AN: Hey everyone! It's… it's been awhile, hasn't it? I'm ashamed to say, this is all the progress I've made on this story. I could give a thousand excuses, but I won't. I'm just bad at sitting down and actually writing. So you can expect uploads to be very spread out. Oh boy! Anyway, it is my goal to have a piece of music to go with every battle in this series. This chapter's soundtrack? Turn Over from Naruto! Now, please enjoy!

Serena walked into the Slateport City Pokemon Center, feeling exhausted. She had found it hard to get any sleep during the flight from Kalos to Hoenn, and the airport was a pretty long walk from the Pokemon Center. She was looking forward to getting some rest.

Serena went up to Nurse Joy to check out a room. "Hello, welcome to the Slateport City Pokemon Center. How may I help you?" The nurse asked. Although her uniform was slightly different, her mannerism was identical to every other Nurse Joy.

Serena actually found a slight relief in knowing that. Even in a new region, so far away from home, some things never changed. She let out a slight yawn before asking, "Can I please have a room for one person?" she paused, trying to think of anything else she might need. "Oh, yes with a full kitchen please, I might be staying for awhile."

"Of course, though you'll be charged extra for the kitchen."

"It's fine. I have the money," Serena replied, paying for her room. It never failed to surprise her how cheap it was to get a room at a pokemon center. Hotels usually cost an arm and a leg to stay the night.

"Alright then," Nurse Joy then handed Serena a small envelope with two plastic cards inside, "here are your key cards. Your room number is #47. Just take the elevator to the left, and it should be on the second floor. Enjoy your stay!"

"Thank you, very much." Serena was about to go to her room when she noticed, through the large window to her right, a crowd of people gathering around the battlefield outside. I wonder what's going on. Serena was about to just ignore it, and turn towards the elevator, but her curiosity overtook her desire to collapse onto her room's bed and fall asleep. She walked outside, and tried to make her way closer to the front of the crowd, to see what was happening.

Serena saw that the crowd had formed a ring around the battlefield, where two trainers stood, eying each other intently, with confident smirks on their faces.

"Gold, I challenge you to a pokemon battle!" the one trainer announced, holding up a pokeball.

"You're on! I'm always up for a match!" the other trainer, Gold, replied. "How about a one-on-one match?!"

"Deal!" The first trainer replied.

"Go Explotaro!"

"Come out, Sceptile!"

Serena recognized Sceptile immediately, however she had never seen a pokemon like Gold's. She immediately pulled out her pokedex.

"Typhlosion, the Volcano Pokemon, and the evolved form of Quilava. Typhlosion obscures itself behind a shimmering heat haze that it creates using its intensely hot flames. This pokemon creates blazing explosive blasts that burn everything to cinders. It is the final form of Cyndaquil."

"Oh, so that's a Typhlosion. Explotaro must be his nickname."

"Alright, Explotaro!" Gold called out to his pokemon. "Let's start off with charging up a Solar Bea-"

"Wait! Stop battling this instant!"

"Huh?!" both trainers looked towards the pokemon center with confused looks on their faces.

People moved to clear a path as Nurse Joy made her way towards the two trainers. She looked like she was slightly aggravated by them. She stopped and stood in the middle of the edge of the battlefield and glanced towards Gold, and then towards the other trainer. "It's against the rules, here at the Slateport City Pokemon Center, to participate in pokemon battles without a referee!" the pink haired nurse took a deep breath and appeared to take on a more pleasant attitude. "I know referees aren't required for unofficial battles in Poke-League rules, but having a referee greatly decreases the chance of pokemon abuse."

"Alright, Nurse Joy, we understand," Gold replied. Nurse Joy nodded in acknowledgement and walked back into the pokemon center. Gold looked towards to the crowd and yelled, "Is anyone here willing to be a referee?"

Serena watched as everyone present started shaking their heads and taking a step back. No one wanted to be a referee!

"Hey! How about you?"

Serena heard Gold's voice, which convinced her to redirect her attention to him, to see who he was talking to. When she turned her head to face him, she almost jumped when she found him staring right back at her.

"Well, how about it?"

Serena looked behind her to see if he was addressing someone else, but everyone behind her seemed to be staring at her, expectantly. In fact, the entire crowd seemed to be staring at her. That's also when she noticed that she never stepped back with the rest of the crowd. "Me?!" was all she managed to say.

"Yeah, sure, it'll be fun!" Gold said encouragingly. She couldn't quite place it, but something about him reminded her of Ash. Probably just the messy hair under the backwards turned ballcap.

