A/N:

PsychicEevee: Yes, I know you were hoping for a chapter. I'm sorry, but this isn't one. I've put a lot of thought into this, and I've decided to delete this story and start posting my new one (once I think of a good title for it). It's a shame, really, because I'd only posted about half of what I'd written of The Time After. However, I've decided to overhaul the story, writing pretty much Tay's entire life. I don't even know if I'm going to keep it in the anime universe, though I think I'm going to keep some of the basic aspects of it. I don't know whether or not I'll have Ash and the gang in it yet, I've only written enough material for a few chapters. However, to make it up to you I'll post some of what I had planned for the next few chapters of TTA.

(? POV)

I was having trouble sleeping when I heard a noise. The guards opened the door to the cell. They were carrying something... I wasn't sure what. They threw the bundle to the floor inside the small room. I ran to it.

"Where am I?" I muttered to myself.

The Egg, still glowing, changed shape.

I looked at my child in wonder. Instead of being brown like most Eevees, she was so pale a shade of silver, it was almost as if she was giving off her own light.

My heart broke more and more with each step she took.

"You'll never carry out those 'plans' of yours!"

I was on the floor, nearly unconscious...

"Help!" the voice shouted. It sounded like a girl.

Words can't express how I felt when I breathed fresh air for the first time in months. It renewed me, revitalized my spirit. But it did more than that. Seeing the sun, feeling it against my skin, moved me to tears. I smiled at the world around me, relieved to be outside; free to go where I wanted.

I closed my eyes for a moment and the next thing I knew, I was asleep.

The doctors say it was lucky none of your bones are broken.

I devoured it like how Ash had always eaten Brock or Cilan's food.

He landed straight in front of Kai and almost right away started to scold us for being away for so long.

"That's a lame excuse." I informed him. "Are you ready now?"

we entered Tay's room. Oddly enough, though, she was asleep. Except for when we first met and when we had just been freed, I'd never seen Tay sleeping. She looked at lot more relaxed when she was sleeping, with the tiniest of smiles on her face. Except for the last day we'd seen each other, I'd never seen Tay really smile.

"Hey Tay, why'd you seem scared of Meowth for a moment there?" I asked her.

She stiffened and started to give excuses rapidly. "Scared? Who was scared? I was just startled, that's all..."

It wasn't fair that Mommy and Daddy didn't let me out of the cave unless Uncle Mike was there. I wanted to play so much, but he was always searching for my big sister, this 'Tay'. I wanted to meet her, but even more than that I just wanted to go outside!

"Where'd he go?"

"He's bound to be around here somewhere."

"Pika ka pikachu pi, chupi pika."

"Let's go look."

"Hi," I waved timidly, suspecting what was about to happen.

"TAY!"

"TAY!"

"Where were you?"

"Do you have any clue how worried we were?"

"You promised not to run away!"

"Pikachu pi pika ka chukka pichu pika pika!"

"To answer those questions, I was kidnapped, injured, and only just was allowed to go looking for you, and I did have a clue. I didn't mean to run away, honest!" I said.

"You were kidnapped?" Mike, who had come out with them, asked.

"Let's get some sleep," I yawned. "My little brother woke me up right after I got to sleep." I gave him a mock stink-eye.

"Sorry..." he muttered.

I froze, still recalling that incident way back when I was young. Liam, though, seemed fascinated as the Sun Pokemon used Confusion to lift a heavy-seeming boulder into the air, hold it suspended for a good few minutes, and put it back down without a sound. It was only after that was done that Angelo noticed us.

"Guys, can we go somewhere a bit less public? I need to show you something," I requested.

"Tay?" Mike asked.

"We won't be long. I just have to show you something," I told them.

"Okay..." he muttered. We went to the forest right outside of town, close enough to make it back to the Pokemon Center with a pretty short walk, but far enough away that I could be certain no prying eyes would see.

"Kiki, Kai, you remember when we were comparing what oddly colored Pokemon we've seen, and I mentioned the one I thought those guys were after?" I asked.

"Huh?" Angelo muttered, clueless.

"It was when you were asleep, Angelo. I told them about a silver Eevee I grew up knowing." I summarized. "Could you guys let out all your Pokemon? I feel that would be best."

"Okay," they all muttered, taking out a couple Pokeballs each and tossing them. Out of the ones Kiki threw came a Houndour, Meowth, and the Ponyta with the blue mane she told me about (and it was even more stunning than I thought it would be). Kai had a Skarmory, Sneasel, and Meinfoo. Angelo's Espeon stepped forward, and a Wooper and Sunflora appeared out of the Pokeballs he tossed.

"What about your Pokemon? You do have more, right?" Kai asked.

"Yes, but they, along with all of Mike's Pokemon, know about what I'm about to show you." I explained. Pikachu and Liam jumped off of my shoulders. I started my transformation, closing my eyes as I did. I want to be a Pokemon again. When my eyes opened, the others looked a lot taller, and they were all (except for Mike and my Pokemon) shocked to say the least.

"T-Tay?" Kiki stuttered.

"Y-you're the silver Pokemon?" Kai asked.

"Yeah, it's me," I switched to telepathy, much to the shock of the others (except Mike and my Pokemon again). "You see now why I wanted to go somewhere private?"

"Yeah. If any ol' person knew you're a Pokemon and human at the same time..." Kiki trailed off.

