Nebula perched herself on a small rock as Eevee made eye contact with her, the quadruped offering a few instructive barks to get started.

As she began to talk, Eevee started to really realize that this was her first serious interaction with the Staravia since her grudge against her had subsided. She couldn't help the awkward sensation that reached her chest, but tried her best to shake it off and focus on the topic. Nebula slowly nodded along to what she said before Eevee turned around for a quick demonstration.

Sticking her tail upwards, the normal type took a deep breath before opening her mouth, letting loose a steady stream of golden stars into the air as Nebula angled her head upward to watch. As the Swift continued to flow from her mouth, Eevee began turning her head, allowing the stars to shift in direction before letting up and turning back to Nebula. Raising a paw, she asked her bird teammate to give the move a try; once Nebula was able to use the move decently, Eevee would act as a moving target to test out Swift's homing attributes.

Nodding back at her new training partner, Nebula propelled herself off of her perched rock with a quick flap of the wings, soaring into the air, but making sure to not bring herself too high so as to ensure Eevee could still get a clean view of her at all times. After circling a few laps around the general area, the Staravia closed her eyes for a few seconds, gathering focus as she visualized the move in her brain. Opening her eyes, she performed one final turn before shooting her beak open, prepared to fire…

…Nothing came out at first.

Grunting, Nebula performed another lap, Eevee angling her body around to keep track of her while letting out another bark, reminding the Staravia of her previous instructions. Nodding back, Nebula closed her eyes again, this time taking a bit longer to visualize the goldens tars that she wanted erupting for her beak.

This time, as she reopened her eyes and her beak, a single star emerged, followed by one more a few seconds later. Clenching her beak shut, Nebula shook her head in mild exasperation. At least she could produce the move.

Hearing Eevee barking for another attempt, Nebula circled the area for another lap, before reopening her beak. The stars began coming out in delayed periods; rather than a steady stream like Eevee had produced, one, single star would precede the next by a decent few seconds. A quick bark from Eevee told her to stop, and to look back down to the ground. Nebula's attention quickly moved downward to her instructor, who, after seeing that she had the Staravia's attention, let loose a second stream of golden stars, this time aimed for the rock that Nebula had been perched on just moments before.

Nebula could hear Eevee repeating a portion of her earlier instructions a second time, closing her eyes again as she circled around. Doing her best to forget about everything else, she tried to focus all of her efforts into producing a decent Swift.

The stars once again left her beak one at a time, but now, each star preceded the next by only two to three seconds. It certainly wasn't a well-done version of the move, but it was beginning to look a bit more like a stream.

Eevee watched Nebula continue for a few more moments before getting an idea. Abruptly, she called down for the Staravia to aim at her. In confusion, Nebula looked downward and chirped back. She hadn't been using the move good enough yet.

Another bark from Eevee. If Nebula tried to focus on aiming at her right now, it could give the training for the move more direction.

Although a bit unsure, Nebula nodded back at the normal type quadruped, circling around one final time before lowering herself a bit closer to the ground, and taking aim at her partner.

Eevee leapt to the side to avoid the first star, then to the other side to avoid the second. Once the third came out, she broke into a run, weaving around a few rocks as Nebula pursued her, firing off the golden stars of Swift as consecutively as she was able to.

/

"Anyway, that's my brief rundown on how to pick out the correct climbing gear." Tanner finished, seated on a rock while watching Ash and Janine wrote in their notebooks across from him.

Not too far from them, Slowbro had been coaching Tempest, Tentacruel, and Skrelp for a little over an hour. The former had been a lot more cooperative than normal, although Ash was aware it was simply due to Tempest's newfound knowledge of who Tanner and Slowbro were. To his mild surprise, the river crab didn't even seem to be jealous, per se, although he was certain that the Krabby would be picturing the Slowbro in his mind whenever he trained for the foreseeable future.

Thankfully, that cooperation was seemingly paying off. Already, Tempest and Skrelp seemed a little bit better balanced than before when practicing Surf, adhering Slowbro's careful instructions throughout the training session. The pink Pokemon in question never dropped his… less than active expression throughout the tutelage, making for a somewhat goofy scene to any outsider that may be passing by, but Ash and Janine knew better than to doubt whatever advice he was giving his temporary students.

