The trainer Steven had asked about a battle, a tall, fit young woman in a sports top and running shoes with tied back blonde hair, gave him a smirk and wink.<br/><br/>"Sure. How about a 2 on 2?"<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Eleyna squelched her glee for Charmander’s bravery and evolution, returning Scyther. Aisha had gained a sudden confidence, but with a knowing grin, Eleyna knew it was misplaced. She only had one Pokemon left.<br/><br/>“I was born ready!” She answered, raising her hand into a fist, the Boulder Badge glinting on her hat. “Growlithe! Go!”<br/><br/>The fire Pokemon, watching from the edge of the arena gave a nod and leaped forward, landing squarely and skidding on the rock surface. He faced Charmeleon with a level gaze, a blazing willpower burning in him, shared with his trainer at his back. Theirs was a will linked by that shining emblem of victory, unyielding and solid as stone.<br/><br/>Eleyna raised a fist and planted her hand upon her hip. There was no doubt in her mind as to the result of the battle. With complete confidence she shouted. "Let's do this!"<br/><br/>Growlithe attacked fast and hard, leading with a quick attack to throw Charmeleon on the defensive. He followed with Smokescreen laying down a thick wall, darting in and out. Even giving chase into the smoke, Growlithe's speed kept him well ahead of Charmeleon. With the smoke screen as cover, Growlithe was like a wraith. Tired from the previous battle, even the valiant Charmeleon couldn't keep up.<br/><br/>"Alright!" Eleyna shouted, grinning. "Show this fire Pokemon what being a fire Pokemon means!"<br/><br/>He had defeated Scyther with fire, and now it was time to show him it's true meaning. Spilling from Growlithe's jaws, flames licking at the air, the Pokemon took a deep breath, the glow rising in his throat. Growlithe unleashed Flamethrower, and the smoke which thickly blanketed the field parted, whipping and whirling around the blaze!<br/><br/>Charmeleon was done, falling to his knee and, although struggling to stay in the fight, he at last fainted. Eleyna was victorious!<br/><br/>She jumped into the air, pumping her fist and cheering as applause went up around the rock arena. "I did it!" She yelled, overwhelmed. It was her first battle, her first real battle! There were no wild Pokemon, no old gym leader trying to show her she could do it. She had done it. All her life she had dreamed of this moment, and now there she was. She waved to the crowd, grinning ear to ear. Growlithe stood at the arena's center, likewise grinning and feeling like he could get used to this feeling. He looked at Aisha, and gave her a respectful nod, then dashed across the arena to where Eleyna, his trainer, his partner, stood.<br/><br/>The trainers and spectators near Aisha congratulated her on her Charmander's evolution, disregarding her loss and talking about how lucky she was to have a Pokemon like Charmeleon. Several cute boys told her how great she was with flirtatious smiles.<br/><br/>Together they stood, valiant, the sun blazing down upon them. "That's right!" Eleyna declared proudly, extending her arm and giving a thumbs up with a wide stance and fist set on her hip. "Eleyna Raven, Pokemon trainer has won her first challenge! A trainer never shies from a battle, never turns away from any mountain, no matter how steep! That's what it means to be a trainer!" Growlithe barked, holding his head up high. Eleyna grinned broadly and extended two fingers, heroically posing.<br/><br/>"You!"<br/><br/>The crowd fell suddenly silent a voice rose rose above it. The flurry of activity around Naomi and the healing stations suddenly stopped, the trainers falling silent and still as all the eyes in Senjou fell upon a solitary figure standing upon the hill which overlooked the scene.<br/><br/>"You! I challenge you!" Yoriko, the Fighting Pokemon Master of the Yugen 6, stood above the crowds, pointing. Around her the other members of the illustrious group stared in shock. One by one they followed her extended finger down to the rock arena, to Eleyna who was frozen, her eyes wide.<br/><br/>"Yoriko, what are you doing? We can't -"<br/><br/>"Shut it, Dano!" She snapped at him angrily, then turned her savage, hungry stare on Eleyna, grinning madly.<br/><br/>She dashed down the hill through the crowd, the trainers who knew of her gasping and stepping away. As she entered the crowd, she slowed, marching deliberately toward Eleyna, 6 Pokeballs gleaming on the belt that hung from her hips.