"It's because of a legend that's going to come true in a bit more than a year," I started. "Every thousand years, a great evil rises. However, fifteen years before, one Pokemon is chosen to stop this evil. From birth, they're given special powers to combat the evil. To identify them as the special Pokemon, their coloration becomes different than the rest of their kind. They become silver. That one Pokemon is destined to defeat the great evil."

I had a vivid memory of it being a normal type Gym (Though for some reason, Whitney had used a Nidorina). (A/N: Let it be known that I resent the fact that Whitney used a Poison type in her battle against Ash in the anime.)

Clefable's arms glowed when they stopped. Clefable opened its mouth and sent several sound waves at Mom.

"Cloudy, that's Hyper Voice! Quick, use Quick Attack to dodge it!" I shouted, knowing how powerful that move could be. Mom dashed out of the way at the last second, leaving a white streak behind. Since she had been right in front of me when the attack was launched, I had to jump myself to avoid it.

"I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!" Whitney shouted. "I really didn't mean for that to happen!"

"No harm done, right?" I smiled as I landed.

He paused to think for a little while before speaking. "... I don't want to change my name." He paused for a moment. "I've always been Liam, and that's what I'll always be."

"That's very wise Liam." I smiled.

"Thanks. Could I start training now?" he asked with an impatient bounce, making me remember that he was still my kid brother.

We had turned a corner when I saw three awfully familiar figures, with the emphasis on awful.

The first was a young woman, no older than 25. She had long magenta hair and blue eyes. She had round green earrings, and was wearing an outfit I didn't recognize for her: a pale yellow blouse and a purple skirt with white socks and blue shoes.

The next was a young man, about the same age as the woman. He had short light blue hair and green eyes. He, too, was wearing an unusual outfit for him (and that's saying a lot, given how many different things I've seen him wearing; as in, I've seen him in everything from a suit to a tutu). He was in a green shirt and navy slacks and sturdy-looking black shoes.

The third figure was not human. It was a Meowth, standing on two legs like a human and dressed like one as well.

"I... forgive you," I muttered, stunned I felt that way myself. The trio stood back up. "I should want to destroy you right now, but I don't." I shook my head. "I don't know why myself, but... I feel like you should get a second chance, even with past loves for Meowth."

"Huh?" he asked. I turned to Kiki.

"Wha... oh yeah!" she pulled out a Pokeball and sent out her Meowth. Meowth stared.

"Meowzie?" he asked.

"Sure. I already can't wait!" James replied. I smiled, happy (ish) that James, who seemed the nicest of the trio, had finally gotten together with Jessie. (It was obvious that they liked each other, at least since the calming presences around me had made me able to make me notice such things.)

I pulled out a somewhat larger box and opened it to reveal three stones about the size of the Everstone. One was blue with what looked like bubbles inside, one was green with a yellow bolt of lightning inside it, and the last one was red with what looked like a fire inside. "I bought these so if Liam wanted to evolve into a Vaporeon, Flareon, or Jolteon I'd be prepared. Not to mention if Pikachu ever wanted to evolve he could."

"Really, Tay?" Liam, who I'd almost forgotten I'd brought with me, asked.

"Of course. Although, I probably wouldn't let you evolve right away if you'd chosen to," I told him, ruffling the fur between his ears. He ducked away as I giggled.

The result was a single, huge sphere. The light emanating from it drew the attention of Mike, Mom, and Alex, who were the closest to where I was. I held the huge sphere above my extended hands, looking at it carefully.

It was a mix of light blue, white, and dark purple. It had to have been at least eighteen inches in diameter, and pulsating with light and sheer power.

I stared at it with a mixture of awe, amazement, and slight fear.

"What... what's that, Tay?" Mike asked slowly.

"I mixed my Shadow Ball and Aura Sphere, and this is the result," I whispered.

"Wow..." Mom breathed.

"I need to test this out," I said quietly, turning and walking toward a large boulder. Shoving my arms out, I threw the sphere at the boulder. There was an explosion and when the dust cleared, that was all that was left of the once huge boulder. My eyes widened.

"No way..." I said, my voice incredibly tiny. "I don't know if I should be able to control that kind of power..." I realized I was shaking. I swallowed. "Umm... let's just forget I did that."

"Yeah," Mike answered, nodding slowly.

With that done, I took a deep breath to get control of myself and got back to training.

I sighed. That boy is so like Ash it's hard to believe... I took a deep breath. "We'd better follow him, or we'll lose him when we get there. It's a big place."

Mike led us through the city, taking a winding path for some reason or another. Eventually we got to a part of Ecruteak City that had a more suburban look than the rest of it, with houses with respectable sized yards and probably backyards. Mike walked up to a dark green house with somewhat lighter trim. It had a porch with a couple of potted plants framing the door.

"Here we are," he announced happily. He walked onto the porch, got something from the potted plant on the left-a key, probably-and opened the door, replacing the object as he did.

"Guys! I'm home!" he called.

A moment later, something yellow and blue tackled Mike down. We all turned, startled. A split second later I recalled when he had told me about how Zack was actually the child of his dad's Manectric. I smiled at the sight. The Manectric was larger than most, and had some sort of collar on. The Manectric started licking Mike's face, and he laughed and tried to push it off. We all watched, smiling.

