After they had unpacked, Ash, Brock, Dawn and Chazo began to prepare dinner. The fridge was packed full of delicious ingredients, and soon Brock had meatballs, pasta and several pizzas on the go, while Ash and Chazo fought it out over who would get the last piece of the good ham for a pre-dinner sandwich. Meanwhile, Jazol was still in his room, "brooding" Chazo said, but over what he didn't know.

Soon dinner was served, but Jazol only emerged to grab some food, then he retreated again into his room. After they had all finished eating, Ash still had a few questions.

"So," he began, "how do the Saiko Championships work exactly?"

"Hmm," mused Chazo, "well, it starts with the Primo Round. That's five one-on-one battles in five hours, so each battle is consecutive with only small breaks in between- the faster you defeat each opponent the longer you have to rest. It's a real test of stamina and strategy and each round must be fought using only one pokemon."

"Wow," exclaimed Dawn, "that many battles all at once is going to be really tiring, right Brock?"

"Well yes," replied Brock, "but it'll be more mentally challenging than it is physically: you'll need to maintain your mental agility levels, otherwise you're sure to lose."

"So, what do you have to do to advance into the next round?" asked Ash.

"You've got to win all five, of course," replied Chazo, as though this should have been obvious.

"All five," burst out Ash, "that's really hard!"

"Well, so many people apply that you have cut the numbers down," explained Chazo, "and besides, even after the Primo round there are still over one-thousand trainers still in the competition. You have to remember that the Saiko Championships are on a much bigger scale then any other kind of tournament."

"I guess so," agreed Ash nervously, "but still…"

"You'll be fine, I bet," replied Chazo, "besides, I can train with you if you'd like."

"Yeah, I mean you've done this tournament before, right?"

"Yep."

"Anyway," interjected Dawn, "we have this room for a whole night, so we might as well enjoy it, right?"

"She's right," agreed Brock.

"Uh-huh," said Chazo, "let's swim in the pool!"

"Yeah," replied Dawn, "our pokemon can too! Go Piplup!"

Dawn threw a pokeball and her Piplup emerged from it and then dived into the pool.

"Yeah, come on out Buizel!" yelled Ash.

"Yeah, go Bayleef!" added Chazo.

Bayleef and Buizel both materialized and jumped in after Piplup. Buizel was naturally a good swimmer, and began diving and splashing with gusto, but Bayleef wasn't shabby either: it was clear that Chazo had trained her to swim.

"Cool, let's go get changed," said Ash.

They all went to their rooms and changed into swimming gear. As they all ran towards the pool, Chazo stopped outside Jazol's room.

"You coming swimming little bro?" he asked.

A muffled grunt came from inside the room. Chazo took it to mean 'no', before he ran up to the edge of the pool and dive bombed in, splashing Dawn, who was trying not to get her hair wet.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly in response to her steely gaze.

Just as she was about to forgive him, Ash dived in right next to her, soaking her hair once again. As Dawn yelled at Ash, Brock swam over to Chazo.

"What's up with your brother?" he asked.

"Not sure," replied Chazo, "but my best bet is that he's already drawing up strategies for the Primo round."

"Wow," exclaimed Brock, "he's really focused, huh?"

"Well, he really wants to win, that's for sure."

"Can't blame him, though."

"No…you can't."


After their late night, Ash, Dawn and Brock woke up at about 11 o'clock in the morning.

"Nyyaahh!" yawned Ash, "Morning guys."

"No talk," moaned Dawn from her room, "more sleep."

Ash walked into the main room of the expensive villa, got himself some toast, then knocked at Chazo's door.

"Chazo!" Ash yelled, resulting in a loud grumbling sound from Dawn's room, "Get up, we need to go register!"

Ash opened the door to find an empty room.

"I wonder were he's gone?" Ash wondered aloud.

He walked out onto the balcony, still eating his toast. He was beginning to seriously worry about the upcoming Primo rounds- they sounded seriously tough. Which pokemon should I use? Something fast and powerful? Maybe Infernape…no, this is a contest of endurance, so someone like Torterra? What about Muk, or Snorlax? Damn, I'm just not sure!

As he was thinking, Ash saw a flock of Starly take of from a distant point in some nearby woods. He heard faint clanging sounds, as if of large colliding bodies.

"I think I found him."

