chapter 4

Ash stepped out into the middle of the battlefield after wishing his fiancé luck in her upcoming battle to see the well-muscled, hardened soldier he'd first met 9 years earlier.

"Well, if it isn't the kid with the Pikachu!" boomed Surge with his huffing laugh. "I saw him in a video of your battle with Whitney. All these years and that Pikachu of yours still hasn't evolved! Mighty stubborn, that one is! How've you been kid?"

Ash smiled gently at the slightly overbearing yet friendly enough ex-soldier. "Well enough, Surge. You?"

"Eh, the life of a gym leader can be boring from time to time, but it has its perks."

"Will the battlers please take their places?" called the ref.

"Good luck out there, kid. You're gonna need it!"

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing." Ash matched Surge's smirk with one of his own.

Surge threw his head back and let out a booming laugh. "I knew there was a reason I liked you, kid!"

As the two trainers took their places on opposite sides of the battlefield, the announcer began to speak.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Have we got a treat for you today! In this preliminary round battle, we find the Vermillion City gym leader Lt. Surge as league representative! Challenging him will be Ash Ketchum! This trainer recently returned from an apparent hiatus to dominate his match earlier today against Goldenrod gym leader, Whitney! Will he be able to do the same facing off with a type disadvantage?"

Over the roaring of the crowd, the ref called for Surge to release his 1st Pokemon.

"Magnezone, on the field!" boomed Surge.

In a bright flash, the giant floating saucer with Magnets for hands appeared.

Ash smirked, tossing out his Pokeball.

"Staraptor, I choose you!"

"Alright! Finally some action!"

Ash snickered slightly at his proud bird's battling spirit.

"Listen, guys, I want to finish this quickly so I can maybe get to see some of Dawn's battle with Iris." Ash communicated to all of the Pokemon he had on him through his aura.

"Dawn's battling Iris? Holy mother of…. I suppose that's where Pikachu is, watching with Sam? Well, as long as I get to see it too I'll win you this battle fast enough to make Swellow's head spin."

Ash barely held in the laugh that wanted to bubble up at the indignant noise coming from Swellow's aura, from where he lay waiting in one of the other pokeballs on Ash's belt. "You've got a deal."

"Battle begin!"

Dawn stood just outside the stadium, getting ready to walk through the doors. She took a deep breath, trying to calm the nerves threatening to flare up once again.

"Hey Dawn, don't be like that! Remember what Ash and Sam said?"

Dawn smiled at Piplup's reminder, thinking back on Ash's goodbye to her before leaving for his battle.

Flashback

Dawn, Ash, and Sam were walking out of the Pokemon Center on their way to the two battles.

"Man, am I glad I watched Ash's battle first! Now I can just go watch Dawn's without having to feel guilty. This is one battle I do NOT want to miss." Said Sam with a chuckle.

Ash and Dawn laughed as well, but Dawn's laugh rang slightly hollow. Her two companions shared a look before turning to look at the bluenette on the group's right flank.

"Dawn, is everything okay?" asked Ash.

"Of course! No need to worry!" Dawn replied, trying to give Ash her bright grin, but Ash could feel her anxiety through their aura connection, and Sam knew her well enough to see through her façade.

"Ok, wanna try that one again?" Ash shouted down her protest to continue. "Dawn, Do I need to remind you that you and I can't lie to each other about our moods?"

Dawn pursed her lips. "You're enjoying getting back at me for all of the times I've said that to you." It wasn't a question.

"Irrelevant information," Ash replied with a smirk before sobering. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, it's just… this is important to me, you know? I need to beat her. I need to beat her badly. I don't want to mess this up."

Dawn's companions gave each other significant glances before turning back to the coordinator.

"Ok Dawn, first things first." Sam began. "Iris is a gym leader. As such, I've seen footage of some of her battles, and I say this with the weight of a professional evaluation- as long as you have your head in the game and don't use a new pokemon, I'm not sure you're even capable of losing to her anymore. Iris may be good, but you are better, end of discussion. And if you doubt that for one second, I'll sic Tropius on you."