Three people came in to the front room.

One was a man with spiky dark blue hair and eyes. He was wearing a blue and green shirt and black pants and dress shoes. He had a dark red and blue band on his right wrist with what seemed like a marble imbedded in it.

The other adult was a woman with long green hair and amber eyes. She was wearing a pale green dress under a white apron. She had probably been cooking something when we had come in.

The final one was a young girl, who couldn't have been much older than five years old. She was in a pink tee shirt with a picture of a Skitty on it, almost life size, and a lilac skirt. She was clutching a Teddiursa doll in her arms.

"Mike, you're home!" the man smiled.

"It's nice to see you again, it's been ages," he smiled back.

"Mike," the woman started. I saw the starting of a scold. "You promised to call whenever you got to a Pokemon Center! What happened to that? We haven't heard from you in more than three months! We were so worried!"

"Ma'am, it was because we were away from civilization for several months." I cut in, stepping forward. "He must have forgotten during that time." Mike looked at me with a relieved smile as he nodded quickly He was silent, but his eyes were very clearly saying, I owe you one.

Mike brought us across town from where we were staying.

"This is probably one of the best places in town!" he assured us, his eyes glimmering, before giving us a warning. "Just brace yourselves for anything."

We eventually found ourselves outside of some old ruins that were probably a building once. It looked like it had gone through quite some experience. I looked at Mike, who was grinning with anticipation.

"This is the Burned Tower," Mike explained. "This is one of the only places here I've never been. We were only allowed in here if we had Pokemon. Since I left home as soon as I got my first Pokemon, I've never been in here. I've heard stories though, of all sorts of crazy things!"

"Like?" Kai asked, making a 'go on' sort of gesture with his hand.

"Umm... if I may cut in, have you ever heard anything about fires that can't be put out?" Tay intervened.

"Yeah, I think I've heard that a couple times." Mike nodded. "How'd you know?"

"Pikachu, Meowth, and I have been here before," she answered. "It was the first time we went through Johto."

"So are all the rumors true?" Mike asked. "Are there really-"

"Let's not ruin the surprise!" Tay giggled quietly, a rare mischievous gleam in her eyes.

"Okay..." he muttered. Meowth, recalling this place, smiled himself.

"When dey figure out it's..." Mike leaned down and covered Meowth's mouth. He struggled for a moment, his claws accidentally making long gashes in the bracelet we'd made out of the Everstone for him, before relaxing. Mike removed his hand. "I get it! No tellin'!"

Mike nodded, and we went inside.

It was dark inside, the only light coming from the entryway and some snatches where light trickled in. Liam was constantly talking, even though I couldn't understand him. After a few moments Pikachu climbed onto Tay's head from her right shoulder and carefully put his tail over Liam's mouth, saying quietly, "Pika, chu chupi."

A few minutes of exploration later, everything became dark. Tay's eyes narrowed, and she carefully turned her head (Pikachu had gotten back on her shoulder) to look around. There was a rumbling sound, and all the remaining light vanished. We all whisked around to see that something had blocked the exit.

"Great. Just PERFECT," I muttered. Tay and the Pokemon she said had been here before had a very neutral look on their faces, though it was obvious Meowth was having some trouble with his. With some crashes, I could just barely make out something else falling from above, something really heavy. Tay sighed quietly.

"You really like going over the top, don't you?" she asked out loud to apparently no one. "You can come out now! I know you're there!"

I heard something that sounded like a whine, and the area was flooded with light again.

By the time I could see again, several Pokemon had appeared. Many of them were what looked mostly like balls of purple gas, but they were also black balls that looked to be their faces. Some of them were also purple, but these ones seemed a bit more solid, and had hands. One of them, however, was completely unlike the others. For one, it wasn't levitating. It looked a bit like Liam, but it definitely wasn't an Eevee. It was dark grey, with red paws, eyelids, and eyebrows, and there was a tuft of fur at the top of its head, part of which was red. It was partially black as well, at the mane around its neck, as well as the inside of its ears. Its eyes were human-like, except there wasn't a pupil. Its irises were teal.

Tay blinked.

"A Zorua?" she muttered. "What's a Unova-native Pokemon doing in Johto?"

"A Zorua, huh?" I muttered, pulling out my Pokedex and, after opening it, pointed it at Zorua.

"Zorua, the Tricky Fox Pokemon. Zorua keeps its true form veiled under an illusion most of the time. When the illusion takes the form of a human, its tail remains unless it is highly skilled." the Pokedex recited.

"Cool!" Kai shouted, his eyes gleaming. "I think I'll catch it!"

"Hold on, please!" a voice came from behind us. We turned to see a man with blonde hair and brown eyes holding his hand out in a stopping gesture. His hair was held back by a purple sweatband. He was wearing a black shirt and white pants, with a purple and red scarf and purple and brown shoes.

He was about to continue on the comment of the Zorua, but his eyes fixed on Mike. "Michael!"

Mike smiled. "Morty!" He sprinted towards him. "It's great to see you again!"

"Same here," Morty nodded. "It's been ages since you've come to the Gym!"

"Sorry, Morty. I've become a travelling trainer, and I only recently got back here," Mike explained, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"So who're your friends?" Morty asked. We all stepped forward and introduced ourselves.

Morty's eyes narrowed dangerously as he saw Meowth.

