"Is this all really necessary?" I asked my mom.

She tugged on the wrinkles in the fabric of my new clothing meticulously. "Just let your mother has some fun with this. It isn't everyday that your son and husband battle each other!" She stepped back and admired her handiwork.

I was wearing an entirely new set of clothes that had been put together by mom. I wore big white boots, dark orange pants, and a what was pretty much a sleeved cape. The cape was white on the outside, orange on the inside, and had a purple trim. In other words, I was wearing a inverted color version of my father's clothes, except that I wore a shirt and my cape-thing wasn't torn up at the bottom.

How incredibly tacky. I sighed and slipped on my hat. I'm just glad that I wasn't the one who had to pay for this.

She nodded to herself. "I impress even myself."

I moved my limbs around to test the feel. How does dad wear this all the time?!

"Now, Elron. I just want you to remember that you can't overuse your Key Stone. 'Once per hour' is the rule, otherwise you might end up breaking it."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I replied. "I know exactly which pokemon I'm going to use it on."

"Well, in that case you should be fine." She smiled, then ran forward and captured me with a hug.

"Mom! Get off of me!"

She let go and put some distance between us. "Oh, so now you're denying your own mother a hug, even after she made you all of these fancy new clothes? Oh well, go get 'um!"

I pulled out one of my pokeballs and held it in my hand. I smirked and looked forward. "You bet!"

I walked up the stairs through the long hallway leading to the final room, the light at the end of the tunnel beckoning me.

He's going to give me a harder time than the rest of the them, simply because I am his son.

I clutched my pokeball tighter.

Good thing that I'm going to go even harder on him because he is my dad, and quite a lousy one at that.

I reached the top and stepped into the battle room. I looked around and tried to take it all in.

Sure enough, Ryuusuke was sitting in the stands, and he waved to me once I arrived. A lot of others from my hometown of Hedgewood came too; among them were Professor Aspen and Flora's parents.

Everyone is here for me? I suddenly felt more nervous. I didn't want to lose with everyone who came all the way here to watch around.

I was nervous, but I had to continue on. I finally let my eyes fall into the place in the room that they had been avoiding until now.

Drake of the Elite Four had his arms crossed and a smile partially hidden under his mustache. "So you've finally made it?"

I took my place opposite of him on the court. "Didn't you expect this?"

"Never," he said with a shake of head. "I never would have thought that my son who wouldn't even touch a pokeball would meet me at the top."

"I guess I've gone and proved you wrong then, huh?"

He chuckled quietly. "I guess so, but let me tell you something." He looked me right in the eye. "I am proud of your Elron. Actually, I think we all are." We took quick glances at our observers, which now included mom.

Ewww, way to get embarrassing on me. "Uh, thanks."

"No, there's more to it. I actually have a confession to make." He took off his hat and brushed it off nervously, then put it on and covered his eyes. "All those years where I wouldn't come home... I did that for a reason. I hoped that you would chase after my trail and follow me all the way up here in record time out of motivation of seeing me, but I guess that you ended up doing the opposite."

"That's enough!" I yelled at him. I knew what he was going to say next. He was going to tell me that all that had happened was his fault, but I wasn't going to let him. "That's not how men talk, now is it?! We talk through doing!" I fumbled the pokeball around in my sweaty hands, and then after a final moment of hesitation, I tossed out the creature that it held inside. Out came Bagel, all ready to go. "Are we going to battle or not?!"

He laughed loudly. "You've really learned too much in such a short amount of time, Elron. Very well, let's get to it!" He sent out his Altaria, fluffy white wings majestically letting it hover in the air. "But don't think that I'm letting you off easy! No, I'm going all out today!"

Adrenaline pulsed through my body. The fight was on.

-----

We were down to our last pokemon each. To think that it would come down to this... And the chances of us eliminating each other at the same time due to poison damage...

Drake revealed his final pokemon, which I knew all too well. His own starter pokemon, Salamence, was to be my final opponent.

"Go, Aaron!"

My sturdy companion made his big appearance, and used the chance to let out a powerful roar in a show of power.

"Well," said my opponent, "let's just skip right to it then."

I felt the determination well up inside of me, and I agreed. We both revealed our Mega Bracelets and held up in front of us, then touched the Key Stones in the middle. The accessories started to shine, and then the two pokemon were engulfed by energy. They erupted out of the light as new pokemon: as their Mega Evolutions. The last time that I had seen these finals forms of Aggron and Salamence I was in too deep, but this time I was confident in my abilities.

