I know I took forever to update but here it is. Short and sweet. I'm debating whether or not to keep writing this story. I definitely know what direction to take this story as the plot is more or less planned out. But I have no clue as to whether you guys like it or not. Let me know in the reviews!

Chapter 3

Little by little, Brock started coming out of the realm of unconsciousness. He felt cold sweat dampening his clothes and his muscles felt tense. He tried looking around the room and he thought he saw someone standing in front of him. He tried rubbing his eyes to remove the blurriness from his vision.

"Wake up my sweet prince." He heard the figure say in a silky voice.

As his vision cleared, he saw Vanessa leaning toward him looking into his eyes. As much as he would have started in reaction to seeing her again, he lay still on his bed, still numb from lingering tranquilizer. She slowly leaned in closer, close enough that he could smell her perfume. She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on his lips. Heat rushed throughout his body at the touch. Her lips felt so soft and gentle, the complete opposite of the venomous aura this woman emanates. Feeling her lips on his felt so good for the moment, but Brock jerked himself out of the kiss and shoved her back with all his strength.

"You got a twisted sense of humor." Brock spat as she hit the floor with a thud.

Vanessa's face twisted into rage as she picked her herself off the floor and stood up straight. Her flawless figure mesmerized him. She whipped her hair back and her murderous expression melted away and took on a look of puzzlement on her face.

"No one has ever pushed me off before." She said, and somehow, Brock observed, this seemed to please her. "I guess I have to try harder next time right?"

"Please leave." Brock said as he sat up and looked around, realizing that he was in his apartment again. As promised by the leader of Team Rocket. The thought of him made Brock shiver. Vanessa looked at Brock a few more seconds, then slowly walked over to his window and opened it. With one swift movement she jumped out of the fifth floor window.

Horrified, Brock jumped out of bed and ran over to the window to see if she had hurt herself after leaping off something so high. He stuck his head out of the window and looked around; she was nowhere to be seen. He slammed the window shut.

"What the hell do I care if she gets hurt?" Brock cursed at himself.

Brock walked over to his bed and sat down. He looked at the marks on his wrists from the handcuffs that he wore at Giovanni's place. So it hadn't been a bad dream. It had been a real life nightmare. He mentally went through everything that had transpired in Giovanni's office. Of course, Vanessa's presence in his apartment had cemented the fact that the confrontation in that office had been real. He was still wishing that it wasn't. He wished with all his might that it had been a dream.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A sudden calm washed over Ash's body. His heart rate had been sky high throughout the whole match, something that is quite usual because of the excitement that battles give him. But now, his heart was calm and steady. As was his entire body, mind, and spirit. He could still hear the roaring crowd in the distance, but the sound became faint. His vision tunneled and all he could see was the battle field, and Lance. It was time to perform. The stakes could not be any higher, and his opposition more fierce. It was all or nothing with this one on one battle.

"Ladies and Gentleman! We finished checking the record books and this here is the first Master qualifying battle that has ever gone down to the last two Pokemon! This is history in the making so don't you dare go to the bathroom!" The crowd went insane as the announcer bellowed through the loud speaker.

Lance had noticed the change in Ash's body language as he held his last pokeball in his hand. What is he up to? Something is different about him he thought. The vibe had completely changed and he did not like it. Not one bit. He felt that even though the two were dead even in the number of Pokemon left, that he still held the advantage. No way was he going to let Ash win. Ash isn't ready for victory, not today. Lance untied his cape and threw it violently to the sidelines. The crowd kept cheering. Meanwhile, the challenger did nothing. Ash had not moved a muscle.

Ash stood still staring Lance down in his all black outfit. His jacket was open revealing a white shirt and the pokeballs on this belt. Ash swiftly grabbed the last pokemon he had left making Lance jump at his sudden movement.

Lance growled under his breath. He hoped no one had seen that. "Time to get the party started my friend."

"I agree." Ash answered Lance.

"You really think you can win don't you?" Lance seethed. "You have a lot to learn still, not many people.."