"I remember that Meowth. I doubt there's another one out there that walks and talks like a human," he muttered. "That one tried to steal three Pokemon from their trainers alongside his gang!"

"He's turned over a new leaf," Mike assured Morty.

"You're lucky I trust Mike's judgment, Meowth," he said. "But don't think I won't be keeping my eye on you." He turned to the Ghost Pokemon and the Zorua. "Guys, don't bother these people while they're here. Okay?" They all nodded, albeit reluctantly.

"How come a Zorua's here anyway?" Tay asked. "Aren't they only native to Unova?"

"Normally, yes," Morty nodded. "I found that one a couple months ago. It seems to like helping the Ghost Pokemon scare anyone that comes in here."

"Zoruas tend to like playing tricks," Tay nodded.

"How do you know?" the Gym Leader (or at least I presumed he was, since he had asked Mike about meeting him at the Gym) questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I've known some Zoruas in the past," she explained.

"Ah," Morty nodded.

After chatting for a little while more, we all scattered to do some things around the city. I stayed in the tower. I couldn't explain why, but I was fascinated by the Zorua.

"Having the ability to seem to change one's appearance at will must be very handy." I told it, crouching down so we were at the same level.

Zorua barked, backing up slightly.

"You don't have to be scared of me," I smiled. "I won't hurt you." I extended one hand to let the Zorua take in my scent. It carefully pressed its wet nose to my hand as it took me in.

(Zorua's POV)

As I breathed in the girl's scent, she giggled.

"You're tickly, do you know that?" she asked.

"You're funny, do you know that?" I mimicked. I took a couple steps back and flipped backwards, casting an illusion that I was a human, just like her. I giggled as she goggled.

"So that's your illusion, huh?" she asked rhetorically. "It's really cool, but if I remember the Pokedex correctly..." she circled around me. "Yep! Your tail's still showing!" I twisted around until I saw that indeed, my bushy tail was still showing. I focused hard, trying to make it disappear, but it stayed where it was. I blushed.

"You don't have to be embarrassed it's there," the girl smiled at me. I was beginning to like her. She was all smiles, unlike my previous Trainer. "According to the Pokedex, only the best can hide their tails when they look like a human."

"But Mom told me I WAS the best!" I protested.

"Don't worry about it," she assured me. "I'm Kiki, by the way."

"A pleasure," I nodded respectfully, stopping the illusion. I clenched my teeth, remembering what my parents had told me before I left home.

(Cue Flashback)

"For your own good, remember this: you can NEVER trust a human." Dad told me. It was the day before I was two years old, old enough to live by myself like I'd always wanted.

"Why not?" I asked.

"All humans ever want to do is catch us, since we're rare Pokemon," Mom answered. That was true, as far as I knew. I'd never met another Zorua like me, and the only Zoroark I knew was my mom. (My dad was a Lucario.) "Don't you get it, my son? If you don't heed our advice, you'll be a slave to those humans forever!"

"Yes Mom," I nodded.

(Flashback End)

I had always thought I could never trust a human, especially after I'd been foolish and naïve enough to get myself caught by one on purpose, just to see what they were like. However, this girl, Kiki, she seemed kind. I'd only been treated kindly a very few times in my life, but it was something I always enjoyed.

I wonder..." she muttered.

"Yes?" I asked, knowing she couldn't understand me.

"Tay says Zoruas are native to the Unova region, but that's so far away from Johto," she obviously got the gist of what I was saying as she elaborated. "So why are you here?"

I took the form of a human again, mirroring Kiki's appearance, and as I explained, I took advantage of my powers of illusion to help her understand.

"I was caught in a Pokeball-" I conjured the illusion of a Pokeball and pressed it against the illusion human-"and taken away from my home." I sent the illusion Pokeball flying away before dissipating it.

"So you were caught, and taken somewhere?" Kiki guessed.

We all entered the Gym and, all of us except Mom glad to be out of the rain (especially Dad, being a Fire type and all) went into a standard battlefield. I assumed my place, as did Morty. A man stepped up to the middle to referee.

"This will be a three-on-three Pokemon battle between the Gym Leader Morty and the challenger Tay." the ref announced. Just like I thought. "Only the challenger is allowed to substitute Pokemon. Are both sides ready?" We both nodded. "Send out your Pokemon."

"Ladies first," Morty gave a mock-bow. I smiled as I pulled out a Pokeball.

"Alright, let's get this started. Honey, time to kick things off!" I tossed it and my Ursaring appeared in a flash of light. He looked at me, seeing himself on a professional battlefield. "Honey, this is your first Gym Battle, but I feel you're gonna do great. Am I right?" He nodded.

Meanwhile, Morty had called out his Pokemon. "Get 'em, Duskull!" The floating Ghost type appeared with a spooky, almost echoing "Dus..."

"The challenger gets the first move. Begin!" the referee raised the flags.

"Honey, use Metal Claw!" I yelled. He raced forward, raising his paws as his claws started to glow brightly.

"Dodge!" Morty shouted. Duskull quickly floated up.

"Jump!" I shouted, mentally berating myself for forgetting that they could do that. Honey quickly stopped, turned, and jumped high into the air, holding out his claws as he went. Duskull tried to float to the side, but Honey swept a claw out, hitting Duskull hard. It cried out, and plummeted to the ground as Honey landed.