Dawn smiled through the reassurance and even managed a chuckle at the reminder of Sam's Tropius and his tendency to ruin Dawn's precious hairstyles whenever it used its Gust attack.

"Now, as for me," Ash took over, "Dawn, I know you're gonna win this battle. I KNOW it. But there's one thing I know even better, and it's something you need to know too. I know you feel the need to beat Iris so badly for me, but Dawn, I fell in love with you for who you are, not just what you can do as a Pokemon trainer. I love how you are with your Pokemon, I love how you look at the world, at other people, how I feel when I'm around you. So, even if all of the legendary Pokemon conspire to hit your Pokemon at the exact wrong moment and you lose to Iris, I'll still think you're the best Pokemon trainer I know, I'll still love you, and I still won't be able to wait until I marry you."

Dawn's eyes were watering by the time Ash finished his speech. She felt the confidence radiating from her good friend. She felt the calm presence of her partner nodding his head from her shoulder, the small Penguin utterly certain of the battle to come. But most of all, she felt the presence of her fiancé's aura, matching exactly the burning look in those brown eyes searing her, both tools he used to fill her soul to the brim with his love for her. After a moment or two taking this all in, she blinked back her tears and nodded confidently.

"Right. No need to worry!" And this time she meant it. At that moment, Dawn almost felt sorry for Iris.

Almost.

Flashback End

Dawn remembered the look on Ash's face and beamed, those nerves beaten into submission once more.

"Thanks, Piplup! Now let's go out there and take her down!"

"Oh Yeah!

Head held high, Dawn marched out onto the field, taking in the cheering of the crowd around her for only a moment, before her gaze locked onto one person walking towards the center of the field to meet her. Her eyes narrowed as she stuck out her hand.

Iris clapped her hand back and the two shook firmly, only their eyes expressing their feelings toward one another, at least until Iris spoke.

"You're going down, little kid. I still owe you."

Dawn smiled maliciously. "And I still owe you, more than that slap could ever cover. But don't worry, you'll be getting all of that by the end of this battle."

"Hmph. We'll see."

And with that, the two women turned their backs on each other and retreated to their positions opposite each other.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! This preliminary match-up will be aspiring Pokemon Coordinator Dawn Berlitz of Twinleaf Town facing off against Iris, Gym leader of Opelucid City! Ms. Berlitz will be allowed the use of any Pokemon in her possession for this battle. Who will come out on top?"

"Druddigon, come on out!" called Iris as she tossed her Pokeball. The ball popped open and let out a white light, resolving itself in the form of the scaly flying beast with multiple horns all along his body.

Dawn smiled, knowing precisely whom she wanted to use for this battle. She raised her own Pokeball and gave it a toss.

"Salamence! Spotlight!"

Emerging for her Pokeball was a massive blue, red, and white dragon, landing on the ground before raising his head and letting out a roar at his opponent, who snarled but didn't look too sure of itself. Iris blinked, clearly surprised to find herself facing a powerful Dragon-type.

"Battle begin!" called the ref.

"Druddigon, Dragon Rush!"

Druddigon immediately cloaked himself in a blue-green sheath of draconic energy and lunged for Salamence.

"Salamence, counter with Dragon Rage!"

Hearing his master's order, Salamence angled his head to point his mouth at the oncoming attack as a pulse of similar energy built up in his stomach moving through his body towards his mouth. In a split second the attack was ready and launched. The Dragon-head-shaped energy met the charging beast halfway, causing a colossal explosion and tossing Druddigon back to his trainer to land in a heap, where he struggled to get back on his feet. Iris blinked before letting out a low growl of frustration. She knew quite well that Dragon Rush was a much more powerful attack than Dragon Rage. For Salamence to have overwhelmed Druddigon that badly with a Dragon Rush of his own he'd have to be twice as powerful. With an attack like Dragon Rage, he'd need to be twice as powerful as that. She was getting toyed with.

Seeing the glare coming her way, Dawn smirked.

Sam sat in the stands, watching the battle between Druddigon and Salamence take shape with Pikachu on one leg and the bucket of popcorn the two were sharing on the other.

"Dang, Pikachu. I'd hate to be on the other side of a that-ticked-off Dawn. She's kicking Dragon-girl around like a soccer ball."

