“Well then… Now I must win!”, she stated with great intensity.

  “Rend the land and skies, Oasis”, she shouted and called forth a humongous yellow bug with green wings. In its current stage, it barely resembled a dragon and looked closer to a dragonfly.

  The Vibrava then turned and appeared to be facing its opponent but its gaze was upwards rather than at the cat closer to the ground.

  “A Vibrava… this is going to be an uphill battle, Nova”, Harrison stated to his Shinx.

  “Shinx!”, Nova yelled as it was still motivated.

  “Let the battle begin”, Harold initiated, this time with a bit more eagerness. He was quite aware that although Stratus performed well, it was a recently caught Pokemon. Even if the bird had been around Harrison for a while, it still paled in comparison to the two which Harrison had been training and influencing for years.

  “Standby, Nova”, Harrison started.

  Shinx stood by and calmly used Charge to bolster itself. The level of electricity emitted from the little cat significantly amplified with each use.

  “Sand- Are status moves allowed?”, Rachel began but stopped to ask as she remembered it was a Ground type move.

  “Of course, anything that doesn’t directly damage is fair game”, Harrison said with a smirk.

  She then smiled as if saying he was going to regret the decision.

  “Sand Attack as it Charges, Oasis”, she ordered.

  Vibrava complied and took flight through vibrations which generated some noises that were quite grating to the ears. It then repeatedly hurled waves of sand at the Shinx who made no attempt to dodge. The only response was flashing sparks as the electricity came into contact with the rock particles.

  Rachel then paused as if she wasn’t sure what she was looking at.

  “Swift!”, Rachel ordered.

  Vibrava stopped spraying sand and unleashed a volley of star-shaped rays. As dozens of projectiles neared, Shinx finally reacted. He unleashed a vibrant bolt of yellow lightning that split into branches and each branch struck a star, sending it straight to the ground.

  “Your Shinx did the same to each grain of sand”, she stated her observations.

  “Indeed”, Harrison admitted. He considered pretending that the Sand Attack had taken effect but it would be pointless if she already called out his ploy.

  Nova started radiating yellow electricity with the arcs of lightning expanding and contracting like tesla coils. The little blue lightning cat was now fully charged. Before Harrison could say the move, Rachel interrupted and shouted, “Screech into Bug Buzz”

  Right after, she clamped her ears and backed off swiftly as her bug dragon unleashed an earsplitting screech. Harrison did the same upon observing her reaction.

  A second too slow, she thought.

  Right as the sound resonated and began to reach a crescendo, Vibrava paused when Shinx’s eyes glowed. The vivid yellow eyes bore into the dragon and it hesitated. Intimidate.

  Vibrava then attempted to resume but Shinx took the opportunity and rushed forward, Tackling the dragon. The damage wasn’t significant but the range made the preparations for sound-based attacks difficult.

  “Bite!” “Dragon Tail”, both ordered simultaneously.

  Baring its fangs, Nova rushed forward but Oasis was fundamentally faster and swung its tail. Leaping off the ground, Shinx used the Vibrava’s tail as a jumping pad but it was now midair and the air was Vibrava’s territory.

  “Astonish into Bug Buzz”, Rachel ordered.

  With great speed, Vibrava made a startling shout and forced Shinx to flinch. Stuck in midair, Shinx couldn’t react as Vibrava vibrated its wings to make an awful sound that caused Shinx to yelp in pain.

  So I need to keep it on the ground. That will be difficult to do with a Pokemon that has the Levitate ability, Harrison thought.

  Shinx then landed roughly and Vibrava moved again.

  “Dragon Breath”, Rachel ordered and Vibrava exhaled a powerful blast of dragon energy which enveloped Shinx.

  “Beat it down!”, Harrison shouted over the loud noises made by Vibrava and within the purple flames, a shadow was growing larger.

  “Avoid the-”, Rachel began but couldn’t finish as Nova rushed straight through the breath attack and slashed with great force. The Night Slash landed directly on Vibrava’s head and it bounced off the ground with great force as the Critical Hit landed. The damage was significant but had been mitigated by Shinx’s small size and power.

  “Take flight”, Rachel urged as she understood that Shinx had dealt more damage than her in one move even though Vibrava had landed three hits.

  Backstepping from a strike, Vibrava then immediately took to the skies and ascended a great distance while Shinx just stood still.

  “Cripple its wings”, Harrison stated and Shinx just nodded.

  Channeling its fully Charged power, Shinx began to unleash its electricity and glowed a bright yellow right before erupting into an overwhelming white light.

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  Shinx then almost doubled its height and its body became leaner.

  “Lux!”, the newly evolved Luxio shouted.

  Before anybody could comment, Luxio sent a powerful bolt of lightning towards Vibrava and sent it straight to the ground. The force of the strike was nearly equivalent to Thunder.

  To the side, Luxray shouted something pridefully.

  Unfortunately, Vibrava was still a Ground type and the lightning did not bypass the Type immunity. However, Luxio had further improved its control over electricity and completely disabled Vibrava’s ability to fly. At best, it could hover slightly but that was of minimal use when Luxio had no Ground type attacks.

  The two Pokemon then attacked with Luxio’s Night Slashes meeting Vibrava’s Aerial Ace. Both moves were executed with equivalent power and thus canceled out each other.

  This then continued for many turns as Luxio would parry Aerial Ace with Night Slash and vice versa. Neither side was inflicting significant damage as Luxio’s Critical Hit had been primarily due to catching Vibrava offguard.