"Nice!" I cheered. The Pokemon around me cheered, as did my friends, who were on the sidelines as usual with Liam. "Next, go in for Crunch!" Honey dove and sank his teeth into Duskull, who cried out in pain before going quiet. "Honey, stop!" He let go and went away. Duskull moaned quietly.

"Duskull is unable to battle, Ursaring is the winner," the referee pointed the green flag at us.

"Great job, my friend," Morty smiled. "Return for a rest." He swapped for another Pokeball and said to me, "Your Ursaring is quite strong. But that was one of my weaker Pokemon, especially in comparison to my other two. Let's really test you! Misdreavus!"

The small, bluish Pokemon let out an earsplitting screech as it appeared, causing all the Pokemon and myself (even when not in Pokemon form, I had senses that were almost as good as a Pokemon's) to cry out and cover our ears. I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Misdreavus!" I could barely hear Morty over the screech as he scolded his Pokemon. "Stop that!" The noise eventually died down, and I slowly uncovered my ears and opened my eyes. "Are you alright?" Morty asked.

"As soon as my ears stop ringing," I answered. "That sure did hurt, though."

"Sorry. I don't tend to use Misdreavus because it tends to do that to get its opponents off-guard." he explained. "That's why I went with Duskull first, not Misdreavus."

"Okay." I answered, shaking my head slightly in an effort to get my ears to stop ringing. "Let's get back to the battle shall we?"

"Begin!" the ref called, agreeing.

"Misdreavus, kick things off with Curse!" Morty called. Misdreavus gained a dark purple aura as it leered at Honey, who then gained the same aura. He cried out in pain. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Misdreavus looked pretty winded.

"What's that?" I asked, as I'd never seen it before.

"Well, the effect's actually different for Ghost types. For them, the target of the attack steadily loses health." Morty explained. "We may be friends, but don't think for one second that I'll go easy on you!"

"I wasn't expecting you to," I answered. "Honey, Shadow Claw!" As Honey ran forward, his claws became wreathed in a dark purple aura as he slashed at Misdreavus. Neither Morty nor his Pokemon reacted fast enough, possibly because one of my big goals in training was to make everyone as fast as possible (since I knew there were some species that just couldn't go very fast). While some of the newer Pokemon weren't quite at their fastest yet, they were pretty close, Honey being one of them. After hitting Misdreavus, he turned right around, anticipating a counterattack. He cringed as that aura from before returned, though.

That counterattack came. "Psywave!"

Misdrevaus glowed light blue, and fired light blue shockwaves out of its mouth, which Honey dodged some of, but after a little while, he got hit multiple times.

"Honey!" I shouted, concerned. I knew Psywave could be either strong, weak, or in between, and that looked very strong. Misdreavus was relentless, not stopping for nearly long enough for Honey to stand up. He cried out in pain. Think, Tay, THINK! After a few moments, an idea finally popped into my mind. I held up a Pokeball. "Honey, return!" He disappeared. I looked at Pikachu. "You're up next!" He nodded and scampered onto the field.

"Begin!"

"Pikachu, Quick Attack into Iron Tail!" I shouted. Pikachu darted up to Misdreavus before jumping and, his tail glowing, hit it hard, sending it down hard. Pikachu landed smoothly on all fours and stood.

"Get up! I know you can do it!" Morty urged his Pokemon, which slowly looked up, then started to float. "Great! Next, Pain Split!" Misdreavus smirked and rammed into Pikachu. A ray of energy slammed into Pikachu, coming from Misdreavus' side and hitting him in the back. Misdreavus then floated away, looking much better than it had before. Pikachu, on the other hand, looked pretty badly hurt.

"Pikachu!" I called.

He twisted around to give me a smile and thumbs up. "Pika-pikachu pika, pichu."

"Great! If you're fine, Thunderbolt!" I shouted. He charged up and quickly fired the bolt of electricity. Misdreavus screamed in pain as the attack hit, but remained levitating when it was done.

"Shadow Ball!" Morty ordered. Misdreavus formed a black ball in front of its mouth and hurled it at Pikachu, who quickly dodged. "Keep at it until you hit!" Misdreavus quickly formed another ball, and another, and another, repeatedly firing them at Pikachu.

"Use Agility to evade them, and when you get a chance, use Volt Tackle!" I shouted. Pikachu nodded, got on all fours, and started appearing and disappearing more and more rapidly. After a while, Misdreavus started getting tired, and Pikachu got a chance. Now behind Misdreavus, he started running up to it, becoming cloaked in electricity as he chanted, "Pikapikapikapikapikapika... chupi!" He hit Misdreavus and landed, sparking a bit as he did: the cost of such a powerful attack. He panted, having obviously taken a lot of damage from the combination of the earlier Pain Split and the recoil from using Volt Tackle. Misdreavus, to its credit, managed to float about a foot on the ground.

"Come on, Misdrevaus! Use Psybeam!"

"Thunderbolt!"

The two beams met in the middle. At first glance, they seemed even, but Misdreavus was losing the strength needed to keep that up far faster than Pikachu, and as such, the Thunderbolt started to inch closer to Misdreavus.

Morty frowned. "Destiny Bond!" he shouted just as Misdreavus lost the strength to use Psybeam. It became surrounded in purple just as the attack hit. It screamed and collapsed. As it did, two purple swirls came out of its eyes and hit Pikachu. He collapsed as well.

