"Now," Ash looked at Charizard with a smile. "Are you ready to mega evolve, Charizard?"

"Chaar!!"Charizard thumbs up, looking at Ash.

"CHARIZARD, LET'S SHOW THE POWER OF OUR BOND!"

Charizard nodded in agreement with its trainer, Charizard looked at his opponent. Ash touches the Key Stone on his Mega Ring which activates the Charizardite that his Charizard now holds in his neck.

The beams of light come out of both Ash's Mega Ring and Charizard's Mega Stone. The lights meet with each other in between the trainer and his Pokemon.

"Charizard! Mega Evolve!" Ash said as the bright light consumes Charizard. When the light faded away, the transformation was completed.

Charizard's body and legs are more physically fit, though its arms remain thin. Its skin turns black with a sky-blue underside and soles. Two spikes with blue tips curve upward from the front and back of each shoulder, while the tips of its horns sharpen, turn blue, and curve slightly upward. Its brow and claws are larger, and its eyes are now red. It has two small, fin-like spikes under each horn and two more down its lower neck. The finger disappears from the wing membrane, and the lower edges are divided into large, rounded points. The third joint of each wing-arm is adorned with a claw-like spike. Mega Charizard X breathes blue flames out the sides of its mouth, and the flame on its tail now burns blue. It is said that its new power turns it black and creates more intense flames.

After the transformation, Charizard roared loudly.

"It's Charizard X. Just like Professor Sycamore explained it to me." Ash thought as he remembered that Professor Sycamore showed him the photo of Charizard's two mega evolutions.

"When Charizard mega evolves into a Charizard X its type changes to fire and Dragon," Ash smirked.

Gary looked at Charizard in awe, "Wow, its colour changed, and it looks so cool." Gary spoke up. "Let's see its strength, shall we?"

"Blastoise!" Blastoise nodded.

________________ ****** ___________________

"Charizard, let's go!" Ash shouted and Charizard roared in agreement.
"Charizard, Dragon Claw!"

Mega Charizard X flies toward its opponent with its enhanced speed.

Gary was surprised by the speed of the Charizard. "Blastoise! Use Hydro Pump!"
Gary ordered.

The claws on both of Charizard's hands become surrounded by light green, claw-shaped auras. It then flew toward Blastoise while dodging Blastoise's Hydro Pump.

Charizard managed to hit Blastoise with a powerful Dragon Claw. Blastoise, however, is able to withstand the attack and fire the powerful jets of water at Charizard who was directly in the line of those cannons. The blasts of water hit and pushed Charizard back with the force of a huge wave.

But to Gary's surprise, Charizard managed to quickly recover from the attack and land safely on the ground.

"Charizard! Are you okay?"

Charizard gives its trainer a thumbs up to let him know that he is alright.

Ash smiled as he knew that the water type is not very effective against it.

"What? It was supposed to be a critical hit. Charizard was attacked by a powerful water-type attack." Gary said in surprise.

"Well, you see Gary. When Charizard Mega Evolve into Charizard X its type changes to fire and Dragon." Ash replied

"So, that's why." Gary nodded. "Well, that's great."

"Rapid Spin!" Gary command.

Blastoise started spinning rapidly and flying towards the Charizard.

"Draw him in then use Thunder Punch," Ash said.

Following its trainer's orders, Charizard waited for Blastoise to come closer then flies out of the spinning shellfish Pokemon's away, and Charizard's fist is surrounded by yellow sparks, which grow into a ball of electrical energy. Charizard then punches the top of Blastoise's shell with an electric-covered fist.

The force of the punch causes Blastoise to crash directly to the ground. Blastoise slowly comes out of its shell and stands up while breathing heavily.

"Mega Evolution is a process that gives a temporary power boost to the Mega Evolve Pokemon. We need to be careful, Blastoise." Gary said to his starter Pokemon.

"Blastoise!"

"Dragon Tail!" Ash ordered his next attack.

A light blue glow spreads up Charizard's tail glows light blue. It then rushed towards its opponent.

"Counter that with Skull Bash!"

Blastoise body becomes surrounded by a silver aura and then it charges toward its opponent and slams its head into the opponent.

Charizard Tail collided with Blastoise heads and cancelled each other's attack as the smoke surrounded the area.

"Now, use Ice Beam!"

Blastoise formed a light ball of energy in front of his cannons and then shot the light blue beams toward its opponent.
light blue beams shot from the light blue balls and are sent towards Charizard at close range.