The three trainers made sure to pay attention to the group of water types as they practiced together, but Tanner had also taken it upon himself to share some advice of his own with the two first-timers. Ash had quickly found that the older trainer's casual lectures gave off a much different feeling than the academic lessons at school. Those were always very well informed and detailed, but Tanner's examples, while not as professionally presented, were from a hands-on perspective, and covered specific, less generalized areas that school never had.

His advice had mostly centered around traveling; he had just gone over climbing gear, and had, prior to that, shared some wisdom on how Pokemon herd patterns could affect traveling routes and be planned around, and how to notice the signs that a Pokemon's nesting grounds may be nearby (which he had emphasized would be crucial further east). He had even shared a story on how his ten-year old self had found himself in a Nidoqueen's nest (which he seemed to have found very amusing in hindsight, although Ash hardly imagined he had felt the same way in the moment).

Janine set her notebook down while taking the time to glance back at their Pokemon, noticing with a small smile that Skrelp had achieved a new record for longest time without falling off of her water pillar.

"Thanks for that," she commented, refocusing her attention on the older trainer. "Honestly I never really considered using the ax that way. I've had my share of hands-on practice in a lot of things, but certainly not mountains."

"It really does rewrite every article you've ever read." Tanner nodded along. "Once you do it for yourself, I mean. I was decent enough in school, a bit above average across the board, and when I first set out from Cherrygrove, I tried to keep all of those theoretical assignments in my mind. But with every experience that I had, my thoughts would just rearrange themselves, y'know? School will always be important, but nobody steps out of it an expert trainer. Students come out of it ready for all of their accumulated knowledge to be recontextualized." he reached into the bag of cheddar chips beside him. "And overall, I'd say it's been more fun that way. Apart from almost getting skewered in the chest by a mama Nidoqueen, obviously."

Ash was almost disturbed at the casual laugh Tanner let out. "You seem to be taking that incident pretty well…"

Shamelessly, the teenager shrugged at him. "Eh, it was certainly my least favorite memory from my rookie year. Wasn't even upset that I had only gotten six badges come the end of the Season, I was just grateful that my life hadn't ended two months ago. Carried that with me the whole final couple of months barely even caring if I made it to the Indigo plateau at that point." he leaned back a bit, taking the time to chew on his chips before finishing up. "But it's far enough in the past now. I didn't actually get hurt, and neither did my team. It was just a close call, a lot easier to move on from now that I'm at where I'm at. Besides, if that was the wakeup call ten-year old me needed to learn how dang awful his camping habits were, then better sooner than later."

Janine frowned in sympathy. "Was the first year really that bad?"

"Name any common trap or blunder a first year could fall into. I was bruised deep in those." Tanner took a moment to glance off to the side, observing Slowbro conversing with the other three water types. "In all honesty? I thought those six badges were just Mew expressing pity for me. I have no idea how I even got that far. It's the average number of badges that first years normally get, and quite frankly, it never felt like I was performing up to the standard. Even now, I still can't help but look back at it all and wonder if it was a fluke."

'A fluke…' Ash's mind flashed back to his battle with Brock. On one hand, something inside of him had changed on that day. But on the other hand, there had always been that doubtful voice whispering in the back of his ear that he had just gotten lucky, and simply performed something that wouldn't be replicated again. His battle with Daisy had thankfully silenced that voice of doubt.

"But again, in the past. First year was fun for all the reasons it needed to be, but in every other regard, the second was way better. Nowhere near as many mistakes, got to the Conference for the first time and finished in the Top 32. Goes without saying that I came out of that way more satisfied with myself, and the rest is history." His grin was casual and relaxed. "That's part of why I'm telling you all of this. Just don't be like me, and you'll find that sensation far sooner. There's nothing quite like the feeling; standing in those stadiums is the ultimate sign from the universe that you've made it as a trainer."

Ash quickly found his expression matching the older boy's. It was a message told and reminded of ad nauseum, but hearing it directly from one of those competitors, face to face, and in person, hit much different.

Janine's face wore a similar vibe. "I remember my aunt telling me about her first Conference story. It felt like she was radiating when she spoke."

"Sounds about right to me." Tanner replied, quickly glancing at his watch. "Hmmm… got a couple hours left. I could probably go for about another half hour before having to get moving. Still got a quick stop I have to make before boarding the Magnet Train."

The two nodded at him in understanding as Ash stood up. "I'll be back, I have to check on the rest of my team real quick. They're probably due for some oran berries."

"Gotcha," said Tanner. "We'll just be over here." Janine nodded in affirmation.

