Chapter 21

After a brief walk around the ship once they had left the arcade, bored and tired of the stupid 
noises they returned to the Pokemon Centre to hear the announcement of the divisions and when the 
matches would take place. The Centre was packed so they slid in at the back where they could just 
see Nurse Joy below a large TV screen.  

“Can everyone hear me at the back?” Asked Nurse Joy as she stood on a raised platform to gaze over 
the heads of the trainers assembled. Continuing once receiving the affirmative she spoke to the 
crowd, “There is a total of 32 participants in today’s competition, dividing equally into four 
groups of the usual eight. Each division will take place at the same time on the main deck with 
everyone battling until there is only one victor per division. Final matches to find the best 
trainer of the day may be carried out if the division winners are interested and if there is still 
time left in the day of course! The divisions and pairing are displayed on the screen above me and 
the first match begins at 12:30. Please form an orderly queue at the main desk to retrieve your 
pokemon now if you are in one of the earlier matches, thank you.” Nurse Joy ended her announcement 
and got down from the podium. Immediately the screens behind her lit up to display the photo 
identification of every trainer in each division. Right at the top of the first division was Ash’s 
picture, paired off against a young woman with black hair. Each section had a nominated favourite, 
presumably the best in each division on paper. 

“Well Ash, no surprises at you being the favourite.” Stated Misty when they had both found his 
position and worked their way through the trainers to the end of the line to recover the pokemon 
needed from the competition. 

“Of course not. We all know I have got to be the best trainer here and easily the most likely to 
become the best pokemon master in the world!” he cheekily winked at her as they moved up the line. 

“Oh shut up!” she pushed him gently with a laugh. Just a few minutes later they were standing before 
Nurse Joy at her counter who already look run off her feet while having to look for so many pokemon 
at once. 

“Oh hello again Ash!” she greeted them with a smile, “Didn’t I say you were one of the best entrants 
we’ve had! Here are your pokemon for the tournament.” She brought up two pokeballs and Pikachu who 
had been sitting quietly on the floor with some more ketchup. “Your other pokemon, as well as your 
girlfriend’s will be ready later as I’m afraid other pokemon had a priority over yours, regarding 
entrance into the competition.” She looked at their embarrassed faces once she had finished.

“Oh no Nurse Joy, we’re not a couple!” said Misty, a little too eagerly. “We’re just really good 
friends!” 

Joy looked at their faces again, not believing her for a moment but deciding to let the matter drop 
before those still waiting for their pokemon decided to rebel at the extended wait. 

Walking out onto the top deck where the gentle sea breeze caressed their faces and lifted Misty’s 
hair into the air they breathed in deeply, wandering over to the far arena on the deck where the 
division one matches would take place. A referee with a green shirt and the official pokemon league 
symbol on his left breast pocket was standing on the arena, holding a clipboard. Approaching the 
man, Ash told him his name and was instructed to stand in the trainer’s box at the far end to the 
arena to wait for his opponent. 

They didn’t have to wait long as a young girl of around Ash’s age ran panting over to the referee 
with a Beautifly fluttering behind her. She stated her name and was sent to the other side of the 
arena to stand in the other trainer’s box where she took a stance and prepared for battle with her 
Beautifly perched on her head.

Taking a look at his opponent across the arena he noticed that her hand already grasped a pokeball, 
ready to release her first pokemon. Her black hair was held away from her face by a braid that 
snaked its way to the middle of her back. Glasses sat upon her nose, framing her kind brown eyes and 
giving her a very intelligent appearance. Her green plait skirt ran down to just past her knees to 
elegantly show off her legs and feet clad in a pair of pumps of a similar green. Her white blouse 
and blue blazer jacket gave her a smart and elegant appearance as the light sea breeze rustled her 
jacket.

Once all the trainers for each division were in place and ready to begin, a bell sounded for every 
match to begin at the same time and eight pokemon along the line of battle arenas were released in 
flashes of bright white lights. 

“Swe-e-e-low!” cried Ash’s first pokemon as Swellow appeared and stretched his wings out wide, 
displaying his true power. 

“Go Abigail!” cried Lanka and an elegant four legged pokemon with a scythe shape on the side of its 
head appeared, digging its claws into the rough surface of the arena floor. “Start with a Shadow 
Ball!” she instructed.

“Take to the air.” Called Ash and Swellow dodged with ease and looped in the air for an Aerial Ace 
to come down, smashing into Abigail the Absol who was too slow to dodge the speedy attack. 

Gritting her teeth and glaring through her glasses at her opponent, Lanka vigorously ordered, 
“Abigail, show them you mean business with a Thunderbolt attack!” Abigail swiftly got to her feet 
and began to concentrate as yellow sparks of electricity skittered over her body to be launched into 
the air, striking Swellow in the chest. Swellow screeched in pain but somehow managed to remain 
airborne to stare back at his foe while hovering a few feet over the ground. 