"Charizard! fly away to dodge!" Ash said hurriedly.

Charizard managed to dodge the attack but beams struck the flame Pokemon wing, causing it to let out a painful groan as it was forced to land on the ground.
Being close to Blastoise, the attack hit Charizard in the wing, causing it to let out a painful groan as forced to land on the ground.

"Blastoise now is the perfect time to use your newly learned move," Gary said.

"Now! Dragon Pulse!"

Blastoise fires a multicoloured dragon-shaped energy from its canons at the Charizard.

"Charizard! Flare Blitz! Let's go!" Ash shouted.

Charizard's body becomes surrounded by red-orange fire, and it charges at the incoming multicoloured dragon-shaped energy.

Charizard collided with Dragon Pulse and managed to overpower the Dragon Pulse's attack and hit Blastoise as a large cloud of smoke covered the area. And they waited for the smoke to get clear.

As the smoke clears, Blastoise is unconscious on the ground.

"Blastoise you did great." Gary returned Blastoise to Pokeball.

"This helps me so much on my research on Mega Evolution and seeing the mega evolution makes me excited to mega Evolve my Blastoise." Gary thinks as he looks at Charizard who has reverted to his original form.

"Hey, Ash! Let's have a rematch after I find Blastoisenite. So, there will be a battle between two mega-evolved Pokemon." Gary said with a small smile

Ash stared at him for a moment before
smiling back and then answering, "You got it! We will love to battle Mega Blastoise. Right, Charizard?"

"Charizard!"

"You two are strong trainers and that was a great battle."

"Thanks, Serena."

"T-Thanks,"

"Welcome," Serena smiled then turned to Charizard. "Charizard you were great out there." She compliments.

"Chaar Charizard!" Charizard said.

"Hey, Serena. Can I ask you something?" Gary asked.

"Yes," Serena nodded.

"You look familiar, have we met before?" Gary raised an eyebrow.

"Nope," Serena smiled innocently.

Gary blinked because he was sure that they met before but where?

Ash couldn't help but laugh at how Gary forgot about Serena. They used to play together in Pallet Town along with Leaf.

Ash and Serena decided to walk inside the house leaving confused Gary behind but stopped as they heard a voice coming from the backdoor.

"Ash! Stop right there!!" Delia shouted.

They look at Delia in confusion.

"What's wrong, mom?" Ash asked, still clueless.

"Look around,"

Three of them looked at the backyard and realized that half of it is destroyed, they sweat dropped.

"The backyard looks like a battlefield. Half of it is destroyed." Delia remarked.

Ash and Gary smiled sheepishly.

"Mom, we didn't realize it," Ash said while he rubbed the back of his neck

"Yes, Delia, just like Ash said," Gary said.

"It's 6 pm, and dinner will be ready at 8 pm. Ash and Gary, you two have two hours to clean up all the mess." Delia said then looked at Serena with a smile. "And Serena, If you want you shall come inside."

Serena nodded and Delia walked inside the house then Serena looked towards Ash and Gary.

"I can help too." Serena offers.

"Thanks, Sere. But you don't have to do that."

Gary nodded in agreement, "Yes, Ash is right,"
__________________________________________

After One hour

It only takes one hour for them to clean up the backyard, with the help of Serena of course. They were now sitting on the sofa in the living room.

"How was the day after school?" Ash asked.

"I was bored, that's why I decided to come here," Serena replied.

"O-okay,"

"Anyway, I want some advice from you."

Ash nodded allowing her to continue.

"I have Altarianite and I don't think I want to mega-evolve my Pokemon. I don't know what to do?"

Ash gave her a warm smile, "It's simple, you shall ask Altaria. If it wants to mega evolve or not."

Serena grinned, "I think I will do that."

"Pika!"

"Hi, Pikachu," Serena stroked Pikachu's ears.

"Chaa!" Pikachu cheered.

"I think Pikachu likes you."

"Yeah, I wonder why that is? We only met each other for five days."

"Like trainer like Pokemon, huh," Gary said.

"Uh, what?" Ash asked trying to comprehend what Gary is saying.

Serena blushed but quickly hid her red cheeks from her hair so Ash didn't notice.

Suddenly, the bell rang. Mr Mime opened the door and let Dawn walk inside.

"How was your shopping spree?" Ash asked.

"It was great! May and I bought a lot of things."Dawn replied then she noticed Serena. "Hi, Serena, you are here as well. That's great!"

