Chapter 4

The Tournament

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Pokémon or anything created by anyone else.

Ash's Point of View

"Are you going to read the note, or just hold it?" Ben asked impatiently.

I silently agreed with him. I wanted to know where Oak had went and why, and what about my Pokémon? What had happened to them?

Gary seemed to snap out of the daze he was in as he continued. "Sorry I was wondering why he left in such a rush that he did. He insisted that I come with him, but I told him 'nothing he said what get me to go'. I did just get here a couple of hours ago after all," Gary explained to us, "So he left and gave me this note and told me not to read it till you all get here."

"Wait," said a quiet voice from behind us. We all turned around to see that Mikey had finally spoken up after many minutes of silence. I got a complete view of his face for the first time and saw he had a well-defined face with his cheeks lightly covered in freckles, but the most startling feature was his piercing sky-blue eyes. Noticing everyone staring at him in expectation, he hugged the Emolga in his arms tightly and quickly finished, "Does that mean Oak knows all of us?"

I was surprised. I hadn't considered that it meant that Oak knew us all if he left the note for all of us. "I hadn't thought of that, but if what Gary said is true and that Ben," I said jerking my thumb in his general direction, "is one of the Pokémon trainers from Pallet then it makes sense that Oak would know him."

"Of course he knows me, Captain Obvious." He retorted, his tone snarky.

I ignored him keeping my cool by taking deep steady breathes while asking, "What about you, Mikey? How do you know Professor Oak?" I asked him.

"Pika?" Pikachu also asked, he seemed curious as well.

Mikey seemed to want to disappear. The boy stood with his back hunched staring at his black and orange sneakers that were barely visible past his too long dark blue cargo pants. The boy shook his head slightly causing his hair to swing back and forth before saying, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Ok, you don't have to," I replied, feeling the deep sadness in his voice.

"Stop your blabbering guys. I want to find out what the note says," Ben demanded impatiently, he was starting to get on my nerves.

Gary looked down at the crinkled sheet of notepaper covered in Professor Oak's almost illegible handwriting. "Ok, the note says," Gary started before he cleared his throat, "If you are reading this than you have obviously missed me (well no duh). I left to do some important research around the world. I plan on being gone for a long time, anywhere from a few months to a year and a half. I wanted to tell you all goodbye before I left, but I apparently wasn't able too. I'm sorry I couldn't inform you all of this ahead of time, but the issue came up pretty quick and I had to leave at once. Sorry for inconveniences this may cause you. Yours sincerely, Samuel Oak. P.S. By the way since I was going to be gone so long I did the liberty of putting all your Pokémon in the PC since I can't take care of them all while I'm gone. Gary if I couldn't convince you to come I left you anything you might need in the safety box." Gary paused at the last part. "Sweet, only junk food for the next month," he said shaking his fist in the air and running into another room where I guessed the safe box was.

I turned the note over in my head. Luckily Oak kept a PC in his lab or I'd have to walk to Viridian. Something about the note seemed off to me, maybe something to do with the wording. I pushed the thought away

I'm just being paranoid.

I shook my head trying to dislodge the thought from my head, but failed a little.

"Well then, I have to go to the PC. All of my Pokémon except Minun and Plusle are currently there then."

I nodded my head in agreement, "Me too." To which Ben looked back at me on his way to the PC a little shocked, but he quickly kept walking.

Mikey didn't say anything, but he followed us to the PC so I guess he also left his Pokémon in there too.

It's kinda weird how we're so much alike, but so different at the same time.

We finally arrived at the PC. Ben logged in since he was ahead of everyone else so he got there first. Once the PC was finally finished booting up he went to the Pokémon storage app and double clicked it. We watched it load painfully slow. Ten percent… thirty percent… forty percent… sixty percent… then a blue screen.

"What?" Ben asked confused at first, but quickly realizing with dawning horror what had happened. "No No Noooo!" He slammed his fist on the screen. "Now's not the time to crash on me! I was going to get my Aagron and my Flygon!"

"Just restart it," Mikey suggested quietly, keeping a death grip on Emolga who didn't seem to be bothered by his killer squeezing.

"I know, I know," Ben said hitting the restart button and watching it carefully.

While waiting for the computer to restart I scratched Pikachu behind the ear causing him to coo. The computer finally turned itself off and back on only to have the screen filled completely with techno babble.

"No!" Ben yelled at the PC, "why now?!"