"Pika-Pika-Chu-Pika," Pikachu responded in agreement around another mouthful of popcorn. Sam may not have been able to understand pokemon the same way Dawn and Ash could, but he knew Pikachu well enough by now that something like a simple, "No, really? Stop saying obvious things, just let me eat my popcorn and watch that overgrown lizard get his butt handed to him on a silver platter in peace" was easy enough for him to understand. Chuckling, Sam nodded once before wincing as he saw Druddigon take a vicious hit from his own deflected Dragon Pulse.

"Wow, I never knew Dawn had a Pokemon like that." Came a familiar voice from Sam's left, walking down the aisle towards him.

Chuckling, Sam turned to the speaker. "Well the history with that Salamence is kind of complicated, she was probably waiting to explain it to you. I'd wondered if you would be here Johanna."

Johanna Berlitz gave a soft smile to her old friend before taking the seat he offered on his left side. "What, you didn't think I'd come to watch my daughter compete?"

"No I knew you'd come for that, but the fact that you're here already for the preliminaries tells me that's not the only reason you're here. Not battling until tomorrow, I take it?"

Johanna started, shocked by the question. "W-What makes you think I'm battling?"

"Come now, Johanna, you and I both know how much you love coordinating. You gave it up because you had Dawn and had already reached all of the milestones there were in the coordinating world anyway. But now with this tournament, there's a new one out there. Frankly, I'd be surprised if you weren't battling here. Considering that you came here today to watch Dawn's battle instead of arriving with Ash's mom and Professor Oak tomorrow tells me that you won't be able to watch some of Dawn's battles because you'll be battling yourself. And considering your tie with Wallace in your last official battle it makes sense that you would have the same exemption from the preliminary rounds that the other champions do. Tell me, which part of what I'm saying is wrong?"

Johanna blushed and shook her head. "Should've known you'd catch on."

Sam chuckled lightly. "Well, I don't- ow! What the heck?!" Pikachu had smacked him on the forehead with his right paw and was now wagging his paw at him in a 'tsk-tsk' manner. Sam sat glaring incredulously at the mouse in his lap while Johanna laughed.

"And hello to you too, Pikachu!" Johanna greeted warmly.

"Ka Pika Cha," Pikachu responded with a smile and a nod.

"Oh come on! Her you greet happily, me you wag your finger at and tell me to shut up?"

"Pika." The mouse confirmed with a nod."

Sam threw his hands up in exasperation and started muttering under his breath.

"Blasted mouse. Ouch!" Sam jumped at the tiny electric sparks let off into his hands. Pikachu glared at the tactician for another moment before Sam huffed and put his hands up in the universal sign of surrender, sending Pikachu's attention back to the one-sided beating going on below.

Johanna giggled for a moment at the banter before sobering.

"How is he?"

Sam sighed before turning to her. "Seriously, Johanna, it's been two years. How long are you going to keep asking that?"

"Well seeing as I still don't know what happened to him-"

"Oh come on, Johanna! Even Delia doesn't know what happened!"

"Yes, and you know the toll that takes on her. She saw how Ash was after his friends betrayed him and it was nothing compared to whatever it was that happened to him in Kalos. Why are you so resistant to telling his mother about something so traumatic that happened to her son, especially given that she already does know something substantial about it?"

"I'm not. I've tried to convince him to tell her at least multiple times but I haven't managed to, and I won't go behind his back about something this- Hi Ash!" Sam cut himself off with a wave at the young raven-haired trainer who had appeared at the end of their row.

"Hey, Sam. How's it- Johanna! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, nothing much, here to watch Dawn compete, you know."

"Does that mean-"

Johanna stopped him with a raised hand and a smile. "Your mother and Professor Oak will still be arriving tomorrow, dear."

Ash shrugged. "Sounds good!"

"So how did your battle go, Ash? I take it pretty well since considering that you would have had yourself teleported here your battle couldn't have taken longer than 3 minutes. And what's Staraptor doing out of his Pokeball, anyway?"

