April 3, 2004

Max tossed up the two pokeballs he had and Bubbles and Squirt came out. "Okay guys let's train! Squirt we're going to work on a new move, rapid spin. And Bubbles, we haven't given much attention to body slam, so we're going to really hammer on that today."

Bubbles and Squirt nodded.

"Bubbles I want you to simply inhale and then jump onto the ground. We really need to get this power, down. And Squirt I want you to withdraw yourself into your shell and just spin."

Bubbles jumped onto the ground and made no impact. Squirt withdrew into his shell and spun but nothing happened with the exception of him getting a bit sick.

"Okay guys that was okay for a first attempt but we need to really work at this. I would like to battle Brock today or tomorrow so let's keep at it. Bubbles, try jumping, it might help you get the collective force you need. And Squirt just focusing on the spinning."

Bubbles leaped into the air and came down making a very small imprint in the ground. Squirt spun around quickly and made the dust around him rise up.

"Okay guys, that was okay. Bubbles we're going to have to improve that power though, it's not where I would like it."

Bubbles nodded. Max reached down to his bag and withdrew three Frisbees.

"Okay, so now that you can actually do the move we need to apply it. Squirt use rapid spin, and Bubbles use body slam."

Max threw two Frisbees at Squirt and one at Bubbles. Bubbles collapsed on top of the Frisbee and easily brought it down. Squirt was spinning fast but when the two Frisbees hit the rapid spin he flew back and rubbed his head.

"Good job Bubbles, but remember a Frisbee is light and your opponent won't be. Squirt this is what I was worried about. Your form for rapid spin is excellent but a key use of rapid spin is as a defense mechanism, we need to maximize its power to block attacks. Let's try yet again."

Nurse Joy handed his two pokeballs back. "Your pokemon are fully healed. Have a good day."

"Thanks," replied Max. He left the center and made his way to the gym.

The gym was relatively small and the double doors burst open and Jezebel came out happily.

"Jezebel?"

Jezebel turned to Max and smiled, "Hey there Maxie!"

"Did you just battle Brock?"

Jezebel laughed, "Battled and won! I really must be off though! The Pewter City contest begins soon and I need to prep!"

"You're entering a contest?"

"Of course!"

"Wow… what tiem does it start?"

Jezebel pulled out her pokegear and checked the time, "In about an hour is when it starts."

"I'll be sure to be there."

"Thanks! Well… see you later!"

Max waved as she skipped away. He pushed open the doors and saw Brock waiting.

"Wow, today's a busy day, you're my third challenger."

"Awesome," commented Max. "So can we go ahead?"

Brock nodded as he took two pokeballs from his assistant. "Yeah, I'll use two you'll use two and I can't make substitutions, clear?"

Max nodded.

"Right well I choose first." Brock tossed out a ball, "Geodude go!"

Max took a deep breath, "Go… Squirt!"

Squirt flipped out standing confidently.

"Geodude use tackle!"

"Squirt use water gun!"

Geodude charged Squirt just to be shot back by a powerful water attack.

"Geodude use tack again!"

"Repeat water gun!"

Again Squirt hit back the geodude with a water stream and the geodude fainted.

Brock recalled his geodude and then threw out another pokeball. "Go Onix."

"Squirt use water gun!"

"Onix bide!"

Onix took the attack.

"Squirt we've already done damage so there's no point in waiting and doing nothing. Hit him hard with another water gun!"

Squirt fired a thick stream of water and the onix took some serious damage.

"Onix unleash energy!"

"Squirt rapid spin!"

Squirt spun around but the force unleashed by Onix was too great. Squirt fainted.

"Return Squirt and good job." Max recalled Squirt. "Go! Bubbles!"

"Onix use rock throw!"

"Water gun!"

Bubbles knocked the incoming rocks out of the air.

"Bubbles use water gun!"

"Tackle!"

Onix dove at Bubbles who jumped into the air and shot a stream of water. Onix fainted and there was a bright flash of light. Seconds later Bubbles had evolved into a poliwhirl.

"Sweet Bubbles!"

Bubbles jumped up, "Poli-poli!"

Brock walked over to Max and handed him a small rock. "Here's the Boulder Badge."

"Thank you," said Max.

"No problem."