"What's all the screaming about? I was planning to ignore it, but I had to know." Gary questioned.

I turned to see Gary walk through the door. "Curiosity killed the meowth," I mumbled as he walked by, luckily he didn't hear me.

"I was gonna take out my best Pokémon from the PC but the darn thing crashed. How am I going to battle with only Minun and Plusle?" He demanded to know, clearly mad at the current situation at hand.

Gary laughed before saying, "You mean you only kept those two Pokémon on you? I bet even Mikey and Ash are smarter than that," he then looked at us expectantly.

I looked away, suddenly developing an interest with the large stacks of all different color and size papers lying in a heap on one of Oak's desks. I blushed at my stupidity before I quickly glanced back to see Gary staring at us with a huge grin. I also noticed that Mikey was also looking away, looking at a wall.

"You guys are a riot!" He laughed out. "So let me get this straight, you left all your Pokémon in the PC but your main Pokémon, then the computer crashes and you're all like 'oh no I don't know what to do'. I think they should have sent you guys to clown school, not on a journey to become a Pokémon Master in fact."

"Shut up, Gary," Ben told him threateningly.

Man, I could give you a high five right now. You may be an asshole, but right now you're my kind of asshole.

"What? You don't tell me to shut up." Gary retorted indignantly.

"Yeah? Well I'll tell you again: Shut the hell up!" He yelled, getting up in Gary's face.

"Ok, that's it. I challenge you to a battle right now!" Gary yelled back to him.

"You're on. Tag battle. My Minun and Plusle versus," He gestured to Gary's waist, "whatever you have on you."

"Fine, I'll pulverize you three ways till Sunday." Gary said as he pulled two pokeballs off his belt.

"Wait, shouldn't we do this outside?" Mikey asked timidly, he looked really nervous.

Gary sighed, "Whatever. I wouldn't want to clean up the mess a battle would create anyways." Gary voiced as he briskly walked out of the room along with Ben the whole time staring at each other.

I turned towards Mikey "You want to battle after they do?" I asked him.

"Sure," was all he said shrugging his shoulders.

With that done, we then hurried after Ben and Gary

Pikachu's Point of View

Upon reaching the outside I had to squint my eyes against the harsh sunlight.

It's way too dark in that lab.

Once my eyes adjusted to the brightness I saw that the battle had already started. I climbed on top of Ash's head to get a better view of the carnage.

Gary had apparently sent out his Blastoise and his Umbreon. They stood there utterly confident just like their trainer, I knew that Blastoise and Umbreon were pretty powerful Pokemon, but based on the shock that Minun and Plusle gave me they were pretty powerful too. Ben obviously had the advantage with Plusle and Minun being electric types while Blastoise was a water type.

On the other side of the field Minun and Plusle were doing a bit of warm up stretches before standing right next to each other, waiting for their trainers command.

A few feet away Mikey sat next to Emolga on the ground leaning forward in keen interest with his hands wrapped around his knees. Emolga sat leaning way back supporting herself with her hands. She looked up at me and saw me watching her causing her to blush profusely and turn away.

Well, this is going to be interesting.

Ben decided to make the first move yelling out the first command, "Hold hands."

Plusle and Minun complied grabbing each other's hands tightly.

"Blastiose, use water gun. Umbreon, use shadow ball. Let's take these pipsqueaks down!" Gary commanded in return.

I quickly turned my head to see Blastoise unleash a large torrent of water from its cannons while Umbreon launched a ball seemingly made of shadows from its maw towards the two small electric Pokémon.

As the attacks rapidly approached them Ben quickly retaliated, he yelled out, "Use charge and endure it!"

Right before the attacks hit, Minun and Plusle were encompassed by a sparkling blue aura. As the attacks hit it produced an ear-shattering boom that rocked the ground.

I covered my ears and coughed at the same time as the explosion had kicked up a whole bunch of dust that filled the air around us. After my coughing spasm I looked around trying to find where everyone went and eventually the dust cleared enough for me to see Gary standing by his Pokémon looking smug. I looked to where Plusle and Minun had been standing earlier.

I don't see them anywhere. Where could they be? …Wait… Is that them?

I squinted and saw that it was indeed them. They were on the ground still holding hands about twenty feet away.

"Come on get up. Get up already you can take a hit," Ben yelled to his Pokémon.

I watched the brief look of disbelief on Gary's face as he saw the Cheering Pokémon get up. "Ok, this is serious now." He muttered. "Blastoise, use bite. Umbreon, use quick attack."

