As Ash, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie were preparing to set off for Snowbelle City, Alain and Mairin joined them outside the city, where repairs to the the fields were still underway. Alain smiled to himself, seeing so many of Ash's battle-trained Pokemon hard at work, basically doing gardening.

"So Wulfric, the ice type gym leader," Alain said. "He's definitely not an easy one is he?"

"He beat me last time," Ash said, nodding. "This time will be different, though. I'm ready to go."

"Ash, you don't have anyone with you but Pikachu and Greninja right now!" Bonnie laughed. "You don't seem ready to me." She looked happily at the three Pokemon in her bag. It was odd, but nobody seemed bothered that she had both Zygarde with her. The one that Lysandre had controlled was still recuperating and apparently the one Bonnie called Squishy had convinced him the little girl was safe. She'd decided to call the new one, Bluey, due to his blue marking.. They were in one pouch while Dedenne was in another.

"Uh...right," Ash said, looking around for whichever Pokemon he was thinking of. His eyes locked on something and he smiled. "Talonflame! Noivern! Hawlucha!" He turned to Bonnie as the three flying types were making their way over. "We're going with the Kalos team for this one."

"You've only got five of those," Serena pointed out."

"Look behind you," Ash said with a smirk.

"Goodra!" The big, two-legged dragon Pokemon appeared behind Serena and lowered his head and looked happily at her.

"Keanan said that the Wetlands should be fine until the league is over," Ash explained. "Goodra's back."

Alain narrowed his eyes, although with an amused expression. He got the feeling Ash was showing Goodra off to him. A show of power before the league. Alain was well aware that despite Ash's Goodra being quite friendly, in battle it was ferocious. Singlehandedly, he'd cleared out dozens of enemies for Bonnie during the Team Flare battle when he was fighting with her.

"Why aren't you flying?" Mairin asked. "Aren't you running out of time to get there?"

"We'll be giving them a lift in one of Giovanni's helicopters." Alain turned his head and saw Professor Sycamore approaching the group. "I...um...don't think he'll mind. He'll be in the hospital a while longer."

"I couldn't care less about him," Ash muttered. Everyone stared at him in shock. Ash was not usually one to sound so bitter, even about his enemies. Although Alain could sympathize. He likely wouldn't have saved Lysandre if Mairin had actually fallen off of Prism Tower. He barely was able to make himself do it anyways. He wondered how the Team Flare leader was doing right now, under serious security in the Lumiose City prison.

Alain decided to change the subject. "So Ash, why aren't your other friends joining you?"

"They're going to stick around and help with prepares. Gary said he'd help with sending some of my Pokemon back to the lab as things get cleaned up." Ash smiled looking over at something. Alain turned and saw he was looking at the Butterfree army that had arrived at the battle with him. Three Butterfree, one pink, one wearing a yellow scarf and one smaller one, were approaching. "Hey Butterfree," Ash greeted, looking at the one in the yellow scarf.

"That's your Butterfree?" Mairin asked.

"Well sort of," Ash said. "He lives with these two now." He gestured to the two other Butterfree. Alain realized they were the mate and son of Ash's Butterfree.

"The pink one is really quite interesting," Clemont said, adjusting his glasses and peering at it. Sycamore was also quite intrigued. "It must have been a sought after mate for a lot of Butterfree."

"My Butterfree had no problems...well not once he showed off how great he was." Butterfree looked pretty pleased with his former trainer's praise.

"So are these three leaving?" Alain asked, looking at the Butterfree trio.

Ash's Butterfree then shook his head and flew forward to Ash and nudged him. "Bwee-ee-ee!" It exclaimed. It then nudged a pocket on Ash's coat and his badge case fell out.

Ash started laughing. "Really?" He asked, and Butterfree nodded. "Alright, you're in."

"What?" Serena asked, looking at Ash in confusion.

"Butterfree wants to help me out in the Kalos League," Ash explained. "Alright Butterfree, well, when I get back from my gym battle, we'll get to training right away. Until then, keep up the good work here." Butterfree nodded happily and he went back to the repair work with his family.