“Swellow, Quick Attack!” ordered Ash as he looked for a weak spot in Abigail’s armour... There! He 
found it! Abigail couldn’t think on her feet or for herself, she had to glance at her trainer for 
advice and reassurance every time Swellow came in to attack, taking her eye off her opponent and 
leaving her vulnerable. ‘Abigail must be quite young or quite new to Lanka…’ thought Ash to himself 
as he gave a slight grimace. He and Swellow would have to take them down if they were to continue to 
the next round and he hoped that they wouldn’t destroy the young pokemon’s confidence in herself in 
the process. Abigail was sent flying backwards from the impact of Swellow’s Quick Attack but was 
still able to stay on her feet, trembling just a little. 

“You can do it Abigail!” encouraged her trainer, dislodging her Beautifly from its perch as she 
asked for a Razor Wind. Swinging her head back, the horn on her head began to glow a shining white 
and shadows of her horn flew though the air after Abigail fiercely swung her head down to release 
the attack. The first two shadows missed Swellow by less than an inch but the third clipped his 
wing, sending him spiralling down. 

“Swellow get back up and use Double Team!” cried Ash, watching his pokemon’s relaxed form fall 
closer to the ground until his wings snapped open, halting his fall and copies of his bird appeared 
all over the arena. 

By this stage, the other battles taking place at the same time had finished and spectators watched 
the match from all sides of the battle field. Some had chosen to root for the favourite, Ash, while 
others decided to support the beautiful Lanka and her Absol. 

“Now fly in circles above the field.” Instructed Ash and the multiple copies of his Swallow pokemon 
flew round and round over the arena, confusing the crowd, Lanka and Abigail whose eyes flicked from 
one copy to another and back to her trainer for instructions. A grim look upon his face, Ash 
ordered, “Swellow, dive down with Aerial Ace!” Swellow and the many copies flew down on the 
desperate Abigail as she tried to look at every pokemon heading for her from every angle. 

“Jump Abigail! Jump!” cried Lanka in desperation as her opponent came closer and closer to her young 
pokemon. Rooted to the spot with fear, Abigail never heard her trainer’s command and was forcefully 
thrown into the air by the power of the attack to land in a heap a few metres from her trainer where 
she lay still, barely murmuring her name. 

“Absol can no longer battle, Ash and Swellow are the winners.” Announced the umpire, holding aloft 
Ash’s flag and noting the outcome of the victory on his clipboard before writing the information 
again on a small slip of paper and handing it to the waiting carrier Pidgey to take it to Nurse Joy 
who was in charge of the list of who was advancing to the next stages. 

“Well done Swellow.” Said Ash, returning his pokemon and jogging over to where Lanka was bending 
over Abigail who was now able to sit up. “Is she ok?” he asked, bending down to stroke the Absol on 
her head but she shied away from his touch.

“Yeah, she’s fine,” said Lanka, looking into Ash’s face for a moment. “but still sulking that she 
lost her match. She’s not been in many yet and this is her first defeat. We had trouble with her 
confidence to start with and she got over that and now we have to deal with this attitude.” She 
frowned at her pokemon who gave her an equally dirty look back before getting shakily to her feet 
and limping away. “Abigail!” she called after her pokemon.

“Let me try.” Offered Ash as he held her back by the shoulder while remaining mindful of the 
Beautifly perched on her head. Approaching Abigail from the front again, Ash stooped down to her 
level where she glared straight back at him. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself or Lanka. So 
what if you didn’t win! You have to learn from your losses in order to become better than before.” 
Abigail continued to stare at this strange trainer, obviously still upset over her defeat. “Just 
because Lanka doesn’t tell you to dodge or jump out of the way of an attack doesn’t mean you have 
to just stand there and take the hit. You need to learn to think on your feet more independently yet 
still be able to communicate and obey Lanka’s instructions and this can only come with time.” 
Abigail dropped her gaze to the floor and allowed Ash to gently rub her head with his hand before 
looking up to his face with an apologising and slightly hurt expression. “See, that’s better, isn’t 
it?” Ash smiled at her and brought forth a piece of pokeblock that was lurking in his pocket that 
she gulped down gratefully. “You’ll do much better next time I’m sure.” He encouraged and stood up 
when Lanka came over to talk to her pokemon herself.

“Are you ok now Abigail?” she asked once on her knees to talk to her Absol. She was knocked over 
backwards when Abigail thrust her head into her and gently licked her face, enjoying the hug 
received from Lanka in return. “That’s good. Let’s get you to see Nurse Joy and help make you feel 
much better again.” She got to her feet and turned to look at Ash. “Thank you for that, you have 
such a good way with pokemon, even those that aren’t yours.” 

“Thanks, and I really hope she gets better soon. Maybe we could have another battle sometime.” He 
smiled and offered forward his hand which Lanka warmly took. 