The two watched Ash walk off for a few moments before Tanner returned to his bag of chips. Janine watched him eat for a few moments before speaking up.

"So…" she got his attention. "You said you've been concealing yourself in public for about a year and a half?"

"Mhm." Tanner nodded. "Certainly around that amount of time. Long since gotten used to it."

"So," Janine's finger rested on her chin. "What made you decide to do it in the end? Was it anything specific, or did you just choose in the moment?"

The older trainer took a few moments to process her question. "After I placed in the Top 8 in my third year, it was hard to go out in public, mostly big places, without being spotted. I wasn't impossible to miss, not yet, at any rate, but suffice to say, my fourth year in the field was filled with "Hey, aren't you Tanner, the guy from the Conference?" and just about any other variation that you could think of." he took the last few chips out of his bag and began chewing on them. After swallowing, he shrugged with a bit of a sigh. "I guess it all just accumulated, y'know? Towards the end of the Season, the idea just popped into my mind. And once I received third place in the next Conference shortly after, I needed it more than ever."

Janine wore a sad smile. "I guess that's the bittersweet side of success. Everyone sees you as a hero, or something great, but… they just don't stop seeing you that way."

"Yup, took the words outta my mouth, I'll say. Can still get used to it, but learning to control it for yourself is a major boon. Preserves some of the normalcy of your nostalgic, up-and-coming days." slowly, he reached up and pulled his shades down, getting a close view of Janine without them darkening his vision. "And speaking of recognition… don't think you're fooling me, kiddo."

Although she didn't go pale, Janine stilled, eyes blinking a few times. "Huh…" Unable to help the awkward smile on her lips, her gaze traveled downward. "So… you know, do you?"

"Came to me after you gave your name." Tanner confirmed. He nodded in the direction Ash had walked off. "Does Ash know?"

"Not yet."

"That makes sense. Consider your secret safe with me then; I'm not Slowbro."

Janine's cheeks darkened as a rare sensation of heat made its way to her face. "Thank you." she replied gratefully.

/

"Here, eat up." Ash handed Valiant the oran berry, which the Kirlia accepted with gratitude. When he had arrived, he had taken quick note of the sweat on his psychic friend's face, and the minor burn marks on his hands, most likely from Shadow Ball. The emotion Pokemon quickly nibbled away at the fruit as Ash turned to survey the small area his teammate occupied.

Apart from a few destroyed rocks, he seemed to be aiming the Shadow Balls at thin air. The effects that Valiant's training had on the surroundings seemed rather unremarkable, although Ash knew that was easy for him to think after watching Slowbro drench nearly the entire area Tempest and the others were in. The comparison suddenly made a blinking Ash realize what that could entail for when his team became that strong in the future. How much precautions would they have to take regarding collateral damage? He'd have to ask Tanner about that…

Valiant swallowed the last of the oran berry and looked up at his trainer with a rejuvenated grin. "Thank you."

Ash gave him a thumbs up. "Don't mention it. So, things coming along fine with you?"

Rather than talk more (which he and Ash both knew he shouldn't do too much of), Valiant turned around, facing one of the nearby rocks, and held out his hands. After closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, a dark purple spark appeared between his hands. Moments later, the flashing spark grew into a crackle, as more and more sparks of the same color frenzied in between his hands. The shape of the distorted aura was aimless, but after growing to full size, the sparks began to condense, taking the form of a sphere.

The Shadow Ball still rippled in Valiant's hands, the occasional piece of the ball jutting out every now and then, signaling to Ash that it wasn't fully stable. But it was structured, a clearly formed sphere of blackish-purple aura.

With a quick grunt, Valiant reared his arms back and hurled the orb at the rock. The ball exploded against the stone, scattering shards in an explosion of sand and dust.

Taking a couple of deep breaths to regain his bearings, Valiant wiped a bead of sweat off of his forehead, before turning to face Ash once more. His trainer wore an impressed smile.

"You've made really good progress, buddy. Charge up time seems to be the area to work on for now," it still took Valiant a decent bit to properly form the sphere. "And I imagine you're not ready for consecutive use in battle, but you've gotten a lot better at forming and using it. How do your hands feel after that?"