Ash looked at the bird perched on his shoulder before turning back with a grin. "Just fulfilling a promise. Anyway, it was perfect! Everything went just like we predicted. Staraptor knocked out Magnezone super-fast with Heat Wave and Close Combat, then used Protect when he tried to sacrifice his Electrode. I figured Kingler deserved a chance at that point. He stopped Raichu's electric attacks with the old Metal Claw in the ground technique and demolished him when he tried to get in close. So what's been happening here?"

Sam laughed. "Well, Dawn's decided to do some playing with her food before she eats it. Honestly, that poor Druddigon isn't gonna have any pride left by the time this battle's done."

Ash chuckled and settled in to watch the match.

Blinking away the smoke from yet another intercepted Dragon Rage, Dawn inclined her head in the direction of the stands for a moment before smiling, as though something she had been waiting for had finally come.

"Alright, Salamence, it's time to wrap this up. Full power Dragon Rush, now!"

With a loud howl of his name, the Hoenn pseudo-legendary cloaked itself in the aura of his signature type and leaped into the air, speeding towards his, for want of a better term, opponent. Druddigon made a half-hearted attempt to dodge, but he was far too worn out from getting kicked around. Salamence slammed into Druddigon, the super-effective attack crushing the cave-dwelling dragon hard into the ground. He did not get up again.

"Druddigon is unable to battle! The winner is Salamence!"

"And with that last Dragon Rush, Druddigon is defeated! What Pokemon will Iris call upon next to take on this powerful Salamence?"

"Druddigon return," Iris called, the red beam sucking the beaten beast back into the Pokeball. "You battled hard. Thanks. Now, Haxorus, let's go!"

The Pokeball burst open and let out a large, clearly reptilian beast. At 7 feet tall, The Olive and Black skinned Pokemon would've been automatically identifiable without prior knowledge as a dragon-type were it not for the lack of wings.

"And Iris sends out her Haxorus! Will he fare any better against Salamence than Druddigon?"

"You bet he will!" shouted Iris. "Haxorus, Dragon Rage!"

"Hax-o-Rus!" The dragon built up the blue-green energy in his gut before launching the dragon-head at his opponent.

"Flamethrower, follow it up with Draco Meteor!" Dawn responded.

Salamence released a torrent of flames from his mouth, catching the incoming dragon head and creating a large explosion where the attacks met. Obscured by smoke, a red glow began building, starting in the depths of the blue dragon's belly and working its way up to his mouth. Iris finally managed to see through the thinning smoke from the collision of attacks and went into full-on panic mode when she realized what was happening.

"Haxorus! Stop it quickly! Use Dragon Claw!" Iris shouted desperately.

Haxorus spread his claws, which took on the classic blue-green tint of draconic energy associated with most Dragon-type moves andddddddd charged Salamence. It was a credit to Haxorus that it managed to reach Salamence and slash it viciously before Draco Meteor could finish building. It was a credit to Salamence that his only reaction was simply to look at Haxorus like one might look at a baby that accidentallylylylylylyly bopped him on the head.

"Let 'er rip!"

"'Let 'er rip?' Since when does Dawn talk like that?" asked Johanna?

Sam found something fascinating regarding his fingernails at that point.

Salamence threw his head back and belched a red ball of energy high into the sky. Once it reached a certain altitude the ball broke up into dozens of smaller red projectiles screaming towards the ground. Not needing Iris's frantic order, Haxorus dodged this way and that, trying to miss them. He managed to dodge a couple, but for every near-miss, at least three more found their mark. By the time the smoke cleared, Haxorus lay insensate on the ground, his eyes swirly and unfocused.

"Haxorus is unable to battle! Salamence wins!"

"What a battle ladies and gentlemen! As opposed to its long confrontation with Druddigon, Salamence knocks Haxorus out with just two attacks, one used as a deflection! What power! Now, down to just 1 Pokemon, what will Iris do to match the level of power Dawn has thrown her way?"

Recalling Haxorus with another word of thanks, Iris growled, angered with how easily she was d with, before pulling out the Pokeball containing her last, best hope.

"Dragonite, come on out!"

The white light from the Pokeball resolved itself into a yellow and white textbook definition of a dragon, who took to the field with a loud growl.

