Gold's POV

"This place is pretty nice," I say to my roommate for the night.

Green walks out of the bathroom in her purple pyjamas and instantly finds herself in the middle of the big bed. The bed takes up most of our Pokemon Center room.

The "room" is like an acorn hanging off the cliffside, waves crashing in the water underneath. It's cool but the glass floor can make you dizzy. Now that it's dark we can also see a sky of stars from the wall to ceiling windows.

Wimpod Cove is a collection of houses built into the cliffs of the cove. Some are built into caves or on large wooden decks wedged between cliff faces. A collection of rope bridges hang between the houses, connecting them all.

"It's so romantic," She sighs before noticing my raised eyebrow. "If you weren't here of course."

"Of course," I shove her over so I can fit on the bed. "Maybe Serena will make a move on Ash."

"She already did."

"WHAT?"

"Yea when you were busy getting kidnapped."

Green gives me a summary of what Serena told her. 

"Only took a few weeks of being here," I joke. "Maybe Elemente is the region of love."

"Maybe," Green laughs and turns of the lamp.

The room goes dark and I stare out the window. Leader battle two here we come.

Ash's POV

"I've been to a lot of battlefields but this is awesome," I awe at Wimpod Cove's battlefield. 

It hangs between four cliffs, strong rope keeping it steady in the winds coming off the ocean. Waves roll underneath, the water well below the field.

The platform, some combination of turf and strong base, has no railing or anything. Green, Serena, and I watch from a more stable wooden deck that overlooks the field.

Gold stands at one end while the Bug District Leader stands at the other.

"It is," Serena agrees. "Do you know the leader Green?"

"Mhm," She nods. "Professor Arthropod."

"Professor?" Serena questions and she nods again.

I study the guy who will be my future opponent as well. Unlike most of the people from the Bug District, the professor is dressed in more modern clothing.

He has a green dress shirt, black dress pants, and of course a white lab coat. He has short brown hair and square glasses.

"Welcome Gold!" Professor Arthropod's voice echoes through the area. "It's been awhile since we've had a military recruit make it this far."

Gold nervously laughs and Eevee jumps out in front, still in her bug form.

The Professor smiles wide at Gold. "I know why you're here so let's do this."

Green's fingernails scratch the railing keeping us from taking a dive. She must be nervous.

"We can do it Eevee," Gold encourages the green fox Pokemon.

"Is that a bug type eevee evolution?" The Professor takes off his glasses in amazement, to which Gold nods. "Now that is intriguing. Pineco let's learn together."

Gold's first opponent is a dark teal bug type, Pineco. It is shaped like a pinecone, with two big eyes on the front. Its colouring alludes to its grenade-like properties.

I blink and Pineco is already spinning itself into a Rapid Spin attack. It flies across the battlefield with impressive speed towards Eevee.

Eevee uses its new wings to effortlessly fly a few feet over it.

Except Pineco does a u-turn at the edge of the battlefield and crashes into Eevee on its way back. The bug type eeveelution tears up the turf while it skids towards Professor Arthropod.

Gold should've seen that coming.

"Rapid Spin again!"

Gold watches helplessly as Pineco zips all around the field, periodically hitting Eevee who is trying to dodge. This herds Eevee into the centre of the field and Pineco spins around it.

Eevee tries a Pin Missile attack but Pineco dodges all of the lime bullets pouring from the sky. Smoke billows with each miss, hiding Pineco's movements.

I have a feeling the big finish is coming.

Professor Arthropod says something that we can't hear over the battling.

I'm guessing it rhymes with Delf-Sestruct.

We all cover our ears and cringe as the battlefield is enveloped in light from Pineco's Self-Destruct. It doesn't take long for the breeze to clear the smoke and reveal two fainted Pokemon.

"There goes his ace," Green sighs. 

Gold picks up the defeated Eevee with a sad look on his face. I'm sure he was expecting the new bug type form to give more of a boost. 

He needs to understand the form first though and he just spent the last few days with different Pokemon.

Professor Arthropod studies Gold, who is readying his next Pokemon. "I hope you show a connection to bug type Pokemon stronger than that," He comments.

Gold just shakes his head and brings out Crustle.

Crustle's big cube shaped shell sparkles in the highlight, little bits of quartz sticking out. Its little crab face looks determined. Reminds me of Cilan's Crustle.

The Leader brings out a Pokemon that is as close as you can get to the opposite of Crustle. It's a Ninjask, a gold and black Pokemon cicada with white and red wings. It has already taken to the sky to show off its speed.

Gold needs to be patient. 

"Come on Gold!" Serena cheers.

"He has the type advantage," I point out.

"If he can land an attack this time," Green plays with her long brown hair.

"Rock Slide!" Gold commands.

Crustle summons huge boulders that fall like rain out of the sky. 

Ninjask flies around the brown hunks of rock, making it look easy. All this attack is doing is giving Ninjask more time to charge up its Aerial Ace attack.

Ninjask dives in towards Crustle, its wings glowing brightly, and slashes it hard in the back. Crustle's rock takes the blow but is chipped in the process.

"Rock Blast!"

As Ninjask tries to fly away, Crustle is ready to strike it down. The bug and rock type shoots rocks like bullets, hitting the fleeing Pokemon multiple times.

"Metal Claw," The Leader says calmly and Ninjask recovers itself.

Its two grey claws turn silver, gleaming with energy. Ninjask takes another dive at Crustle who can't react fast enough to defend. All it can do is hide in its rock and take another hit.

