Destiny was a fickle thing. After a little bit of wandering around, Mirai and Gengar eventually made it to what should be the very heart of this particular area. They had not run into anything of note on the way. Most of them shied away from getting into any conflict with Gengar, as if they instinctively knew she was strong. Mirai had mixed feelings about this, but the Shadow Pokemon merely took it in stride. It was at this moment when they had their guard dropped a bit that destiny decided to play her card.

Something white and fluttery appeared before them after rounding a corner. It was staring in the other direction at first but quickly turned around to gaze at them once it felt their presence. Gengar who had been lightly giggling from time to time grew strangely silent. The was something very familiar and powerful about that Pokemon's eyes. It was a Gardevoir. And from the moment their eyes made contact, Mirai could feel some sort of connection. The Shadow Pokemon felt the same.

It silently approached them but Mirai felt no hostile intentions as it drew close. When they were finally face to face, the Embrace Pokemon bowed politely and something was jogged in the blue haired Coordinator's memory. Many months ago when they first visited the ruins, Gengar as a Gastly battled an unusually polite Ralts who had respectfully requested a battle from her to test its strength. It proved to be a tough opponent, putting the Gas Pokemon on the ropes, but they prevailed in the end. Though the Pokemon had slipped her mind until now, being reminded of it made her recall how peculiar it was and how even back then she had been slightly interested in possibly recruiting it. But out of respect from battling it though, they left it alone. With these thoughts in mind, Mirai made eye contact with the Gardevoir who smiled and nodded. She then realized it was that very same Pokemon, causing her to return the smile.

"Gengar-kun, do you believe in destiny? Because before us is the perfect example of a chance meeting happening again."

The Shadow Pokemon also smiled. She made the same realization almost simultaneously as Mirai did. This was one of the first few battles she had ever fought upon becoming Mirai's partner and one of the first few stepping stones to the growth she achieved up until the present. The normally mischievous Pokemon couldn't help but bow as well in response to Gardevoir's greeting.

The question now was, what were they going to do next? A chance meeting of old had repeated itself. Both parties had grown significantly stronger since their last encounter. If this wasn't destiny's perfect setup for a fated rematch, they didn't know what it was. Gardevoir seemed to share the same sentiment and silently floated back to give them some space. The Embrace Pokemon had not changed its ways and was as honorable as always. Once it got to position, it assumed battle stance. Meanwhile Gengar positioned herself in front of Mirai, assuming fighting stance as well. The gaze in her eyes would show that she was raring to go.

"First things first. Let's see how much you've both grown! Gengar, Shadow Ball! Sneak Pattern, go!"

Gengar let out a chilling laugh as she charged up a humongous Shadow Ball, larger than herself, and let it fly at the waiting Gardevoir. The Embrace Pokemon's eyes widened with surprise. When it last fought Gengar as a Gastly, all she could so was licks. This was certainly an honest-to-goodness upgrade and it wouldn't be weird to think of it as Gengar's most powerful attack. Gardevoir has to respond in kind. Eyes glowing blue and focusing all of its Psychic power it crushed the huge Shadow Ball with raw Psychic strength just inches away from being struck by it. But as it gazed at the aftermath, the Shadow Pokemon had vanished from sight? The Embrace Pokemon got a bad feeling. That Shadow Ball was just Gengar saying hello. The real fight started now.

On the opposite side, Mirai watched on excitedly. That Shadow Ball was indeed Gengar's strongest move power-wise and she could feel the chills on her part as she watched Gardevoir disperse it with Psychic. The Embrace Pokemon was not to be trifled with. But this was where Gengar's mind games would begin. Using Shadow Ball as a distraction, she had slipped through the ruin walls and was now preparing to attack Gardevoir from unexpected angles. It was a similar strategy to their battle of old and Mirai was curious if the Embrace Pokemon had managed to develop strategies against it. To her surprise, Gardevoir only looked bewildered for a moment at Gengar's disappearance and closed its eyes focusing. A faint glow could be seen emanating from where it stood and Mirai recognized it as Calm Mind. Mirai clenched her fist and smiled. It was using the opening provided be Gengar's sneak tactics to power up. How clever. That meant the Shadow Pokemon couldn't dawdle lest Gardevoir strengthened it self beyond her power.

It seemed Gengar somewhat realized what Gardevoir was doing as well and quickly emerged from the wall on the top right of it, firing off a quick Shadow Ball, before disappearing back behind the wall. The Embrace Pokemon just barely managed to use Psychic to weaken the surprise Shadow Ball but it was still knocked down from the impact. It did not waver though. It got back up as soon as it could and while Gengar continued to remain hidden, it continued to boost its power with Calm Mind. This was going to become an uphill battle if Gengar didn't do anything fast.