Valiant raised his hands, revealing no burn marks. Ash rubbed his chin. "I guess that's another thing with consecutive use. It's always tricky when a Pokemon starts learning a typing that their weak too, outside of dragon types and ghost types learning their own. This is your first time using a ghost move offensively, so that additional strain from the exposure to the typing is a hurdle." Valiant nodded in understanding. "But you're doing fine. We'll keep prioritizing this over Moon Blast and the rest for now. And don't worry about deadlines; we'll be testing everything out in battle once the moves are ready." the Kirlia held his fists out affirmatively, before turning around to resume.

/

"Well, it was nice meeting you two." Tanner stood beside Slowbro as he grinned at Ash and Janine. Tempest, Tentacruel, and Skrelp were lined up nearby, watching them. "Goldenrod's got a tournament with my name on it in a couple days, so I gotta bounce on over there."

Janine raised a brow. "Is it part of the Silver Circuit?" Back before it became a part of Indigo, Johto had its own League called the Silver League. Although the Silver Conference no longer existed in the form that it used to, as the Indigo Conference at the Plateau had replaced it for Johto's trainers, the Region still held a big tournament in honor of the Silver Conference every year, traditionally a month or two before the Indigo Conference itself. Instead of Gym badges (the badges in Johto now counting for the Indigo Conference alongside Kanto's own), a series of tournaments dubbed the Silver Circuit was held across the Johto Region throughout the Season to act as the qualifier for the tournament itself. Though it was no longer a proper Conference where trainer's competed for the opportunity to challenge the Elite Four, it was still a prestigious competition, of which winning was labeled a high honor.

Tanner nodded. "That's the one. Didn't compete last Season, but this Season I'm going as big as possible. Everyone on the team's amped for it." He looked between the two. "Good luck out there, speaking of which. Would love to see you both at the Plateau come the end of the Season."

"Thanks for your advice today." Ash commented.

"Nothing to it." the teen replied casually. "You both are off to a good start, just make sure you keep taking it seriously if you want to get there your first year." Behind his shades, a fire lit up in Tanner's eyes, although neither Ash nor Janine could see it. "And if you do, well, I was speaking to a rival of mine a couple days ago, and she says the analysts are projecting this Season's Indigo Conference to be the stiffest competition in years. Says it's expected to be stacked, even by the usual standards. All the more reason to build yourselves up with everything you've got."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Rival…" Janine repeated. "Was it Patricia?" A trainer from Celadon Tanner's age, with a similar reputation.

"Yup, the one and only." Tanner turned to Slowbro. "You'll behave if I keep you out, right?" Though his partner's expression remained dull and unresponsive, the pink Pokemon mustered up the effort to turn to his trainer and nod.

Janine bowed. "Thank you for all your time today. We'll make sure our teams take the surfing lessons to heart."

"Good to hear." turning to walk away, Tanner offered the duo a casual wave. "Stay fiery, kids." The two rookies waved back as he and Slowbro walked off, although neither looked back to see them.

Once they were gone, Ash and Janine turned to each other. "It's about lunch time," he commented. "Do you want to call it for now?"

"I'm going to make one more round." she replied. "You guys can go ahead if you want, we'll meet you at the cafeteria."

/

The next several days fell into a healthy pattern for both teams. Pikachu and Tyrunt continued their usual routine, honing the strength of Tyrunt's fists for Brick Break, the execution of his Earth Power, and the young dinosaur's tactical awareness in battle. The mouse was sure to set aside some time to brush up on his own moveset, often with tyrunt watching during breaks from their cooperative training.

Whilst continuing to perfect Air Cutter, Nebula took coaching from Eevee to get Swift properly executed, while Valiant alternated between Shadow Ball, Moon Blast, honing the rest of his moves, and being coached in Icy Wind by a dismissively cooperative Tempest. The Krabby in question would spend everyday with Tentacruel and Skrelp when not sparring with Eevee, giving passive-aggressive lessons to Valiant, and working on his own individual skills. It would still be quite a long time before any of the three water types would be utilizing Surf to the degree that Tanner's Slowbro did, but even just a single session with the aquatic psychic had done wonders for perspective and guidance, and despite himself, Tempest never allowed himself to forget the insight provided to him by the experienced veteran.

Eating arrangements had slowly altered, to the point where it felt like the kind of change too subtle to notice until it had already changed quite a lot. Though Tyrunt was always eager to share his training experiences with Valiant and Eevee (the two feeling varying levels of amusement to the youngest team member's excited ramblings), and was always close to them come bedtime, the royal heir Pokemon now sat next to Pikachu and Nebula during meals, often chatting with the mouse about potential improvement to their respective movesets, and asking the bird a series of curious questions ranging from her own training to what flying was like.