Dawn removed a Pokeball from her belt and pointed it at Salamence. "Thanks Salamence. You did great. But this battle belongs to someone else. Return." The red beam sucked Salamence back in on command. Dawn clipped Salamence's Pokeball back to her belt and removed another.

"Mamoswine! Spotlight!"

The Pokeball popped open, spewing forth the bright white light, resolving itself into a furry mammoth with long tusks. Spotting her opponent, Mamoswine let out a happy cry.

"Alright! It's payback time!"

"You wish, furball I'm taking you down as hard as last time."

"We'll see, brute-for-brains, we'll see."

Raising an eyebrow at Mamoswine's terminology, particularly in light of his battling attitude from time to time, Dawn decided to get this party started.

"Mamoswine, use Ice Shard!"

With a bellow of his name, Mamoswine formed a large ball of ice in his mouth and spat it towards Dragonite at fantastic velocity. Iris, sensing the danger of the incoming attack, reacted quickly.

"Flamethrower, Dragonite!"

A stream of fire poured out towards the oncoming attack. It said a lot about Mamoswine's power that even though all allice against a stream of fire, the attacks canceled out in a bloom of smoke and steam.

"Flamethrower again!" Iris called, and Dragonite hearing her orders at another volley at the place Mamoswine had been standing before the explosion had blocked him from view. Iris was hoping the cacophony of the explosion would keep Dawn from hearing her order and devising a counter, just as Dawn had used against her earlier when charging Draco Meteor.

She got her to wish, but not quite the way she wanted. Dawn did hear her order, the already dissipating noise not enough to overpower the training she had received from Sam about how to listen well so that she would not be caught off guard. That being said, Dawn chose not to counter, a different strategy in mind. As the smoke cleared, Iris watched the flamethrower make a direct hit and cheered as the furry beast was engulfed in flames.

"Way to go, Dragonite! Great- what?!" Iris cut herself off as the flames dissipated, leaving Mamoswine standing there looking slightly singed at the worst.

"Mamoswine, Ice Beam!" called a smirking Dawn.

Mamoswine quickly channeled his ice elemental energy from all around his body into his mouth before focusing it into a stream that sped straight for Dragonite. Dragon and master were both too stunned with how easily their attack had been shirked off to react fast enough, just as Dawn had been hoping. The icy energy beam sledgehammered Dragonite, sending him crashing down to the ground in a great deal of pain from the 4x effective attack.

"And Mamoswine shrugs off that flamethrower to reply with a lightning-fast Ice Beam, which seems to have done some REAL damage!"

"But how!? Mamoswine is supposed to be able to fire attacks!" gasped a shocked Iris.

"First of all Mamoswine has incredible defensive strength to compensate for his lower speed," explained a pleased Dawn. "Second, Mamoswine is an ice type, but he's also a ground type, which dilutes the super-effectiveness of fire type moves. You do the math."

Iris growled under her breath before turning to her struggling Pokemon. "Come on, Dragonite, get up! We can't lose like this!"

Dragonite heard his master's pleas and fought his way to his feet, winded but ready to fight.

"Alright, Dragonite! Let's beat them just like last time! Use Dragon Rush!" Dragonite cloaked himself in the draconic aura and surged forward.

"Mamoswine, use Ice armor followed with Ice fang to meet it!"

Mamoswine formed another Ice Shard in his mouth, but instead of launching it forward like usual, he pulled it further back into his mouth, swallowing it whole. As the shard went down Mamoswine's throat, it dissolved into the elemental energy used to form it, which spread throughout Mamoswine's body, engulfing the mammoth beast's furry exterior in ice. Mamoswine then channeled more elemental energy into his tusks, setting them aglow with a light blue aura, and charged straight towards the oncoming Dragon.

Dragon met pig in a furious crash. The two struggled for a moment, but Dragon Rush managed, with not inconsiderable effort, to overpower the Ice Fang, simply being a far more powerful attack.

Which would've amounted to a large problem for Dawn had it not been precisely what she had intended.