"Is it true they plan on having the Kalos League here?" Clemont asked suddenly, staring around. "Even after all that's happened?"

"It'll be just east of the city," Sycamore answered. "I've seen some of the preparations. A little attack by Team Flare isn't going to stop something as big as that."

"I'm so psyched!" Ash yelled. "I've gotta get that badge. There's no way I'm losing this league."

Alain smiled. He'd never really been interested in entering something like this, but something about Ash made it such an intriguing opportunity. If they were to meet in the league at some point, Alain was going to give Ash a battle he'd never forget. And he had no intention of losing.

XXXXX

Sawyer chuckled to himself as he read over what had happened in Lumiose City in the newspaper. Of course Ash had saved the day. Who else would it be?

The young, green-haired trainer looked over at his Sceptile, who was busy training. His other Pokemon had earned themselves a rest long ago, but Sceptile was still hard at work, having refused to settle down. He was determined to be as strong as possible. There was no way he was going to lose to Greninja.

Sawyer thought of the last battle he'd had with Ash. Really, Sceptile had won that one. If they could control the mega evolution, and they seemed to have it under control now, he knew they were strong enough now.

"I just need my other Pokemon to be strong enough," Sawyer said out loud.

Based on the intensive training they'd been doing ever since seeing Ash the last time, Sawyer liked his chances. He'd perfected mega evolution at Pomace Mountain, he'd studied through all of his notes on both his and Ash's Pokemon and he'd trained specifically to beat Ash.

Obviously he needed to be prepared for more than just Ash, but to Sawyer, Ash was the biggest hurdle to overcome. He was Sawyer's idol and friend, but Ash was also his greatest rival.

He wondered who Ash would use if they were to go up against each other. Pikachu and Greninja were guarantees, but after that, it was a little trickier. According to the news reports, Ash seemed to have an army of very capable Pokemon. He supposed Hawlucha and Noivern would be likely, considering their successes the last time they'd fought Sawyer. He doubted Pidgeot and Houndoom, though. Ash would likely change it up a bit.

"I can't lose again. We've come too far. Sceptile and the others are too strong now. No matter what Ash throws at us, we're going to win." Sceptile had stopped doing his leaf blade practicing, hearing his trainer speak, and walked over, looking at Sawyer with determination. "Are you ready for battling Greninja?" Sawyer asked.

"Sceptile!" The reptilian grass-type yelled confidently, throwing his arms up into the air.

"Interesting Sceptile you've got there," a voice said from behind Sawyer. He looked around and saw a woman, standing near a tree, smirking at him. She had a red coat, despite the warmth outside, and black, baggy pants. Her hair was stuffed into a hat, but Sawyer could just make out some pinkish/purplish strands sticking out. She also wore dark sunglasses.

"Thanks," Sawyer said, after his study of the woman. "Um...I'm Sawyer by the way." He stood up from the log he was sitting on and took a step towards the woman, holding his hand out to shake hers.

The woman stared at him a moment and didn't move. "I'm Mauve." She looked at the newspaper that Sawyer had left on the log. "Reading up on that Ash kid's heroics?"

Sawyer nodded, smiling. "Yeah. Actually, Ash is a friend of mine. Sceptile and I have a good rivalry with him."

"Really?" Mauve asked, tilting her head in interest. "How have you fared against him."

Sawyer laughed nervously. "Um...not too well, but I've studied up on him quite a bit. I know his battle style really well. My Pokemon and I have trained super hard so we can beat him."

"Quite a tough trainer, isn't he?" Mauve muttered. Sawyer nodded. "I suppose you're entering the Kalos League then?" Mauve asked.

"Yeah," Sawyer said, "I'm on my way there, now."

"I'm entering as well," Mauve said quietly. "It hasn't been too difficult to earn the badges. These gym leaders are nothing compared to what I'm used to."

Sawyer narrowed his eyes. What did that mean? He obviously didn't find gym battles to be easy. If this woman did, what kind of power did she have. He then smirked. "Why don't we have a battle?" He asked. "I promise you, I'm no easy feat. Not anymore." He pulled out his notebook. "My journey has taught me all I need to know."