Tempest had turned down Tentacruel's occasional offers to sit with her and Skrelp during meals (which the mock kelp seemed to be relieved by), and continued to eat alone. Since the past couple of days, however, he hadn't gone off on his own during training breaks, remaining with Janine's two water types during resting periods.

Across the board, progress made itself known for all twelve Pokemon involved, but that just meant that there was one more, additional phase to go through before the time came to challenge Sabrina's Gym. Neither Ash nor Janine were going to leave anything to chance until they saw their respective teammate's improvements firsthand on the battlefield, and planned to spend the next few days seeking challenges from the various other trainers within the city, which there was very clearly no shortage of. They also needed the money, and Ash already had a fairly decent idea of what he wanted to buy.

Even beyond all of that, however, he wanted a financial cushion. ENough money to where he wouldn't need to go by a city-to-city budget, but would always have something decent in his account. This would, at the very least, be a decent step to all of that. After all, over the course of their stay, Saffron's Pokemon Center hadn't stopped being a goldmine of competition. And a good few trainers also occupied the various makeshift training grounds the two teams had utilized on the outskirts. Of course, the vast majority of competitive spirit resided at the Pokemon Center's public battlefield, which always saw occupation from multiple people at once.

Right now, however, they were at the training grounds.

"Ivysaur, Infection Blast!" Off to the side, Ash, Pikachu, Eevee, and Tyrunt were watching Janine's battle with a boy their age. Elsewhere, Valiant and Tempest were with Tentacruel and Skrelp, the river crab begrudgingly providing the Kirlia with additional coaching during a break from Surf practice. Nebula and Toxtricity were sharing a quick snack together while watching them train. On the other side, Janine's battle with her opponent had garnered a small audience, a boy and a girl of the same age.

Ivysaur bent his body forward to take aim at the opposing Raticate with his bud, which opened up to release the familiar stream of glowing seeds coated in bright purple powder.

The Raticate, already bruised from previous blows, bolted to the side before changing direction to charge right for Ivysaur. The rat's tail coated itself in metal as the rodent lashed out, but Ivysaur's bud quickly sprouted two vines that pressed into the ground and slingshotted Janine's starter out of harm's way.

"Back, Ivysaur." As Raticate's tail struck nothing but air, the normal type halted his momentum and shifted position, turning to face the direction Ivysaur had retreated in, just in time for the seed Pokemon's vines to press into the ground again just as he landed, propelling him off of the pavement back in the direction that he chad come from, shoulder-first into the surprised Raticate's face.

"Raticate!" Janine's opponent wasn't masking his nerves. His Croconaw had already lost to Golbat after only getting a few brief moments of offense, and Raticate was already getting knocked around early into this round of the match. "Ice Beam!"

Despite the pin, Raticate landed on his feet, sliding back a few moments before sinking down to all fours and letting loose a blast of ice from his mouth as he ran forward. Once again, Ivysaur slingshotted himself to the side, leaving the ice to freeze over the ground where the grass/poison type once stood.

"Sludge Bomb." Janine unflinchingly ordered.

"Double Team!" the boy frantically called out. Just as Ivysaur began to bend forward, opening up the bud on his back in preparation to launch the glob of sludge, Raticate split into two.

"Hold." Though Janine quickly changed her orders, her cool tone remained unaltered as Ivyausar stood in place.

Her opponent seemed to take her choice of words as a sign of hesitance, a slight excitement creeping its way into her tone. "Super Fang!"

Even as both Raticate began to bolt forward towards the target, Janine's words escaped her mouth with rapid fluidity.

"Fire, then Venom Vine in the mouth." Before her opponent had any chance to process what was about to happen, Ivysaur fired the glob of sludge, which ended up striking the clone Raticate, immediately forcing it to vanish. Even as the sludge lef the bud, however, a vine was already sprouting, the tip coated in purple powder as it lashed out at the real Raticate, whose mouth was opening wide.

Knowing exactly what was on the vine, Ash felt his heart skip a beat, and his stomach churn, as the Poison Powder-covered vine was shoved directly into the approaching Raticate's mouth and down his throat, the rodent's fairly quick momentum exacerbating the insertion.

The normal type's eyes looked like they might bulge out of his face as his paws immediately (and futilley) shot for his throat. As Ivysaur retracted his vine, Raticate lost his footing, sinking to his bottom as a disturbing choking noise emitted from the rodent. The opposing trainer's fists shook in desperation as he attempted to call out to his partner.