Dragonite's Dragon Rush continuedeakened but not stopping, to strike the ice pig. The burst of energy from the attack was channeled into Mamoswine's body- or rather the ice now covering it. The ice armor shattered, scattering tiny ice crystals in every direction, but the armor had diffused the last of the energy from the blow, leaving Dragonite hovering, expecting to find his opponent either flying back or at least in agony, but instead seeing a smirking pig sitting not two inches in front of his face.

"Blizzard!" called Dawn triumphantly.

Mamoswine opened his mouth and expelled a massive stream of icy energy, coming out visually in the form of a gusting mini-snowstorm. Dragonite took the attack right in the chest, propelled back in the air at least 15 feet to hit the ground in a heap of dust.

"Incredible! It seems Dawn found a way to create a protective armor of ice around Mamoswine and purposefully used a weaker attack to simply dissipate some of the energy from Dragon Rush so the armor could take care of the rest, leaving Dragonite wide open for a Blizzard attack at point-blank range! Will Dragonite be able to come back from this?"

The answer, in the end, was no.

The dust cloud from the impact parted to reveal Dragonite, lying on the ground with the signature unfocused swirls in his eyes signaling a defeat.

"Dragonite is unable to battle. Mamoswine wins!"

"And there you have it, folks! Iris has been defeated by Dawn without Dawn losing a single Pokemon, or even using the last one! What a battle!"

The cheers exploded from the crowd, none louder than from three people and one yellow mouse high in the stands.

Dawn recalled Mamoswine with some whispered words of profuse thanks while Iris fell to her knees. The two women looked each other right in the eyes for just a moment before Dawn turned and marched out of the stadium.

Brock looked at his friends sitting with him in a booth at the Pokemon Center, none of them quite focused on the conversation of meaningless words they were having. Brock had met up with them following his le just as Dawn had reached the ones who'd been watching, and he'd seen the way Ash swept Dawn into his arms and whirled her around. Now Ash's eyes never strayed far from Dawn, the love he felt for her been so thankful to her for fighting the battle they had told Brock about, for beating so badly on a person for having hurt him. Brock knew it meant a lot to Ash.

Dawn had been quiet since the revelation that her mother was competing in the tournament. Brock knew that Johanna was the standard by which Dawn measured herself, that her dream had always been to become an even better coordinator than her renowned mother. But somehow, that never really equated to having to beat her, their contest in Sinnoh notwithstanding as they both knew Johanna hadn't given that battle everything she had. Brock could only imagine what this must be like for her. Many people had idols like that, and the thought of competing against them was intimidating. How much more so must that be when this wasn't just someone off the TV, but

Johannahough was a little more mysterious. Johanna kept sending these odd covert looks at Ash of all people, as though she was wondering something. And even stranger still, it was Sam of all people who were looking at her as though he knew why and was concerned. Brock was wondering just what that was about, at least until-

"Cynthia! Mr. Goodshow! It's great to see you!" said Ash, standing up to greet the two famous figures.

"You too, Ash!" replied the head of the Pokemon League with his customary grandfather smile. "It's been several months. How have you been?"

As he, along with the others got up to offer their tings to the esteemed figures, Brock held in his surprise at the mention of Ash having met Mr. Goodshow recently. He wondered where that might have happened.

"I've been fantastic, Mr. Goodshow."

"Ash? Fantastic, you say? Any particular reason, possibly relating to that beautiful girl by your side?"

Dawn blushed at the compliment as Ash and the others chuckled.

"Mr. Goodshow," Dawnstarteddmed unable to finish, so she just raised her hand, showing off her ring finger. Both Brock and Sam were caught off guard by the girly squeal of excitement from the normally reserved Sinnoh champion.

"Oh, Dawn! He finally proposed! That's just fantastic!" exclaimed Cynthia before she and Dawn began gushing over the ring. The men in the group chuckled before Ash opened his mouth to say something else. Things happened very quickly at that point.

Ash paused, his smile vanishing from his face as his eyes narrowed. A loud cry of "Pikapi!" came from the yellow mouse at that moment.

"Down!" Ash yelled, jumping on top of Mr. Goodshow and forcing him onto the floor.

Brock felt someone's hands on his back forcing him to the ground. A flash of yellow caught the corner of his eye, before a resounding BOOM echoed through the air above him.

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