A/N: Sorry for the two week wait on this one. So I kinda sorta have an excuse here. You see I had like a really busy week after the last chapter, then I went and watched the Gurren Lagann movie. The amount of manly energy was just too overpowering so I couldn't write something with a tone like this. Instead I went and wrote the end of this fic. So yeah… Heaven piercing.

Anyways I apologize for the wait, especially after I asked how often you guys want chapters. I'm really really sorry, so here's an extra long chapter to make up for it. I'm sure by now I've lost your trust but I'll keep these updates coming and I'll try and keep these updates coming but I can't guarantee the speed. This won't be abandoned though. How many authors come back after two nine month breaks? Just who the hell do you think I am?! (Sorry couldn't resist)

"Alright Serena I have an idea for the appeals round. Pikachu, Staraptor I need your help for this."

Ash released Staraptor and Pikachu jumped off his shoulder.

Ash flashed Serena a quick smile, "Thunder armor!"

Both Pikachu and Staraptor recognized this command. Pikachu let out a bolt of electricity at Staraptor, however, instead of damaging the large bird it flowed over its feathers and cloaked it in a shimmering yellow force field. As Staraptor flew it left a bright yellow trail.

Serena stood in slight shock. "T-that's a new one on me. How does Staraptor not get electrocuted?"

The big bird harshly flapped its wings dispelling the electric armor.

"Oh he does slightly. But the benefit of the armor is way worth it. We developed this back in Hoenn and it's kind of an all-purpose thing in double battles. Staraptor is much more intimidating when electric attacks won't work. What we're going to do for Fletchling is a simplified version."

"Eh? There's no way Fletchling can take an electric attack."

"That's why I said simplified." Ash grinned again. "Remember how we were teaching Fletchling Aerial Ace?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how Pokemon attacks collide? Aerial Ace puts a layer of air over Fletchling. If we figure out the right power output, Pikachu can bluff the thunder armor on Fletchling by shooting Thunderbolt along the air from Aerial Ace." Ash beamed.

"Uhm. Are you sure that will work?"

"No idea." Ash gave a quick thumbs up and called over Pikachu and Fletchling to begin practice.

Ash and Serena both sat nervously in the contestant waiting area. The entire room was silently awaiting the results from the appeals round.

The TV in the waiting room flicked on, "Thank you for waiting! After close evaluation from the judges, these eight pairs will move on. Please give these contestants a round of applause."

A row of sixteen cards turned over one by one. Ash and Serena waited with baited breath until their card turned third from last.

"We made it." Both Ash and Serena called out simultaneously. Ash called from exasperation, Serena from happiness.

"Hey Ash what are we going to do for the battles? I know you're using Froakie and I'm using Fennekin but neither have any contest training."

"We'll have to come up with something then."

"Ehh…" Serena looked a little nervous, 'Does he always make things up on the fly like this?'

Ash sat cross-legged with Pikachu for a short moment before jumping to his feet. "Well there's no way we're going to teach Froakie and Fennekin good contest battle moves in a week, so we'll just use lots of Ember and Bubble. Ember and Bubble both look really good despite being weak. If we can train up Froakie and Fennekin to be able to use Ember and Bubble without hitting each other we should be able to pull something off."

"Ash I think you should think things through a bit more."

Ash smiled confidently, "It'll be fine. It's just an ordinary contest." 'These contests are easy. We'll go in and take the win no problem. I've done more than well enough at big contests. The real problem is the league.'

Serena looked doubtful, "Still…"

"After that fantastic battle up next is Ash and Serena versus Viola and Alexa! I'm sure we can expect a good battle from a long time league veteran and a gym leader."

Ash walked to the field fists clenched after realizing who his opponent was. 'This'll be tough. They're probably the strongest contestants here. Viola's a gym leader first and not a coordinator. That should even out the playing field a bit.'

Serena had different thoughts. 'A-already? W-we can't win this.' She nervously turned to Ash. His face was cold. She couldn't tell just what Ash thought. Was he nervous? Determined? Excited? His face was impossible to read and she found no comfort in it. The closer she came to the stage the stiffer her movements became. This was her first battle, her performance debut, her first time on television, her first time fighting with Fennekin, her first time working with Ash, and the first thing she's ever done as a trainer. It was slightly overwhelming.

The roar of the crowed echoed in her ears. The bright lights shone overhead and made it difficult to see. The field came into view, some scuff marks were visible from previous matches. The large dirt plain stood elevated in the middle of a large domed stadium. Everything just screamed professional. Serena wasn't exactly prepared for that. She hadn't felt it during the appeals round with so many contestants, but now that there were only sixteen teams left, it just felt different.