“Oh yes! And next time we will beat you, won’t we Abigail!” beamed Lanka to her much happier friend 
as she rubbed her head against her trainer’s leg. “Bye Ash, and good luck in the rest of the 
tournament!”

“By Lanka, see you around.” He responded before turned back to watch the other matches taking place 
in his division. 

“That was really nice Ash.” Said Misty when she crept up behind him. 

“Huh? Oh it was nothing. She’s just inexperienced and not used to being in battles much.” He 
responded offhandedly. 

“Well it was still a nice thing.” Replied Misty, wincing when a Poliwrath was forcefully thrown to 
the ground by a Nidoking in the second match of the first division. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well everyone, the first round of matches are all over and I’m pleased to announce that these will 
be the following pairings.” Said Nurse Joy over the loud speaker system once all four battles for 
each division had taken place. The various screens around the top deck lit up to show the pictures 
of the advancing trainers and the identity of their next opponent. Noting that the time for his next 
battle was in one hour, after a short break and other matches for his division, Ash suggested a 
search for food should be in order to refuel and take a break from being on their feet the whole 
time. Agreeing wholeheartedly with him, Misty clutched her Azurill doll tightly and followed him 
through the crowded deck to the stairs that lead down into the main part of the ship to a small café 
situated near the pokemon centre. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Begin!” cried the umpire for Ash’s next match and he sent Pikachu onto the field with a short 
bound and a “Pika!” of joy to face his opponent’s Chinchou. His opponent was another girl, this 
time with layered shoulder length brown hair and streaks of blonde throughout. Although not 
particularly tall, she was extremely skinny and wearing a pale pink short sleeved dress with a 
white long sleeved top underneath. 

“Alright…Chinchou, attack with your Confuse Ray!” Mariella asked quietly. She might have been one of 
the best and smartest trainers in the competition, coming in the top four in both the Indigo League 
and the Silver Conference twice, but she was still extremely shy and began to become a little 
nervous in front of the crowd.  

“Pikachu, dodge it pal!” instructed Ash, already smiling and having a good time while Misty watched 
him from the sidelines. She observed how relaxed and carefree he was today, much better than when 
they were in the Fuchsia Gym. She hadn’t put much, if any thought into the incidents at the Gym 
since they had left, but he had seemed so worried about her when she fell through the floor, and so 
relieved when he awoke to find her with him. Her day dreaming was brought to an abrupt end when 
Pikachu was suddenly hit from the side when Chinchou charged straight for him, delivering a painful 
hit with a Take Down. 

“Now, now f-follow that up with your I-ice B-b-beam!” Mariella gave a nervous swallow as her 
Chinchou began to charge up the energy needed for its attack. Dodging as fast as he could, Pikachu 
avoided every attack but the entire arena became frozen solid, sending Pikachu sliding all over the 
place. 

“Come on buddy! We can beat them! Use your Thunder attack!” cried Ash, beginning to look more 
serious about the battle than before, obviously taking this small, skinny girl as a chance for an 
easy win and regretting it quite soon. The Thunder attack hit Chinchou and sent it skidding across 
the ice, but dealing it little damage in the process. However, the shear power of Pikachu’s 
electricity charged all over the arena, smashing up the ice wherever it hit and the field became 
littered with sharp shards of ice. 

Mariella’s eyes flittered around the arena and a plan formed in her mind, but could it be pulled 
off? “Ch-chinchou, b-blast all the ice shards s-straight at Pikachu!” she requested, hope and worry 
mingled in her eyes. Theoretically this move should seriously damage her opponent’s Pikachu, but 
this trainer and his pokemon were something else, anything might happen.

“Pikachu!” cried Ash, “Use Iron Tail and sent back all those shards!” Like that for instance. The 
Pikachu leapt into the air, his tail a bright glowing white and he performed a perfect summersault 
in mid air to smash into the tidal wave of water and ice to be sent straight back to the sender. 
Chinchou’s look of shock over its face vanished the instant its trainer ordered a thunderbolt. 
Charging up the two bulbs on its head, it unleashed the attack straight back at Pikachu who had no 
time to counter is and was forcefully sent flying backwards to land in a heap where he struggled 
doggedly to his feet. 

Ash gritted his teeth with determination and stared down his opponent, taking in Pikachu’s and 
Chinchou’s conditions to fathom the best way for him to win. Glancing at his best pokemon buddy, he 
saw he was back on his hind feet, a grim look on his yellow face and totally ready to take down his 
opponent. “Pikachu, Quick Attack then Iron Tail!” he cried out the instructions for their next move. 

Pikachu zapped across the arena at a speed so great, few could follow the yellow blur and Chinchou 
was hit straight in the face. Skidding to a halt behind his opponent, Pikachu put everything into 
hardening his tail to smash it straight down into Chinchou, directly from above and creating a large 
hole in the arena floor as Chinchou was smashed into the ground to be declared out of the match. 
Both breathing a sigh of relief, Pikachu hopped into his trainer’s arms to celebrate their victory 
and approach their beaten competitor.