Raising an arm, Janine's expression and tone remained neutral. "Energy Ball!"

As Raticate began to cough, an emerald sphere of light erupted from ivysaur's open mouth and into the rodent's stomach, bowling him over onto his back as his mouth hung open.

Not even an instant later, Raticate's body vanished in a red flash of light as his trainer frantically held out a Poke Ball.

"I forfeit!" the boy quickly declared, reaching up with his other hand in an effort to wipe the sweat off of his face. "You win, I'm done."

Janine crossed her arms, face remaining stoic as she nodded in acknowledgement of her opponent's surrender. As her gaze turned downward to greet Ivysaur as he approached her, however, her lips curved into a smile as she bent down to pat her starter's head, the seed Pokemon closing his eyes and leaning into her touch.

"Good work as always, Ivysaur. Another great win."

The shift in behavior, now that Ash had time to take it in, was almost unsettling to him. What had happened between Ivysaur and Raticate was not a first; just in the previous round, Golbat had shoved two Steel Wings into the boy's Croconaw's mouth to forcibly pry the water type's jaws wide open. In an earlier battle, Ivysaur had choked a Bayleaf into submission the same way he had done to Damian's Charmeleon back in Celadon (mercifully, Bayleaf had submitted before passing out).

And yet… here she was now. It was all so dissonant; one moment Janine was one of the most compassionate and comfortable to be around people Ash had known, but the moment a battle was declared, she turned cold: Calculated and ruthless, resorting to whatever brutal, shameless, low-blowing tactic that would capture the win. Expression completely cool headed and even throughout. And then when the action died down, suddenly she was back to her old self; as though nothing had happened at all.

"If I hadn't known better, I'd have thought she had two personalities." Ash almost jumped a bit; he hadn't noticed Valiant and Tempest had joined them on the sidelines. Apparently, his psychic friend was thinking similar to him; that seemed to happen a lot.

"Heh…" with a small smile, Ash turned to the Kirlia and Krabby, the latter of whom was eying Ivysaur. "I wouldn't blame you." looking back at Janine, she saw her and the boy with their Pokedexes out, likely going through the "prize money" process. As the boy left with a hasty speedwalk, she turned to the two other trainers who had been watching.

"Would you guys like a match?" she inquired.

With an uneasy grin, the other boy held his hands out. "Oh, no thanks. We… have somewhere to be."

"Yeah," the girl sweated. "Maybe another time." Janine watched the duo depart from the scene with a little bit too much franticity.

"Congrats," Janine and Ivysaur turned around, perking up as Ash, Eevee, and Tyrunt stopped in front of them. Behind them, Valiant and Tempest had rejoined Tentacruel and Skrelp, and Pikachu had gone over to Nebula and Toxtricity. "That was… impressive." Ash hoped the compliment didn't sound too forced; he didn't completely mean for it to be.

Janine smiled. "Thanks, Ash." As Eevee, Tyrunt and Ivysaur began to chat at their feet, she turned her head to the city proper. "I think I'm going to take a break pretty soon, now. Go out in the city to browse for some necessities." she turned back to him. "Would you like to come with me?"

With some regret, Ash shook his head. "Thanks, but I want to make sure I'm more securely stocked on money first. I was thinking of heading back to the Center soon; see how much is going on at the battlefield. Overhearing him, Tyrunt's face lit up.

She seemed more understanding than disappointed. "Alright, I'll see you back at the Center later, then?"

He nodded. "Yeah, sounds like a plan."

/

The Chikorita let out a cry as Tempest's Metal Claw smacked her away from him. Landing on her head, the grass type bounced along the pavement for a few moments before going still, quickly returned by her trainer, a different boy about Ash's age.

Although it meant he had needed to wait his turn, Ash had found it was his lucky day upon reaching the Pokemon Center's public battlefield; it was bursting with activity. Numerous trainers (mostly about his age) on the sidelines waiting their turn while watching whoever was currently participating duke it out with one another. An exciting mix of competition and conversation that only the training community could produce radiated throughout the air: it was the place to be.

When it was finally Ash's turn at the front of the line, his team had quickly jumped to the occasion. Tyrunt and Nebula both saw immediate action, although the former would fall after a couple of bouts, and the latter would be left drained after being forced into her Reckless state, and Pikachu had been active for a brief moment as well. Quickly, Ash had found himself racking up a winning streak in front of the audience, and the fair amount of prize money to go along with it. Beside him, Eevee watched, still yet to participate.