"Alright, five minutes on the clock. Trainers ready? Begin!" The MC called the start of the match. The jumbo projector displayed the faces of each trainer with point scores beneath the pictures. A five minute timer appeared on the monitor a moment later as a buzzer sounded signaling the start of the match.

On the other side of the field Alexa and Viola called their pokemon to the field. "Make it a photo finish Surskit!" "Noivern take the field!"

Surskit landed on the ground with a spray of illusory ice covering the field from the seals. Overhead the large draconic bat appeared with a shower of purple flames providing stark yet beautiful contrast to the ice below.

"Go Froakie!" "F-fennekin!" Froakie and Fennekin appeared side by side on the field. As Ash and Serena's points took a hit. Ash looked at the screen displeased, 'You gotta be kidding me, we lose points for the entrance?'

On the other hand, Serena let out a sigh of relief. 'I-it wasn't very many points.'

Ash decided to take the first move, "Froakie use your bubble attack just like we practiced!"

The frog let out a spray of slow moving blue bubbles that shone in the light. Instead of being so much of an attack as it normally was used, it became a slow moving wall off scarce bubbles. The light refracted off each bubble creating a simple yet pretty visual while simultaneously creating a barrier between the two sides. Alexa and Viola took a small hit in points just for the use of the move.

"Surskit freeze those bubbles. Ice beam everywhere!"

Surskit began spraying ice everywhere even freezing the floor beneath it. The bubbles froze in their place and began to drop. The second the first bubbles began to freeze Alexa called out her order, "Gust Noivern!"

With swift flaps of its huge wings the crystalline balls of frozen bubble were blown back at Froakie and Fennekin.

'Froakie doesn't know how to counter shield. I can't defend against that.'

As the frozen bubble pelted the fox and frog each bubble burst into a fine powder that remained in the air refracting light in the same way the bubble did. Ash and Serena's points took a huge hit.

"Amazing, Viola stopped Ash's attack in its tracks while Alexa blew the attack right back at him with the same amazing effect he used! Now that's what I call teamwork."

The sounds of the announcer and the crowd became dull in Serena's ears. 'They turned Ash's attack right back at him. They work so well together. I have to help him.'

"F-fennekin use your ember, keep it low to the ground."

Ash was frustrated, but Serena's words called him back to his senses. 'That's right, we've got teamwork too.'

"Froakie, Bubble again, just over the ember!"

The ember soared out as a faster stream of bubbles approached over it. The light from the Ember this time refracted in the Bubble creating a different yellow glow in each bubble. The heat of the Ember prevented the Ice Beam from stopping the attack the same way as before while simultaneously melting some of the ice on the floor.

"And an amazing counter attack from Serena and Ash!" The MC kept the crowd cheering as Viola and Alexa took another hit in points.

"Surskit build an ice pillar quick!" Viola swiftly called her pokemon.

Surskit stopped slowing the attack and quickly formed a column of ice out of the ice beam.

"Noivern, Dragon Pulse it!"

The large bat blasted the pillar with draconic energy creating a shower of ice chunks that stopped the approaching combination attack cold, quite literally. The purple light from the Dragon Pulse outshone the ember and turned the counter attack purple before destroying it as Ash and Serena's points took another large hit.

"Amazing folks. Alexa and Viola just keep turning the effects of Froakie's bubbles to their own advantage. This doesn't look good for Ash and Serena."

Ash grit his teeth, 'I underestimated this contest. Why am I so stupid! I promised myself I wouldn't get over confident anymore. I should have used Pikachu or Staraptor.'

Serena's eyes sparkled at the scene. This battle was different from league battles. Rather than charging forwards each side was making slow counter attacks to stop the opposing sides advance in the most fantastic way they could come up with. Alexa and Viola were so elegant in the way they turned around her attacks. It looked amazing.

"It's time we took the offensive, Noivern another Dragon Pulse!"

"Surskit you know what to do!"

Noivern blasted out another Dragon Pulse and Surskit fired a Signal Beam right into the draconic beam. The purple and green energy swirled together right towards where Froakie was standing. The beam came in far too quickly and with too much size to dodge.

Ash thinking on reflex, "Froakie Water Pulse the edge of the beam and deflect it!"

Froakie knew that listening to Ash was his best bet in this scenario and he blasted the beam with a ball of condensed water right on the left side and much to his surprise, the angle changed slightly to his right, right to where Fennekin was standing.

The beam completely missed Froakie but nailed the little fire fox to his side.

"Fennekin!" Serena called out in panic. She had only called off one attack, it couldn't be over so soon.

As the smoke cleared the small fox was still standing on the side of the crater. Breathing extremely heavily, but still standing. Fennekin had just barely managed to avoid the center of the blast and avoid fainting, but it still took a huge toll on the little fox. She was in tatters but still standing. But Ash and Serena's points took another even more massive hit for that. Froakie deflected the attack right into Fennekin. The little frog staggered onto his back. He committed one of the worst mistakes in team combat and was ashamed of himself. Despite how he normally acted, he prided himself in his combat skills.