Hesitantly, she walked over to where Nurse Joy had been standing only a few minutes ago. It can't be that bad, she thought. I've refereed plenty of Ash's and Clemont's battles.

"What's your name, miss?" Gold asked from his spot on the battlefield.

"Oh, I'm Serena."

"Well, I'm Ethan, but everybody calls me Gold," he explained. "That, over there, is Ruby."

"My name is Brendan!" Ruby (or Brendan?) corrected. Serena gave Ruby/Brendan a quizzical stare. "My full name is Brendan Ruby Birch. Gold insists on using my middle name, despite my displeasure."

"Well, it's nice to meet you both. May the best trainer win!" Serena replied. She raised her arm as she began to start the battle. "The battle between Gold and Brendan is about to begin! This will be a one-on-one match. The battle will be over when one trainer's pokemon is unable to continue. Are both trainers ready?" Serena went through the whole "opening jargon" of just about every battle ever. In hindsight she didn't really half to be so official about it, but at this point, it was simply a formality. Besides, there was a big enough crowd, it might as well have been an official match. Serena saw both trainers nod their heads and decided to continue. "Then let the battle..." she dropped her arm down, "begin!"

"Explotaro, start charging up that Solar Beam, please."

"Sceptile, Leaf Storm!" Sceptile quickly spun around and fired a stream of leaves out of his tail. The leaves made there way to Explotaro, about to surround and barrage the typhlosion.

"Bro! Fire!" Explotaro let loose a powerful Solar Beam.

"Sceptile, watch out!"

"Scep-?" the beam hit Sceptile's back and sent him flying towards his trainer, and landing on his stomach. Sceptile's landing kicked up dust as he slide a few inches on the ground. "-tile…" the grass type groaned.

"Come on, Sceptile, take him down with Leaf Blade!"

"Sceptile!" the large "spikes" on the bottom of Sceptile's arms started to glow green, as he quickly got up and ran at Explotaro, his arms stretched out behind him.

"Get ready, Explotaro!" Gold yelled.

Sceptile got close to Explotaro and swung his arm upwards, his green underslung Leaf Blade at the ready.

"Now, catch it!"

"Phlosion," Explotaro smirked as he quickly bit down on Sceptile's blade. He could feel the grass-type energy searing against his teeth. It hurt, but his resistance to it lessened the pain. "(Can't get ah-ay fom me now!)" He growled through his teeth, still latched onto the blade.

Wow! Gold really seems to know what he's doing! I wonder if he's meet Ash, Serena thought, as she watched the battle unfold. They definitely have similar battle-styles. She turned to look at Brendan, who seemed to struggling to come up with a counter-attack. Though I wonder what Brendan's thinking. He looks strong, but doesn't seem to be quite as unorthodox as he's a far cry from predictable.

The trainer quickly pulled himself from his thoughts, and smirked. Clearly, he had a plan. "Sceptile, use Dragon Pulse!"

"(What was that, about not getting away!)" Sceptile opened his mouth and fired the purple and white beam of draconic energy, directing it right at Explotaro's face! At point-blank range, there was no way the powerful attack could miss. It hit, and caused Explotaro to let go of his opponent's blade. It sent the fire-type flying towards his trainer before driving him into the ground.

"(I'll get you for that!)" Explotaro grunted, picking himself up off the ground.

"Sceptile, use Leaf Storm on the battlefield! Create a veil!"

"Scep-tile" Leaves started to fly from Sceptile's backside and surround the battlefield. Before long, no one could see the two pokemon.

"Alright Sceptile, use Leaf Blade and Facade!"

"Counter him with Brick Break and Aerial Ace."

The two pokemon charged at each other. When they got close they started throwing a barrage of attacks at each other. Trading punches, kicks, and slashes. They went at each other in a blind fury of attacks, both of them wanting to prove they were the best. On top of that, there was also the constant leaf storm. Sceptile took advantage of this, to successfully land multiple attacks, switching between his signature Leaf Blade, and his Facade attack.

Sceptile went to swing another Leaf Blade towards Explotaro. Gold's Typhlosion responded by jumping up and using Aerial Ace on the oncoming blade. The force of the first kick caused Sceptile's arm to almost come back towards him, nearly causing himself to punch himself in the face! The momentum caused Sceptile to start to turn and follow his arm. Sceptile could feel himself losing his balance, the fall seeming to go in slow motion. However time sped back up again as Explotaro launched a second kick that connected with Sceptile's face, sending both pokemon flying away from each other. Explotaro landed gracefully on his feet, however Sceptile was sent plowing into the ground, receiving a face-full of dirt for the second time since the battle's start.

