It has been two years since Kamon lost to Lance. For one year he went into his own private training; the only people to see him were the Nurse Joys at Pokémon Centers and Falkner, who discovered him only once while flying on his Pidgeot.
In the mean time, Chuck had dropped out of the Johto Gym Leaders, leaving one open space. When Kamon had heard of this, he jumped at the opportunity. He applied for the position as Eighth Gym Leader, making everyone above Chuck move down by one rank. Since all of them had lost to Kamon, none of them could argue, so he was accepted.
He took over the gym in Cianwood, customizing to fit his taste. He made it an indoor gym, instead of the open-arena Elite Four Stadiums. It looked more industrial than most of the gyms, black floor, walls and ceiling. There was a trainer box for both trainers, which hovered over the ground. The large Pokéball in the middle of the gym glowed whitish-blue, and right above it was a display of both Pokémon's stats. It looked like the kind that you would find in a hockey arena.
He was 15 years old, and had changed dramatically. He had let his hair grow out. It was somewhat parted in the middle, with two clumps of hair hanging down on either side of his eyes. His long, black hair was tied back in a ponytail. He switched the Pokéballs containing his Pokémon to Ultra Balls, except his Delibird's Great Ball, which he kept because of his mother's message engraved on it. He used to read it every day. His Pokémon had noticed the change, and they did not like it. They were still loyal to him, and respected him, but something was missing from their companionship. Something they hadn't seen in two years. But all of this was about to change, from three visits (and not by Christmas ghosts, mind you)…

CHAPTER 1
GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE

"Delibird, finish it," a rather hoarse voice said. It was Kamon's. His voice was considerably deeper than it was before. "Present, now!" Delibird produced a small, white glowing package out of its sack, and hurled it at the trainer's Pokémon.
"Donphan, no!" the trainer exclaimed. It was his last Pokémon. "You did good. Return." The trainer walked out of the gym, disappointed. Kamon also recalled his Pokémon. He looked up at the screen. That was his 199th battle, 199 wins, 0 losses. He locked up the gym for the day and went to heal his Pokémon. He then decided to get something to eat. He was hungry. He hadn't eaten since breakfast. Five battles in one day, he thought. Way too much. Good thing I'm cutting it down to three battles a day. It takes too much out of a person to fight this much.
Kamon had become much more sociable now, writing letters to Falkner and his Mom, and sometimes Prof. Elm. He went to his two story tan house in Cianwood. He walked through the black doors and up the stairs. He took a shower and then fixed himself a hamburger. He realized that he was a very good cook when he stopped going out to eat after he lost to Lance. He then decided to go to sleep. He had a dream about fighting Lance (insert dream sequence fade away here).
Electabuzz was almost knocked out. "What should I use?" Kamon thought. He was beside himself. He wasn't sure whether to paralyze it or to try to finish it off with Thunderbolt. He then woke up. If I had only used Thunder Wave, he thought. I could have won…
He went back to sleep. He tried not to think about that battle. It was all in the past. Nothing could change it.

