me "Get it together Ash!" I shouted to myself in frustration. I felt a tugging on my shoulder "Pika... Pikachu, Pikapi." The yellow mouse pokemon said in a worried tone. I picked myself up, again and dusting off all the built up dirt. "You're right Pikachu, I can't let something like this anger me. Besides we have bigger things to deal with at the moment."

Now with more focus in every movement, there was another cry of the pokemon, this time however it sounded as if there were multiple. Not only one, but more unlike before. I glanced at Pikachu, both of us knowing that this threat could be something big. I picked up the speed at the alarming cries, dodging trees and branches until we had reached our destination. My eyes fell upon the situation, and were quick to analyze the scenario. "Team Flare..." I said to myself, my tone at first in confusion, but soon replaced with rage.

I looked upon the sight, multiple grunts and one to lead them all. My blood boiled when my eyes left the grunt and landed on the cage filled with helpless pokemon. Pikachu shared my frustration, and was about to leap into. Electricity didn't flow around his cheeks, but all through out his body. He knew what it meant to see pokemon being treated this way, and had the best of judge in character in making decisions regarding what these crooks deserve. "Wait." I said, my partner looked at me with disbelief "Pika?" He let out, in a quiet voice that was confused. "Let's first find out what they are doing here." We both turned our attention back to the crime being committed in front of us.

"Is everything set? Lysandre will appear in any minute now, and we need everything in order. You all know how he is." The man explained, a larger size than the others. "Yes sir, we have gathered all of them in the area. Sorry to ask this, but what exactly to we intend on doing with them sir, they are just weaklings of the wild. How could they possibly be of any use to us?" The grunt asked the one that seemed in charge of the episode.

"I'm glad you ask. You see, being the lead scientist in Team Flare, Lysandre had ordered my mind to find some source that we could use in order to achieve a certain type of energy to be able to power something. What we are powering, I'm not exactly sure." If I engage now, I'll be able to take out an important aspect to them. 'Patience Ash, patience, stay calm.' I stated mentally, waiting and continuing to listen to his explanations.

"We will be taking these back to the lab and begin the testing. They may be weak, but they are not useless. We can absorb all of their energy to see if we could use them to power this thing." I couldn't listen to this any more. Screw Sycamore's advice. I need to stop this before they can abuse those pokemon for their selfish needs. I grabbed the pokeball on my belt and threw it into the air "Greninja, Water Shuriken!" I yelled out, then shooting out my arm towards the villains for my buddy to run across. Pikachu made his leap into the air, and released all the built up energy, along with the hatred and anger he felt. "CHUUUUUU!" The electricity danced in the night sky, like fireworks on new years eve.

The four sided star connected with the cage, causing it to break and let all the wild pokemon escape "Go, now before they can catch you again! Be free, I'll distract them!" I yelled out towards the fleeing pokemon, one of them in particular seemed to have stopped and looked back at me for a moment. "Go!" I shouted towards it, still it didn't go "Trust me, I'll be just fine" I gave a thumbs up, reassuring it that no harm will come to me. It turned, giving its own thumbs up along with a nod and began leaving. "What do you think you are doing!" I heard the voice behind me. Turning, I could see everyone had now gathered and had witnessed my actions "You will pay for this boy! No one gets in the way of Team Flare!"

"No one will get in the way of me saving pokemon. I don't care how many of you there are, I will fight for the good that is left on this shitty world. It's bad enough that I have to deal with people like you regularly!" I shouted back at the group filled with devious grins, all of them had released their pokemon which I presumed immediately were low on loyalty. Pikachu and Greninja stood at my side, ready for the battle to come. 'I need more than these two.' I thought to myself as I reached behind my back, only for my hand to be left with nothing but a grasp of air. 'Shit. I forgot that I left Charizard...'

"Time for this hero to learn his lesson, grunts take care of this pest and make sure to get rid of him after." The man said before turning around and walking towards the sidelines. This was better for me, it would be easier to take care of the grunts without additional help. But I believed in my pokemon. "Greninja, Water Shuriken slam them against the first two on your left, and Pikachu Iron Tail on the ground, send those rocks flying at the Golbat."

Before no time, the rookie pokemon were left on the ground, unable to continue battling. "Out of my way." I warned them, causing them to flee into the darkness. "Where do you think you're going! Get back here!" The leader attempted to call back those 'loyal' Associates of his, but none of them returned. "Useless, all of them. I'll take care of this mess by myself." I brought up my hand, Greninja copying my movement, and quickly taunted the man with a hand gesture. "Give it your best shot."

