A Thin Line (by Ash-GreninjaGirl)

Fighting

Two days later, the group decided to go out for a short training session in the forest. Noivern and Talonflame were practicing their aerial moves, while Pikachu was sparring with Goodra. That left Greninja and Hawlucha to duke it out, and as usual, the pair were being much more aggressive than was entirely necessary. 

"Is that all you've got?" Greninja taunted, easily dodging every Karate Chop Hawlucha aimed at him. "I thought you were supposed to be good." 

Hawlucha narrowed his eyes at him. "I'm just getting started. You'd better watch yourself from now on," he snarled. 

Greninja just smirked and formed a silver blade before slashing his rival across the chest with Cut. The frog-ninja Pokemon was well aware that his skill level far exceeded that of Hawlucha's. Feeling impish, he decided to weaken his attack power ever so slightly in order to allow his rival to keep up. 

"Not up to your usual standard today, Greninja," the fighting-type remarked, hitting the frog Pokemon in the chest with X-Scissor. 

"Oh, so you admit I'm usually good?" Greninja retorted, still smirking playfully. 

"Usually, yes," Hawlucha admitted, looking as though he had been forced to swallow bile. "But that's only because your little showoff form is the only thing you have going for you. Take that away, and even Chespin would beat the living daylights out of you." 

It was Greninja's turn to narrow his eyes. "Let's see about that, shall we?" he asked coldly. 

Time for the kiddie gloves to come off. 

Greninja's next Cut overpowered Hawlucha's Karate Chop with ease. The Aztec bird only had a split second to be stunned before he was frozen solid by Ice Beam and knocked halfway across the clearing with Aerial Ace. Hawlucha tried to struggle to his feet to form a counterattack, only to be knocked out cold by a powerful Extrasensory. 

"Well done, Greninja," Pikachu called over to him. 

"Thanks," Greninja called back, unable to keep a note of pride out of his voice. 

"We're going to call it quits for now and get something to eat. Want to join us?" the electric mouse offered. "We'll get Hawlucha fixed up and then we'll be on our way." 

"Sure, why not?" Greninja agreed, shrugging. "I'll wait for you guys to come back with Hawlucha and then we can go." 

Pikachu nodded and went over to help the still-unconscious Hawlucha onto Noivern's back so they could fly him to the Pokemon Center. Not even caring about his teammate's well-being, Greninja turned around and decided to go for a short walk while he waited for the others to return. He almost laughed at the amount of energy he still had left in his reserves. Usually, he felt extremely drained after a training session, but today he felt as strong as ever, and he could only attribute this to his pride over besting Hawlucha in their battle. 

Admittedly, turning him into a popsicle before kicking him across the clearing and knocking him out with Extrasensory might have been a little over the top, but Greninja didn't care. In his mind, Hawlucha had gotten exactly what he'd been asking for. Maybe next time, he would think before he accused him of only having power because of his bond phenomenon transformation. 

Fifteen minutes later, Greninja decided to return to the clearing he'd parted from his teammates in. It was a fortunate decision, as Pikachu and the others happened to return at that exact moment. Hawlucha was walking beside Talonflame, and gave Greninja a cold stare when he saw him. The amphibian ignored this, however, as he was more than used to seeing that expression from the former forest champion. He had been expecting Hawlucha to be displeased at the sight of him, and therefore was utterly unfazed by the dislike in his stare.