"Both sides are unable to battle!" the referee shouted, holding up both flags. Morty returned Misdreavus while I ran onto the battlefield, kneeled, and picked up Pikachu. He stirred in my arms and his eyes opened a slit.

"Pi-ka?" he asked weakly.

"You did great buddy," I smiled. "For now, just get some rest. You more than deserve it." I carried him over to the sidelines, where my friends were standing, and handing him to Mike. He cradled Pikachu softly in his arms like he would a baby. I walked back to the Trainer's box and mulled over my choices quickly, then decided.

"Flame, let's do this!" I smiled at my dad (A/N: Remember, in public she has to call her parents by their nicknames so no one gets suspicious) and he got on the battlefield. On the sidelines, I heard Liam cheering for his daddy to win.

Meanwhile, Morty just called, "Gengar!" From what seemed to be the floor a humanoid purple Pokemon rose. I know it wasn't in the floor. It was in Morty's shadow all along.

"Begin!"

"Flame, Double Team followed by Shadow Ball!" I shouted. Dad seemed to split in five, all around Gengar, before each copy charged a purple and black sphere in front of their mouth and fired them at Gengar, who merely floated upwards. I growled softly. "Again!" He shot another Shadow Ball. This time Gengar floated off to the side and turned invisible. Ratatas! I thought. It took Foresight for Ash to beat the invisibility, and neither dad nor Honey have it! The Shadow Ball kept going, and it hit the roof, letting a circle of rain in. Wait, rain, maybe... that's it!

"Flame, can you jump to the ceiling?" I asked. He looked at me with a look that very clearly said, Tay, what're you planning? He nodded. "Good, then jump to the ceiling and use Iron Tail!" He jumped and hit the ceiling with his now glowing tail. This made the ceiling crack and crumble. "Get out of there, quickly!" I shouted. He jumped from piece to piece until he was away from the rubble. After it had finished, Gengar reappeared, rubbing its head like it was in pain. The rain from outside poured in, much to Dad's disliking. "Sorry, Flame. And sorry for the damages, Morty. I realized something that'll help me beat you, but I needed the ceiling to be out of the way first."

"Eh, worse has happened to the Gym before," he shrugged as Gengar realized it was visible and quickly became invisible again. I focused intently, watching the rain, trying to figure out where Gengar was. My search zoomed in to an area where the rain was splashing like it was hitting a solid object, but it looked like there was only air. "Shadow Ball, right there!" I pointed. Dad quickly fired the sphere and knocked Gengar visible as it zoomed to the ground.

Morty blinked. "How'd you figure it out so fast?"

"The rain," I explained. "I had to see where the rain was splashing where there didn't seem to be anything to splash against."

"That was pretty well thought out," Morty complimented, his eyebrows raised.

"I thought of it when the second Shadow Ball missed and went through the ceiling," I answered.

"Impressive," he nodded. "Well, might as well make it as challenging as possible. Gengar, Hypnosis!"

Yikes! I thought as Gengar swooped in close, its eyes glowing red. I blinked and recalled how Ash countered it back in Sinnoh. "Flame, use your Counter Shield!" I hope he remembers it. He nodded and rolled onto his back, started to spin, and used Flamethrower. Gengar was knocked back by one stream of flames into another, and another, and another. I pity Gengar, though it's lucky the rain is dampening (A/N: Pun not intended) the power of Flamethrower.

"Gengar, get away from there!" Morty called out, but it was no use. Gengar was battered again and again by the Counter Shield, unable to move on its own terms. After a few minutes of this, Dad stopped spinning and got back on his paws, rather out of breath. Gengar finally managed to get back in control of its body.

"'Counter Shield'?" Morty asked. "That's one impressive technique you've got there."

"Thanks, but I can't take all the credit. I wasn't the one who thought of it. It was my adopted brother," I admitted. "You'd know him, actually. His name was Ash."

"Ash?!" Morty shouted, astonished. "But why's you say 'was'?"

"He died several months ago," I told him. "I miss him every day."

"He was a powerful Trainer and a good friend." Morty bowed his head. "I was hoping to see him again someday."

"He died much too young," I agreed, before focusing again. "But back to the battle. Flame, Iron Tail!"

Dad ran up to Gengar and jumped, his tail glowing as he flipped and hit Gengar on the head, knocking it down.

"Gengar! Get up and use Confuse Ray!" Morty shouted. Gengar managed to get up. Its eyes started glowing blue, as did Dad's. He started tottering around.

"NO!" I screamed. "Flamethrower!" He turned towards me with a nod, then back to Gengar. He shot off the stream of fire, but it was way off, missing Gengar by what seemed like a mile. Gengar didn't even move.

"Iron Tail!" I called, taking deep breaths to stay calm. This time, though, Dad didn't seem to understand. He rammed into the wall like he was using Tackle. After around the third time, though, he stopped and shook himself.

"Huh? Tay, what happened? How come I have such a huge headache?" he asked.

"You were confused, and ramming into a wall." I answered, glad he'd snapped out of it.

"That was pretty fast," Morty said, an eyebrow raised. "Most Trainers lose after getting hit by Confuse Ray."

