Well, not much to say here, I suppose; here’s part 9.
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Ash breathed in deeply, taking in a lungful of the fresh, salty air. He 
glanced across at Misty, who stood just to his right. She was looking across 
the battleground at their opponents, a very young couple who dressed in the 
same t-shirt and jeans, and who both had deep purple hair.

“You ready, Misty?” asked Ash.
“Of course I am! Ok, let’s go!” She turned, and selected her pokemon, as did 
Ash, and their opponents.

The Referee, resplendent in his garish orange outfit, blew his whistle to 
signal the start of the match. The strange couple both released their 
pokemon at the same time, perfectly synchronised. A Marill and a Beautifly 
appeared, ready to battle. Misty released her Starmie, and Ash called on his 
Bayleef.

“I’ll take the Beautifly, you get the Marill!” yelled Misty. “Starmie! Use a 
tackle attack!”
Her opponent, the young boy, ordered his Beautifly to respond with a tackle 
attack as well. The two pokemon charged towards each other, building up 
speed, before smashing together with a huge crash. Starmie came out of the 
clash better off than the Beautifly, which was thrown back and landed 
heavily.

Meanwhile, even as Starmie prepared to finish off the Beautifly with a water 
gun attack, Ash was commanding Bayleef to use vine whip. The long vines 
raced from Bayleef towards the hapless Marill. “Marill?!” it cried, waiting 
for a command , any command, from its trainer, who stood there, similarly 
stunned. Bayleefs vine whip knocked it flying into the air, and it landed 
with a heavy thud, not rising again. Ash looked at Starmie, who had just 
finished its opponent with another huge tackle.

Ash grinned hugely. “Yeeeeaaaah! We did it! We won!”
Misty glared at him. “That was just the first battle, Ash! There are two 
more battles today, just for the group stages!”
“If they’re all as easy as this, then we’re sure to win!”
“Don’t be so cocky! Let’s go shake hands with our opponents; they’re only 
young.” Misty felt sorry for the young pair, who had been so completely 
defeated.

After this battle, they had a short break before their next match. They 
caught up with May, on the sidelines of one of the many arenas prepared on 
the decks for the tournament. She had been watching Brock and Selina battle.

“Hey, you guys! How’d it go?”
Ash could not help grinning. “We won!”
“Well, so did Brock and Selina; they wiped out their opponents. They make a 
great team, and they’re quite funny to watch as well!”
Looking over, they saw Brock trying to evade more of Selina’s advances, 
blushing ever more brightly as he did so.
“Haha, Brock gets a taste of his own medicine!” Misty laughed. “Oh well, 
let’s get back, our next match should be any time now”

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
As the day drew to a close, Ash, Misty and May sat in a cosy restaurant, 
waiting for their friend Brock. Ash was still jubilant from having won all 
three of their matches, placing them top of their group. According to May, 
Brock and Selina had also come top of their group.

“I hope we don’t have to face Brock until the final!” said Misty.
“Speaking of Brock, where is he!? I’m starving!” moaned Ash. “I can’t take 
it any longer! The smell of all this lovely food is driving me crazy!”

Even as he was speaking, Brock came charging through the doors, and spying 
his friends, dived beneath their table, hidden by the low hanging table 
cloth. A few seconds afterwards, Selina entered the room, and glancing 
about, saw Ash and the others. She walked over, and asked,
“Have you guys seen Brock anywhere? I’m sure he came this way; he seemed in 
an awful hurry!”
“Uh…No, sorry…”Ash trailed off, trying to think of a suitable excuse. 
“He..uh, he-”
Misty cut in, “He had to go to his room, he’s feeling a bit ill”
“Oh…ok!” Selina said brightly, seemingly unfazed by the pathetic nature of 
the excuse. “See you guys later!” She walked out of the restaurant. Brock 
breathed out a huge sigh of relief. “Thanks, you guys!” He sat down heavily.
“You know, Brock, you’re gonna have to work out something with Selina; at 
least let her know how you feel!” said Misty, as they waited for a waiter to 
appear.
“I’ve tried! She doesn’t seem to get it!”
“Hmmm, maybe you’re being too subtle…I never thought I’d say those words 
about Brock and love!”
“Hey! I have the situation completely under control, alright!” Just then, a 
waitress appeared, and so Brock didn’t have to explain himself any further.

The group looked on, aghast as an all too familiar dreamy look pasted itself 
onto Brock’s face.
“Oh no! We’re in for a long evening!” said Misty.

She turned out to be completely right.
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Ok, part 10 will have the rest of the tournament, as well as an unwelcome 
surprise for Ash and Co…

Gyarados