“That was a great match Mariella!” said Ash, holding out his hand as always to the short and skinny 
girl. She looked up from Chinchou’s pokeball with a pale face to see the older and more confident 
trainer before her with a friendly smile on his face. From across the arena, she hadn’t realised how 
handsome he was and her cheeks blushed a light red and her nerves only intensified. 

Looking down again at his gloved hand before her, she tentatively placed her hand in his, her eyes 
now on the ground and she stuttered, “O-oh, th-th-thank y-you. Y-you’re a re-really g-good 
t-trainer.” Her nerves began to get the better of her again and she babbled, “Um…I’d better get to 
the Cokemon Pentre…err…I-I mean Pokemon C-centre…” she realised she was still clutching Ash’s hand 
and quickly removed hers from his, blushing again. “Err bye!” She dashed off and disappeared into 
the crowds while Ash watched her leave in confusion. 

“I think she has a little crush on you!” teased Misty as she poked her head over his shoulder, 
making Pikachu giggle in response. 

A horrified look crossed his face and he recoiled a little from Misty but his reply was never made 
as Nurse Joy’s beautiful tones emerged from the speakers around the deck and the screens lit up to 
display her in the Pokemon Centre. 

“We now have the pairings for the final match for each division! The pair ups are displayed on the 
screens now. Please make your way to your arena for the battles will start in less than five 
minutes.” She gave the crowd one last smile and her image on the screen was swiftly replaced with 
that of the images of eight trainers, each paired to another. Ash’s opponent this time was a boy 
with short orange hair and freckles of the same colour. 

“Come on. You have a battle to win.” Said Misty, grasping him by the back of his jumper and pulling 
him backwards to his trainer’s box. His opponent, TJ, was already waiting for him dressed all in 
black other than the red stripe down the middle of his T-shirt and appeared to be rather 
uncomfortable by the presence of more than three young girls clustered around him, obviously his 
fans from the praise they were giving him. A small Flaaffy was crouched by his side, trying to stay 
out of the way of the hyper fan girls. Its anxiety became too intense and it let off a small 
thundershock that fried the fan girls to a crisp so they retreated, clutching their ruined hair. TJ 
gave his Flaaffy a grateful smile and scratched it on the top of its head as it bleated in delight. 

“Oh wow! You’re Flaaffy is just shocking!” screeched on fan girl as she continued to fawn over one 
of her idols. Her fired blonde hair was standing up on end and she appeared to be rather more 
energetic than before, almost as if she was fully charged.

“Really? Now there’s something you’d never expect from an electric type pokemon!” he drawled back, 
still scratching the blissful Flaaffy behind the ear. 

“If both trainers are ready to begin then the match will start.” Called out the umpire as he held 
two flags in his hands, looking from one trainer to the other. Receiving the affirmative from both, 
he raised the flags into the air and the match commenced. 

“Go Grovyle!” cried Ash as he threw the pokeball onto the arena and his green grass type lizard bust 
onto the scene in a bright white light while his pokeball was returned to his trainer. 

“Go Wigglytuff!” yelled TJ as he released his pink balloon pokemon. A creepy smile crossed his face 
when Grovyle, the grass type came into view. He knew types matter and which ones to play against 
what type, the super effective ones and the non effective ones. Unless this Ash person had trained 
his Grovyle to the extreme, this match was going to be a complete walk over. 

“Right, Grovyle lets start off with a Quick Attack!” cried Ash a broad smile across his face. 

“Wigglytuff, use Reflect!” countered TJ. Grovyle was going too fast to stop and avert his attack and 
smashed straight into the clear wall his opponent had created and bounced painfully off it as the 
damage was dealt to him. He landed on his feet, skidding a little on landing but ready for another 
command. “Now use Flamethrower and lets end this!” he gave a confident smirk that left his fan girls 
breathless.

“Protect with Leaf Blade!” instructed Ash as a pace faster than anyone other than Grovyle could 
understand. Powering up the leaves on his arms, they glowed green before fusing together and 
provided an effective barrier against the super effective Flamethrower. Once the flames that licked 
around Grovyle had abated and his leaves returned to their normal shape, Ash called for a Bullet 
Seed attack that hit Wigglytuff directly before it could protect itself with another Reflect. 

Digging in its feet, Wigglytuff managed to withstand the swift barrage of seeds and looked to its 
trainer, ready for the next order. “Get in close and use your Ice Punch!” 