Mauve studied Sawyer for a moment and then looked at his notebook, an interested expression on her face. "Your study of Ash Ketchum is in that notebook, correct?"

"Um...yeah," Sawyer said, a little irritated she only seemed to care about Ash. He decided to say so. "You know, Ash isn't the only trainer in the Kalos League. If you face me, you won't be getting anywhere." His confidence surprised both himself and Mauve.

Mauve then laughed. "You seem quite intriguing, actually." She thought for a moment. "Very well, how about a best two out of three battle? First to defeat two Pokemon is the winner."

Sawyer nodded. He was excited to get some practice. And if this woman wasn't just boasting, she was really strong. "Alright."

In a couple of minutes, the two of them were standing on opposite ends of a small clearing near where Sawyer had been training. Mauve pulled out a pokeball and Sawyer did the same.

"One more thing before we begin," Mauve said.

"What's that?" Sawyer asked.

"If I win, I want to see your notes on Ash Ketchum." She glared across at Sawyer as if daring him to refuse.

He didn't feel it was right to do so. It wasn't fair to him, after all the hard work in getting that information, to just hand it over. It also wasn't fair to Ash to just hand over his weaknesses to some random trainer. Sawyer shook his head. It didn't matter. He would win. "Fine." He threw out his first pokeball, selecting Aegislash as his opening act.

Mauve then threw out her own pokeball, revealing a Talonflame in front of her. It looked incredibly strong. Sawyer could tell by its eyes that it had been in a lot of tough battles and by its confident glare, he could tell it rarely lost.

"Aegislash, use sacred sword!" Sawyer yelled, desperately wanting to land a powerful first attack.

"Quick attack to dodge. Then use flare blitz," Mauve ordered, calmly.

Aegislash actually launched forward with very impressive speed. Sawyer saw both Mauve and Talonflame look alarmed as the fire-bird barely managed to dodge as it whipped high into the air. It then flapped its wings hard and its body was engulfed in flames and it launched down quickly towards Aegislash.

"Quick, use king's shield!" Sawyer yelled. As Talonflame rapidly approached, Aegislash quickly moved itself into a defensive position and held its shield up in front of it. Talonflame smashed hard into it and struggled against Aegislash's defences, but ultimately was thrown back hard, with a push from the shield Pokemon. "Sacred sword! Try it again!"

"Quick attack!" Mauve yelled and Sawyer noticed a hint of panic in her voice.

This time, Talonflame was too slow. Aegislash's shield quickly moved aside as its sword whipped out. It swung up and then slashed sideways as Talonflame moved to dodge. The fire-bird crashed to the ground in pain.

Sawyer knew he needed to take this opportunity. "Iron head!" He yelled. Aegislash didn't hesitate. A silver glean passed over its body as it whipped towards a woozy looking Talonflame. Just as the fire-bird was about to get up, Aegislash struck it hard, sending it flying back once again. "One more time!" Sawyer called.

"Use flail!" Mauve shouted.

Once again, Aegislash had a silver gleam rush over its body and then it launched forward towards Talonflame, who was barely moving. However, just before landing another attack, Aegislash got an unwelcome surprise. Talonflame suddenly jerked back wildly and struck the sword and shield Pokemon with extreme force and sent it spinning through the air, before it was able to right itself.

"Very impressive, Sawyer," Mauve said, a smile on her face. "You are indeed, a very capable trainer."

Sawyer was a bit shocked at this sudden friendly attitude, but he couldn't stop from smiling. "Thanks. I got a tough beating from Ash a while ago and I think its really made me stronger. I've figured out how to analyze my opponents and then wear them down with strategy."

Mauve smirked. "Well, let's see what else you've got. This first match seems to be winding down."

Sawyer nodded, though he didn't think it was that way for Aegislash. The sword and shield Pokemon had only taken one hit and had managed to right itself pretty quickly. Talonflame had lost attack power, been hurt by recoil and been hit hard with a couple of powerful strikes. Aegislash had the edge here and both trainers knew it.

"Talonflame, brave bird!" Mauve ordered.