Max hurried out of the gym and went to the pokemon center. After healing his pokemon he made his way to the contest hall in town.

A woman with blonde red curls stepped to center stage. "Hello everyone I'm Lillian and I'll be your host today! This is Pewter city's first ever contest and I know that everyone here is very excited to take home the first ever Pewter City Ribbon!"

The audience roared with applause.

"Now we'll have our contestants go back stage and I'll introduce our judges!"

The contestants moved back stage and Max didn't see the girl in pink gown. In fact everyone who was going back stage looked completely normal when it came to clothes.

"Our judges are!" Lillian walked over to the four judges. "We have Mr. Contesta! Mr. Sukizo! Nurse Joy! And our special judge for this contest only, BROCK!" She crammed the mike to his face.

This however was a bad idea because Brock's eyes grew incredibly large and he leaped across the podium.

"OH LILLIAN MY HEART YEARNS FOR YOU!"

Lillian stepped away and Brock crashed down to the ground.

"Let's start with our first contestant, Ashley!"

A girl with a slim cut lengthy pink dress and blonde hair stepped out. She was wearing a tiara on her head and in the tip of the tiara where a jewel would normally be was a small pokeball.

She opened her arms wide and the pokeball flashed. When the light was gone a jigglypuff was sitting cozily in her hair, fitting nicely in the tiara.

"Jiggle," said the girl calmly. "Jump and use double team!"

Jigglypuff jumped up and split into ten jigglypuff all of which landed softly.

"Inflate and use defense curl!"

The ten jigglypuff inflated and were lifted into the air. Then they started to glow.

"Just look at that beautiful light!" exclaimed Lillian.

"Now spin original take out the others Jiggle!"

The original jigglypuff stopped glowing and began to spin. It bounced from copy to copy and when making contact with each one it exploded in a beauty of light.

"Magnificent!" said Lillian.

Jiggle bounced up and landed solidly on Empress' head. She posed and the audience roared with applause.

"Well thank you Ashley! Next up we have Jezebel!"

Jezebel came to stage, her red curls bouncing. She was wearing a long green dress and she sent out her ivysaur. She then threw four Frisbees in the air.

"Ivysaur use vine whip!"

Ivysaur hit them all down toward Jezebel who caught them flawlessly.

"Now use poison powder! Then use leech seed!"

Ivysaur released a stream of powders into the air, but before they could spread he released the leech side which wrapped its way around the spores. The poison reacted with the leech seed causing the vines to glow and the powder to sparkle.

"What a spectacular combo!" announced Lillian.

The rest of Jezebel's appeal went by just as well and all too soon the appeals were over.

"Aright," said Lillian. "Here are the results!"

The picture up was of Jezebel, then three others that Max didn't recognize, then the fourth was of Ashley and then four others that again he didn't recognize.

The first battle was between Jezebel and another kid and she creamed him with her gloom Along with her next opponent. Likewise, Ashley creamed both of her opponents with a female nidoran. This lead to the final match between Jezebel and Ashley.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Lillian announced. "We are proud to present our final two contestants! Ashley from Mount Moon Town, and Jezebel from Lee manor!"

"Two rich kids… surprise, surprise," muttered a nearby audience member.

"One of these too lucky coordinators will walk away with the Pewter ribbon!"

The audience cheered.

"Let the match… begin!"

"Come on out Gloom!"

"Settle this Spike."

On one side of the field stood Gloom proud and dignified and on the other, positioned carefully was a female nidoran.

"Gloom use stun spore!"

"Spike fury swipes!"

Spike went to attack but the spores landed on him and he stood perfectly still. The bar of points by Ashley's name went down.

"Hmm… the stun spore hit… too bad," commented Max.

"Gloom use absorb!"

"Spike come on, shake it off! Now dodge and use bite!"

Spike leaped up in the air and went to strike downward, teeth bared. Jezebel lost a few points but was still ahead of Ashley.

"Gloom, grab Spike with vine whip and throw him down."

Two vines came out of Gloom's top flower bud and grabbed hold of Spike. It then threw him to the ground. Ashley points continued to fall.

"Spike use scratch!"

Spike leapt toward Gloom and got in a good scratch before being thrown off by a cut attack.

Ashley and Jezebel lost points and Ashley was running dangerously low with only a minute and a half to go.

"Spike use tackle!"