Ash had quickly had a shower then got changed. He had picked up his pokeballs and him and Pikachu had left the hotel, heading for the distant noises. Ash was soon at the forest, and as he began to walk further in the terrain got wilder and wilder as he got further away from Port Kibo.

Eventually he walked about a large boulder to see Chazo and Jazol facing off against each other from either side of a makeshift battlefield. In the middle of the battlefield, a Dusknoir and a Metagross where facing up to each other, each trying to psych to other out.

"Ionsteel, use Meteor Mash!" commanded Jazol.

"Phantom, phase out!" shouted Chazo.

Even as Jazol's Metagross spun across the battlefield, it's sharp metal claws surrounded by a multicoloured cosmic aura, the Dusknoir disappeared into thin air!

"Ionsteel," yelled Jazol, "halt your attack and use Psychic to sense Phantom's presence!"

Ionsteel stopped halfway through its Meteor Mash attack, and its eyes glowed an eerie blue. Suddenly it turned and began to run towards Jazol's end of the field, but as it did the sinister ghost pokemon came back into view, and began to float upwards, away from that charging Metagross.

"There's no escape!" cried Jazol, "Ionsteel, use Magnet Rise!"

Ionsteel began to levitate away from the ground, chasing Phantom into the sky. Both continued to gain height, eventually facing of far above the trees.

"Phantom," called out Chazo, "use Shadow Punch!"

"Ionsteel," replied Jazol, "counter with Psychic!"

Ionsteel's eyes glowed blue once more, and Phantom was caught in a blue aura. However, even as the eerie energy encased Phantom, one of his fists blinked out of existence in a flash of blackness.

"Hang on, where did Phantom's hand go?" exclaimed Jazol, "Shadow Punch is a physical move, it can't be used at long range!"

"Hmm, true," agreed Chazo, "but, as you've already seen, ghost pokemon are irritating due to their ability to phase in and out of battle in a most curious way. Phantom and I have simply modified this ability to be able to transfer single body parts as well as Phantom's whole body. Now, my friend, use Shadow punch!"

Up above, Phantom's missing fist suddenly reappeared directly underneath Ionsteel and smashed into the steel pokemon, causing an explosion to engulf it! The blue light around Phantom dissipated as the conflagration covered Ionsteel's body, making it lose its focus.

"Quickly Phantom," shouted Chazo, "go in close for a Shadow Punch barrage!"

Phantom phased out, then, reappearing in front of a battered Ionsteel, released a barrage of ferocious Shadow Punches, sending Ionsteel spiralling back to earth. Phantom drifted gently down as well.

"Nice one Phantom," said Chazo, high-fiving his pokemon, "and Jazol: don't forget, you're Ionsteel was awesome too- what a powerful Psychic attack."

"Yeah, I guess so," sighed Jazol.

It was at this point that Ash walked up to the battlefield. Jazol suddenly withdrew his Metagross, looking almost offended as if Ash had intruded on something private.

"Hi Ash," grinned Chazo.

"Hi," he replied, "so, you guys doing some pre-lunch training?"

"Pre-lunch!" yelled Chazo, "This was morning training when we started, we must have seriously lost track of time."

"Yeah, guess so," agreed Jazol, "anyway, I'm heading to register- you guys should too."

Jazol walked off, leaving Ash and Chazo to talk strategy:

"So, your Dusknoir is pretty strong," noted Ash.

"Uh-huh," agreed Chazo, "ghost types can be difficult to train, but their unique movements and natural evasiveness makes them really useful in battle."

"I bet," replied Ash, "anyway, I've been thinking- what pokemon should I use in the Primo round?"

"Well, you can only really decide that once we've seen you're opponents, but stamina is a must."

"Right," said Ash, smiling to himself, "I know exactly what I'm going to use!"

"Cool…anyway, we still need to register. Let's head back to the hotel, eat lunch then head over to the Saiko coliseum."

"Good idea…well, anyway, last one to the hotel is a rotten Exeggcute!"

With the challenge set, both of them ran back to the hotel as quickly as they could.


Ash and Chazo arrived at the hotel twenty minutes later, breathing heavily. It was now quarter past one, and both of them were starving. As they were going inside a kid with long blonde hair, most of it covered by a beanie hat, with a red hoodie and cargo pants, yelled across the room at Chazo.

"Hey, Chazo," he yelled, "long time, no see!"

"Tyn?" asked Chazo, "no way!"