<br/><br/>"Trainer? Hah! Don't make me laugh." She sneered, amused. "You think you're a trainer? What a joke."<br/><br/>Eleyna retreated a step, scared suddenly by the cruelty in the girl's eyes. Growlithe hopped in front of her, growling.<br/><br/>"You think you know what it means to be a Pokemon trainer? A<i>real</i>Pokemon trainer? Climbing mountains? Winning battles? What a load of shit. You're just like everyone else here. A two bit hack. A fraud. An imitation of a trainer thinking you've got the skills because you won a battle in the kiddy pool. Hah! I've been listening to all these pathetic wimps for long enough, and now one of them has the gall to talk about being a real trainer?"<br/><br/>She stopped a short distance from Eleyna, clenching a fist, hunched and intimidating as she stared up at Eleyna from beneath the shadow cast across her eyes. "You want to be a real trainer? You want a real battle? Fine. You want to climb a mountain? Well here it is. I challenge you."<br/><br/>Eleyna didn't move.<br/><br/>The girl sneered and shook her head, turning away. "That's what I thought. Another pathetic coward."<br/><br/>"F-fine!"<br/><br/>Yoriko stopped.<br/><br/>"Fine!" Eleyna shook her head, shook off the shock. "Fine!" She clasped her fist, stifling the tremble in it. "What're the rules?"<br/><br/>Yoriko, grinning broadly slowly turned, peering at Eleyna menacingly.<br/><br/>"Three." She announced. "All three of your sad little Pokemon."<br/><br/>"Three on three? Fine!" Eleyna breathed rapidly, her chest rising and falling.<br/><br/>Yoriko slowly shook her head. "No... not three on three. All three of your Pokemon against<i>one</i>of mine."<br/><br/>The crowd gasped, eyes darting among them. On top of the hill, Genshi surged to his feet and Dano stared from behind his glasses.. "What did she just say?"<br/><br/>Eleyna's shocked turned to confusion and Yoriko continued, "If you win, it's yours... my seat on the Yugen 6. But you won't. You can't. Your not a trainer. You're not even one third of a trainer... You're nothing!"<br/><br/>Eleyna's eyes narrowed and an angry sneer crossed her lips. The shadow cast by the brim of her hat crossed her eyes and her hand curled into a fist. "Alright, bitch... you want a fight... you got it."<br/><br/>Eleyna pushed past the crowd toward the healing station, passing Jake, Steven, and Naomi. She extended her two Pokeballs to the technician who quickly took them and stuck them on the machine which began chiming. Eleyna, trembling now with anger, glanced at Naomi.<br/><br/>"I don't want to hear it." She told her, returning her gaze straight ahead.<br/><br/>All her life she had dreamed of being a trainer. Now she was one, and she wasn't going to let some stuck up bitch tell her otherwise. Anger washed over her alongside a thousand memories of failure, her fists shaking. She saw Growlithe sneering at her, snarling and rejecting her. She saw the kids in her neighborhood playing with Pokemon, going off on adventures, leaving her behind because she was alone. She remembered Saito making fun of her, laughing at her.<br/><br/>Never again.<br/><br/>As soon as the station had finished, she grabbed the Pokeballs and returned to the arena, taking up her place. Yoriko waited, arms crossed, smirking.<br/><br/>"Alright, bitch!" Eleyna shouted, furious. "Come and get some!"<br/><br/>She threw her Pokeballs onto the stone, and they opened, Scyther and Tentacruel returning to the field. Growlithe leaped down, skidding to their forefront, growling angrily. Tentacruel curled his tentacles, glaring. Scyther drew his arm blades across one another.<br/><br/>Yoriko, never taking her eyes off Eleyna drew a single Pokeball from her belt and tossed it into the arena. A flashing arch of light appeared and from it materialized Lucario.<br/><br/>A breeze drifted across Senjou, carrying blades of grass through the air as it passed between the Pokemon. Six steely eyes gauged two, and they waited, tense and ready for the call. The trainers stared at one another, angry and tense. Eleyna's lip curled and she took a sharp breath and shouted, "Kick her ass!"<br/><br/>The stillness was broken, and the arena exploded in a furious whirlwind of chaotic motion. "Scyther, Fury pattern! Tentacruel, Wrap! Growlithe, Smokescreen! Cut across his flank!"