Spike went to move but was completely paralyzed.

The frustration on Ashley face was obvious and she was starting to lose her cool.

"Gloom finish it with acid!"

A stream of thick acid shot at Spike and he flipped back crashing into the ground. He wasn't gone but still Ashley lost even more points putting her almost out for the count.

"DING!"
The timer clicked and time ran out. On the screen the winner was proclaimed as Jezebel.

The audience cheered and Max made sure to clap especially hard.

Jezebel cheered and hugged her gloom. Then she shook Jezebel's hand and walked up to Lillian to accept the Pewter city ribbon.

Behind stage Max congratulated both girls who were talking excitedly.

"Ladies those were excellent performances."

Jezebel nodded, "Thanks Max."

Ashley gave him an odd look, "Thanks."

Max held out his hand, "Hi I'm Max."

Ashley held out hers, "I'm Ashley."

"Ashley and I have been rivals since we were kids!" exclaimed Jezebel. "We met because our families both went to the Safari zone every summer and one day we were catching pokemon and… well we had a little argument over one of them!"

Ashley laughed, "Yeah, this is the second contest we've both competed in. I mean, the last one we competed in we both didn't make it past the first round. But then I competed in the Wisteria town and won my first ribbon."

"And I competed in Silver Town's and won my first ribbon." Interrupted Jezebel.

"Any who, we both heard about the contest in Pewter and we called each other and decided to both compete."

Max nodded processing it, "Cool."

"So where you off to now Ashley?" asked Jezebel.

"I think to Pallet or something, I think they have a contest. You?"

"I'm heading to Mulberry to train a bit. What about you Max?"

"I'm heading to Cerulean, I'm vistiting Misty."

"You know Misty!?" asked Ashley and Jezebel in complete unison which reminded Max irritably of Misty's sisters.

"Yeah, I was Misty's personal assistant for two years."

"Wow, I didn't even know that!" asked Jezebel.

"That's so cool!" exclaimed Ashley.

"Not as cool as competing in a contest!"

They all had a good laugh and talked about their plans.

Max traveled along the dark paths of Mount Moon. The chattering of zubats was a little eerie and Max felt the hair on his neck go up. On the side of the path there was boy with curly blond hair and a thicker build meditating. To his right sat a kadabra who was also meditating.

The boy opened his eyes as Max continued to look at them. "Hello," he said. His voice was gruff and Max had a suspicion he wasn't a people person.

Max smiled and nodded, "Hello, I'm sorry for bothering but I was admiring your abra. He looks very focused and well trained."

The boy nodded.

"I'm Max," said Max.

The boy stood up and called back his abra. "I'm Marcus, just call me Mark." He gathered his bag.

Max's Bubbles came out of its pokeball and jumped onto Max's shoulder.

"A poliwhirl?" asked Mark.

Max smiled as Bubbles hopped down to the ground. Max petted Bubbles, "Yep, his name is Bubbles."

Mark smiled, "Bubbles? Really?"

Max frowned, "Yes, is there a problem with that?"

Mark shook his head, "No, no problem."

"What brings you here? Or rather, where are you off to?"

Mark laughed, "I don't really know, when I'm through here I think I'll head to- "

Max nodded, "Through here, what does that mean?"

"I'm a miner."

"But, you have a kadabra?"

"I prefer psychic pokemon to the other types, but I enjoy mining so I mine for things using my kadabra, my drowzee and my geodude."

"Oh, sounds cool."

Mark shrugged, "Not really. I mean, I enjoy it but sitting in a cave mining all day isn't exactly most people's idea of fun.

Max nodded, "I guess."

"And where are you off to?" asked Mark.

"To Cerulean," Max said confidently. "I'm going to challenge Misty."

"Ah, you want to enter the indigo league then? And collect all eight badges?"

Max shook his head, "No, I want to be the best water trainer in the world. I figure gyms and even contests will help me further my dream!"

"Time to help us further our dream!"

Prepare for trouble

And make it double

To protect the world from devastation

To unite all peoples within our nation

To denounce the evils of truth and love

To extend our reach to the stars above

Sandra!

O'Conner!

Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light

Surrender now or prepare to fight

GOLBAT!

That's right!

"Not you again," said Max.

"You have met them too!" said Mark, suddenly very upset.

