For quite possibly the first time in his life, Alex was grumpy. He glanced over at an equally annoyed Bella as they made their way out onto the battlefield, ready for their practical lesson in double battles. Professor Williams had matched the two of them against their toughest opposition possible; Lenny and Edward. Not only were these two skilled trainers but Lenny knew everything there was to know about Alex's battle style. If there was one person in the year who could find his weakness, it would be Lenny. However, it wasn't his opponents that had made him annoyed.

"C'mon Bella, what harm would it do?" Alex whined, breaking the silence.

"We've worked on the pairing of Lucario and Marowak." Bella replied. "Changing your Pokémon would put us at an immediate disadvantage."

"But you didn't see Tangela in action! It has so much potential!"

"I don't care about potential!" Bella snapped, stopping and turning to face him. "Potential for the future won't win us this battle right here and right now."

"Who cares about this battle?" Alex said, raising his voice and taking a step towards his partner. "I just want to try out one of my newer Pokémon to show people that I'm more than just Butterfree and Marowak. A real trainer needs a diverse team."

"You think I don't get that?" Bella growled, clearly offended, as she too took a step towards Alex. "The only success I've had is with Lucario. People think I'm a one trick Ponyta! But this is an official battle that could tarnish our reputations, not some training routine. You of all people should understand not wanting to lose."

"We wouldn't lose." Alex said. At this point, their eyes locked together with neither teen backing down. He saw fiery determination within those beautiful blue spheres, showing Alex a sassy side to Bella that he hadn't seen before. They'd gotten so close together in their heated debate that he could feel her breath against his face. Just as Alex thought he was about to get slapped Bella turned and walked off onto the battlefield. Cursing under his breath at the lack of understanding Bella had shown, he followed her. Waiting for them in the arena were Lenny and Edward.

"Ah, you made it!" Edward grinned as they took their position. "We were worried your little argument would distract you from the match."

"Heard that did you?" Bella said, attempting to recompose herself. "We were just psyching ourselves up for this up and coming victory, weren't we?" She shot Alex a look that could kill.

"Yeah. Sure."

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get this started." Bella said, not wasting any time as she sent out Lucario. The other three trainers quickly followed suit and the battlefield was soon occupied by Alex's Marowak, Edward's Beedrill and Lenny's Skiddo. Alex realised the smart choices made by their opponent's in using Pokémon that they'd seen very little of whilst everyone knew everything about Marowak and Lucario.

"Ladies first." Edward gestured.

"With pleasure." Bella responded. "Aura Sphere!"

"Run in Marowak!" Alex ordered. Just as rehearsed, Lucario quickly summoned a dazzling blue orb and fired it in the general direction of their opponents whilst Marowak followed its path, using the attack as cover.

"Pierce it with Twineedle!" Edward yelled. His Pokémon instantly became a busy bee, darting in towards the oncoming attack and thrusting its large stingers right through the sphere, breaking Marowak's cover.

"Leech Seed now!" Lenny cried. Skiddo gave an adorable little bleat as it fired several seeds towards the reckless Marowak. Alex knew the devastating effect that would have in the long term if it connected. Fortunately, he had a partner to help him.

"Quick Attack!" Bella yelled. Lucario moved in at breakneck pace, grabbing Marowak under its arms and changing direction to avoid the potentially fatal seeds.

"Combo into Headbutt!" Alex said.

"Stop it with Fury Attack!" Edward retorted.

"Block it with Bone Rush!" The next few moments were a blur of attacks. Lucario jumped, throwing Marowak into a nose dive, headed straight for Skiddo with a powerful Headbutt. Beedrill desperately tried to knock it off course by jabbing it but Lucario was too fast, reacting quickly enough to fashion a shining bone from thin air, extend it forwards and then swipe upwards, deflecting Beedrill's attack.

"Brace yourself and then use Razor Leaf!" Lenny said. Skiddo got as low to the ground as possible when the impact from Marowak's skull came, crashing into the small goat. However, it was immediately back on its feet and firing off razor sharp leaves that all connected with the defenceless Marowak, causing massive damage.

After all of that chaos, each Pokémon took a few moments to regain their bearings. Even the four trainers were finding it tough to keep up with the fresh new dynamic of having an extra opponent. Alex glanced over at an impressed Williams who was sitting in the stands making notes. Every chance Alex got he needed to prove himself to Williams as he was still failing the majority of his tests in the academic side of the course.

