Going forward and beyond {Path of the Aura Ranger: Book I}

III Gary's P.O.V

"People grow and change," Riley answered her with a soft smile. "That's what being alive is all about."

"Aerial Ace!" Nando ordered as Aerial Ace is a physical attack it shattered the Light Screen and sent Bulbasaur flying away. The Grass-pokemon looked worse for wear. "X-Scissor!"

"Recieve it! Power Whip!" Ash commanded.

What followed was a fencing competition, Power Whip clashing against X-Scissor, with a force that rattled the battle stage and sent air currents that had Ash and Nando's clothes swaying in the wind.

"Wait! Is that..." Lucario exclaimed, leaning forward. "Bulbasaur's bulb!"

"Shit!" I cursed. "He had truly become quite the sneaky trainer!"

"Bug Buzz!" Nando ordered, his Kricketune jumping a few meters away, to prepare for the attack, after seeing that the X-Scissor was taking him nowhere.

"Solar Beam!" Ash answered with speed, and quicker than it would have been possible if Bulbasaur had not been preparing for that same move, he attacked.

It was a one-move knock-out.

"Yey!" Dawn exclaimed, jumping on her feet to cheer for Ash. "Nando only has three pokemon now and Ash still has all three!"

"I'm surprised that Nando changed his battle form for the Sinnoh League," Riley commented. "If he still fought with coordinator's combinations, it would have made it harder for Ash to predict him."

"Maybe he believes that for the Pokemon League he has to change," Lucario answered his partner. "That he is supposed to divide himself."

"Well, let's hope Ashy teaches him differently," I replied. "Ashy is surprisingly good at teaching."

"We know!" Dawn exclaimed. "He was invited to give various guest lectures during our journey."

"Only Ashy would get to do that without being a professor or a teacher," I shook my head in bemusement, as I watched Ash return Bulbasaur to his Poke Ball and release Skarmony to battle against Nando's Armaldo. "Now that is a pokemon I was not expecting from Nando."

"Steel Wing!" This time it was Ash that attacked first,

Sakrmory moved with a speed I expected from Pidgeot not him. Unfortunately, he was not fast enough and Armaldo dodged at the last minute and sank his fangs into Skarmory. Armaldo then roughly shook the Steel-type with Bug Bite, before spitting him out. As soon as Skarmory landed precariously on the ground, he was received with a point-blank Ancient Power.

"Well, the underdog is doing his comeback," I commented, as I watched a stunned Ash return his pokemon after being on the receiving end of a Hyper Beam. "He went all out."

Of course, Ash chose Magcargo again. Opening with a Flamethrower that was neutralized by a Brine from Armaldo. The two moves clashing against each other ended up creating steam that covered the whole battlefield and obscured our view and the pokemon's sight. Then suddenly white and red flames erupted from within the steam, clearing it away, only to find a fainted Armaldo.

"What... just happened?" Dawn asked us in confusion, as we all watched the referee announce Ash as the winner. "Wasn't that attack too powerful to take an Armaldo in a one-hit knock-out?"

"That was Overheat one of the strongest Fire-type moves out there," I answered. "But still, it was a too fast win."

"Look up," Riley told us, pointing at the sky. "He used the steam as a cover for a Sunny Day. Everyone was too focused on the steam and trying to find the pokemon, that no one watched the sky. Not only helped Magcargo's Overheat charge faster, but it also overpowered it."

"Ashy has become quite the tricky trainer," I chuckled, as we all got up and headed toward the main arena, where the rest of the matches will be happening. "Do we know who Conway is? Ashy is battling him next."

"He is a fan of Ash's," Dawn answered as we took a seat in the main arena. "He was my partner for a competition in Hearthome City and we saw him participating in Professor Rowan's Pokemon Summer Camp."

"He was?" I inquired startled, I was an assistant on that camp and I don't recall a Conway.

"He was the guy with weird glasses and a Slowking," Lucario answered me and I suddenly recalled the guy. He had a weird obsession with Dawn if I am not wrong. But still, we all turned to Lucario in surprise at his description. "What? I am polite, but none of you can tell me he is not weird!"

"You are right."

"He does have weird glasses."

"And a weird obsession with Ashy and Dawn."

Even the pokemon we had out made noises of agreement, poor Piplup looked done for some reason, glaring at Dawn in betrayal.

"Hey, that Paul! He is going first!" Dawn jumped waving her hand widely. "Good luck Paul!"

Paul turned around towards Dawn and nodded in greeting, before turning towards Barry. No matter how much he tried to hide it, I could notice his ears tainted in red.

How cute! Young love, I exclaimed in my head. Paul has a crush!

"It seems like Barry will finally have his battle against Paul," Riley commented with a smile. "You see, Barry is a fan of Paul."

"Really?" I inquired surprised. "Let's see how things will end."

Barry's Empoleon, Skarmory, and Hitmonlee fought bravely against Paul's Electivire, Ursaring, and Magmortar. The battle was hard and many clashes between the pokemon shook the bleachers with the strength of the attacks. However, in the end, Paul ended up the victor.

"Wow! Paul!" Dawn exclaimed, jumping up in down in excitement, gaining a small smile from Paul, before his expression returned to normal.

"Please tell me you see it too," I turned to Riley, who smiled in accomplice. "Ha ha ha," I laughed in return. A few minutes passed later I watched Conway and Ashy step onto the battlefield. "It's about to start!"