This was the endgame of the endgame, the very last battle before I would be to claim the empty seat of Champion of the Hoenn region. Our audience cheered both of us on, supporting both of us in hope that we would both give it our all.

I wouldn't let another moment go to waste. "Aaron, use Stone Edge!"

He kicked the ground and sent a large rock spear at the dragon, but it effortlessly dodged.

"You'll have to move faster than that," Drake said. "Flamethrower!"

Fire burst out of the dragon's mouth in a stream.

I was taking too long to react. "Protect!"

Aaron braced itself, but ended up taking a little bit of the attack head on.

Shoot! Guess I'll have to take a change in strategy. "Autotomize and Rock Polish!"

"Sunny Day! You were a fool if you thought that I would let you execute three moves in a row!"

Despite not actually having any exposure to sunlight in the court, the room got noticeably warmer.

Luckily I prepared for this situation and taught Aaron an unlikely move... "Rain Dance!"

The room now seemed to cool down and become more humid.

"Sunny Day!"

"Rain Dance!"

"Sunny Day!!!"

"Rain Dance!!!"

"Alright fine! Aqua Tail!"

His Salamence dropped down to the water and flicked it with its stubby tail, sending a fan of water out towards Aggron.

"Surf!"

The now much faster Aaron jetted forward on a sudden wave of water and pelted right through the enemy's wave. However, in the moment that my pokemon's visibility was lowered from going through the water, dad's Salamence shot into the air and started its next attack. "Thunder Fang."

It raced head first down into the water and didn't even bother aiming. Soon as it touched the water's surface, it sent a shock through and electrocuted Aaron. The water spread out and even managed to hit my boots, but eventually the majority of it reached the drains and left the room.

I know it can be said of my pokemon as well... But just how many moves does that thing know?!

He smiled. "Be prepared for every possible situation and think quick; that's how you win! Earthquake!"

The ground began to shake before my Aggron had even recovered from the shock. It was super effective. Aaron, along with my hopes for the battle, collapsed on the floor, fainted.

The audience sat in awe and silence, not sure how to respond to the overwhelming defeat of my strongest pokemon.

My father was the first to speak up. "Mega Evolving for power doesn't do you too much good if you don't land any hits on my pokemon. I didn't even have to use Roost." He called back his pokemon.

I was speechless, but I managed to somberly return Aaron to his pokeball. I hadn't even scratched his final pokemon. It was like he went easy on me up until that final bit, then decided to destroy me.

He walked towards me. The sounds of his footsteps echoed throughout the large and otherwise silent room. He held out his hand for me to shake it. "I don't think that anyone has pushed me that hard in a long time. Nicely done."

I looked at his outstretched hand as if I had never seen the gesture before. Why is that his reaction? I eventually tucked the pokeball away and reached out to shake his hand.

As soon as our hands touched, he pulled me in and wrapped his arms around me. "If it wasn't for the incredibly strong bond between my Salamence and I then you would have definitely beat me. Then again, the bond you had with your Aggron wasn't too shabby either."

Is he... mocking me? I felt tears trickle down my face. All my hard work and suffering had lead up to this point, but I hadn't even managed to finish it off. I was a failure in my mind.

The promise that I had made Flora oh so long ago lingered. I had made it here and gave it my best shot, so was that good enough? Had I held up my end of the deal?

I tried holding back my emotions, but there were just too many and too different of emotions to deal with. I let the tears flow, but at the same time I didn't feel sad. It was almost like I felt happy.

Dad patted my back. "It's okay, new champion of Hoenn."

I jolted back from his embrace and looked at him with my tear stained eyes. "What?"

"I wasn't technically allowed to use my Mega Evolution against you on your first trial. We're only supposed to use those if you come back for more so that we can keep in check any growth that your team had made physically." He smiled. "You actually had beaten me when you beat my fifth pokemon."

"No," I said. "I definitely lost."

"Come on, let's go to the Hall of Fame and record your name! This is such a big moment! I'm sure you're mom will want pictu--"

"I said no!" I yelled at him. "Regardless of the rules you have to go by, I definitely lost!" I turned my back on him and the others and made my way out of the room. I felt satisfied with my hasty decision for some odd reason.

"Get back here right now!"

I stopped my rebellious walk and spoke my thoughts. I had never thought them before, but they just came out so fluently that they felt right. "I said no. I'm not going to finish my promise or my goals. I am going to travel to all the regions and challenge their Elite Fours and Champions, but always stop just short of winning." I continued my strut and started walking down the stairs. "That way, my journey never has to end."