Ash's POV:

"What do you mean?", I hissed back to Serena who just sighed uncomfortably.

"I had seen Pierre practice before, and I must say, he was brilliant. I just presumed that he's be like those normal MCs in battles. But he is a PROFESSIONAL!", she told me looking wary.

"Blaziken, Beautifly, COME OUT!!", May yelled releasing her Pokemon. Blaziken yelled at the crowd stretching his muscles, and giving poses, while Beautifly was just flying around aimlessly.

May simply winked at Blaziken who gave her a thumbs-up, while Beautifly understood and sat on May's outstretched arm.

Beautifly concentrated hard and sent out two spheres filled with Stun Spores, and followed it up with Air Cutter sending the two spheres away from each other. Blaziken performed a High Jump Kick on one sphere, and used the momentum to reach the second one.

What surprised me, was that the two spheres began to glow, and were sent DIRECTLY towards May, who simply caught them and began to spin them on the tips of her fingers. A second later, the spheres began to act like firecrackers sending out sparks on their own. To accompany the spinning spheres, May spun around in the same direction, and suddenly, she threw them above.

Blaziken caught them and peeled them individually like oranges, and sent away whatever remained of the spheres, were sent towards Beautifly who simply shot a Hyper Beam at the remains shattering them, leaving behind a vibrant shade of red crackles which fell on May's back seeming like wings. Blaziken meanwhile, was spinning the peels like long ribbons, and set them on fire.

A few seconds later, he solidified them and straightened them which seemed like long javelins and placed them behind May in an X kind of shape.

May meanwhile, was dancing her brains out while Beautifly was coating the javelins with String Shot, and Blaziken got behind May pulling her up by her hips.

The next second, the javelins loosened and wrapped themselves around May who crossed her arms over her torso.

A second later, the cocoon began to glow, and melted revealing May with flaming wings, and Blaziken lifted her again. Then, she spread her arms wide open and Beautifly settled in front of her, and she held her pose signalling the end of her performance, and the timer perfectly stopped.

I was happy, and I might even say that I was PROUD that both Dawn and May utilised their given time without wasting a single second.

Personally I felt Dawn's was the better one, but May didn't lag behind. Dawn was always the better Performer, and May was the better battler of the two. The crowd meanwhile was screaming their hearts out while May waved back blowing kisses to the audience.

With a huge squeal, Dawn went and embraced May the second she came to our side, while Drew kissed her cheeks and pulled a rose out of nowhere causing her to blush cupping her own cheeks.

"I think you've got this in the bag, June", Drew told her and she glared at him for calling her by the J- word, but at the same time, she was blushing from his compliment.

"I mean....Pierre doesn't seem like he's a full PACKAGE, you know?", Dawn asked us, but Serena's past comments about his "expertise" made me HIGHLY uncomfortable, and she didn't make me feel better by licking her lips repeatedly...something she does only when she's nervous or agitated.

"Just don't get overconfident, Miss Brunette. Something just doesn't feel right", Gary told her and I nodded my head in approval.

A minute later, Monsieur Pierre walked in with his Meowstic and Klefki by his side, all 3 of them smirking confidently.

"Meowstic, motion 97!", he told his male Meowstic causing Meowstic to jump in recognition, while Klefki spun around, causing all of its keys to smash with one another.

The very next second, Meowstic used Psybeam and Helping Hand, concentrating it into a sphere, and paired it with Future Sight, and replicated it as quickly as possible.

Klefki, meanwhile, was blankly firing Metal Sounds, and I had to say that it was an average start by Pierre. He, however, wasn't bothered and still seemed confident of winning.

A minute later, his Pokemon settled in front of him, and his Meowstic raised his paws, causing random holes to occur in the sky, and ALL of the Psybeams came out repelling one another such that they all revolved like a DNA helix, and were sent back into a continuous loop by Klefki's attack, which was the main force behind the shape of the helix.

Suddenly, Pierre clapped his hands, and everything fell into proper place. The helix reformed into a complex machine which kept changing seeming like a historical movie, I..I can't even express the beauty in WORDS, and I was afraid that May MIGHT have given a slightly ordinary Performance, which wouldn't have been enough to defeat Pierre with ease.

With just a second to remain, Pierre completed his Performance, and the crowd went crazy while May buried her face in her hands sobbing.

"Who WOULD HAVE BELIEVED in SUCH a recovery? Monsieur Pierre has given a stellar performance and the scores of both our contestants stand equal. Thus, the Battle Round will decide the victor!", the MC announced and May went to the arena looking serious, unlike the previous time. When the two ofrhdm went to their respective sides, 2 bars were shown on the screen with May's and Pierre's faces on it.

"Just like the previous announcement, Pierre will have the first move this time", the MC added and Pierre nodded his head releasing Meowstic.

"Meowstic, make me proud, mon ami!!", Pierre said motioning Meowstic to go ahead, and the psychic Pokemon was happy to do, and he was in jitters.

"Blaziken, bring us victory!!", May yelled releasing her ace, who stretched his muscles and glared at Meowstic.