As the trainer's gathered clapped, Ash felt a bit of an adrenaline rush, but suppressed it enough to survey his water type partner. Tempest, after happily celebrating his victory with pumped up pincers, had voluntarily taken a seat as their opponent fished for a second Poke Ball; his outer shell was lined with bruises and a burn mark, and his breathing was growing just a bit heavy.

"Tempest…" the Krabby turned his head to his trainer as Eevee remained perched at Ash's feet. Despite his good mood, Ash's face grew a bit serious. "That was your fourth fight in a row, wanna quit while you're ahead?" The river crab had been dominant ever since he was called on, but sooner or later Ash knew his stamina would give in at some point.

Perking up, Tempest quickly rose to his feet, turning to Ash in full and promptly shaking his head as the opposing trainer decided on their next member. Brow furrowing at his partner's stubbornness, Ash's face formed into a frown. 'I see someone's right in his element…' If he was this excited, he'd only be able to imagine what that meant for how Tempest was feeling right about now.

"Tempest, I know you're having fun, I am too, but I'm telling you, there will be plenty of time for that tomorrow. Competition's not going anywhere." Stubbornly, Tempest shook his head yet again, seemingly more as a request than a refusal.

After observing the crab for a few more moments, Ash finally sighed. "Fine…" the water type began to perk up as his trainer held up his index finger. "You'll get one more, but then it's Eevee's turn. No "buts", alright?" Satisfied, Tempest nodded back with an eager grin.

"Yeah! The streak continues!" Ash heard a rowdy girl yell in the small audience. The situation had created a fairly unique atmosphere that he was not fully used too yet: But he knew that he needed to be: after all, the stadiums at Indigo Plateau would be hell of a lot more than this, even if he didn't make it to the main stadium for the Top 16 (and he'd still be there for the opening ceremony regardless). Not to mention Surge's Gym, but he did his best to suppress that memory for the time being.

Expression reminding Ash of Trucy Pallet Town, Tempest turned back to the trainer on the opposite end to await his next opponent, clicking pincers making his intentions clear.

Holding his Poke Ball without a word, the other boy quickly released a Machop, who bent his knees and assumed a fighting stance whilst stoically locking eyes with the excited Krabby. "That thing's a freak of nature, Jumbo! Hit him as you can; he's already hurt. Punch through the bruises!"

The Machop, Jumbo, quickly kicked off the ground as his now-fully curled up fist lit up with electricity. Acting fast, Tempest lunged forward, firing off two streams of boiling water that Jumbo sidestepped away from. The Scald provided a brief distraction for Tempest to close a bit of the distance, freezing the pavement just next to the Machop with a fast Icy Wind.

Caught off guard by the hastily-fired attack, Jumbo immediately found his footing compromised, raising a leg in the air with a startled cry as the fighting type, now on one foot, slid across the small patch of ice whilst struggling to maintain his balance.

"Razor Shell!"

Just as the Machop exited the icy patch, Tempest was already upon him, swinging his pincer forward as the watery blade that he held crashed into the superpower Pokemon's chest. Jumbo grunted in discomfort, flipping over from the impact of the blow, but easily landing on his feet, sliding back a notable bit and crouching down as his hand massaged his chest.

Although the Razor Shell had left a bruise, Ash noted that the immediate effects didn't seem all that debilitating; Jumbo was tough, and Ash wondered if Tempest was having a harder time striking at full power after being active for this long without any breaks.

Their opponent seemed eager to capitalize on the latter (not that Ash would have been any different). "Focus Energy and Thunder Punch, Jumbo!" he quickly added: "Use Dig to reach him!"

'Machop can use Dig?!' beside Ash, Eevee seemed to be equally alarmed. "Water Pulse, Tempest!" hoping to stop their opponent, Tempest quickly held out his pincers, charging up two orbs of water in both of them before firing. Jumbo was acting fast, however, hands mashing away at the cement he was standing on, and ducked into the hole he had dug just in time to leave the two Water Pulses to crash into the barriers in front of the opposing trainer. Noticing a small fissure making its way towards Tempest, Ash quickly called out. "Be on guard!"

Crossing his pincers in defense, Tempest began backing away, preventing Jumbo from emerging just beneath him. Beneath the electricity, the Machop's fist was glowing from the bright, white light of Focus Energy as he swung it forward, aimed for the charred bruise on Tempest's front.

