Meeting Reggie

Today the gang arrived in Veilstone City and they looked at it from a hill.

"What a beautiful city." Dawn said, admiring the view.

"And here is where we'll obtain badge number three." Tomo said.

"After the gym I can get my third Frontier plaque because the next battle facility is outside Veilstone City." Ash said.

"Well this is certainly going to be fun isn't it?" Brock chuckled.

Suddenly something blue flew in front of the gang.

"What was that?!" Dawn gasped.

"A Aura Sphere." Ash said.

Ash's Lucario, who was with the gang, wanted to know where that came from and took off.

"Let's follow Lucario. Hurry." Ash said.

Following Lucario led the gang to a big field and there was a girl having a fight with a Lucario. Lucario was firing aura spheres and the girl was deflecting them with her feet.

"That Lucario must belong to that girl and they're training each other." Brock said. "We've seen trainers fight their own Pokemon especially fighting types for training purposes before."

Ash watched the Lucario.

"That Lucario feels angry and upset." He said.

"Why would it feel that way?" Tomo asked.

Before Tomo's question could be answered, a thunderbolt nearly hit the gang. It was from an Electabuzz. Piplup was angry with Electabuzz and charged at it. Electabuzz knocked Piplup back and into Pikachu. That made both of them mad, but before they did anything Ash's Lucario grabbed them to make them stop.

"Enough you two!" Ash said angrily to Pikachu and Piplup.

They then proceeded to apologize.

The girl and her Lucario noticed the gang.

"What's going on?" They asked.

"Don't worry miss." Ash said. "This Electabuzz was about to give us trouble, but we took care of it."

Just then a young man came up.

"I thought you were up to something Electabuzz." He said.

Electabuzz did it's best to look innocent.

"Hang on a moment." Ash said. "That's Paul's Electabuzz."

"Oh, do you know Paul?" The man asked.

"Yes, he's one of my rivals but he isn't very friendly." Ash said.

"Sorry, my brother is always like that when it comes to rivals." The man replied.

He introduced himself as Reggie and Paul was his younger brother. Reggie was also a Pokemon breeder and Paul always left his Pokemon with him to look after and train. The gang introduced themselves and Ash and Tomo explained that they were there to battle the gym leader.

"Well how about that." Reggie said. "You've got two challengers today Maylene."

Reggie explained that the girl was Maylene, the Veilstone City gym leader. As Maylene had a Lucario, it was clear she used fighting type Pokemon. Hearing that made Ash and Tomo declare they wanted to battle her for the gym badge.

"I'm sorry, but can you go to another gym?" Maylene asked.

Her Lucario became angry after hearing that and he was about to fire another Aura Sphere, but Ash's Lucario prevented it from doing so.

"What do you mean go to another gym?" Ash questioned back. "Tomo and I want to battle you."

Maylene was about to answer, but three men with black belts turned up. They were Maylene's gym assistants and her students.

"I'm not going back to the gym!" Maylene argued.

"Stop." One of them said. "That is unacceptable. A gym leader does not act in this manner in front of other trainers."

Ash was confused.

"What's going on?" He asked Reggie.

Reggie explained that Maylene was a tough battler and she became the gym leader six months ago. Maylene tried to tell them that she didn't want to be a gym leader anymore, but of course her Lucario wasn't willing to accept this. Reggie then stepped forward.

"Is this due to what Paul told you?" He asked.

"Paul was here and he battled Maylene?" Ash asked out loud.

Reggie explained the whole story. Paul did battle Maylene for her gym badge. Her gym specializes in fighting type Pokemon. By this time Paul had evolved his Murkrow into a Honchkrow and he had also captured a Magmar. That was of course to replace Chimchar after he abandoned it. Because Honchkrow was a flying type Pokemon it easily defeated two of Maylene's fighting type Pokemon. Then Magmar easily defeated Lucario because it was a steel/fighting type.

"I was totally out of sync with Lucario and my other Pokemon." Maylene finished. "It wasn't even like a gym battle against a gym leader. I can hardly blame the challenger for what he said to me."