“Dodge at the last second, and then use your Pound!” called out Ash and Pikachu cheered from his 
view point on Misty head, clutching onto her ponytail for stability. Grovyle leapt high into the 
air as Wigglytuff’s glowing light blue clenched fist sped by beneath him. Performing a perfect 
summersault in mid air, Grovyle smashed his top leaf down hard on Wigglytuff’s head. Before TJ could 
call out another attack or Wigglytuff could avoid anything, Ash called out, “Now sideways slash it 
with your Leaf Blade!” Jumping into the air again, Grovyle spun around, using the energy from his 
leap into the air and slashed Wigglytuff directly across the abdomen. Wigglytuff flew backwards 
across the ground from the force of the attack.

“Come on Wigglytuff! You have to get up NOW!” cried TJ as his Flaaffy bleated its support for one 
of its friend. Patches of dust and bruises covered Wigglytuff’s body but it stood up none the less, 
proudly and boldly stating its name before launching an Ice Beam that froze Grovyle’s lower half 
solid to the ground. Surprise flashed straight across Grovyle’s face and he dropped his favourite 
twig from his mouth before being forced to block the next attack, a Fire Punch, from Wigglytuff. 
The ice may have been melted from the intense heat of Wigglytuff’s fist but the force of its punch 
sent Grovyle flying through the air so hard and so fast that he sailed through a gap in the crowds 
to slam straight into a wall. 

“No! Grovyle!” cried out Ash, sprinting over to his fallen pokemon but was unable to touch him due 
to the official pokemon league rules the competition was run under. The umpire was about to raise 
TJ’s flag into the air when Ash called out for him to stop. Grovyle had moved and was stubbornly 
getting to his feet, despite his trainer’s pleas to stay down and admit their defeat, a task too 
much for the proud Grovyle to do. Returning stubbornly to the field of play, Grovyle seemed to enter 
a beserked fit and flew at Wigglytuff faster than anyone could follow to smash his glowing Leaf 
Blade straight across Wigglytuff, following by a downward smash from the leaf on the top of his head 
by a Pound attack and finishing off by sending Wigglytuff flying into the air with his Bullet Seed. 
All this was done in a matter of moments where TJ and Ash could do nothing to help of stop their 
pokemon. When the dust cleared, Grovyle was standing up, glaring down at the Wigglytuff at his feet 
as it lay completely motionless in the dust. 

“Wigglytuff in unable to battle. The victory goes to Ash and his Grovyle.” Announced the umpire to 
the silent crowd. No cheers echoed across the deck as Ash quietly returned his Grovyle and walked 
off back to the Pokemon Centre while staring at the pokeball, Misty and Pikachu following silently 
behind. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I just don’t know what got into Grovyle…” voiced Ash to no one in particular while he, Misty and 
Pikachu were seated at a small table having a drink and something to eat. He was still in a state 
of shock at his pokemon’s display of ferocity and mulled the issue over in his head while at the 
same moment the pokemon he was thinking of was in the intensive care unit of the Pokemon Centre. 
Once they had returned to the Centre and explained the strange occurrence to Nurse Joy, she had 
brought out Grovyle. They had found the pokemon to be in a strange fit, tearing at his head and 
grinding his teeth tightly together. His eyes had been screwed tightly shut and a strange noise 
emanated from the distressed pokemon before it collapsed in a heap on the ground, barely breathing. 
Nurse Joy had rushed him straight into intensive care, smiling that he would be alright before 
dashing off after her Chansey. 

“Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s nothing serious and he’ll be completely better by tomorrow.” Smiled 
Misty as she placed her hand over his arm, giving it a brief squeeze of reassurance before letting 
go. He looked up into her face to see it full of hope, love and understanding. He gave her a small 
smile in response, returning his gaze back to the depths his mug of hot chocolate. The group 
remained in silence until a small boy of about ten years of age ran up to their table.

“Are you Ash Ketchum?” he asked. Ash nodded his head once in response so the boy continued, “I have 
a message from the head umpire. He wishes to know if you would like to take part in the final stage. 
Where the victors of the four divisions battle to determine an ultimate trainer for this voyage. 
It is optional so you don’t have to take part but you have to use a pokemon not yet used in this 
competition.” He finished with a smile.

Taking a moment to think about it, he replied, “I really think I should. Something went wrong with 
my Grovyle in the last match and I’m not really in the mood for further battles after that. Ow!” he 
protested when Misty his him over the head with the back of her hand. 

“Don’t be so selfish!” yelled Misty, “There are other people here who would want to have this battle 
out and you backing down would stop it happening. Plus I’m sure there are loads of people up there 
who would like to see you other pokemon. Come on. Let’s forget about what happened for a bit and 
give Professor Oak a call. I’m sure he’d love to hear from you, listen to what happened to Grovyle 
and set over two of your pokemon for the next two battles.” 