"Battle BEGIN!!", the MC announced, and the timer of 2 minutes started ticking.

"Blaziken, High Jump Kick!!"

"Use Future Sight to see the attack, and then move away"

Meowstic dodged the powerful move with sheer ease, and May was already in a troubled position. High Jump Kick hurt the user if the attack didn't make its impact on the target, and this caused May's bar to drop to 75 percent immediately, and May began to panic.

"Teleport, and use Psybeam!!"

"Be calm and find the aiming position, and when you have it, hit it back with DOUBLE the speed!!"

This time, Pierre was caught. But Meowstic ALMOST dodged the attack in time. It hit him on his side, but he dropped down to the floor spinning happily and bowed to Blaziken. To my surprise, Pierre's bar dropped down only to 85 percent.

"What?", I asked in disbelief and I was almost SURE that this battle was fixed.

"Grace", Serena whispered from my shoulder looking at the battle in dismay.

"What do you mean?", I asked her and she looked at me in the eyes, and sat upright.

"Even though Meowstic was hit, he fell down and maintained his poise. It's not your kind of battle, Ash. NOTHING is fair here", Serena told me looking at May worriedly.

"Blaziken, use Flare Blitz ALL around the field!"

"Meowstic, just use Psychic to remove some dirt, and hide there"

"Shift the attack there!!"

But Blaziken had already begun assaulting the empty air, but SOMEHOW managed to concentrate the attack onto the small hole, which scorched Meowstic.

Due to the HORRIBLE misses, May's bar dropped to 55 percent, while Pierre's bar dropped down to 60 percent due to the point blank attack. There were only 15 seconds remaining and both Pokemon were grunting along with their exhausted trainers.

"Blaziken, use Inferno!!"

"Teleport!!"

Blaziken was fast enough to hit Meowstic, but Meowstic teleported ALONG with the attack, SMACK behind Blaziken, and the two of them were doused in the fiery Inferno, and the timer stopped.

When the smoke cleared, May's bar was at 30 percent, and Pierre's bar stood at 35 percent.

"NO!!!", May yelled collapsing down to her knees, while Pierre simply tipped his hat upwards, and wiped the sweat from his forehead before bowing and waving to the crowd.

"Merci! Merci! Merci, mes amies!!", Pierre thanked the audience in his own tongue, while May was slightly shaking from the fallen position.

A second later, May simply returned her Blaziken thanking him for his hard work, and walked back to our side staring at the floor, and stood in front of us staying quiet, but I could her all of her silent screams that were disturbing her inside her head.

Drew just went and wrapped his arms around her, and I could hear sobbing in his chest.

"I'm s....s.....so sor....sorry", she sobbed and Serena stroked her back.

"May, you should be proud of yourself", she told her and May slowly slipped out of Drew's embrace, and turned to look at Serena with watery eyes.

"What do you mean? They have equalised the score BECAUSE of me, and you expect me to be PROUD of myself?", she asked Serena seething in anger but Serena just smiled.

"I expected you to lose by a HUGE margin, May. But you gave him the battle of his life. The loss was inevitable", Serena told her and May gave her a strong glare.

"THANK YOU for the consolation, Serena. It REALLY LIFTS MY MOOD", May accused and Serena shook her head smiling, and gently placed her hands on May's shoulders.

"A few years back, when I had just begun my training with Palermo, I was snooping around her place, and I saw her contesting with Pierre. I assumed that Palermo would sweep the floor with Pierre, but she won only by a 10 percent margin. I could see that Palermo had brought out all of her guns, and wasn't going easy on him. That's why I told you to be proud of yourself, May. I wasn't mocking you at all", Serena told her and May nodded her head solemnly.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, Serena", she apologized and Serena just hugged her forgivingly.

"But I still could have done better, you know? If I was JUST a better battler...", she trailed and Dawn slapped her head from behind causing May to groan in pain and glare at her the VERY next second.

"Look here, Glutton-face! You may have lost, but you proved that we are no pushovers, and that we mean business. They'll be wary of us now, and I'm SURE that we can pull it off", Dawn told May and she smiled weakly.

"They still have another confirmed victory", I told them rolling a random stone between my fingers and they looked at me liked I had grown another head. I still had NO idea as to where my Pokemon are, and how they are doing.

"We have 1 Coordinator, and 1 Performer. Only 1, either Drew, or Serena will face Palermo. Tobias, Virgil and Tyson are nowhere NEAR amateurs", I told them, and at that moment, they realised that we were one battler short.

"Alright, the first BATTLE would be between ASH and TOBIAS would take place now!!", the MC announced and all of my Pokemon were brought to me in their respective Pokeballs including Raichu, and I wasn't touching that Pokeball without a rubber glove and a rubber suit.

"We've been planning for this day ever since you came as a novice to the Indigo Plateau, Ash! Don't think that your victory over me at Sinnoh was legitimate. I LOST deliberately", Tobias told me smirking. What was so special that they were planning for 7 solid years? And how horrific WAS that plan?

To be continued...