New Life

Red, Ash and Leaf made themselves comfortable while Blue and Gary stood opposite to each other across the field. Green was standing as a referee this time. She looked at the two and took a breathe before speaking.

Green, "The second battle between Blue and Gary is about to begin. Challengers call forth your Pokemon."

Blue, "Let's go Happiny."

Gary, "I choose you Axew."

Green, "Let the battle begin."

Gary, "Axew Dragon dance!"

Blue, "Happiny, pound before he completes the dance."

Happiny jumped and attacked Axew who flew back and landed on his feet.

Gary, "Axew you okay?"

Axew grunted in answer and stood up.

Gary, "Alright leer followed by bite."

Blue, "Happiny copycat."

Leaf, "What? Copycat?"

Red smirked, "Clever!"

Ash meanwhile was cheering, "Go Axew! Go Happiny!"

The two attacks clashed bringing the Pokemon to a standstill before Axew attacked with Bite again.

Blue, "Happiny covet."

The move took some of the strength and hp of Axew making his Bite attack last only a few seconds.

Gary was biting his lip before he brightens, "Axew use laser focus followed by slash."

Axew got back on the attack again and thanks to laser focus the slash attack landed a powerful hit forcing Happiny back.

Blue, "Happiny! You okay baby girl?"

Happiny got up and gave a shriek making Blue relax a bit. She was still raring to fight despite getting pushed back.

Blue smirked, "Not bad baby bro but this ends now. Happiny sweet kiss followed by seismic toss."

Gary, "Oh no! Axew dodge it quickly."

Unfortunately Axew was still recovering from the previous move he used and was hit by sweet kiss confusing him. Happiny took her chance to grab the dragon type and threw him in a seismic toss. When the dust cleared Axew was seen knocked out while Happiny was still standing although she looked quite exhausted from the battle.

Green saw Axew had swirls in his eyes, "Axew is unable to battle, Happiny is the winner."

Blue hugged Happiny nuzzling her, "That was amazing baby girl. I'm so proud of you."

Happiny squealed in delight at that hugging Blue back.

Gary returned Axew to his Cherish ball, "That was a great battle Axew. Despite the type disadvantage we gave them quite a fight."

Blue walked to Gary, "That was a fun battle baby bro. Axew is pretty strong and almost defeated us despite the fact dragon types are weak against fairy type moves."

Gary grinned, "Thanks big brother! We are gonna train and become stronger and when we become official trainers we are becoming Champions."

Blue laughed, "Oh! Looks like I have a rival already."

Gary, "You bet. I'm so taking the Championship title from you or Red depending on who's the Champion at that point."

Red laughed, "We both look forward to it then."

Ash grinned, "That was awesome Gary. I think we need to work on stamina though. If our Pokemon try to use powerful moves they get exhausted very easily."

Green, "Oh yeah! I noticed that too."

Leaf, "How do you increase stamina though?"

Blue gave a wry smile, "The most boring type of training in the world. We grind."

Green, "Oh!"

Red nodded, "Till the stamina, perseverance and endurance goes up."

Leaf, "Huh, I see. So that's why most trainers try to battle as much as they can."

Red, "It's one of the fastest ways to increase experience. Though it can get monotonous if you are not smart about how you do it."

Ash groaned, "We are going to face that, aren't we?"

Gary whined, "That's gonna be so irritating. I'll have to think up of something to not slack off."

Blue smirked ruffling Gary's hair, "You got that right. Now how about we go to the lab and have our little ones checked?"

Red nodded as he led the group still talking about the battle and the different moves and techniques, towards the lab. The Professor was talking to Daisy on the video phone to their surprise but they didn't mind. The kids were happy to talk to her while the Professor healed the Pokemon. Daisy had already settled down at the trainer village that was being used to house trainers when the Grand Festival took place. She had been using the facilities available for trainers and coordinators to train her Pokemon and come up with strategies and combinations.

Leaf was very excited, "I have decided I want to become a top coordinator when I start my journey."

Green hummed, "You will do great sis. I think I'll stick to battling though."

Ash, "I'm gonna try both. Coordinating sounds really interesting just like battling."

Gary, "Battling for me though maybe once I'm a Champion I might give it a try."

Daisy, "You can do whatever you want and be whoever you want. It's your future."

Samuel, "Daisy's right, there are many careers you kids can follow. Not just coordinating and training."

Here the Professor gave a meaningful glace at Ash that was missed by the twin girls but the others understood. Red nodded while Ash smiled, Blue and Gary grinned, they all knew how popular Ash's book had become lately. A lot of the readers were already asking for a second book despite it not even being one year since it was published only a few months. Ash had also collected a decent amount of money in his account although he decided to let it grow instead of using it.

Leaf, "Well that's true but still I want to be a coordinator before I try anything else."

Samuel, "One at a time then."

Blue, "Only two weeks before the Grand Festival starts."

Daisy, "Yeah, I'm getting Butterfrees in my stomach just thinking about it."

Red, "We'll be there to cheer you on D."

Gary cheered, "Yeah! You will show them."

Daisy grinned as she talked with them and the young Pokemon who were now healed joined them curious about the human they always talk to. Daisy cooed at the Pokemon when she saw them getting happy chirps and responses from them. They liked her even though they had not met her physically yet, the stories the older Pokemon told them helped them get an idea of the type of person she was.

Two weeks soon passed and before you know it everyone in Pallet town were talking about Daisy taking part in the Grand Festival. The Professor had brought tickets for the four boys and two girls who wanted to go cheer Daisy on. Rose and Delia had declined the offer saying they would be there on a later date. They watched as Daisy breezed through the preliminary rounds very easily and during the semi finals soundly defeated the trainer who had abandoned her Feebas in the beginning because he was ugly. The trainer was pretty shocked that her ugly Pokemon had trained hard and evolved into a very handsome Milotic.

Milotic had not held back and proving his trainer wrong was very satisfying if he were being honest with himself. Daisy had even treated him to a special dinner and Daisy's younger nestlings had joined in too, congratulating him on the cool victory. Yes, it was very satisfying.

Daisy battled the runner up of the last Hoenn Grand Festival, her Bellossom against his Roserade. It was a battle between two flower Pokemon and she lost because of having one point less than her opponent once the timer ended. To say Daisy was in shock at the defeat was an understatement. She snapped out of it and although she was sad she didn't win, she congratulated her opponent on the victory. Though Daisy had not won the Festival cup, everyone was proud of her as she reached the finals on her first year. That was not a small thing for someone who had just started training for a year. Daisy had also decided to take a break for a week before finishing her gym run, she only had two badges to win before the Indigo League conference started.