Sawyer narrowed his eyes. He knew Mauve was planning something. King's shield could easily counter this attack. She likely had a plan for that. "Gyro ball!" He shouted.

The look of irritated surprise on Mauve's face was satisfying. As Talonflame flew up into the air and launched down, bathed in a white light, Sawyer saw what her plan had been. King's shield would have likely been prepared for an attack coming from the side, so Talonflame would have been able to strike from above. In this case however, Talonflame launched itself straight into a rapidly spinning Aegislash and was caught in between the sword and shield. It spun for a few moments and then the fire-bird was launched away. It rolled through the dirt and didn't move.

Mauve pulled out her pokeball and recalled her Talonflame. Complete shock was on her face. She then looked at Sawyer. "I underestimated you. It looks as if you are definitely in the same league as Ketchum."

Sawyer did his best to control himself from jumping up and down at that praise. If he was honest with himself, he felt like he was just as good back when he'd faced Ash the last time. He'd just allowed himself to get too wrapped up in the excitement and emotion of it all. He'd let himself get flustered by the drama of Ash having beaten Malva in Geosenge Town. Now, he was completely in control. He understood his Pokemon completely and they trusted him.

"Thanks," Sawyer finally said. "And that Talonflame is really strong by the way. I think if that brave bird had gone as you'd planned, Aegislash would have lost."

"It appears you were the better trainer in that battle," Mauve said, obviously doing her best, but failing, to hide the bitterness in her voice. She pulled out another pokeball and tossed it out. An orange turtle-like Pokemon with a black shell, a Torkoal, appeared in front of her. "Are you changing Pokemon?"

Sawyer thought for a moment and then nodded. He recalled Aegislash to its pokeball and then threw out his next. A big, blue shrimp-like Pokemon with one pincer much larger than the other, appeared in front of him. One of his secret weapons for Ash. His Clawitzer.

Mauve didn't waste any time. "Earthquake!" She yelled. Her Torkoal immediately stood up on its back legs and then crashed down. The ground wildly shook and Sawyer nearly fell over. He saw Clawitzer struggling to right himself as it was wildly knocked around by the shaking earth. Finally, it stopped, and Sawyer looked to see Clawitzer struggling to right himself.

"Heal pulse!" Sawyer ordered. Clawitzer nodded and aimed his large pincer to the ground and a pink glow appeared inside. Then pink shockwaves spread around Clawitzer and he started to stand straighter, quickly healing thanks to the move.

Mauve wasn't going to let Clawitzer recover that easily, though. "Stone edge!"

Sawyer smirked. That was fine. Clawitzer had healed just enough. "Crabhammer! Smash right through it."

Torkoal did a similar position to when it had used earthquake, but this time, stones quickly started shooting up from the ground, heading in a straight line to Clawitzer. The shrimp Pokemon immediately rushed forward, swinging his massive pincer back and forth. Easily, he smashed his way through the stones appearing in front of him. Finally, he appeared before Torkoal and aimed pincer at it.

"Dragon pulse!" Sawyer shouted. It was incredible how much power shot out of Clawitzer's pincer. The dragon shaped blast of energy shot out and slammed into the fire-turtle. Torkoal went flying through the air and then landed with a thud in the distance. It was, however, still able to get up. Sawyer had another plan, though. "Use ice beam on the ground and then use it to pick up speed." Clawitzer quickly obeyed and launched a powerful ice beam on the ground, which quickly spread, right up to where Torkoal was. Clawitzer launched himself forward, picking up great speed with the ice.

Mauve laughed. "Earthquake again!" She ordered. Torkoal once again smashed the ground. The field shook rapidly once again and Sawyer saw the ice just in front if Clawitzer crack. His shrimp-Pokemon slid into it and then, getting caught on an edge, was launched into the air. "Flame wheel!" Mauve quickly ordered.

"Crabhammer!" Sawyer yelled. Even if in the air, Clawitzer could strike back.

Torkoal immediately started spinning rapidly, its shell becoming covered in flames, and then it launched forward and up into the sky. Sawyer saw Clawitzer prepare his crabhammer and then swing forward, just as Torkoal made contact. The attacks strained against each other, but then, Torkoal forced its way through and Clawitzer's attack slipped. He went flying to the ground and landed hard.