The kid walked over to Ash and Chazo to greet Chazo properly and to introduce himself to Ash. It turned out Tyn had taken part in the tournament in the year before, and came 98th, a "very respectable" place according to Chazo, although Tyn described it as being "practically the best trainer in all recorded history!"

After they'd all had lunch, Dawn and Brock joined them, and after being introduced to Tyn, they all agreed it was time to go and register for the Saiko Championships.

Chazo and Tyn led Ash, Dawn and Brock through Port Kibo, and then along a sprawling rural road that apparently led to the Saiko coliseum.

"So Tyn, what pokemon are you using for the Primo rounds?" asked Brock.

"Not entirely sure yet, but I've got a couple lined up. What 'bout you?" replied Tyn.

"Oh, I'm not battling," Brock told him, "but Ash is."

"Oh, right. So Ash, had any thoughts?" Tyn asked.

"Sure have…but, you'll have to wait and see," teased Ash.

"What about you Dawn," inquired Tyn, "are you registering?"

"No, I do contests more that battling," she explained.

"Oh, that's a shame…although," he added, turning to Chazo, "it's not like this year's competition needs any more scary girls in it, hey Chazo? I mean, Kimberley, Eve and Haru have all signed up."

At the sound of these names Chazo winced, then turned to Tyn and said, mockingly, "So…shall we give up right now?"

"Who are Kimberley, Eve and Haru?" asked Dawn.

"Scarily strong trainers," replied Chazo, "and I mean that when I say it. Kimberley is just plain brutal, Eve is a master strategist and Haru is a master of crippling other peoples' pokemon so that victories just fall into her lap."

"The more we hear about this tournament, the tougher it sounds," Brock thought aloud.

"Yeah," nodded Ash.


After an hour and a half of walking, they reached the Saiko coliseum. As they approached it they passed through a grand gateway, at least twenty meters wide and fifty meters high. Even Chazo and Tyn, who had been there before let out an audible gasp as they passed underneath the mighty archway. If Ash, Dawn and Brock though the gate was impressive, it was truly put to shame when compared to the coliseum itself.

It was a truly colossal complex, containing at least forty full-sized stadiums surrounding the main battleground: a mighty building situated in the heart of the vast grounds. At a guess, Ash thought it could hold maybe twenty thousand spectators. Around the comples were dozens of apartment buildings. Wow! was all he could think.

"It's incredible, right Pikachu?" gasped Ash.

"Pika, Pikaa-chu!" chirped the electric mouse It sure is!

They made their way through crowds of trainers, all chatting about their match schedules or tactics, towards the entrance hall. Upon walking through the nearest set of automatic doors they entered what looked like a huge pokemon centre: which was indeed what it was. The nearest desk had quite a small queue so Ash, Tyn and Chazo joined it.

Eventually they got to the front, and, after Tyn and Chazo were registered, it was Ash's turn.

"So, what is your name?" asked the Nurse Joy behind the counter.

"Ash Ketchum," replied Ash.

"Oh yes," chirped Nurse Joy, "here's your data," she handed Ash a freshly printed piece of paper, "keep a hold of it, and here are your opponents for the Primo round," she finished, handing Ash another sheet of paper with five names on it and a date.

Ash wandered over to Chazo and Tyn, who were both examining their opponents for the Primo rounds on a couple of computers set into a nearby wall.

"I've got two fighting type users," noted Tyn, "a couple of all-rounders and a fire fanatic, what about you?"

"An ice specialist, two ground type users, an all-rounder and…Crasher Wake," concluded Chazo.

"Crasher Wake?" asked Ash as he took his place next to Chazo and began to type in the names of his competitors onto a computer, "Really?"

"Uh-huh…he may be tricky…" mused Chazo.

"When's your round happening?" asked Tyn, "Mine's a whole week away."

"Mine's three days from now," replied Ash.

"And mine is on the 8th, so that's all good," said Chazo cheerily.

"Except," cut in a voice from behind, "today is the 7th."

It was Jazol, who was holding a piece of paper similar to the other three and who looked just as bored as usual.

"Mine's five days away, by the way," he added.

"Today's the 7th?" asked Chazo.

"Yep," replied Jazol in a monotone voice.

"But that's…" Chazo ran his hands through his hair nervously, "TOMORROW!"

Ok, that's the second chapter done. Please review, even if you have bad things to say. Chapter 3 should be up soon.