"Malamar, use-" The voice was cut off by another, in the distance. A more authoritative, and lifeless. "Xerosic, what is the meaning of this. Where are all the subjects." I looked at the figure flying, orange hair covered every angle and feature facially. The man was extremely tall, and wearing a formal black suit. I felt like I had seen the man somewhere before, but couldn't pin point the exact location. "S-sir, it wasn't o-our fault!" The scientist stuttered, then suddenly shot a hand out towards me, pointing in my direction "It was t-this boy, he got in our way!" 

"And none of you could deal with him?" The voice sounded stern, sending a nasty feeling towards those who were intended to hear it. He shook his head in disappointment, then turned his attention towards me. "I don't enjoy people like you getting caught up in the middle of something that doesn't involve them." The words sent me back to a moment, my heart beat rugged from hearing that phrase once more. My eyes began trembling at the sight, returning me to reality once more only to fill me with anger. "It wastes my time, and time is something that we cannot afford to lose."

"Is that so? Well then, why don't you come and do something about it." I said with complete arrogance and disregard for who this person was "Do you know who I am boy?" He questioned, walking towards me. "Don't know, don't care. Someone who is about to lose a battle that's for sure." I mocked the man, getting in a battle stance. Signalling to him that I'm ready for everything he has to offer. "Alright then, lets get this over with." He said, his voice changing back into the cold and threatening.

"Pyroar, assist me in this battle." He tossed a pokeball to the ground with no motivation, his other hand in a pocket. "Greninja, we will need to go full in on this one." My companion nodded to me before we both closed our eye, a sudden connection appearing and a jet of water burst into the sky, eventually settling down and getting rid of the armor, only to form a massive four star piece at the back "Interesting..." Was the only response that exited the man.

"Pyroar, show them your Hyper Beam" The lion like pokemon roared before shooting out a ray of energy towards Greninja "Cut right through that!" I shouted, two glowing sticks appearing at the water types hands, going directly at the beam and slicing it in half. "Go all in with Aerial Ace!" I commanded my partner, looking through his vision and directly at the man. "Counter with Fire Fang." The two moves collided, smashing each other and sending them flying back. I grunted at the pain, and Greninja fell to his knee 'Ugh, I forgot Greninja had plenty of its energy lost from before.'

"Pyroar, smolder them with your hottest Flamethrower." The flames exploded from the enemy pokemon, and I could see it approaching with haste "Use your Water Shuriken as a shield, then go offensive with it!" Greninja had managed to block the scorching hot heat, and dashed off directly at the leonine pokemon. "Enough of this, Pyroar Overheat." Both Greninja and my eyes widened at the command. There was nothing I could have done. The move collided, and sent the water type off its feet. I too was hit, but not with the move, but my own pokemon. Greninja landed directly on top of me. I felt it's energy, and there was nothing left. It soon returned back to its normal state.

The man walked towards me, fear building up with each passing step. Every nerve in my body was filled with pain. "Pika! Pikachu!" My buddy shouted out from my side, I tried reaching for him to stop but he exploded towards the bearded man "Pika-CHE!" The yellow mouse pokemon performed a flip with a glowing tail, before being smashed away into the tree. My body filled with shock as I witnessed my closest and most powerful partner flicked away with such ease. The tall figure now towered over me, giving me a look that only further solidified my fear and trembling. 

"Let this be a lesson to you boy. Stay out of our way."

I barely managed to make it back to Serena's house. Matter of fact, I barely made it out of there alive. Towards the end of my journey, I was on the floor, dragging my self from the pain. It was now beyond late, I didn't even know the time. But I was exhausted and in need of sleep. The stars were out in the open sky, eventually a large piece of gray danced across blocking their presence. Currently, I was laying on the floor right outside the building, panting heavily and the unnerving feeling of pain all through out. My head was throbbing, the only thing to do was raise my arm to see what the issue was. I winced upon contact and lowered my fingers down to view. A dark red covered them, flowing down slowly. 

I was extremely fortunate that things did not turn for the worse, my pokemon however they were done for. Greninja had succumbed to his injuries and needed a long rest, meanwhile my electric partner had been knocked out this entire time. The experience had been rolling in my mind, replaying all the time. Greninja getting overpowered by the Overheat and Pikachu being thrown away like nothing. 

I had thought I was strong enough... but I guess that was just another lie I tell myself...

'How will I ever be able to take down Geovanni at this rate?'