"Hi, Dawn."

"So, something interesting happened?" Dawn inquired as she sat down on the sofa.

"Yup, Me and Gary battle, and I mega-evolve my Charizard," Ash replied.

"You did what?" Dawn yelled. "You could've waited for me to come." She argued.

"Sorry about that Gary suddenly asks for a battle so I accept his challenge,"

Serena looked at the clock and realized that it was 7.30 pm so she hurriedly stood up.

"My mom will be worried! I will be going now. And now I just remembered that I didn't even tell my mom I was going to your house."

"Don't worry dear, I called Grace and told her you were here. And if you want you can stay here for dinner." Delia said with a small smile.

"Sure, and thanks for telling my mom."

"You're welcome, Serena." Delia smiled then she walked to the kitchen to prepare the food, while Serena, Dawn, and Ash helped out cleaning and setting up the table. Pikachu sees the Ketchup bottle and starts devouring it.

"Kids! Dinner is ready!"

Delia announced as she finished preparing the food, they all sat down, and Gary also came downstairs to have dinner. Everyone started to eat their dinner.

"This is delicious! Mom!" Ash shouted as he happily ate his food and Serena giggled.

"Yup," Serena said. "Delia, can you give me the recipe for this?"

"Okay, I will do that."

Delia explained the recipe to Serena which she listened to carefully.

They finished their food and Serena decided to head back home.
________________________________________

"Hey, Gary, don't tell anyone that I have a mega stone, because I don't want to overwhelm everyone with this power. I will be using Charizard's mega evolution when necessary or when I will be battling a mega evolve Pokemon." Ash said.

"Got it." Gary nodded. "And I want to ask you something too.

Ash nodded, "Okay, what is it?"

"Well... How could I say that? I noticed that you were blushing while talking to Serena."

"What? Y-You s-saw..."

"Looks like the dense Ashy- boy has feelings for Serena," Gary smirked.

"I have feelings for Serena?" Ash mutters to himself.

"What are you even talking about?" Ash asked, looking confused.

Gary stared at him for a moment before realizing that Ash is still dense.
"I can't believe it! I thought you came out of your dense shell. Oh, Arceus how wrong I was. You are still dense."

"Hey! I am not dense!" Ash shouts.

"Yes, you are!" Gary shouted back. "But listen, let me ask you something."

"Okay."

"Do you feel anything weird while talking to Serena?"

"On second thought, why are you asking me this question?" Ash asked as he raised an eyebrow.

Gary frowned, "Just answer it will ya, I am trying to help here." Gary said impatiently.

"Fine, I get nervous all of a sudden while talking to Serena. And my cheeks start to heat up and then I can't even talk without stuttering."

"You have a crush on Serena."

"Crush?"

"The weird feeling you are feeling around Serena is the feeling someone feels when they have a crush on Someone."

"So, I have a crush on Serena."

"Of course, you do," Gary shouted happily. "And I am sure Serena has feelings for you too."

"What? How can you be so sure?" Ash inquired.

"I saw her blushing, I am sure you noticed it too," Gary responded.

"Yeah, I noticed her blushing," Ash put his hand on his chin as he was thinking hard. "Sometimes she gets nervous around me and her face becomes red most of the time."

"You have to tell her." Gary insisted.

"Hmmm... I will tell her... but... not now, first I have to figure out these feelings."

"Okay, I am sure that you will realize these feelings. But You have to tell her soon."

"Why is that?"

"You don't want some other guy to steal her away from you. That's why." Gary said in a serious tone.

"Oh- okay." Ash nods his head in understanding. "Anyway, thanks for the help. I have been thinking about these weird feelings ever since I met Serena."

"Anything for a friend and I am happy for you," Gary said with a small smile.

Ash blinked. Friend? Hearing Friend's words from Gary feels strange considering they were rivals from childhood and they hate each other.

"Good night. I am going to sleep because I have to wake up early in the morning."

"Good night."

Gary entered his room and Ash decided to walk to his room.

Ash stayed up late at night thinking about his talk with Gary before drifting off to sleep.
__________________________________________

Next day

"It's been a while since we talked to each other like that." Delia smiled.

"Sure has." Grace nodded. "Hey, Delia, let's make a bet. Who is gonna confess first? I bet on my daughter."

"I agree. Let's make a bet." Delia said confidently because she overheard the conversation between Ash and Gary.
__________________________________________