"Not these two but another two rocket members tried to steal Bubbles."

"Come on out Arbok!" cheered Sandra.

"I choose you Beedrill!" said O'Conner.

Sandra's bright blonde hair glistened, falling to her waist while O'Conner's red hair was shopped short.

"Were going to have to talk later," said Mark.

"Got it, Bubbles use water gun on his beedrill!"

"Drowzee go!" Sam threw out a pokeball and a drowzee came out, "confusion on Arbok!"

The two attacked but Team Rockets pokemon dodged.

"Realease them!" sang Sandra

O'Conner pressed a button on a remote and soon a swarm of beedrill was flying out of the blimp and straight at them.

"Water gun!"

The stream of water did a little bit of damage but not a lot, mainly because there were so many of them.

"Drowzee hypnosis!"

Again the attack took its toll but there were too many of them for any one attack to work.

"Bubbles!" Max called his Poliwhirl over. "Use hypnosis!"

"Drowzee use hypnosis!"

The combined hypnosis attack sent the mass of beedrill to sleep.

"Arbok use haze!"

"Beedrill use poison sting!"

Sandra's arbok sent a wave of dark smoke at both of their pokemon and Jacob's beedrill shot at Bubbles sending it flying back toward Max.

"Arbok use poison sting!"

"Beedrill use fury attack!'

With Bubbles already weak it was left to Drowzee alone to defend them. Needless to say the attacks overpowered them.

"Kadabra go! Teleport!"

"Poison sting!"

"Vine whip!"

Max and Mark teleported away leaving team rocket behind.

The air was heavier and Max found themselves in a small town to which he had never seen.

"Where are we?" asked Max.

"Mount Moon Town," replied Mark. "I just got back from here actually."

"Oh well thanks for getting us out of there."

"No problem. You're heading to Cerulean right?"

"Yeah."

"I actually have some business to attend to there."

"Okay, well I'm going to head through Mount Moon, is that okay?"

"Yeah no problem, I wasn't quite down there anyway."

"Hey," Max rubbed his stomach. "Are you hungry?"

Mark nodded, "I actually know this great place, here follow me."

They went up to a small café called 'Twirls' that seemed busy and were stopped by a girl and boy. They both had brown hair; the girl's was long and in pig tails while the boy's was cut short.

"Are you two going to eat here?" asked the boy.

Max raised his eyebrows and nodded.

"Then you must beat us..." exclaimed the girl.

"The Twirl Twins!" they cheered in unison.

Mark turned to Max, "At twirls you have to beat the two co owners in a pokemon battle."

"These two kids own this place?"

Mark nodded. "Now name your terms kids."

"It will be two pokemon each. I will use one and battle one of yours then when mine faints my sister will use hers and so on and so forth to the side with two fainted pokemon loses!"

Max grinned and took out a pokeball. "Let's do this!"

The male twin threw a pokeball out and a butterfree came out.

"Let me handle this!" cheered Max. "Come on out, Squirt!"

"Butterfree use tackle!"

"Rapid spin!"

Butterfree dove toward Squirt who withdrew into his shell and began to spin shooting Butterfree away.

"Squirt use water gun!"

"Dodge!"

Butterfree avoided the water stream.

"Butterfree use confusion!"

Squirt's shell was thrown against the street causing a car to swerve and avoid.

"Squirt water gun!"

"Confusion again!"

The water stream stopped mid air and flipped around and hit Squirt.

"It's okay Squirt hang in there!"

Squirt lifted itself up off the ground.

"Squirt use water gun!"

The water hit Butterfree and sent it flying.

"Finish it Squirt with another water gun!"

Butterfree was shot down out of the sky and the boy recalled it. The girl then bounced out of nowhere.

"My turn! Go Beedrill!"

"How many beedrill are we going to have to fight today!?" asked Max.

"Squirt use-"

"Max it's my turn!" exclaimed Sam.

Max recalled Squirt.

"Go! Geodude!" called Sam.

"Beedrill use poison sting!"

The poison needles bounced off of the geodude's hard exterior.

"Geodude use rock throw!"

Beedrill got knocked down out of the sky.

"Beedrill use fury attack!"

Again the attack proved ineffective and all too soon the beedrill was fainted. Max and Mark walked into the café and ordered their food.