The Shadow Pokemon decided to speed up her sneaking, appearing behind and then below consecutively firing more Shadow Balls. The first two caught Gardevoir by surprise again. But when Gengar emerged from the right side for a third, the Embrace Pokemon was able to intercept the attack almost perfectly. Gengar clicked her tongue before disappearing back into the wall. Mirai realized Gardevoir had them completely figured out. Gengar was fast but the Embrace Pokemon's reflexes had vastly improved as well. It was time to change tactics. She did note however that despite being forced back, it was still only Gardevoir who came out of that exchange damaged. They were still ahead for now. Its usage of Calm Mind though was going to give them a hard time.

"We've got to stop it from getting even stronger here Gengar-kun! Hypnosis!"

It was a risky play, but now wasn't the time to hold anything back. the Shadow Pokemon emerged from below to give Gardevoir a face full of Hypnosis, but before she could do so, the Embrace Pokemon's eyes glowed blew at the same time and successfully captured Gengar with Psychic. This was bad. The super effective damage boosted by multiple Calm Minds was dangerously close to knocking the Shadow Pokemon out in one shot. She was viciously hurled through the wall with Psychic power but she was not going to give up just like that. While she was being thrown back, she quickly conjured glowing orbs of light that surrounded Gardevoir. It was Confuse Ray, and the Embrace Pokemon found herself losing control of her Psychic in confusion.

The hold on Gengar was released and she was just barely hanging on. Mirai cheered for the Shadow Pokemon's quick thinking, but now they had the confused Gardevoir to deal with who was carelessly blasting the walls around it with Psychic and hurting itself. Unfortunately Gengar was far too hurt to get close. A single stray hit was enough to knock her out, but they still had to do something. It was then that Gengar stood back up made eye contact with Mirai and she understood what the Shadow Pokemon was thinking of doing next. It was honestly quite an unfair move, but it was their best option in this situation. Hopefully Gardevoir wouldn't hold it against them. The Embrace Pokemon had powered up too much to take it down any other way.

"Destiny truly was a fickle thing. But this time, we have destiny on our side. Gengar-kun, Destiny Bond!"

A dark purplish aura began to emanate from Gengar and extended towards the confused Gardevoir, shrouding it as well. Though in its confusion, it really wasn't in the right mind to notice it. The set up was complete. After giving Mirai a thumbs up, the Shadow Pokemon dived straight into the dangerous Psychic energies being released by Gardevoir and as expected was knocked out by one well-placed hit. Gengar slammed into a wall, unconscious, but it wasn't over yet. The purple aura surrounding the two intensified and the Embrace Pokemon's rampage was suddenly halted. The was a monetary pause and quiet as Gardevoir briefly regained its sense of mind before falling down itself, also knocked out.

Mirai exhaled loudly in relief. That was intense. She could still feel the jitters from that battle. Both Pokemon were giving it their all. And in the end Mirai and Gengar had to resort to using their trump card to force a draw. Ralts, no Gardevoir had grown splendidly.

She walked over to the two and each gave them a spray to rouse them back into consciousness. Though awake, Gengar was still feeling rather tired and chose to just sit up against the wall. Meanwhile the ever polite Gardevoir was seated in a kneeling position, bowing slightly as thanks for the spray and of course that amazing battle. Its memories of how it ended were a bit hazy but one thing was for certain. It was knocked out, and therefore it had to train a lot more. Gengar however was feeling rather generous and out of respect for her rival briefly explained it was not a loss but a draw. This revelation brought a cute smile to Gardevoir's face as this was a step up from their last encounter. Mirai couldn't help but feel that she definitely wanted to witness this Pokemon's growth personally.

"Gardevoir-kun, would you like to join us? Your performance during this battle was truly inspirational. I would be honored to have someone like you train alongside Gengar-kun and the others to reach even greater heights."

Gardevoir was slightly taken aback by the offer. It had been training alone for a long time and fate brought it back together with the one trainer and Pokemon who gave it a decisive defeat ages ago. The prospect of going them was honestly tempting for it.

"Well, to be honest I'm a Coordinator by profession. While strength is indeed an important part of training, there are other things that make up what we do as a whole. I just don't want to give you any false impressions."

This trainer was kind. That was what Gardevoir believed. Despite holding the advantageous position in this talk, the Embrace Pokemon couldn't sense any forceful thoughts, though Mirai was definitely showing her enthusiasm and eagerness. Gardevoir possessed the same sort of passion for training and it could understand the feeling. The choice was clear.

Gardevoir bowed low and then stood up straight, smiling in acknowledgement of Mirai's offer. The blue haired Coordinator was delighted. She reached inside her bag for a Great Ball and held it out in front of her. The Embrace Pokemon nodded and touched the ball, disappearing within it in a flash of light.

Today they had made an important new friend.