He remained silent for a moment, leaving the boy in suspense and Misty in a growing huff while he 
continued to stare into the bottom of his mug. He suddenly drained the contents, placing the empty 
cup back on the table and stood up to gather his things. He gave Misty one of his cheeky little 
smiles that managed to melt any aggression she had towards him at that moment and said, “Well? What 
are you waiting for? Let’s go get some pokemon!” he ran out of the café with the whooping boy and 
Misty hard on his tail, wanting to hit him on the head, just for being Ash.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So that’s what happened Professor…” finished Ash. He had just finished explaining everything that 
had happened during his battle against TJ and his Wigglytuff to the Professor and was now waiting 
for his response. 

Professor Oak was deep in thought for a few moments before adding, “Well Ash, without being able to 
examine Grovyle myself I can’t make any conclusions. I’m sure the Nurse Joy on the ship is competent 
enough to look after him but I suggest that you send him over once he’s fit for travel. In the mean 
time which pokemon here would you like to take?”

Ash fell silent for a few moments, going through a quick list all his pokemon at Professor Oak’s 
Lab. He smiled at the Professor and asked, “Do you think Bayleaf and Totodile would mind coming 
over?” 

Oak beamed at him commenting, “A wise choice Ash, I’ll get Tracey to help me out and we should have 
them ready to send over in a few minutes. I believe you have five pokemon with you at the moment so 
someone will need to be exchanged.”

Reaching around for the back of his belt, Ash produced one pokeball. “Phanpy and Corphish are still 
with Nurse Joy after yesterday’s Gym battle but Swellow hasn’t been taken over yet, I kinda forgot 
after what happened to Grovyle.” Placing the pokeball on the transfer plates he pressed a few 
buttons and successfully sent his pokemon to Oak. 

Just at that moment, Tracey walked into view of the screen, a very jubilant Bayleaf by his side and 
Totodile safely in his lure ball. When they could finally calm Bayleaf down enough to be returned to 
her pokeball, both were transferred to Ash. Ash had barely picked up Bayleaf’s pokeball when it 
burst open and she leapt on Ash, nuzzling her head into his chest affectionately. 

“Hey, hey Bayleaf! Cut it out, that tickles!” He protested from under the weight of his mid weight 
pokemon, laughing when he was finally free and she had stood back a bit for him to stand up. “Come 
on then, let’s get you registered.” Bayleaf followed him happily to the counter while he strapped 
her pokeball to his belt to lie next to Totodile’s. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Good Luck Ash.” Cheered Misty while Azurill smiled from her perch in Misty’s arms. Once Bayleaf 
and Totodile had been registered for the final stages of the tournament, Misty’s pokemon, along with 
Phanpy and Corphish were ready to leave the Centre, fully healed and ready for anything asked of 
them. Ash nodded in response, focusing on the trainer on the other side of the arena. Since there 
were only three more battles to be carried out, the battles were to occur one at a time in order for 
everyone to see all the matches. Ash had the first match of the semi final, against boy by the name 
of Aziz. 

He was slightly taller than Ash but their eyes and hair were rather similar, Aziz having slightly 
darker locks however. His long black overcoat ruffled slightly in the sea breeze and made the girls 
in the crowd feel weak at the knees while Misty sneered at how pathetic they were as her attention 
remained fully on Ash. 

“Go Manectric!” called Aziz as he released his electric blue and yellow dog onto the field.

“Great! Go Bayleaf!” Ash enthusiastically brought one of his old friends into the battle where she 
materialised right next to him, rubbing her head against his side. “Hey, quit it Bayleaf, we have a 
battle to win!” he laughed and a determined expression came over her face as she jumped forward to 
stand opposite the Manectric that was her opponent. 

“Hmm, let me start this off, Manectric, use your Bite attack!” cried Aziz, his fist pointed directly 
at Bayleaf. 

“So let counter with your Vine Whip Bayleaf!” Bayleaf sent her two green vines streaking through the 
air at Ash’s command to smack the charging Manectric on the side, averting its attack. “Now use 
Razor Leaf!” 

“Bay, bay, bay!” cried Bayleaf, swinging her head around and down to sent a barrage of knife sharp 
leaves to cut her foe with deadly accuracy. She smiled enthusiastically at her trainer’s praise and 
had to strongly restrain herself from giving him another hug. Instead she obeyed his order for a 
Body Slam by leaping high into the air to crash down on the spot where the real Manectric had been 
standing on until the mass of clones had appeared from its Double Team.

“Bayleaf, slash through all those clones with your Vine Whip!” called Ash, a broad smile across his 
face as the two green vines cut through every visible Manectric on the field. “Huh?”

“Now Manectric!” The blue and yellow dog leapt down onto the arena from above where it had jumped to 
when Bayleaf’s back was turned. It let out a huge roar and almost seemed to grow in its stature as 
it boosted its own confidence to charge straight for Bayleaf, sparks of electricity shimmering over 
its body. The sparks transferred themselves to Bayleaf as she was thrown across the arena, gritting 
her teeth and closing her eyes through the irritation. 