Meanwhile, Brendan and Gold were watching the battle intently, both trying to see through the blinding Leaf Storm. Serena was finding it a challenge to see what was going on, as well, simultaneously attempting to shield her face from stray leaves.

"You better hurry it up, Gold!" Brendan yelled over the sound of the Leaf Storm. "When it comes to close combat attacks, Explotaro can't match my Sceptile!"

"That may be true, Ruby, but Explotaro really knows how to turn up the heat!" Gold managed to see the faint silhouette of Sceptile hitting the ground. "Alright bro, use Overheat!"

"Ty-" Explotaro visibly started to heat up to the point that his body started glowing red. Steam started to pour off of his body. "-phlosion!" flames erupted from the Volcano pokemon, sending a wave of fire across the field, and heading right for Sceptile. Explotaro's attack enveloped the grass-type pokemon. He crossed his arms over his head to attempt to protect his face, however Sceptile received the full force of the attack.

"Do the thing, bro!"

"Phlosion!" Explotaro's face grew from a confidant smirk to vicious grin as he charged up another Overheat. Except instead of the wave of fire like last time, Explotaro opened his mouth and fired it as a beam.

"Sceptile, run!"

"Sceptile!" the grass-type quickly got up on his feet and ran out of the way, barely avoiding the powerful attack. He continued to run around the edge of the battlefield. "(Try hitting me now, you slowbro!)" As he ran, Sceptile became nothing but a green blur.

"Get 'em with Aerial Ace!" Gold ordered, with a slight panic in his voice. His partner's limbs started to glow with the flying-type energy as he jumped towards Sceptile.

I gotta be careful not to overuse Overheat or risk severely lowering Explotaro's special attack, Gold thought, as he overlooked the battle. Sceptile is just out of range to use the wave, and Solar Beam takes too long, so we'll just have to resort to physical attacks.

Except all Explotaro hit was the ground. He only had a second to realize what had happened before he felt the sharp, slicing pain of a leaf blade, as a green blur ran, practically, right through him.

"(Ha! Too fast for ya?!)" Sceptile turned around and came back at him, slashing right through the fire-type once again. He ran back and forth repeating the attack many times in quick recession before…

"Brick Break!" Explotaro plunged his fighting-type energy coated arm in to Sceptile's abdominal region, and sent the grass-type flying towards the other side of the battlefield. This time, Sceptile had a bit more control of himself and managed to land on his feet. He immediately went back to running laps around the battlefield.

Sceptile is too fast for Explotaro to hit! Gold thought, frantically trying to come up with a way to hit the speedy grass-type. All I'm achieving is tiring out Explotaro. I gotta think of something better. He watched as his partner started to futilely fire Solar Beams wildly, trying to hit Sceptile, who had now settled into a fast but steady pace. The green blur was almost mesmerizing, going around and around the field, sticking to a constant and steady speed. If one was to time him, Sceptile's first lap would take the same amount of time as the second, and the third, fourth, fifth… "That's it! Explotaro, stand still!" Gold yelled.

"(Do what?! Are you alright in the head?!)" Explotaro stopped spinning around and looked at his trainer.

"Just trust me, bro! Besides, like you've got a better idea!"

"(You got me there,)" Explotaro sighed in defeat. "(But I swear if I end up knocked out in the pokemon center, I'm sooo kicking your a-)"

"Hey watch your language!"

"(Wha-?! But how did he even-? Ah, whatever.)" Explotaro turned around and faced Brendan, ignoring the brief moment of his trainer seemingly being fluent in Poke-Speech.

"Get ready to fire Overheat, at my command!" Gold yelled. "Channel it through your mouth!" Explotaro started to glow red and a waited Gold's signal. "Three!"

What is he up to? Brendan thought.

"Two!"

If he doesn't attack soon, Sceptile will get a chance to deal some damage! Serena looked on, worried about the outcome.

"One!"

"Sceptile. Go in with-"

"Now, bro!"

"Phlosion!" Explotaro fired Overheat, just as Sceptile ran in front of him. The Overheat slammed into the grass-type and sent him flying. . . again. "(How's dirt taste?)"

"(Yeah, yeah, very funny!)" Sceptile shoot back sarcastically. "(But, we're just getting started!)" As Sceptile struggled to get to his feet, a few small flames made themselves visible spread randomly across his body.

"Sceptile's been burnt!" Serena exclaimed! If I remember correctly, that means Sceptile's attack power has been cut in half, and that burn will deal damage throughout the battle!

"Explotaro! Just a few more hits like that and this battle will be as good as won!"

