"Charm..." The lizard Pokémon said in a voice of disappointment, as it watched its father getting beat by the mouse Pokémon, who was his opponent, on the battlefield below.

"It's alright, Charmander." Ashley comforted the frowning fire type. "Your daddy fought his best out there against that very strong Pikachu, and that's what matters. You should be proud of him!"

"Charmander! Char!" The Kanto starter exclaimed, while its frown now became a smile. Its friends, Pichu and Eevee, who stood next to the lizard Pokémon, smiled, as it felt glad for its friend being happy again.

Ashley smiled at her Pokémon, before turning to her mother, who sat next to her.

"Hey, mommy." She said to get her mother's attention.

"What is it, honey?" Angela responded to her daughter's voice, as she turned and made eye contact with the little girl.

"Do you think daddy still have a chance of winning this battle?" The little girl asked with a worried look in her eyes.

"Well," Angela hesitated, but quickly came up with an answer. "It all depends on his last Pokémon, honey."

"I hope it's Gregor! It can help daddy win this fight! It always does!" Ashley stated with excitement in her joy, which caused her mother to giggle at her reaction.

"She's right, you know," Brock spoke up, as the mother and daughter, along with Serena, turned to Brock, before he continuing his thought. "Trevor's Mewtwo has never lost a single battle before. It's just too powerful for anyone to face. I'm not even sure if Aaron stands a chance against it."

"What are you saying, Brock?" May asked, with a curious look on her face.

Brock took a deep breath while choosing his words carefully, before responding, "What I'm saying is that Aaron might not stand a chance against Gregor."

"You don't know that!" a voice cried out, as the group turned and realized that it was Serena, who reacted towards Brock.

"Get real, Brock!" Serena began, as the expression, on her face, became serious. "Aaron has three Pokémon remaining, while Trevor only got one left. Besides, we don't know if Trevor is even going to use Gregor, anyway!"

"He is, Serena," Gary said as the performer turned to the young professor, with a puzzled look on her face. "Gregor is Trevor's next Pokémon because he wants to battle against Aaron's Lucario!"
Serena was shocked, as she suddenly remembered what Angela told her and Ash, during Trevor's match against Ritchie.

I'm guessing your Lucario is Gregor's rival then.

Serena stood there, with a stunned expression across her face, as Gary continued his explanation. "The other day, I heard Trevor talking to Aaron about the fact that Gregor really wanted to battle against his Lucario. They've decided that if they were ever going to face each other, during the tournament, their last Pokémon would be Gregor and Lucario. It's a battle that'll decide who faces Sakaki in the Finals!"

Everyone, in the suite, was awe shucked towards the upcoming battle between two powerful Pokémon. However, Serena wasn't feeling the same way.

Her thoughts began to chase, as she recalled how Trevor's Mewtwo easily defeated Ritchie's Pokémon, without a scratch, before her eyes made their way towards the masked figure below. Her face expressed worried and concerned for her loved one. Her body was shivering, due to the fear of her losing Ash if he loses this battle.

Please, Ash! Win this! You have to!

---

"You've fought well, old pal. Now, take a good long rest." Trevor stated to his fallen partner's Pokéball, as he clipped it back onto his belt, before grabbing another one. Trevor has only one Pokémon left, while his opponent, across from him, has three remaining.

After picking his last Pokémon, Trevor turned and gazed into the masked trainer's eyes. Despite them being covered by a mask, he knew that Ash had a smirk on his face.

"Trevor," Ash spoke up, while his arms were crossed, in front of his chest. "You're down to your last Pokémon! Better make it count!"

Trevor grinned, before responding, "I must say, Aaron, I'm at a loss of words here. Your Pikachu should have been defeated, after getting caught in that Blast Burn! However, it survived and managed to take down one of my strongest Pokémon!"

"Well," Ash began his response. "I trained my Pokémon to have strong endurance against any attack, no matter how powerful it might be!"

"Pi-ka!" The mouse Pokémon chirped.

Trevor chuckled, before extending out his right hand, which held a Pokéball in it. "Well, let's just see how strong that endurance really is, when you go up against the most powerful Pokémon in the world!"

Ash and his two companions gazed towards the trainer, across from them, with cautious eyes, as they already knew who would be Trevor's final Pokémon.

"It's time! I choose you!" Trevor exclaimed as he threw the Pokéball into the air, revealing his sixth and final Pokémon for this battle.

When the light, from the Pokéball, faded away, standing before Trevor, was Gregor. The Genetic Pokémon then let out an intimating and powerful cry that vibrated throughout the whole stadium, as the crowd erupted in a deafening roar towards Gregor's appearance. The expression, on his face, informed his opponent that he was ready to battle. The Genetic Pokémon motioned the Aura Pokémon, who stood next to Ash, to come and challenge its power. Lucario was about to enter the battlefield, until his trainer placed his hand, in front of the Aura Pokémon, as he didn't want him to battle yet.