The young Krabby's Metal Claw collided with the blow in intercept, but Tempest almost immediately felt his muscles beginning to strain as the Machop's offense pushed back against his block. After a few moments of struggling (where the river crab's outstretched outstretched limb began to increasingly tremble), the water type was forced to stagger backwards as the metallic pincer was propelled behind him. Raising his other fist, Jumbo drove a second punch into the targeted bruise.

Ash looked on with a pained wince as Tempest gasped and sputtered for air from the impact. Abruptly, however, a second Icy Wind began to escape from his now open pincers, and Jumbo, without warning, was quick to find the ground that he stood on coated with slippery ice. Before his trainer could even cry out in warning, the fighting type's footing completely failed him, falling painfully on his right side.

Lashing out, Tempest's pincers glowed with the familiar light-blue aura of Vise Grip, seizing the Machop by the neck and turning him around. Allowing himself to collapse onto his back, with Jumbo's own back on top of him, Tempest wrapped both pincers around his opponent's neck before the fighting type could even have enough time to think to struggle.

As the young Machop wriggled desperately against the water type's hold, his trainer calling out order after order, an unprepared Ash flinched at the sight. 'He's finding some inspiration from Janine, isn't he?' On instinct, he almost told his partner to stop.

Unable to gasp for air, Jumbo gripped Tempest's pincers, still securely fastened around his neck, and strained to pry them off. The pincers budged a little bit as the fighting type continuously pushed, but to no consequential avail. Finally, like a wrestler tapping out, the Machop's palm began striking the pavement, and his trainer returned him moments later. With his opponent gone, Tempest allowed himself to ease, pincers spreading out on either side of him as he stayed on the ground trying to catch his breath, much more clearly exhausted than prior.

More applause sounded off from the audience as the opposing trainer held up his hand, walking across the battlefield to make his way to Ash and his two teammates. "I give up, you win."

As his opponent stopped in front of him, Ash frowned apologetically. "Sorrow about that, I hope Jumbo's okay."

"He is, don't worry." the other trainer spoke reassuringly. "You just had me beat, that's all. Congratulations." he took out his Pokedex, touching through a few menus before stopping to await Ash's response. Quickly, Ash, having brought out his own during the process, accepted the prize money before offering his hand.

"Good match." the other trainer agreed as the two shook. As the other boy walked off and headed back inside, Ash looked down at Tempest, who still lay in his previous position, perfectly conscious, but clearly not getting back up, or seemingly making any effort to. Sighing, he walked over to his partner, crouching down to meet him at eye level. "Alright Tempest, that's enough for today."

The Krabby gurgled a response, which didn't sound defiant or protest, so Ash decided to take it as a "yes".

Fishing out Tempest's Poke Ball, Ash enlarged the orb before holding it out in front of the water type's face. A grin made itself known on his lips as he offered the spent Pokemon an approving nod. "You were excellent today, great work." Another gurgle, this one more explicitly happy as Ash tapped the ball against the Krabby's forehead.

As her teammate vanished into the orb, Eevee sighed to herself, seemingly relieved to be rid of the river crab for the time being.

Standing back upright and reclipping the Poke Ball to his belt, Ash felt some pressure on his body as the normal type scaled his back and perched herself onto his shoulder. Slightly surprised, but smiling back at her nonetheless, he adjusted himself to the added weight before offering his friend a quick scratch beneath the chin, which she happily accepted, raising her head and closing her eyes with soft pur that easily reached his ears.

Turning to the audience, however, he suddenly felt a bit awkward. There wasn't an absurd number of people present, probably only about a dozen or so, but being the center of attention (in a manner that didn't involve mockery) was a new feeling he'd have to grow accustomed to.

"So, uh…" he trailed off for a moment. "Who wants to be next, I guess?"

"I am going to be next, thank you very much."

Ash and Eevee both jolted. The tone of voice had been final, leaving no room for argument no matter how badly the other trainers protested, but Ash had barely even registered the delivery: he was too focused on the voice, far too familiar to not recognize.

Turning in the direction of the bold declaration, a surprised Ash and Eevee watched a figure step out to the front of the small crowd: A girl slightly taller than him, with casual clothing, and blazing orange hair wrapped into a ponytail on the side of her head. She had attention to spare, and it was solely focused on him.

"What's up?" Misty addressed him with a smirk. "It's been a hot minute."