"Sorry to interrupt your sure to be long speech but, let's get on with the match." Ash said. The crowd started roaring at the exchange. Small microphones were placed around the battle field so that everyone could hear the commands that the trainers were yelling to their Pokemon, but that also included any words the trainers might have for each other.

Lance chuckled, he couldn't believe Ash. How dare he talk to him like that? Only one way to shut him up it seemed. He reached back and threw his pokeball on the battle field. The beautiful glow of a pokemon emerging lit up the field revealing Lance's not so little surprise, a Metagross.

"A Metagross?" Misty yelped. She looked over to the puzzled Professor.

"Now this is surprising." The Professor said keeping his cool.

"How can he have a pokemon that's battle ready that we don't know about?" she looked back onto the field where the large pokemon stared Ash down, waiting to see who was his opponent. Extremely high profile trainers, such as Lance, are analyzed extensively to the point where surprises like this were extremely uncommon. Having a new pokemon that's never be seen before with the trainer, let alone bring the pokemon out on such an important match, was at the top of most "things most likely to never happen" lists.

The Professors eyes perked up. He gazed at the creature and asked Deliah for her binoculars. "Something is wrong with the Metagross, Misty." The professor said ignoring Misty's question.

"Wrong?" She gazed over to the behemoth. "He looks fine to me Professor. Look at the size of his limbs; he looks strong and well aged."

"It's something else." He handed her the binoculars. "See the corners of its eyes?"

She focused the binoculars to the pokemon's eyes. Some type of liquid substance was leaking from them it seemed. "Is he…crying?" Misty looked over to the professor once more, looking for an answer.

"No. Metagross don't have tear ducts. It's mucous."

"Eww. Gross. So what does that mean?"

"I need to make a phone call. This might be severe but I need to make sure. I'll be right back." With that the professor stood up and walked into the stadium hallway.

"Severe?" Misty pondered. "I just hope it doesn't affect Ash somehow."

"Ash wait!" The professor yelled to the trainer as he ran onto the battle field.

Ash was about to throw his pokeball when he heard the professor's voice. He slowly turned around. Growing angry as to what could possibly be the reason to why the professor was interrupting the most important match of his life.

The professor reached Ash, panting and out of breath.

"Are you trying to get me disqualified!" Ash yelled out.

"Ash hold on, listen to me." The professor said quickly. "Look at.."

"Ladies and gentleman! It seems like one of Ash's coaches has ran out into the field!" The announcer interrupted."The referees are communicating about a penalty resulting this action."

"Professor. This is not the…"

"Listen to me!" Professor Oak yelled."I just got off the phone with Professor Roland and he verified my hunch. Look into the eyes of Lance's Metagross."

Ash turned around and looked. "Is that…mucous?"

"Precisely."

"What does that mean?"

"That pokemon has been poisoned." Oak stated. Ash's eyes grew wide as he looked back at the pokemon. Metagross' limbs were also trembling slightly. Ash remembered something like that when reading about the Metagross specie. Metagross eat a certain type of plant regularly for nutrition in the wild. But there is another plant that looks just like it that is extremely poisonous and potentially fatal. When Metagross eat the poisonous plant, confusing it for what they normally eat, it becomes physically apparent when a mucous like substance starts coming out of their eyes. Since Metagross have no pores on their skin, they release the toxin through their eyes. "It looks like Lance has not noticed, but there is no way that Pokemon would be in that condition without living in the wild unless…" The professor stopped before he continued. He did not have the evidence to accuse anyone of anything.

"Unless it was intentional." Ash finished.

The referee approached Ash as the crowd grew restless. Ash quickly tried to think of the options he had at the moment.

"Mr. Ketchum." The referee stood in front of Professor Oak and Ash. "You must ask him to leave immediately before you are disqualified from the match."

Ash stared at the ground at the moment thinking about his next move. He did not order the professor away and just stood motionless. It seemed like everyone in the stadium was holding their breath. No one knew what was happening or what was coming next. Lance also stared continually at the challenger, getting more and more irritated by the second.

"I forfeit the match." Ash stated as entire stadium let out a collective gasp. Seconds later, the Metagross keeled over and hit the ground.