"Typhlosion!"

"Not so fast Gold! Sceptile, use Facade!"

Sceptile's fist started to glow white and he ran towards Explotaro. Neither pokemon or trainer had time to react, as Sceptile ran up and punched Explotaro right in the stomach. The force sent the typhlosion flying back towards Gold. He hit the ground and started rolling until he was almost at the edge of the battlefield.

"You okay buddy?" Gold asked, concern evident in his voice.

"Ty-phlosion!" Explotaro slowly picked himself off the ground, clutching his stomach, where the Facade had made contact. "(I'm gonna be feeling that one tomorrow!)"

"What just happened?!" Serena's jaw was dropped! "I thought Sceptile's attack was supposed to be cut in half!"

"Facade's attack power is doubled if the user is burned or poisoned," Brendan answered, the smirk on both his and his pokemon's face was evident. "Let's finish this up, Faca-"

"Overheat, now!" Explotaro let off yet another Overheat. The fiery wave headed straight for Sceptile.

This time, learning from his past mistake, Sceptile canceled his Facade and attempted to cut through the attack with Leaf Blade. The force of the attacks colliding together caused a huge explosion. It kicked up dust and concealed Brendan's side of the battlefield.

"There's no way Sceptile could tough through three super-effective hits, and still be able to fight!" Gold yelled. Brendan simply smirked.

That's when she noticed it. In the midst of the slowly fading dust cloud, Serena could she a purple and white light.

"Be ready for anything, bro!" Gold yelled out to Explotaro. Just after yelling this, a Dragon Pulse ripped through the veil of the dust cloud, simultaneously expelling the cloud and revealing a beaten up, but still standing, Sceptile! "Quick, block with Overheat!"

"Phlosion!" Channeling it through his mouth once more, Explotaro let loose a powerful stream of fire. The two attacks hit causing another explosion and a huge dust cloud.

As the dust settled, the condition of the two pokemon on the field became obvious. Both were breathing heavily, it was the only sound to be heard as both sides stared at their opponent. Explotaro's body was covered in cuts and scratches. His flames seemed to grow larger and smaller in rhythm with his breathing. Sceptile wasn't much better off, covered in cuts, scrapes, and burns. He was visibly hurting from the burn Explotaro had given him. The battle was soon over. That there was no doubt of.

"Well, Ethan, it's been quite the battle. We should do this again sometime!" Brendan started smirking.

"Oh, definitely," Gold agreed, as smirk forming on his face as well. "You might even have a chance at beating me."

"Don't get too cocky! Facade, from above! Now!" Brendan yelled out his command as Sceptile jumped up high towards Explotaro! The grass-type somersaulted in mid-air and started falling down towards his target, his fist glowing white!

"Catch it, bro!"

Explotaro wasted no time. Just as Sceptile was getting close, Explotaro managed to dodge the attack, grab onto Sceptile's arm, and yank downward. The grass-type hit the ground hard, but quickly got himself in a position where he fire another Dragon Pulse, if and when he was given the command.

"(Really, this trick again?! We both know how this ends.)" Sceptile smirked.

"Quick bro, Overheat! Let's finish this!" Gold yelled.

Explotaro smirked as he started to heat up. Sceptile could feel his arm start to get hot. He began to panic. "(Wait! What the hell?!)"

"Sceptile, Dragon Pulse!" Brendan yelled, also starting to panic. "Get out of there!"

Too late, Ruby, Gold thought. He smirked as Explotaro burst into flames for a split second! The huge explosion pushed Sceptile back and flung him into the air. The grass-type hit the ground hard, the momentum from Overheat continued to cause him to roll towards Brendan. He finally slid to a stop at his trainer's feet.

"Scep-" Sceptile tried to pick himself up once more, and fight through his injuries. However his burn caught up to him, and was just enough to cause the grass-type to loss the last of his strength. His arms fell out from under him, and he collapsed on the battlefield. "-tile."

"Sceptile is unable to battle!" Serena announced. "Which means Typhlosion er-, I mean, Explotaro is the winner! The battle goes to Gold!"

"Yeah, alright! Great job bro!"

"Congrats, Gold." Brendan approached. "But if you think you're beating me next time, you're delusional."

"Well, we'll see about that, Ruby."

"My name is Brendan."

"Ha! No its not."

"Well done, both of you," Serena approached the two trainers. "That was quite an exciting battle."

"Well thank you for being referee," Gold replied.

"If not for you, Nurse Joy would never have let us battle in the first place," Brendan added.

BZZT!

