Ash's POV

"You can do it Ash!" Serena's cheer echoes against the cliffs.

Professor Arthropod stands across the battlefield once again with a confident smirk. I would be too after defeating someone the way he did.

I glance at the honey blonde watching from the swaying rope bridge.

"This time will be different," I yell across the floating field. "Ariados!"

The red and purple spider Pokemon appears out of the pokeball, finding its footing on the artificial turf field.

"I hope so!" The District Leader yells back and releases his first Pokemon, Accelgor.

Accelgor's grey cape blows in the wind, eager to redeem itself from last time.

"Quick Attack!" 

Accelgor goes from 0 to 100 quick, hoping to get a quick attack in.

But the best defence is a good offence.

"Sticky Web!"

Ariados spins its web in milliseconds and throws it up as shield before Accelgor makes it there. The white silk traps the bug type against the ground.

"Poison Sting!"

Sharp pointed stingers dig into Accelgor, causing it to shriek in pain.

The move doesn't do a lot of damage but the purple bubbles emitting from Accelgor means it did its job. Now we just need to finish this before Ariados takes too much damage.

"You're not down yet Accelgor! Use Bug Buzz."

Shadows of little bugs crawl their way out of the sticky web and make their way across the turf field. The bugs crawl up Ariados' legs and try to overcome it.

Ariados crumbles as they drain its health.

Come on, think Ash.

"Jump off the field!"

Surely this will work better than last time.

Ariados slowly makes its way to the side, each step a challenge. The Pokemon makes it there and drops into a free fall.

I wait for Ariados to swing itself back up after losing the bugs to the wind.

Except I should've been paying attention to Accelgor.

"Quick Attack!"

The timing was almost perfect.

Ariados pops back up above the field and Accelgor is already charging its way.

"Sucker Punch!" I yell out desperately.

Accelgor reaches Ariados, ready to tackle it with full force.

Except like magic, the Sucker Punch attack allows Ariados to strike first with a sharp leg.

Accelgor crashes into the field and after another hit of poison damage, it faints.

"Way to go!" I cheer.

Ariados crawls back to our side of the battlefield. It's pretty exhausted so we're gonna have to make the most of its time against Volcarona.

"I hope you have a better strategy this time Ash," Professor Arthropod releases his fire and bug type.

The massive flower shines in the late afternoon sun. Wisps of fire come from the orange petals.

"Get as much of your webbing on the field as possible!" I command and Ariados immediately starts covering the field in its silk.

Volcarona watches carefully but Professor Arthropod doesn't let us work freely.

Volcarona spins into a ball of fire with Flame Wheel, scorching the silk and artificial turf in its path.

"Pull yourself out of the way."

Ariados pauses its artwork to grab onto the other side of the battlefield and pull itself right out of the charging fireball. It immediately gets back to turning the green field into a white one.

I can feel the warmth from Volcarona as it stops at the edge of the field in front of me. It's big eyes stare at me before turning back into a rolling ball of fire.

"Swing to the other side and inject your poison!"

Ariados manages to fall off the field, avoiding another attack of Volcarona's. The bug and poison type makes sure to swing across fast to avoid what happened last time.

The Pokemon appears back in front of me and turns its white masterpiece into a purple one. Poisonous particles bubble up from the field like a toxic wasteland.

Volcarona makes sure to hover just above the ground so it isn't affected.

We need to get it to fall down.

"Fiery dance, let's burn it up."

Volcarona summons pillars of fire that rise high into the clouds. They spin around the field, burning up all of Ariados' hard work.

The attack is unavoidable and Ariados faints upon contact with the super effective attack.

Eventually the fire pillars dissipate, leaving behind a hazy field as the smoke lingers. It even has a purple tinge to it.

Ha.

Volcarona flinches and falls to the ground for a quick moment as familiar purple bubbles are emitted. 

"I didn't expect the poison to go airborne," The Professor states. "This will be interesting."

I need to figure out how to stall while also doing enough damage to knock it out. I also don't know what Pokemon is coming next.

Just one hard hit might be enough if it takes enough poison damage.

"Leavanny," I call out the bug and grass type. 

We get one chance.

"Fiery dance!" 

"Here we go again," I mutter as the fire pillars return. "Slash your way to Volcarona!"

Let's hope those cooking skills pay off.

Leavanny runs fearlessly towards the source of the fires, keeping an eye on the pillars closing in. Its long arms glow in preparation.

A large swirling tower of flames swipes across the field, devouring Leavanny.

But then it dissipates into thin air, Leavanny's arms shining brightly.

The grass type charges forward and leaps towards Volcarona.

"Flamethrower!"

Leavanny disappears again as orange and red flames pour out of Volcarona. Smoke and dust flies up but I know Leavanny got a hit in.

We wait for the smoke to clear and there's two fainted Pokemon on the field.

"Way to go!" I cheer and recall Leavanny. "Thank you. It's up to you now Heracross."

The blue scarab bug appears out of its pokeball. It quickly gets into a battle ready pose, the sun setting in front of us.

The setting sun blinds us from seeing Professor Arthropod throw his pokeball.

But the Pokemon he released solved that problem.

"Kleavor," I mutter.

The same ancient Pokemon Gold faced.

Except three times larger.

This Kleavor has dark brown scars carved into its rocky body. Its black battle axe arms shimmer in the sunset, looking sharp as ever.

"This is the best I got," The District Leader spreads out his arms. 

"Same here," I lock eyes with Heracross and give it a confident nod.

This will be a physical battle but that's where Heracross shines.