Ash looked at the frog, "Froakie that was my mistake not yours, now we need to show what we're made of. Ready for a comeback?!"

The frog looked at his trainer. Ash's eyes were still worried but his face no longer looked as confused. Ash didn't know how to win this. He didn't want to give up, not again. But he was running out of options here so he just stopped thinking and started doing. Froakie chose to trust in his trainer to make up for his mistake.

'Our points are too low. The only way we can win this is by knocking out the opponent.' Ash grit his teeth and looked at Serena. She was heavily shaken after seeing her Fennekin almost one hit KOd.

"Froakie, Water Pulse and rush forward with it." He then told Serena in a quitter voice, "We're not out of it yet. Get Fennekin to use Ember."

Serena closed her eyes. She was scared, embarrassed, confused and more nervous than she had ever been in her life, "Fennekin, you can do it! Use your Ember!" But above all those emotions she wanted to win. She never wanted to win so badly in her life. She couldn't lose like this. Not in front of Ash. Not in a place like this.

Fennekin felt her trainer's drive. It moved the little fox to keep going forward through the pain. She let out another Ember attack, unlike any she had produced before. Instead of the normal small red sparks this Ember was made of large blue globs of fire. Her Blaze ability activated.

Noivern and Surskit were too preoccupied with defending against Froakie's constant water spray to notice the curtain of flames approaching from overhead. Alexa noticed the attack's power and tried to defend.

"Noivern, gust on everything in front of you!"

Blue fire rained from above pelting everything ahead of the blue frog. Despite the dragon's best efforts the fire broke through and pelted it and Surskit.

"Amazing! Fennekin pulled through that blast and came back even stronger than before! With one minute left on the clock and we see a comeback?"

The crowd erupted in cheers. Put simply, this battle just got hype as hell. A new trainer just took the lead role in a match with three titans? Hell yes that was cool.

When Serena saw the results of the Ember, she almost collapsed but she didn't hesitate. Seeing Froakie continue to blast at Noivern and Surskit to keep them on the defensive she had to help out, "Fennekin try another Ember. I know it's hard but you have to put everything into this one! Aim for Noivern!"

The Fox nodded and took a deep breath. She focused on her flames. The source of her power. Her trainer was nice. She brushed her and fed her every day. Serena always talked to her at night and made sure to give her things she liked. She did not want to let her trainer down in their first battle.

The resulting attack was not the blue flames from earlier. Instead it was a condensed stream of blue fire that flared harshly along its path. It seemed to burn the air as it moved.

"Serena! That's Incinerate!" Ash called to his partner as he saw the new attack.

As the incinerate collided with Noivern it completely engulfed the dragon for a short moment before releasing a cloud of smoke. It was the unique effect of Incinerate that caused the attack to burn some held items. The blue fired from the blaze boost looked stunning on impact.

Fennekin fell forward. She was still conscious and not out of the fight yet, but that attack took almost everything she had left. The smoke cleared and Noivern remained flying, charred, but still in the air.

Ash took the initiative, "Froakie, Bubble all around you then use double team to get in close to Noivern!"

Bubbles cloaked the frog as it retreated from the Surskit and doubles emerged at breakneck speed towards the charred dragon.

"Now Water Pulse!"

All of the Froakie clones made the motion to fire a water pulse at Noivern. Noivern had no idea where to dodge and was nailed in the face by the real Froakie right in front of him. The eruption of water from the impact knocked both Froakie and Noivern back as the timer sounded ending the match.

"What an amazing change of course folks! It looks like it wasn't enough for Ash and Serena make a comeback."

Ash looked at the point score and hung his head low. Viola and Alexa had just over seventy percent left. Ash and Serena were below five. The only reason the match had even made it too the time limit was the long exchange of bubble at the beginning. This wasn't just a loss, it was a crushing defeat.

Serena walked over to Fennekin and lifted her off the ground then she turned to look at the jumbotron. "Do you see that Fennekin? They were strong opponents, but we still managed to hurt them. We'll get better. I'm sure of it."

Froakie walked over to Ash slightly confused. Ash looked up to the ceiling, "I guess I didn't learn anything after all. Froakie I'm sorry for putting you through this. You weren't ready and that was my fault."

Serena wasn't sure what to think yet, but she didn't feel bad. As she walked off the stage with Ash she told him without looking, "Looks like you need to think things through after all." She giggled slightly and ran off ahead of a bewildered Ash.

'That's right when we were training… But what is that even supposed to mean? I thought out our performance beforehand. It's gotta be something I'm missing. But what?'