"What did Paul say?" Ash asked.

He felt that Paul must have said something very mean to her and he was right. Paul said Maylene was the weakest gym leader he had ever met and the badge was light weight like she was. Those words made Maylene upset and her spirits were crushed. Dawn felt sorry for Maylene and understood how she felt because of her two contest losses. Reggie tried to apologized to Maylene for what Paul said, but she believed she was weak and started to run off. Her Lucario wanted to follow, but Maylene shouted at it to stay away.

"What should we do Ash?" Tomo asked.

It was clear as crystal that Maylene wasn't going to accept his or Ash's challenge.

"We stay here." Ash said. "I want to battle Maylene and I'm not going anywhere until I get a gym badge from her."

"Yeah me neither." Tomo agreed.

Maylene's Lucario was happy to hear that; it wanted Maylene to battle them. Reggie wanted to go and console Maylene, but Dawn stopped him.

"Let me talk to Maylene." She said.

As Dawn understood what Maylene was going through, she felt it was better if she spoke to Maylene.

"Can you lead the way?" She asked Maylene's Lucario. They headed off.

Ash's Lucario decided to follow them.

Dawn and the two Lucario came to a stream where Maylene was meditating.

"What do you want?" Maylene asked Dawn after seeing her.

Dawn sat down next to Maylene.

"I understand how you feel because I feel the same way." Dawn said. "You see, I lost the first round of Pokemon contests two times in a row, so I'm taking a break now. Even though I tell everyone I need recharging I feel that I'm not cut out for contests. Ash had won three contest ribbons already and I'm way behind him now."

"Ash is competing in Pokemon contests too?" Maylene asked.

"Yes and he is a very good coordinator too; a lot better than I am." Dawn answered.

Maylene sighed.

"To tell you the truth when I started to consider that winning or losing in a gym battle can change a challengers life it kinds of scares me. I can't seem to concentrate like I used to."

Maylene's Lucario was about to get angry again, but Ash's Lucario stopped it.

*'Listen to what she has to say.'* He said in his own language.

Ash had taught him to be patient and to listen to what others have to say. Maylene's Lucario backed off.

"I can't continue to be a gym leader like this." Maylene continued. "Not after what Reggie's younger brother said to me."

"Ignore Paul's words." Dawn said. "He's just a rude guy who says rude things to people. He's always rude to Ash, but he doesn't let that get him down and neither should you."

"Gym battles used to be fun whether I won or lost." Maylene said. "But now I don't feel like that anymore."

"I know that feeling." Dawn said. "After losing contests twice I don't know what to do anymore. And I also feel like I'm dragging Ash, Tomo and Brock into my problems."

"I feel like I'm just causing trouble for Lucario and my students." Maylene said.

It was then Ash's Lucario used Metal Claw to slice a rock in half.

"Hey, what are you doing Lucario?" Dawn asked.

Lucario turned to Maylene's Lucario and beckoned it to come at him.

"I think that Lucario wants Maylene's Lucario to battle it." Maylene said.

"You can tell that's Ash's Lucario." Dawn chuckled. "It has a real fighting spirit like Ash."

Maylene's Lucario fired an Aura Sphere, but Ash's Lucario countered it with his own. Then he moved in with Blaze Kick.

"Wow it knows Blaze Kick?" Maylene asked.

It was clear that her Lucario didn't know this move. Maylene's Lucario dodged before Ash's Lucario could kick it. Then the two Lucario pushed each other back with Force Palm. Ash's Lucario was happy to be fighting a tough opponent and Maylene's Lucario was happy to have a battle even if it wasn't a gym battle.

"It's obvious that your Lucario wants to battle." Dawn said. "But it's clear from it's anger that it wants to fight alongside you."

Maylene was still uneasy about that.

Suddenly Dawn had an idea.

"I know, you and I can have a battle Maylene." She said.

Dawn suggested that since she and Maylene lost their confidence because of they went through; Dawn thought the battle could raise both of their spirits. At first Maylene wasn't sure, but her Lucario was very keen on the idea so Maylene agreed to.