"Bonemerang!" Alex ordered, getting the battle started once again. Marowak flung its bone at the opposing Pokémon in a wide arc that would connect with both Beedrill and Skiddo if they didn't do something fast.

"Dodge it!" Lenny and Edward simultaneously cried. Beedrill was quick to avoid the spinning bone but Skiddo wasn't so lucky, attempting to jump over the projectile but instead getting caught by it and dragged towards Bella's Pokémon.

"Bone Rush!" Bella yelled. With Lucario's temporary bone still active, it looked as though their practiced combo might actually work. Bonemerang brought Skiddo very close to Lucario who raised its own bone and swung down hard.

"Twineedle!" Edward desperately shouted. With less than a second to spare, Beedrill lurched forwards and extended its stingers, just about managing to block Lucario's attack. This act of desperation caused a huge momentum swing as Lenny and Edward took control.

"Take Down!" Lenny said. Skiddo shook off the damage from Bonemerang and immediately sprung forwards, ramming into Lucario's stomach with its horns, causing major damage.

"Marowak, help out with Bone Rush!" Alex cried. Marowak ran in as fast as it could, scooping up its bone from the floor and taking a wild swing at Skiddo.

"Fury Attack!" Edward yelled. Beedrill once again thrust its stingers out, one making impact with Marowak's wrist, causing a yelp of pain and the drop of its precious bone leaving it defenceless for a further three strikes of Beedrill's sharp, poisonous points.

"Leech Seed!" Lenny grinned, realising the control they had as Skiddo fired its seeds at their two motionless opponents. As the seeds grew close their opened up, spouting out vines that wrapped themselves around both Marowak and Lucario, sapping their health and putting them on a timer. This battle was going to end quickly one way or another. Alex glanced over at a worried looking Bella.

"Bella, we need to change up." Alex firmly said. "What we're doing right now isn't working."

"But, it's what we've practiced." Bella said, almost defeated. "We don't have anything else."

"What kind of talk is that?" Alex asked. "You're a trainer, not some wimpy blonde so pull yourself together and let's win this!"

"But... how?"

"I don't know yet but we'll figure it out." Alex grinned. "We tried your approach and it didn't work. So rather than clashing heads and trying a dead strategy let's do what real trainers do and think on our feet! I'm gonna try something and you've gotta respond, ok?"

"I'll try." She smiled.

"You'll do more than that!" Alex stated, giving her a thumbs up. "Marowak, circle around!" Marowak was soon back on its feet and running circles around Beedrill and Skiddo who had grouped very close together.

"Skiddo, hit it with Razor Leaf!" Lenny ordered. Skiddo gave a bleat and fired off several sharp leaves that Marowak managed to jump out of the way before attacking.

"Bonemerang!"

"Dodge it!" Edward yelled as Marowak's bone spun past Beedrill, creating some distance between Lenny and Edward's Pokémon. Alex saw Bella realise the idea just in time.

"Catch and Bone Rush!" Bella grinned. Lucario ran in, catching Marowak's bone as well as brandishing its own blue shining weapon. Now dual wielding, Beedrill was helpless to block the attacks as Lucario savagely hacked away with two bones until its opponent was unable to battle. It then threw the bone back to its partner.

"Skiddo, spin and Razor Leaf!" Lenny desperately ordered. Skiddo attempted to cover the entire battlefield with sharp projectiles by spinning and attacking but the drawback was that the attacks were too sparse and easy to avoid.

"Aura Sphere!" Bella shouted as Lucario fired a blinding blue ball right at Skiddo which it barely managed to dodge.

"Batter up!" Alex smiled as the sphere sailed past Skiddo towards Marowak who readied itself, striking the attack perfectly so that it changed back in direction, hitting the helpless goat and knocking it out. Within a few seconds of Alex's little pep talk, they'd turned the match around and won.

"We did it!" Bella smiled, turning to Alex and giving him a quick hug.

"You better believe it." Alex grinned as the four trainers returned their Pokémon to their Pokéballs. "I figured that throughout this entire process, we'd been clashing heads in every way. All we needed to do was work together for once."

"Yeah." Bella nodded. "We're better as a team than we are enemies."

"True." Alex agreed. "Can we be a team when it comes to homework as well?"

"Sure." Bella laughed. Alex could hardly believe his luck. He'd managed to turn around the battle, keep his undefeatable title and now Bella was going to help him with his homework? His grades might just start to see a rise.