<br/><br/>The lone Lucario was overwhelmed. Growlithe beat him to the first punch with quick attack, and suddenly Tentacruel's tentacles surged and wrapping around him before he could counter attack. A blast of smoke followed, and from it came Scyther, airborn, cutting across his flank. Lucario grit his teeth and grabbed the tentacles before him, Tantacruel's eyes widening in surprise as he used the Pokemon's own appendages to hoist him into the air and Slam him into the ground. The jellyfish Pokemon winced, and rolled, pain becoming shock as a shadow appeared in the sun above him and grew suddenly into the shape of Lucario driving down on him. Tentacruel couldn't move in time, but an orange and black blur cut across Lucario's path, throwing him off the attack. Growlithe tackled him to the ground and narrowly dodged Lucario's savage mastery of Close Combat.<br/><br/>From the hill the Yugen 6 watched. Lara stroked her chin as she watched. "What a foolish gambit... she could lose this."<br/><br/>"If she loses, it'll only be her ego that beat her." Dano countered.<br/><br/>Scyther cut across Lucario's flank again, his fury cutter gaining power with each blow. Eleyna shouted, "Tentacruel, Supersonic!"<br/><br/>The air filled with a sudden screech. Lucario surged to strike before the attack finished, Growlithe diving to intercept him, but a suddenly and violently fast High Jump Kick sent the canine sprawling. Eleyna's eyes widened as she realized the Lucario was as fast as Growlithe. Lucario closed into Close Combat with Tentacruel, supersonic suddenly stifled. Tentacruel jerked and was lifted off the ground by the savagery of the rapid series of blows. Eleyna gasped and shouted, "Tentacruel!" But he out, unconscious before he even hit the ground.<br/><br/>Lucario jerked suddenly as Growlithe dove across his flank, jaws closing around his neck and throwing him violently to the ground with Fire Fang. The canine snarled and bit down hard, but coughed, his jaw going slack as Lucario Counterattacked, slamming his fist into Growlithe's gut above him. Scyther cut across Lucario again and the Pokemon reeled, turning andslaming his foot into the ground, his muscles tightening and body gaining Extreme Speed.<br/><br/>Scyther turned, swooping low for another attack, swiping at Lucario as he rushed past. But in a radical display of prowess and agility, the fighting Pokemon sidestepped, reached out and grabbed the flying Pokemon from the air, turning and slamming him into the ground. Scyther gasped, unable to even utter his characteristic sound as he rolled. But before he could stand the air thundered and a beam of undulating prismatic light hit him as Lucario fire Dragon Pulse into him. Scyther slid into the arena's embankment wall, smoking and unmoving.<br/><br/>It was down to two Pokemon. Growlithe snarled angrily and charged madly snapping his jaws at Lucario who deftly side stepped and tossed Growlithe across the battlefield. But the canine Pokemon caught his balance, turning in the air and landing on his feet with a skid. Growlithe was mad with rage, blind and furious.<br/><br/>But a voice cut through his anger, "Growlithe!" Eleyna called, the badge on her hat gleaming. Together they learned the lesson Brollem had taught them. She was Growlithe's eyes in the storm, seeing what he could not, giving him clarity. Growlithe accepted her command, surrendering to her.<br/><br/>"He's as fast as you! But he's strongest when he's close! Blind him with Smokescreen and use flamethrower!"<br/><br/>Growlithe expelled a heavy smoke.<br/><br/>"Dodge!" Eleyna yelled, and Growlithe darted left, a Dragon Pulse firing through the smoke at where he just was, but hitting nothing.<br/><br/>"Flamethower, expand the Smoke screen!"<br/><br/>Growlithe released a jet of flame onto the Lucario, who recoiled then charged bursting through the smoke, ready to strike, but he gasped suddenly as he realized Growlithe had expanded the smoke into a circle, and Lucario had dashed right into it. He was blind on all sides. The Pokemon's eyes were wide in surprise when a jet of flame encircled him from behind. He staggered, scorched, turned and fired a Dragon Pulse at the flamethrower's origin. The smoke parted briefly revealing only empty air. The fighting Pokemon's eye twinged, and he heard something to his right and spun, lifting his arms to protect himself from another flame thrower. But Growlithe darted forward from the smoke, snapping his jaws around Lucario's leg with Fire Fang and pulling it out from under him, the fighting Pokemon hitting the ground.