Standing strong on her four legs, she gave out another strong, “Bay!” to Ash, signalling she was 
alright and ready for more. 

“Alright then, Bayleaf, finish this with Solar Beam!” announced Ash in a fashion that was almost 
challenging Aziz to perform a better counter attack.

He smiled strangely in response and called out, “Manectric, use your Thunder to throw off Bayleaf’s 
concentration!” His Manectric leapt into the air and charged up a huge quantity of electricity 
around itself and launched the attack at the same moment Bayleaf let loose her Solar Beam. The two 
attacks collided in mid air and sent up a huge explosion that covered most of the top deck in a 
thick smoke. The smog soon disappeared as the ship continued to sail onwards and revealed a 
motionless Manectric and a panting Bayleaf would was on her side rather than on her feet.

“The victory goes to Ash and his Bayleaf!” announced the umpire, raising the flag for Ash into the 
air. 

“Hey, well done Bayleaf. That was an excellent match.” Praised Ash as he stroked her head and 
returned her to her pokeball for a rest. Approaching his opponent he commented, “Hey Aziz, your 
Manectric is really strong. How long have you had it for?”

“Hmm? Oh just a few months. She’s my newest pokemon to my current team but still not quite strong 
enough to challenge the Viridian City Gym Leader, our next destination and this was just a warm up 
challenge for her. In fact, your Bayleaf is excellent, would you consider a trade?” he held out the 
pokeball containing his Manectric as it shone in the sun.

“Oh, I’d love to but no thanks. My Bayleaf is kinda special to me and doesn’t like being with other 
people much. You have no idea how much damage she caused when she had to stay with Professor Oak 
for 
a few days a couple of years ago.” Explained Ash.

“Yeah, that and she has a major crush on you.” Snorted Misty when she came up behind Ash and 
overheard their conversation. 

“Your pokemon has a crush on you?” asked Aziz, trying to stifle a laugh but failing miserably. 
“That is the strangest thing I have ever heard!” he exclaimed before falling down and rolling 
around on the ground laughing. 

Ash began to blush a deep shade of red and began to glare at the red head beside him while she 
tried 
to keep a straight face.

“So do you return the feelings or are they just mutual?” asked Aziz once he was able to control his 
jubilation for a moment long enough to ask his question and collapsing again with laughter. 

“Very amusing.” Replied Ash as a strong dislike for the person before him began to form where only 
friendliness had originated. He continued to stare grumpily at the man before him while Misty 
whispered,

“Come on it’s just a joke. Lighten up a bit.” She gave him a slight nudge and a warm smile that 
made him feel much better, even more so when Pikachu rubbed his head from his usual perch and 
Azurill smiled broadly at him. 

Bayleaf decided that now would be a good time to show up as she burst from her pokeball on Ash’s 
belt. She had heard the whole conversation and wanted to add in her own input. Bringing out her 
vines she grasped Aziz by the ankles and lifted him in to the air so that his face hung upside down 
directly in front of her own. His laughter soon abated when he left the ground and began to beg for 
mercy when Bayleaf held her vines over the edge of the ship, letting go slightly just to hear him 
scream. Everyone on the deck was convinced she would let him drop if Ash had not decided to step in. 
Giving her trainer a slightly sour look she brought Aziz back over the deck but still let go all the 
same and he landed with a thump on the deck. 

“Your-your Bayleaf is crazy!” cried Aziz when he got to his feet glancing wildly at Ash and Bayleaf 
before vanishing into the crowd. 

“Thanks for that Bayleaf, but it was a bit dramatic.” Chuckled Ash. “Now return and stay there.” he 
gently scolded his pokemon as she vanished in a red beam of light. 

Watching the remainder of the second semi-final match, Ash studied the two competitors, ready to see 
their styles before he had to battle one of them himself. Of the two young men, one was beginning to 
seem a little desperate and flustered. He was ordering attacks left, right and centre when few of 
them were hitting and some were having no effect at all. In contrast his opponent was cool, calm and 
collected. He said as little as possible while his pokemon, a Flareon dodged and conserved its 
energy with every move. Finally when the moment was right he ordered a Fire Blast that covered the 
entire arena with flames that consumed the Ursaring. Announced the winner of the battle, the calm 
man returned him Flareon with barely thanks and walked into the crowd. 

Misty took a sideways glance at the young man beside him and took in his worried expression. 
“You’re still worried about Grovyle, aren’t you.” He nodded silently in response, still deep within 
his thoughts. “He’ll be ok. Once he’s fit enough to be sent to Professor Oak, he’ll know what to do 
with him. I think you need to concentrate on your final match, and for someone of your calibre, it’s 
going to be an easy one.” She gave him another confidence boosting smile which he gratefully 
returned before walking over to the umpire. 