Brendan pulled out his phone and looked at the screen. As he read the message that he had just received, his face seemed to go from curious to excited to confused, and finally, to angry… all in about thirty seconds. The trainer tightened the grip on his phone while he balled the other hand up into a fist. "Gold, May just text me."

"Yeah, what's going on that got you looking like you're gonna punch someone?"

"Oh you bet I'm gonna punch someone. I'm gonna punch Drew into next year!"

"What did he do this time."

"He cheated on her. . . again." Brendan answered, the last word through clenched teeth. Serena could tell he was absolutely livid.

"Again?! What is this, the. . ." Gold paused and started mentally counting. ". . . third time now?!"

"Fourth."

May. Where have I heard that name before? Serena thought.

"Ruby, you need to go." Gold's voice took on a serious tone.

"What are you talking about, Ethan."

"To Sapphire's! You need to go there, now!"

"But I thought-"

"Dude," Gold walked up to Brendan until he was right up in the trainer's face and grabbed Brendan's shoulders. "she needs someone right now! She needs you!"

After getting over his initial shock at Gold's seriousness, Brendan slowly nodded his head. He reached towards his belt and pulled out a pokeball.

Gold smirked, "Is that who I think it is?"

"You bet!" Brendan replied, a smirk plastered across his face. He stepped away from Gold and walked to an empty area on the battlefield. He tossed the pokeball and a large green and red dragon-like pokemon emerged.

Serena recognized the pokemon as a Salamence. "So I take it this Salamence is pretty powerful."

"Lets just say, the last time Drew cheated on Sapphire, Salamence wasn't to happy, and was very. . . vocal about it." Gold explained to the performer. "Drew was apologizing and pampering Sapphire for a month."

"And she still went back with him?!"

"Drew is a charmer pulling girls under his spell is kinda his thing. That's part of what makes him such a good Coordinator."

"A Coordinator! You mean he does Pokemon Contests?!"

"Yep, he was Sapphire's main rival when she started out. Back then she was traveling with this kid from Kanto."

"Ethan, I'm mad enough, as it is with this Drew business. Can we, please, not talk about that Ash kid that May keeps talking about!" Brendan cut into the conversation, simultaneously boosting himself atop Salamence's back.

"Come on Ruby, you know he's not a threat. From Sapphire's description, that kid could get shot with one of Cupid's arrows and he'd still be as dense as a brick."

"My name is Brendan!" He spouted out. "Salamence, let's go!" The mighty dragon-type pokemon launched himself into the sky, causing a gust of wind that created a small dust cloud. The dust settled almost as quickly as it had been blown off the ground.

"Go get her, Ruby!" After Brendan left, Gold turned to Serena, to find her unresponsive, with her jaw dropped. "Um, Serena, are you okay?"

"You know Ash?! As in Ash Ketchum!"

"Um, not personally, no. I've heard stories, of course, but there are few trainers of my caliber that haven't. I'm guessing you know him quite well"

"Well..." At that Serena's mind rewound back to that last time she saw Ash… as well as what she did! This, of course, caused her to blush so badly that her entire face turned red.

"Well, that answers that question!" Gold exclaimed. "Now, what the heck happened between you two that got you blushing that badly?!"

Serena's face went from blood red to stark white. "Well, um, you see, I-ah… I kinda, um-"

"Out with it already!"

"Ikissedhim!" Serena squeaked out, as quickly as she could.

"You- You kissed him?"

"Yes!" She started blushing again. "Just as I was going to catch my flight, I ran up the escalator and kissed him! Are you happy?!" Serena squealed embarrassingly.

"For know," Gold replied nonchalantly. "But until then, nice meeting you Serena. See you around." Gold started walking towards the pokemon center.

"Huh? Oh yeah. Nice meeting you!" Serena watched as Gold disappeared into the center. She let out a deep sigh of exhaustion. Well, this has been quite the day, Serena thought. "Now, time to finally get some sleep."

Serena slowly made her way towards the center. She made her way to her room and promptly collapsed on the bed, too tired to bother changing. Serena quickly fell fast asleep, dreaming of Contests and Showcases, travelling across Hoenn, and a certain raven-haired trainer from Pallet Town, with a Pikachu on his shoulder. I'll make you proud Ash. I'll make you proud and never give up! Not until I'm Kalos Queen with you there standing by my side.

AN: Well, what do ya think? Was it worth the wait? I will try do get the next chapter up in less than six months. I knew I'd take awhile, but I never thought it would be 2018! Anyway, hope you enjoyed, make sure to review and fav & follow and all that good stuff and whatnot. See ya!