  Neither Pokemon let up and it seemed to have become a competition of strength and brute force.

  After a while of constant back and forths, Harold decisively called off the match.

  “As entertaining as that was, the battle is at standstill. Your tactics and Nova’s evolution might have leveled the playing field but Oasis is still a higher level and most importantly, neither side is able to use their signature moves”, Harold said, noticing Vibrava’s itching desire to pull out an Earthquake growing with each consecutive parried attack.

  Both Harrison and Rachel conceded even if their Pokemon were quite heated and still raring to go. The two then relented when called back by their Trainers.

  “That was a fantastic match”, Harrison said as he held out his hand.

  “Indeed. You’re just like Cocoon. A budding Dragon waiting to mature”, Rachel said with an odd smile as she shook his hand.

  She then sighed, “Although it is a tentative draw, you undeniably impressed me so I’ll give you the reward as promised. As for-”

  “I will also provide the information I wagered. Think of it as gratitude for helping Shinx evolve even th-”, Harrison began but was interrupted by her sudden embrace.

  He was stunned but then just assumed that her obsession with Dragon types just went this far and that getting any Dragon type would mean a lot to her.

  Rachel then opened her pouch and pulled out a long, aged Dragon Fang that was a bit larger than her hand.

  “This is one of three that I painstakingly gathered. As an aspiring Dragon Master, I will eventually have enough for my entire future Dragon team”

  She then held it out but right as Harrison grabbed it, Rachel pried his hand open before he could clench his hand.

  She then watched in awe as the Dragon Fang reacted by radiating light and Draconic Energy.

  Harrison attempted to move his hand but she grasped it firmly with both of hers and would not let go. He was very baffled but then realized something as the Dragon Fang did not stop glowing. He then looked away as her curious gaze bore into him.

  As they just stood there for a while in this awkward exchange, Harold finally went up to the two and asked in an exhausted tone, “Is it the Dragon Fang you can’t let go of or … my son?”

  It was a bit too early for romance, Harold thought. The kid hadn’t even started his journey and she just met him. This was a bit too much for a first-

  Rachel then broke the silence and turned to Harold.

  “He’s a Latios, is he not?”, she stated with great enthusiasm. She then observed as both of their faces expressed disbelief.

  “A La-ti-ose?”, Harold repeated in confusion.

  Her grin widened when Harrison didn’t bother feigning confusion about what a Latios was.

  “It’s a Legendary dragon that can understand humans and has telepathy”, she began.

  “There are stories about Latias and Latios both having the ability to transform into anything, even humans. And as Harrison is a boy, he must be a Latios”

  “I don’t know how detailed the stories are but I can talk and I most certainly can’t fly”, Harrison said exasperatedly.

  “Perhaps, you can’t fly while transformed but your speech could be aided by Abra over there”, Rachel retorted.

  Maestro who was now awake, just laughed at its Trainer’s predicament. He indeed had Telepathy but rarely bothered using it. Not that its inclusion into the situation would change anything.

  Harold then sighed and said, “He’s always been odd but he’s definitely human. Could you explain your suspicions since I’m assuming you’re not the type of Trainer to go around accusing Trainers of being Lati’s or somebody would’ve notified me of this before you arrived”

  Ace Trainers had more responsibilities than regular Trainers and part of it was keeping the peace. If Trainers from other regions were considered troublesome or difficult, there was a need for the Ace Trainers and Rangers to be notified so incidents could be handled effectively without further complications.

  “I know Dragons very well and I know my Dragons especially well and they’re dismissive of things weaker than them. Our judgments usually overlap and when I first evaluated Harrison, I thought he was a bit weak so they’d think the same. Yet despite seeing him for the first time, they can’t take their eyes off him in the same way that they’d treat another proper Dragon”, Rachel elucidated.

  While she explained, Harrison gave Harold his Pokedex to look up information on Latios.

  Latios the Eon Pokemon. A Psychic Dragon type from Hoenn.

  A highly intelligent Pokemon that can understand human speech. It has the ability to make others see what it has seen or has imagined…

  Once he finished skimming the information, Harold stated, “Pokemon just treat him differently. An example being my Luxray who is always cautious around him. In my time as a Trainer, I have encountered a few Trainers that seemed special in certain ways. Some effortlessly bond with wild Pokemon and a certain few have actual powers like true Psychics”

  “Then how do you explain the Dragon Fang reacting to his touch? It doesn’t react even to Dragon types until they’re using a Dragon type attack”, she continued.

  Harrison then sighed out loud.

  He didn’t intend to divulge his secret but since she had found out this much, he would have to clarify at least a little.

  “The Dragon Fang is reacting to something I have in my possession. It is draconic in nature and extremely confidential. Can you keep this a secret?”, he stated in a firm tone.

  It seemed he would have to try harder to maintain his secret although now, he could use the Dragon Fang as an excuse. Luckily none of the villains he was aware of were Dragon specialists. Except for Team Plasma.

  “Even if I’m unconvinced that it’s not the Soul Dew, I’m always on the side of Dragons”, she said with a wink at Harrison.

  Harold grimaced as everything became serious when all he had intended was a friendly battle for a newcomer visiting the region.

  He then held out his Ace Trainer Card and said, “Since it’s come this far, I’ll need to verify your identity”

  Obliging, she handed over her Card from Hoenn and introduced herself.

  “I’m Rachel from Hoenn. Dragon Lover, temporary apprentice of Drake, and an early Finalist in the Ever Grande Conference”