A few moments later, the young man from before with the Flareon appeared at a leisurely walk. His 
skin tight jeans made his legs appear long and athletic while his striped T-shirt clung tightly to 
his body. Around his waist, a belt with six pokeballs could be seen as he reached around and plucked 
one off once close enough to the umpire. In his other hand he clasped a black case that looked 
likely to contain a laptop computer. After exchanging a few words with the umpire, he walked over to
the other side of the arena and lowered his case to the ground before squinting up to look into the 
sky and note the position and intensity of the sun. 

Once bother trainers were ready, the umpire raised two flags into the air and declared, “This battle
between Kevin from Serebiiforums and Ash from Pallet Town will decide the winner of this voyage’s 
tournament. Begin!” He lowered the two flags simultaneously and the two trainers brought forth their 
pokemon in flashes of white light.

“Go Totodile!” cried Ash and his blue crocodile with red ridges along its back appeared from his 
blue, red and white lure ball before immediately beginning to dance. 

“Go Persian!” announced Kevin and his cat like golden pokemon emerged with a miaow, already glaring 
at Totodile who stopped his dancing for a moment to size up the large opponent. 

“Begin!” cried the umpire from the side.

“Go Persian, use your Shock Wave!” Instructed Kevin, his eyes that were shut flying open with a 
resolution to win. His large cream cat meowed in response and shot out a weak jolt of electricity 
that Totodile dodged with annoying ease with a quick sidestep. Persian hissed with displeasure and 
leapt closer with one large bound to shower Totodile with shining gold stars with its swift attack. 

Unable to dodge such and accurate and swift attack, Totodile took the hit and bounced right back 
with a Water Gun. Persian skilfully leapt over the stream of water but Totodile was ready and 
followed its movements to drench the cat. “Now give it a Headbutt attack!” 

“Toto!” he replied, dashing forward to slam his head straight into Persian’s chest, throwing it 
back. Taking the chance of being close to his foe, Kevin called for a Scratch attack which his 
Persian happily carried out. 

Recovering with a little dance, Totodile gave Persian another soaking with his Water Gun. However 
neither he nor Ash noticed the look between Persian and its trainer to signify their next move. 
“Persian, Shadow Ball!” 

“Water Gun to sent it straight back!” ordered Ash, hoping to initiate a counter attack before the 
Shadow Ball could be fully launched. “What!” exclaimed Ash when rather than a Shadow Ball, Persian 
went for a Shock Wave attack that was conducted straight to Totodile and electrocuting him to a 
state where he could barely stand while blinking owlishly with shock. Still in a state of shock, 
Totodile could do nothing when Persian pounced and slashed him straight across the face. “Totodile, 
give him an Iron Tail!” Leaping high into the air, Totodile somersaulted in the air and struck the 
Persian directly on the head. Taking advantage of his height over his foe, Totodile aimed a strong 
Water Gun directly down on a displeased Persian. Spiralling down through the cascade of water, 
Totodile bashed his opponent right on the head, knocking it out. 

Surprised how his perfect and well practised strategy had fallen apart, it took a while for Kevin to 
approach his cat who was just beginning to come round again after the winner of the match, Totodile, 
had been announced. Crouching down and scratching it behind the ears he muttered, “Thank you 
Persian, that was a wonderful match, but it seems they are just one step ahead of us.” Persian 
meowed in response and was gratefully returned to its pokeball. 

Approaching his opponent, Kevin spoke, “That was a very good match Ash, I was sure I had the 
advantage, yet you were still able to beat me even after our special trick. Congratulations.” He 
held forth his hand that Ash warmly took in a firm handshake.

“You’re an excellent trainer yourself.” Commented Ash while Totodile danced at his feet, using newly 
found energy reserves. Before he could say anything further he was whisked away by the umpire and 

crowds to stand before Nurse Joy, the head organiser of the competition. 
“Congratulations. You are this voyage’s champion of champions and I am pleased to present you with 
this medal of victory.” She held up a gold plated medal on a blue and gold striped ribbon and placed 
it about his neck. She then turned around and picked up a case, similar to the type used by 
co-ordinators to collect their ribbons and opened it to show five ribbons, explaining that one was 
for each pokemon used in the tournament. With a smile he took the first one and pinned it on 
Totodile who was still dancing at his feet before giving another one to Pikachu who had hopped onto 
his shoulder. 

Reaching to his pokebelt he released Bayleaf and Swellow, giving them one ribbon each. When he came 
to the last ribbon, he paused because Grovyle was not with him, nor was he in a state that he could 
go and give the ribbon to. Hoping that his pokemon was going to be alright, he turned to face the 
crowd and wave with his pokemon. The red head at the front of all the people before him could see 
the worry over Grovyle still evident in his eyes and gave him such a warm smile of confidence that 
for a moment, Ash forgot all about Grovyle, the tournament and all the people before him. All he 
could see was her beautiful face as it stood out from the masses, smiling and laughing in a way that 
only she could.