"Guess I'm lucky, then," I answered coolly. "Flame, Shadow Ball, then Flame Charge!" He shot out the purple sphere, then cloaked himself in flames and shot after it. Gengar dodged the Shadow Ball, but then got hit by Flame Charge. I had a feeling it was out for good this time. Sure enough, its eyes were spirals.

"Gengar is unable to battle. The winner is the challenger!" the referee announced.

"Alright!" I cheered. "We won!" I ran up to Dad and hugged him. "It looked bad for a little while there, but we did it!" I carefully helped him over to Mom. He was exhausted, and the rubble of the ceiling wasn't helping all that much.

(A/N: I cannot take the credit for the rain strategy; I had writer's block at that time as to how to let Tay see the ghost Pokemon when they were invisible, and my brother gave me that solution.)

"You're back?" I heard behind me. Standing up and turning around, I saw Kyo standing in front of me, in his karate getup. "You've been out of the scene for months, yet now you return?"

"Yep. I was gone because I was searching for my friend, but she's come back, and now I'm here." I answered. "Besides, how could I miss a Contest on my own turf?"

I ignored him as he came back, keeping my eyes on the screen. I watched a few more decent appeals, then there was one that caught my eye. Apparently, her name was Surien, and she specialized in water types. She came up in a layered aqua dress with wave designs on the bottom, pale pink tights, and white slippers. She pulled out a Pokeball.

"Bubbles, let's go!" she called, sending out a Vaporeon in a storm of small white bubbles.

"Vaporeon!" it called.

"Let's kick things off with Aurora Beam and Echoed Voice!" she shouted. As a rainbow colored beam shot out of the Vaporeon's mouth, so did several sound waves. They distorted the Aurora Beam into a spiral.

"Up to the ceiling!" she shouted, jumping up and pointing the same direction. The Vaporeon seemed to focus even harder and after a few moments, the spiral turned upward, glowing beautifully as it grew and ascended. After a moment it stopped.

"Next jump and use Water Pulse!" Surien called. The Vaporeon, Bubbles, did just that, jumping high into the air, though nowhere near as high as I'd seen Cloudy jump, and fire the orb of water beneath it, sending a tidal wave over the field. "Acid Armor!" The Vaporeon glowed white for a moment and melted into water, falling into the remnants of the Water Pulse.

"Amazing!" Carrian shouted into the mic she was clutching. "Surien's Vaporeon has shown its unique trait, melting into water. Where it'll appear is anyone's guess!"

Surien closed her eyes for a few moments before opening them again.

"Now!" she called. A spot of the pool glowed across the field from where Surien was, and the Vaporeon jumped out, doing a back flip in midair and landing next to its Trainer, the two struck a pose, signaling that the appeal was over.

"Wow!" Carrian exclaimed. "What a stunning show! First the Aurora Beam and Echoed Voice, then the Water Pulse and the Acid Armor, these two really showed off why Vaporeon is called the Bubble Jet Pokemon!"

I could feel the tension between them. It was so thick it could be cut with a knife.

"Alright! Use Stone Edge next!" Meinfoo made the pointed stones, but instead of firing them at Poliwrath, it fired them at itself.

"Mienfoo, what're you doing?!" Kai shouted.

"It's confused! It can't understand!" Tay shouted from the competitor's area.

The next few matches went through, then it was Mike and the other boy, Dustin,'s turn. They went to the battlefield. Mike sent out Clarisse, while Dustin sent out a Glaceon he called Luca. Tay smiled, sensing how happy the Glaceon was.

"Battle begin!"

"Luca, start off with Swift!" Dustin started. The Glaceon opened its mouth and sent out large star-shaped bits of energy at Clarisse.

"Clarisse, use Hidden Power to block!" Mike countered. Clarisse formed pale blue spheres around her, which made a bit of a shield to deflect the damage of the Swift, though she winced and slid back a bit from the damage; obviously it wasn't all blocked. After a few moments and a large barrage of Swift stars the attack finished.

"Alright, Clarisse, next up use Double Kick!" Mike shouted. Clarisse ran to Luca, turned around, and kicked it hard with both of her back feet, sending the Glaceon flying with a yelp of pain.

"Luca!" Dustin called, quickly throwing himself in the way of his Pokemon's oncoming collision with the wall, making him crash into it instead.

Once the two stopped Luca looked at its Trainer, worried. "Dustin?"

"I'm fine," Dustin assured it as he stood up. "Now then, Ice Shard!" Luca opened its mouth and fired many little shards of ice at Clarisse, who cried out as the attack hit home.

"Clarisse!" Mike called, wide-eyed. "Poison Sting!"

She opened her mouth and shot out many white darts that Mike knew were filled with poison.

"Ah!" the Frest Snow Pokemon cried out as the darts all made their mark.

"Luca!" Dustin shouted. Once the pelting stopped Luca was revealed to have a purple tint in its face. The audience's collective realization was: It's poisoned...

Realizing this, Dustin ordered, "Hail, then Blizzard!"

Luca glowed pale blue for a moment before a beam of light the same color flashed up into the sky. Clouds quickly gathered and darkened. Slow at first, but quickly gaining speed, hailstones that ranged in size from the size of a marble to the size of a Pokeball fell. Luca vanished from view. A few moments later, a large gust of heavy, cold snow flew at Clarisse from behind, freezing her. Mike's breath caught.