Serena's POV

"You can do it Heracross!" I cheer.

I'm happy I'm not where Heracross is standing.

Kleavor is as intimidating as you can get. It waves its axes slightly to stay loose as it waits for a command.

The Professor wants Ash to make the first move.

Which usually isn't a problem for Ash.

Except the raven haired trainer isn't doing anything.

He just looks straight ahead at his opponent.

A couple minutes pass by without any movement.

"You guys okay down there?" I question over the evening breeze.

No response.

I look down at the crashing waves to make sure we're not frozen in time. As crazy as that would be...

"Fine," The Professor breaks first. "Spinning Stone Axe."

Kleavor's body creaks as it twists its rocky torso one way before spinning around the other. Its two axes blur into one circular blade.

It moves slowly towards Heracross who's horns start to glow with a Horn Attack.

Heracross digs its back legs into the field and prepares for impact.

Kleavor spins into Heracross but is stopped. Heracross' horns catch one of Kleavor's arms, keeping it from spinning into a more powerful attack.

"Slash!" The Professor throws his arm out.

Before Kleavor can hammer Heracross with his free battle axe, Heracross throws the rock and bug type into the ground.

"Horn Attack again!" Ash yells.

"Rock Slide."

Huge boulders fall out of the sky, causes the entire field to shake as they fall.

Heracross narrowly jumps out of the way of one while trying to reach Kleavor.

But a second one crushes the poor bug type.

"This was fun Ash," The Professor declares. "But it's over, Close Combat!"

Kleavor marches towards Heracross, its axes ready to deliver the final blow.

"Get up!" I yell.

Heracross picks itself up just in time to stare down the axes flying towards it.

"Counter!"

I didn't notice the smirk on Heracross' face before.

It knew what to do.

Like a martial arts master, Heracross deflects the Close Combat and grabs onto Kleavor once again. This time he somersaults the mammoth of a Pokemon, slamming it on its back.

The turf battlefield shakes upon contact, hard enough to knock Ash off his feet.

The trainer picks himself up to see Heracross happily running towards him. 

Ash pulls a honey pokepuff out of his bag and the Pokemon wastes no time devouring its treat.

That's bug type master Ash Ketchum for you.

Green's POV

"You're lucky I came with you," I remark.

After camping out last night, we wasted no time getting going this morning. The only way to Caventree is through tree roots.

Crazy right?

There's an endless amount of tree roots that extend from caventree. They cross, loop around, and end randomly, making it near impossible to navigate.

Luckily I have been here once before and remember the very discreet markings left behind.

"This way," Gold points out a small ladybug marking, illuminated by glowing green moss. "See I don't need you."

"Yea because you would've noticed them before I told you," I shake my head. "You'd be in here forever otherwise."

It's cold and damp in here so that would be a nightmare.

I'm really not a fan of the cold.

"Do you know how close we are?" The navy haired trainer asks.

"Nope," I shrug. "I don't even know if they'll let us in."

"What do you mean?" He glances over at me.

"Caventree is one of the most traditional and secluded places in Elemente," I begin. "Even before the Great Division and everything, they didn't like visitors. As the Districts became more segregated, they even stopped the military from visiting."

"They're protecting something," Gold says and I nod.

"There's a good chance that something is the plate."

"And they're just going to let us have it?"

"Nope."

The green glow of the moss is replaced by a warm glow.

Caventree's sap.

It glows, smells like honey, warm, and instantly soothes your soul.

Of all my travels with my dad, this was one of my favourite places.

"Okay we go up there," I point to a ladder.

We look up to see where it goes but it's dark and endlessly high.

"Ladies first," Gold gestures to the ladder etched into the root walls.

"I'll be right behind ya," I wink and he groans.

We climb up into the darkness and I can feel my arms starting to shake. Not sure if it's from the climbing or the nerves.

My name can get us into a lot of places but not this one.

"Ugh," Gold makes it to the top and rolls onto the ground. "That's enough climbing for a lifetime."

"Get up princess," I make it to the top and kick the boy in the torso.

He continues to groan but follows me though another wood tunnel. If I remember correctly we should arrive at the base of the trunk soon.

The tree root starts to level out and we reach a wall not made out of the tree's natural roots. Planks of wood block the tunnel from floor to ceiling, with a single barred door in the middle.

The two of us look at each other before I knock on the door. Sound echoes through the tree root before going back to silence.

Gold tries knocking himself but is met with the same silence.

"Hello!" I yell.

"State your business," A coarse voice comes from the other side.

"Um hi my name is Green and.."

"Visitors are not welcome," The voice interrupts. "Return to where you came from."

"Please?" Gold adds.

"Military are not welcome here."

"It's no use," I frown and pull Gold away from the door so can talk privately.

"We have to keep trying," Gold whispers as we turn away from the door. "Just go be your annoying self and they'll eventually let us in."

"That's not going to work," I roll my eyes. "We need a good reason. How about we tell them the truth?"

"That we're here to steal their most precious item," The idiot boy says. "And then tell them we're giving it to their number one enemy."

"Sshh!" I cross my arms. "That's not what I mean."

"That's the truth," He says with a tone.

"I thought we were over this," I frown.

"Shouldn't this be enough of a reason to not get the plates for Triton?" He steps closer to me.

I glare at his blue eyes.

"It's one plate!"

My jaw clenches and I hold back from punching his stupid face.

"So?!" He yells back, shaking the tree root.

A vibration knocks us of our feet.

"I knew you had a big mouth," I quip and get back up.

He goes to respond but a smell hits us at the same time.

Smoke.

"Fire!"