"Finish with stone edge!" Mauve ordered, as Torkoal dropped to the ground. It emerged from its shell and then, as it landed, spread its legs wide and slammed them to the ground. Stones shot upward in a line up to Clawitzer and then sent the shrimp-Pokemon flying into the air, before it landed with a thud in front of Sawyer.

"I guess we have a draw," Sawyer pointed out, recalling Clawitzer to its pokeball.

"I suppose so," Mauve nodded. She hesitated for a moment and then sighed. "I think we should leave it at that."

"What?" Sawyer asked.

"I believe I've learned enough from our battle," Mauve answered, recalling her Torkoal to its pokeball. "You aren't the only one who analyzes strategy and battle styles. I was able to see how you have developed a style to counteract Ketchum's. I have no need to read your book."

Sawyer narrowed his eyes. Something about this woman creeped him out. "Why do you want to beat Ash so badly?"

Mauve laughed and then raised a hand to her hat. "Allow me to show you." She pulled off the hat and her hair dropped down. Then, she pulled off her sunglasses. She smirked at Sawyer and then turned away and set off.

Sawyer stared at her, dumbfounded, as she walked away. It took a moment to recognize her, but he suddenly realized who she was. "Malva," he whispered.

A crazy thought then entered Sawyer's mind. However, it wasn't crazy, really. It was fact. He had just had a draw with an Elite Four member. He was ready for the Kalos League. He was ready to face Malva again if he had to. And he was ready to face Ash and finally beat him.

XXXXX

Calem watched some of Ash's Pokemon as they worked hard on repairs, in and around the city. He shook is head in disbelief. Every single one of them was extremely loyal. None of them seemed bothered by what they were doing.

His own Pokemon were helping as well, of course, but even Calem could see that they weren't as willing. They did anything Calem asked of them, but it just wasn't the same as with Ash's Pokemon. And he wasn't even there, having just left for Snowbelle City.

The sight of such loyalty made Calem realize just how good a trainer Ash was. Calem was aware of his own abilities as well. He knew he was quite the capable trainer. In fact, he was very confident in his abilities heading into the Kalos League. However, he knew he needed to find another gear in order to beat Ash.

He thought of their last battle that had been cut short. Ash had refused to say he'd won, but obviously he'd controlled the match overall. That was without even fighting Greninja. And Calem knew that the frog-ninja Pokemon would be capable of phenomenal power, regardless of whether or not it could use its special form.

Calem then looked over to his left, where he saw his Chesnaught. The powerful grass type was levelling out a section of dirt by using rollout. He was working with Ash's Bulbasaur and Squirtle who used leach seed and water gun on the levelled earth. Apparrntly Bulbasaur didn't need to use the "leech" part of his move, being quite capable of firing normal seeds into the ground.

Watching Chesnaught made Calem smile to himself. Ash hadn't used Greninja, but Calem hadn't used his strongest either. He'd need more training, for sure, but Chesnaught was a very underrated powerhouse for Calem.

Thinking back on the day he'd started his journey, Calem remembered how he'd immediately locked eyes with the Chespin in front of him. Most Chespin were fairly mischievous Pokemon, but his was always focused on training. It wasn't overly serious, though, and they did have a lot of fun together.

The day Chespin evolved was when Calem knew he'd become a very strong Pokemon. The spiny-nut Pokemon had been ambushed by a trio of Murkrow. He evolved immediately and had fired of a pin missile that knocked all three out simultaneously.

Quilladin had gone on to be extremely strong, easily defeating any opponent he faced. That was, until he'd lost to a trainer in Sinnoh. Paul was his name. His Electivire had easily defeated Quilladin.

Calem and Quilladin had been pretty down after that, but then had resolved to train harder. Finally, Quilladin evolved into Chesnaught and they have never had to look back. Since evolving, Chesnaught had never lost a single battle.

It wouldn't be easy, but Calem knew, if they were to face Ash in the Kalos League, it would be their biggest test and also their biggest victory.