<br/><br/>Lucario got to his feet, took a breath and drove his fists together. The Aura Sphere blasted outward from him in all directions,  blowing away the Smokescreen and hitting Growlithe who had been positioning beyond. Growlithe tumbled and caught his feet just in time to see Lucario's fist as it drove into his face, hurtling him back. Growlithe hit the embankment, shaking. Feeling darkness closing in he snarled and gave a shake of his head, pushing himself up on trembling legs. He rolled away from a savage follow up blow from Lucario that cracked the stone arena, and blasted the fighting Pokemon with flamethrower. Lucario's fist struck across his head and Growlithe yelped in pain, sliding across the arena. He pushed himself up, then hurtled backwards, rolling as Lucario kicked him.<br/><br/>"Growlithe!" Eleyna yelled from the sideline. Yoriko smirked.<br/><br/>The fire Pokemon struggled up again, his eye swollen shut, his face bleeding and bruised. Lucario hit him again.<br/><br/>"Growlithe stay down!" Eleyna yelled, her eyes widening. "Just stay down!"<br/><br/>But he didn't. Defiant, shaking, and broken he stood. Lucario walked slowly toward him and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him. Growlithe sneered at him and spat blood in his face. Lucario turned his head and wiped his hand across his face, then slammed the canin'es head into he ground, hammering his fist into him again and again and again.<br/><br/>"Stop it!" Eleyna screamed, suddenly terrified. "Stop it!"<br/><br/>"Stop!" Yoriko yelled, raising her hand. At once Lucario ceased and stood, stepped back.<br/><br/>Growlithe, shaking pushed himself to his unsteady feet, struggling for balance. He stared through one eye at Lucario.<br/><br/>"It's ok..." Eleyna said at his back. Her head was lowered, the brim of her hat cast across her face. "It's ok... we lost."<br/><br/>Growlithe turned his head back at her, and a look of sorrow fell upon him. His legs gave out and he fell to the ground.<br/><br/>Yoriko smirked. "Just as I thought. Nothing. Where's the speech, girl? Where's the mountain to climb? Where's all that talk about never backing down? Tell me about being a trainer now!"<br/><br/>Eleyna stood his fists curled. A tear fell from below her hat.<br/><br/>Yoriko, victorious chuckled. "Yeah... that's what I thought. Lucario return!" She activated the Pokemon's Pokeball and turned away to leave.<br/><br/>"You want to talk about imitation...?"<br/><br/>Yoriko's eye twitched and she stopped, looking over her shoulder at Eleyna.<br/><br/>Eleyna shouted, raising her head, looking across the field at Yoriko. "You talk about what a real trainer is, but you have no idea! You think it's about battles, about winning?!"<br/><br/>Yoriko frowned, staring. Eleyna stared at her. "Well real trainers don’t try to tear people down! It's not about reaching the top of the mountain, it's about standing before it and knowing you don't stand alone, and that whatever may come, you and your Pokemon will face it together! Maybe I’m not a great trainer yet… but I’m no imitation. The only imitation here is you!"<br/><br/>Eleyna grinned, wiping a tear from her eye and taking a wide stance. "So you better watch your ass... because I’m going to put together the greatest Pokemon team the world’s ever seen then we're coming back here and we're kicking your ass off that hill!"<br/><br/>The fighting Pokemon master of Yugen stood rigid, confused. She turned, staring Eleyna down and slowly grinned. "Good. I'll see you then."<br/><br/>Eleyna descended into the arena and picked up Growlithe. She walked through the crowd which slowly parted, staring at her. She went to the healing station and offered her two Pokeballs then set Growlithe gingerly on the ground, taking out her potions, beginning to apply the spray to the valiant Pokemon's wounds. Growlithe opened his eye and stared up at her, then laid his head on Eleyna's lap, finding comfort in her contact.<br/><br/>Eleyna smiled down at the rambunctious fire Pokemon and a tear fell on his fur. Maybe she had lost the battle, but in that moment she felt like she had won something more important.<br/><br/>She looked up at Naomi as she tended to Growlithe. "Hey... Um, I think I'm going to go." She sat, thinking for a moment. "Remember what that ranger said back near Saisho... about parts of the Yugen no ones ever seen? I think I'm going to go there. South, I mean, to the horn. "<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>