"Master, let me battle against Gregor, right now!" Lucario exclaimed, with a frustrated tone in his voice, while the mouse Pokémon ran back to Ash, as he had called him back so that he could take a rest, before battling again.

Ash shook his head towards Lucario's suggestion. "No, Lucario, not yet." He responded as the Aura Pokémon let out a sigh of disappointment.

"You'll get your battle with Gregor, buddy; but right now," Ash reasoned with Lucario, who was standing behind its trainer. "We'll use everything we got, to try to weaken it, for you!"

Lucario nodded, as Ash grabbed one of his Pokéball and threw it into the air.

"Charizard, I need you again!" Ash exclaimed as his loyal fire type appeared right before him.
The flame Pokémon let out a roar, before eying the opponent that stood across from him. He then turned back and stared at his trainer, waiting for a command.

"Use Dragon Pulse!" Ash shouted.

From his mouth, Charizard fires a multicolored dragon-shaped beam of energy towards the genetic Pokémon, who appeared to be not attempting to dodge the incoming dragon attack.

"Alright, use Psychic on that attack!" Trevor exclaimed.

Suddenly, Gregor's eyes and body glow light blue. The beam of energy then became surrounded by a light blue, freezing the motion flow of the attack. Now having control of the Dragon-type attack, the Genetic Pokémon gave a smirk to the Flame Pokémon, who responded with a gasp, as it knew what Gregor was about to do now.

"Now, send it back!" Trevor called out his next attack.

Without missing a beat, Gregor redirected the beam of energy, and with its psychic powers, the attack was then launched towards the surprised Charizard.

"Quick! Intersect that attack with Flamethrower!" Ash countered.

Charizard threw his head forward and let out the fire-type attack, which collided with the incoming dragon attack, causing an explosion that pushed the flame Pokémon back a bit.

"Charizard! You alright?" Ash asked his loyal fire type.

When the flame Pokémon turned to give its trainer a thumb's up, his body had suddenly started to glow light blue, while it's slowly being lifted up into the air. Ash was puzzled by this sight until he realized that Gregor was using Psychic on Charizard, just as the smoke faded away.

As the Genetic Pokémon slowly lifted the Flame Pokémon up more, the hand, which he was controlling Charizard's body with, crunched into a fist. When it did that, Charizard began gasping for air. It appeared that Gregor is using Psychic to strangle the life out of Charizard, while lifting it up higher.

Ash looked on with fear, horror, and shock at what Gregor was doing to his beloved fire type. Gregor was chuckling at the hurting Charizard. Ash then turned and gazed upon Trevor's eyes, which showed no fear or mercy towards his Pokémon's opponent.

When Charizard reached at a certain altitude, while still gasping for air, Trevor finally gives his Psychic-type the next set of instructions.

"Gregor! Now, throw Charizard down to the ground, and if he gets up, then use Shadow Ball!"

The Genetic Pokémon then waved his hand, the one that's glowing in a light blue aura, downward in a swift move, throwing the Flame Pokémon to the ground at a very fast speed, causing a big dust cloud to cover the battlefield. Then, Gregor rushes into the dust cloud, to get ready to attack the defenseless fire type.

Both Ash and Trevor gazed at the dust cloud, in silence, as they wait to see who comes out of there alive. All of a sudden, an explosion appeared where Charizard has crashed. When that explosion occurred, it blew away the dust cloud and revealed Gregor, standing on top of an unconscious Charizard.

Ash was at a loss of words. He stared at his fallen Pokémon with penitence in his eyes. He silently returned Charizard to his Pokéball, before thanking it for all its hard work in the battle. Ash clipped the Pokéball back onto his belt, before staring at Trevor and Gregor with vigilant eyes. One of his hand turned into a fist, as the masked trainer's body began to shake.

"Man, Gregor's tough," Ash stated, as he looks at the Electric Mouse Pokémon below him. Their eyes were burning with passion and determination.

Ash then scratches behind the Electric-type's ear, obtaining a coo from the Pokémon before exclaiming. "But, so are we! Pikachu, let's go!"

"Pi-ka!" The Electric Mouse chirped in delight, as he rushes onto the battlefield with sparks flying off its cheeks.

Trevor and Gregor chuckled when Ash sent out Pikachu, which the trainer gave a frustrated grunt towards their reaction.

"What's so funny?" Ash questioned his chuckling opponent.

"Nothing," Trevor answered as he stopped chuckling. "It's just funny that you would call upon Pikachu, who's still exhausted from its previous battle, and expect him to fight against Gregor!"