* * *

The next day, Kamon was readying for his final match of the day. He looked at a computer screen he had in a back room of the gym. The trainer's name was Drew. According to his trainer's stats, he should have a remarkably well-trained Pokémon. His six Pokémon were Typhlosion, Pupitar, Croconaw, Eevee, Ho-oh, and Heracross. He could be a challenge.
       Kamon healed his Pokémon with the healing machine installed in his gym, and then stepped onto his floating trainer's box. A kid, fourteen years old with blonde hair, parted down the middle, stepped into the stadium. He had baggy blue jeans that were tucked in some black boots. He wore a tight navy blue shirt with no sleeves. He was as tall as Kamon, which made him feel short.
"Kamon, I challenge you to a match!" Drew said. He stepped onto the hovering platform.
"Really?" Kamon asked, "are you ready? As my first Pokémon I'm sending out…Golem!"
"Suits me fine. Heracross, go!" Drew said. Drew threw a blue Great Ball into the arena, and out of it emerged the blue beetle like Pokémon. "Heracross, Cross Chop!"
"Oh, crap. Golem, Fire Blast!" Kamon commanded. Golem blew flames at Heracross, critical hit. Unfortunately, Heracross hung on with the Focus Band, and was commanded to use Reversal, knocking out Golem easily. "Golem, come back," Kamon said, recalling his Pokémon. "Go, Typhlosion! Fire Punch it!" Typhlosion spat embers at both of its fists, igniting them, and then punched Heracross, knocking it out.
"You did awesome Heracross, return. Croconaw, go!" Drew said. He hurled a Pokéball into the stadium from his hovering trainer's box, and from the shimmering light the blue alligator-like Pokémon emerged. "Croconaw, this should be an easy win. Hydro Pump attack!" Croconaw blasted water towards Typhlosion, doing much more damage than Kamon thought it would.
"Hmm…" Kamon uttered. "For being only a second evolution, it is much stronger than I had expected…Typhlosion, Thunder Punch!" Typhlosion charged at Croconaw with sparks of lightning coming from its paws, and struck Croconaw with them.
"Croconaw, don't give up. Surf, now!" Waves went over Typhlosion, almost knocking it out.
"Dynamic Punch, Typhlosion!" Kamon told his Fire-type. Typhlosion, Drew assumed, must know almost every punch attack. That could be bad news. Typhlosion uppercut Croconaw, confusing it. "Typhlosion, Quick Attack to finish it off!" Kamon yelled.
"Quickly," Drew said, "use Seismic Toss as Typhlosion is coming at you!" Croconaw stopped Typhlosion in its tracks and then started swinging him around, and then let go, making Kamon's Pokémon fly into a wall.
"Darn it…Electabuzz, its your turn," Kamon said, sending out his Electric-type Pokémon. "Electabuzz, Thunderbolt!" Kamon commanded. Electabuzz leaped into the air and then shocked Croconaw with 10,000 volts of electricity. Drew called back his Pokémon, and then pulled a yellow and black Ultra Ball from its belt.
"Pupitar, get Electabuzz!" Drew yelled, "Use your Earthquake attack!" The blue shell-like Pokémon (that, as Kamon pointed out, looked like a blue Metapod) jumped into the air, and then slammed on the ground, making cracks and fissures open up underneath Electabuzz. "Now, finish it! Thrash!"
"Not yet. Electabuzz, Ice Punch!" Both Pokémon charged at each other, but the impact of Pupitar's Thrash was much more powerful than the icy punch from Kamon's Pokémon. Electabuzz dropped to the floor, unconscious. "Dang it! Now, Corsola, go!" Kamon sent out his pink coral Pokémon and told it to perform Hydro Pump, which knocked out Drew's Pupitar.
"Great job, Pupitar. I was hoping you'd evolve, but not yet…not yet…as my next Pokémon I call out Ampharos!" Drew said, throwing a blue Great Ball into Kamon's Stadium. Kamon recognized the Electric-type Pokémon from two-and-a-half years ago when he encountered Jasmine caring for it. The flashback disappeared from his mind when he told his Corsola to use Spike Cannon. Corsola sent a stream of tacks at Ampharos, but it was blocked from Protect. "You are too good, Ampharos," Drew said. "Now, Iron Tail!" Ampharos slammed a solid steel tail into Corsola, making it fly into the wall opposite Ampharos. Because of Ampharos's King's Rock, Corsola flinched. "Finish it," Drew yelled, "Spark!" Ampharos shocked Corsola with a small jolt of electricity, but it was more than enough to knock out Kamon's beloved Water Pokémon.
"…Corsola, come back," Kamon muttered. He was watching yet another victory slip away from his grasp. "Umbreon, give it a shot. Faint Attack!" Umbreon struck Ampharos with the Dark attack, but it did little damage.
"Ampharos, Thunder!" Ampharos brought down a lightning bolt onto Umbreon, but Umbreon rolled to its left, dodging the shock.
"Good. Now, Shadow Ball!" Umbreon produced a glowing purple ball from its mouth and blasted it at Ampharos, doing a considerable amount of damage.
"Ampharos, Thunder Punch!" Drew commanded. Ampharos charged up his fist and then uppercutted Umbreon, paralyzing it.
"Umbreon, Hyper Beam!" Kamon told his Umbreon. Umbreon blasted an energy beam at Ampharos, critical hit, knocking Drew's Electric-type Pokémon out.
"Oh, well, Ampharos. Return. It's your turn, Ho-oh!" Drew threw a purple and pink Pokéball into the stadium, apparently a Master Ball. From it came out a seven-colored Pokémon. Umbreon backed away for a moment. He had never seen a legendary Pokémon like that before…only the one dog he saw training one day between Blackthorn and New Bark Town.
Kamon looked down at a mini-computer in his hovering platform. He analyzed Ho-oh's stats. Hmm…level 51, very high stats, Kamon was thinking. "Umbreon," he said, diminishing the picture on the computer. "Moonlight, now!"
"Ha, Ho-oh, stop it! Sacred Fire!" Fire rose up around Ho-oh and into a large fire ball. The humongous multi-colored bird launched it at Umbreon, knocking it out. Kamon recalled his Umbreon and sent out his last Pokémon.
"It is over…Delibird, you can come out…" Kamon said gloomily. "Delibird, Ice Beam!"
"Ho-oh, finish it! Fire Blast!" Ho-oh's wall of flames melted the sub-zero beam of frozen water and destroyed Kamon's Delibird, one hit K.O.
"Congratulations, Drew. You are the second person ever to defeat me."
"Who was the first?" Drew asked.
"I would rather not discuss it…take the Helix Badge." The hover platforms landed on the ground. A small panel opened up in Drew's trainer box. In it was an orange spiral badge with spikes on the outside of it. Drew pinned it inside of his wallet where his other seven badges were. His I.D. was also displayed there. It showed him with glasses on. Kamon assumed that he had gotten contacts since he no longer wore the glasses. He also, or at least Kamon thought he saw, a girl's picture in there, but it seemed to be torn in half…

* * *

Kamon laid down in his bed later that night, thinking about that battle. Could he have just seen the rise of the most powerful trainer ever? It was possible. Kamon had another dream, about when he was like Drew, when he thought he was invincible, and his ambitions to become the Pokémon Master…
He woke up. He thought about the dream he just had, and cried.