"Clarisse!" he shouted, but he was helpless. There wasn't anything he could do to avoid the next attack.

"Dig!" Luca burrowed underground and, after a moment, sprung up under the frozen Pokemon, sending her flying up and colliding with the ground as she landed. On the plus side, though, the ice shattered with the force of the collision. However, the Nidorina that had been encased inside was very clearly unconscious.

"Nidorina is unable to battle, thus the winner is Glaceon and the victor is Dustin!" the referee announced.

(A/N: I do not own Dustin. He is an OC submitted to me a while back by Shinymudkip25. I'm sorry I'm ending the story before his formal appearance, but I will be including his two major appearances in this sort-of-montage.)

It was time. My battle with Dustin was about to begin. We smirked at each other as we sent out our Pokemon. He sent out a Raichu. I just looked at the Pokemon on my left shoulder.

"Let's do this."

He nodded and jumped off, red cheeks sparking in excitement.

"Battle begin!"

I took first move. "Pikachu, Quick Attack!" He used the attack, running full on at Raichu who was knocked back a short distance.

"Raichu, Focus Blast!" Dustin shouted. Raichu started forming a light blue sphere in his paw, which it sent at his unevolved counterpart.

"Dodge!" I ordered. Pikachu raced away like he had been shot from a cannon as the powerful but slow attack hit where he had been. "Iron Tail!" He jumped and did a forward flip, his tail glowing. He struck Raichu and it was knocked back.

"Brick Break!" Dustin countered. Raichu ran at Pikachu, its right paw glowing as it hit Pikachu. With a pained cry he slammed into the stadium wall.

"Pikachu!" I cried.

He slowly, shakily stood up. "Pi.. ka... chu!" he shouted defiantly to Raichu.

"Pikachu, head in for Iron Tail!" I shouted. He jumped and flipped again.

"Protect!" Dustin countered. A green barrier appeared around Raichu. Pikachu bounced off. "Dig!" Raichu dropped the Protect and burrowed underground.

"Be careful Pikachu, we don't know where it'll come up!" I shouted, quickly scanning the battlefield, trying to use a tactic I heard of while I'd been in Sinnoh. After a moment I saw small rocks and pebbles shaking behind Pikachu. "Behind you!"

Not even a second later Dustin shouted, "Focus Blast!"

Raichu shot up out of the ground and launched the blue orb at Pikachu, who quickly ran out of the way.

"Pikachu, Agility into Brick Break!" I ordered. Pikachu rapidly disappeared and reappeared elsewhere, getting closer and closer to where Raichu was. When he was a couple yards away, he jumped and came down on Raichu, his paw glowing white. He hit, sending Raichu skidding.

"Raichu, Brick Break and keep going 'till you hit!" Dustin shouted. Raichu started to run towards Pikachu, its arm glowing.

"Pikachu, use Agility and Quick Attack to dodge and hit when you can!" I countered. Pikachu nodded and started to run around, leaving a white trail as he disappeared and reappeared rapidly. Raichu frequently turned around to try to see Pikachu for long enough to hit. Every so often Pikachu slammed into Raichu, slowly but surely weakening it, not to mention the rapid dizziness from turning around so much. Eventually Pikachu stopped in front of me, wavering around a bit (obviously he was dizzy too), but otherwise fine. He and Raichu locked eyes.

"Pika pikachu pi-chu," Pikachu said.

"Rai rai," Raichu answered before collapsing.

"Raichu is unable to battle, Pikachu wins and the victor is Tay!" the referee announced. Pikachu ran and jumped onto my shoulder. I walked up to Dustin once he returned Raichu.

"That was a great battle, Dustin," I smiled, Pikachu agreeing.

"Thanks," he nodded.

Liam, with pink-purple orbs swirling around him, burst out of the ground behind Sawsbuck and hit it with the orbs. He then tried to jump gracefully back in front of me, but sort of crashed instead as the paralysis took affect.

"Liam!" I shouted in worry. He quickly stood up.

"I'm okay Tay. I won't lose!" Liam said over his shoulder.

With that, he started to glow. As everyone watched, he grew, his tail narrowing and forking at the end. He overall became slimmer, and tufts of fur sprouted right under his ears, which were now a bit wider and slightly different shape. His mane disappeared. This all happened at once. Once these changes were finished, a slim pink Espeon stood in Liam's place as the glow faded. I shook off the residual fear as I looked at him (from when I was little), and beamed. "Liam, you did it!" I pulled out my Pokedex and scanned my brother.

"Espeon, the Sun Pokemon. It has very sensitive fur, and can use minute shifts in the wind to predict its foe's next move." It said aloud, showing me a list of his moves. I cheered.

"Liam, let's try one of your new moves. Use Heal Bell!" I ordered. The bright red gem on Liam's forehead glowed for a moment, and his body glowed light blue for a moment before returning to normal.

"We did it Liam! Wait, no, you did it. You even managed to evolve, just as you wanted!" I cried out happily. He nuzzled into the crook of my neck.

"I did, didn't I?" he murmured. I blinked, expecting a typical hyper response, but didn't react verbally. We walked off the arena for the next match.

A/N:

Well, here you go. All of my best moments from over 10 unposted chapters. I will eventually be posting my new version, so keep your eyes out if you're interested! Goodbye, and I'll see you in my rewritten version!

~PsychicEevee0103