Ash groaned at this remark, before making the first move. "My Pikachu is something else, you know. As you're about to see now! Pikachu, Iron Tail!"

"We'll use Iron Tail as well!" Trevor countered.

Both Pokémon's tails glow white, as they collided with each other. However, Gregor's tail proved to be the strongest, as it sends the electric type crashing down onto the battlefield, causing a cloud of dust to cover over the crash site.

"Pikachu! Pikachu, can you hear me?" Ash cried out, hoping to hear a response from his loyal partner.

As the dust cleared away, they revealed the Electric Mouse Pokémon struggling to get up; however, there was no time for him to recover, as Trevor calls out the next attack.

"Psystrike! Go!"

When Ash heard that command, his face was expressing shock and fear, as Gregor gets ready to fire a devastating attack at the weakened Pikachu.

"PIKACHU! RUN!" Ash screamed at the top of his lungs.

When Pikachu attempted to flee, it was then suddenly slammed into the ground by Gregor's tail. The Electric-type struggles to get out. Sparks were flying off its cheeks, but it was too late. The Genetic Pokemon creates a white force field that expands rapidly from around it, and then, explodes upon contact with the trapped Pikachu, causing a loud cry of pain to come out from his mouth.

"PIKACHU! NO!"

As the smoke cleared away, they revealed Pikachu, lying on the ground, with swirls in his eyes. Ash walked over to his fallen companion, then cradled the mouse Pokémon, and finally, walking back to his box, while praising Pikachu for its hard work and effort, as well as him finally being able to defeat Trevor's Charizard. Pikachu nodded, before falling asleep in the masked trainer's arms, as they walked back to the trainer box.

When they entered, Ash turned to the Aura Pokémon, who was standing in front of his trainer, and asked him, "You ready?"

Lucario gave a grunt, before leaping into the air and doing a front flip. He landed gracefully on a knee before rising. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. The Aura Pokémon let a battle cry, as he threw his arms back, releasing a blast of aura. The wave of energy created a wind that raced up the stadium while sending chills down everyone's spine.

Ash slowly puts down Pikachu, on the spot where Lucario once stood, so that he doesn't interfere with the electric type's well-deserved rest.

The masked trainer then turned back to his Lucario, who was ready for battle.

"It's all up to you, Lucario! Let's win this!" Ash exclaimed as the Aura Pokémon responded with another battle cry.

"About time you show up, Lucario!" Trevor responded at the sight of Ash's Lucario, in front of him and Gregor. "The party couldn't start without you being here! But now, it can."

Gregor lets out an intimidating cry towards Lucario, who didn't seem fazed by it. In the sky, there were dark clouds, hovering over the stadium. All of a sudden, there was a loud thundering sound, which came from the sky, as it soon began to rain over the battlefield. Lightning and thunder were crashing above the stadium, as these two Pokémon stared at each other, with eyes of burning passion, determination, and power. Both Pokémon looked as if they were ready to fight to the death here.

"This is it, Trevor!" Ash shouted with authority. "My Lucario against your Mewtwo! We will take you both down!"

"I like to see you try, Aaron!" Trevor responded as both trainers were ready to have their final battle.

---

"At last," Lance said. "Aaron's Lucario faces off against Trevor's Mewtwo. Both Pokémon are extremely powerful. There's no telling who'll come out victorious in this clash of titans."

The rest of the group, in the suite, watched the battlefield below, with great concentration. Nobody wanted to miss this battle at all. It hasn't even started yet, as some of them were already at the edge of their seats. Everyone felt excited about this clash of titans, all except for one.

When Gregor and Lucario both let out another deafening cry, it made the Kalos Queen shivered. The look on Serena's face expressed anxiety and apprehensive towards the climax of the battle below. She was intimidated by the overwhelming display of power, that's being expressed from the two powerful Pokémon, on the battlefield. It made her worried about Ash and how he would fight against that kind of power.

The thought of Ash losing this battle worries her. She feared that If Ash lost and didn't fight Giovanni in the finals, then she'll lose him forever. When she heard the battle cries again, her body began shaking, out of anxiety, as her features become tensed.

The anxious performer then felt a hand, touching on one of her tensed shoulders. She turned and noticed that it was Angela, who had placed her hand on her shoulder.

The young woman started to massage Serena's shoulders, to help ease her anxiety. As she's going this, Angela whispered in the performer's ear, at a volume that only she could hear. "Don't worry, I'm sure that Ash will be alright."

The young woman then turned back to watch the battle below, while leaving a stunned look on Serena's face.

Wait! What?! Angela knows about Ash too?! She thought, before gazing her eyes back onto the battlefield below, as the battle between the two powerful Pokemon was about to begin.