Crustle's rock breaks further, about half the size.

"Is Crustle's rock supposed to break?" Serena asks and I shake my head.

"Not that I remember," I study its trainer. Gold doesn't seem worried.

Ninjask tries to land another Aerial Ace but this time Crustle jumps out of the way with its smaller shell. Ninjask crashes into the turf in surprise, not expecting to miss.

Crustle wastes no time burying it with Rock Slide, huge rocks forming a tomb around Ninjask. The free standing structure doesn't move for a few moments while the battle takes a brief pause.

Then it crumbles.

Ninjask shoots out of the rock like a missile, glowing white claws out in front. Crustle's eyes widen before it disappears into its shell and is knocked hard with a super speed Aerial Ace attack.

The last of its rock breaks apart into dust and leaves the orange hermit crab exposed in the middle of the turf field. But without a shell and its ability weak armour, Ninjask isn't the only fast one now.

"Rock Wrecker!" Gold yells.

"Rock Wrecker!?" Professor Arthropod exclaims. "Ninjask defend with Metal Claw!"

Shell-less Crustle leaps into the blue sky towards Ninjask who is waiting with its silver claws. A huge boulder grows between Crustle's claws, waiting to deliver a super effective attack.

The powerful boulder blocks the sun as the two Pokemon collide, sending up a cloud of dust. The rock wrecker attack explodes, filling the entire sky with smoke.

Moments later, another tie is revealed.

"It all comes down to this Gold," The Leader laughs, cleaning the dust off his glasses. "And I know your last Pokemon already so this will be fun."

Professor Arthropod releases a Pokemon I've never seen before. It's so menacing I take a step back.

Its body is made of jagged black and brown rocks, forming a strong and towering bipedal structure. Its two large arms turn into black battle axes ready to chop anything to bits.

Green pulls out her Pokedex. "Kleavor, a bug and rock type Pokemon. A violent creature that fells towering trees with its crude axes and shields itself with hard stone. If one should chance upon this Pokémon in the wilds, one's only recourse is to flee."

"Sounds about right," Serena shivers.

"It's an evolution of Scyther," Green says and we look at Gold's Scyther who is facing Kleavor with a determined face.

"Kleavor comes from a time where it was eat or be eaten," The Professor declares. "You've impressed me thus far but your Scyther is outmatched by its evolution."

"So it evolves from Scyther," I repeat the new information. "That means Scyther can evolve into two different Pokemon."

Scizor.

I rummage through Gold's bag that we were hanging onto for him. I pull out the metal coat and hold it up in the air.

"Gold!" I shout before the battle resumes.

He and Scyther look up at us, noticing the gleaming piece of metal in my hand. The navy haired trainer looks at his Pokemon who nods.

I toss it down towards the battlefield, thankfully making it there and not dropping into the ocean. Scyther picks it up and the evolution process begins.

The green Pokemon disappears into a blinding light before eventually appearing as a shiny red Pokemon made of steel. It's similar in size and shape but now everything is smooth and polished.

Scizor now has two red claws at the end of its arms instead of scythes. Its wings are also a bit smaller but move faster while Scizor hovers above the field.

It's now a battle of Scyther evolutions.

Here we go.

Kleavor runs towards Scizor with glowing axes. I think Professor Arthropod called it Stone Axe.

Scizor makes its own claws glow sliver, ready to defend with Metal Claw.

The two attacks collide into a stalemate, pushing the Pokemon back from each other.

"Scizor should just fly up and attack from afar," Green says but I shake my head.

Scizor and Kleavor continue to exchange physical attacks.

"That's not how Scizor likes to battle," I say. "Gold is playing to its strength."

"Maybe he's finally learning how to battle," Serena jokes and we laugh.

"Smack Down!" The Professor interrupts us.

Kleavor brings it's battle axe down hard onto Scizor but Scizor's image disintegrates. More copies spread out on the battlefield. A well-timed Double Team.

Instead of hiding like on the boat, they go straight into attack mode.

"Iron Head!" Gold yells.

All the copies dive towards the surrounded Kleavor with shiny steel heads. He's trapped.

"Stone Axe!"

Kleavor spins itself around so fast its two axes becomes a circular blade around it. Scizor can't stop and all the copies go up in sparkles as Kleavor destroys them all on impact.

The real Scizor is hit hard and flies towards the edge of the hanging battlefield, feeling the attack. It picks itself up but is much more tired than Kleavor.

"Finish with Stone Axe."

Kleavor marches forward, staring right into Scyther's eyes.

"Give it all you got Scizor," Gold encourages. "Beat it with Bullet Punch."

Scizor zips forward before Kleavor can attack, nailing a few quick blows to Kleavor's chest before it can swing. Scizor's claws move so fast I can't see every punch.

It's easier to just look at what part of Kleavor recoils in pain. The rock type tries to defend but is easily stopped by a stray punch. It doesn't have enough time to wind up its heavy arms when Scizor stays up close.

Scizor lands the final blow, knocking Kleavor onto its back.

Gold's POV

"You did it Scyt- I mean Scizor!" I run up and sling Scizor's metal arm over my shoulder. "Thank you."

Scizor nods, a small smile forming on its stoic face.

"I hate losing to a military recruit," My opponent walks up. His hands are hidden in his lab coat while he casually walks across the swaying field. "But good battle."

I shake his hand and try to read his face. There's something about his smile I don't like.

"Thanks," I run a hand through my hair and fix my hat. 

"But I guess," He says a bit quieter. "You're not really a military recruit anyway."