Blastoise and Umbreon, obeying their trainer, rushed towards their targets, intent of taking them out.

"Use charge again and wait for it," Ben called out to the cheering duo.

Again the Cheering Pokémon collected blue sparks around them and waited for their trainers command.

What's he planning? He can't be doing the same thing he did last time, can he? It would be suicide! What tricks does he have up his sleeve?

Blastoise and Umbreon were dangerously close to Ben's Pokémon when he yelled out, "Use fake tears!"

Minun and Plusle immediately threw themselves on the ground bawling their eyes out, tears shot out of their eyes like waterfalls.

Both of Gary's Pokémon both skidded to a halt, unsure what to do about the crying Pokémon at their feet.

Ben smirked as he quickly yelled out, "Now thunderbolt!"

Minun and Plusle instantly jumped to their feet snapping out of their crying fit as they prepared their attack.

Gary, realizing his trick too lately commanded, "Quick dodge it."

But it was too late. Minun and Plusle unleashed all their charged up energy onto their unsuspecting victims in a bright blue flash of intense lightning, it literally sent Blastoise and Umbreon flying thirty feet way. I couldn't believe my eyes.

And I use to think charge was a useless move.

Gary's Pokémon practically landed at his feet, they hit the ground hard making a small quake and leaving a small crater before him. He stared in shock for a moment before pleading, "Come on come on. Get up get up. We can't lose. We have to win this."

I watched as Gary's Pokémon somehow managed to get back to their feet. That thunderbolt had done a ton of damage to Blastoise, it looked like it could barely stand. Umbreon looked a lot better, but you could still tell he had taken a lot of damage.

Before Gary had a chance to give his Pokémon another command Ben told his Pokémon, "Minun, Plusle, use swift."

Both cheering Pokémon gathered energy in their small paws before they shot a cluster of glowing stars at their opponents, about a hundred small energy based stars that flew through the air rapidly.

Gary yelled to his Pokémon almost pleadingly, "Dodge it."

Both his Pokémon jumped out of the way of the incoming stars, but didn't manage to dodge them when they came back around and hit them in their backs. Blastoise collapsed to the ground with a huge thud and swirls in his eyes. Umbreon was still standing after the attack, angry at what had just transpired. Dirty tricksters his eyes seemed to glare.

Gary recalled his Blastoise and seeming to have regained his cool said, "I guess it's up to you Umbreon. Use psychic to make them crash into each other!"

"Umbre!" Umbreon barked jumping forward as his normally eyes changed form their intimidating red to a shining blue. Not soon after Minun and Plusle were surrounded by blue light lifting them into the air and apart from each other. The Cheering Pokémon struggled in the air trying to get loose, but to no avail.

Man, I hate psychic attacks.

Soon after the two cheering Pokémon were thrown into each other, which produced a solid thud sound before collapsing into the dirt.

"Get your butts off the ground and use swift," Ben demanded to his Pokémon.

I felt Ash grit his teeth underneath me. "What?" I asked him.

"I can't believe he's such a jerk to his Pokémon, Pikachu. Why would anyone treat their Pokémon like that?"

"I don't know," I responded watching Plusle and Minun pick themselves up off the ground, they looked weary and pretty exhausted.

The Cheering Pokémon then shot another cluster of glowing stars at Umbreon, the stars were less in number this time. Ranging around fifty it looked like to me.

This time around Gary seemed ready because he called out, "Umbreon, use psychic on the stars to make them collide into each other."

Umbreon's eyes turned blue once more as his psychic attack took effect, the stars turned blue as well before they crashed into each other until there were none left.

"Now Umbreon, Use shadow ball."

Umbreon obeyed, gathering up dark energy in his maw, he shot a shadow ball at the electric types. You could see his rage at having his partner defeated.

"Dodge it then use thunderbolt." Ben called out.

Both cheering Pokémon jumped out of the path of the shadow ball than exploded on the ground behind them before the two then released their thunderbolt attack with a yell, their attacks soared through the air towards the Umbreon.

"Use psychic to make them miss!"

Umbreon used psychic on one of them to make it go into the ground, but he wasn't quick enough to get the other one arching for him. The thunderbolt he missed hit him straight on electrifying him and causing his body to convulse. Afterwards Umbreon collapsed to the ground, but quickly got up with the urging from his trainer.

"Use psychic on Plusle and Minun again."

Umbreon's eyes once again started to glow blue again as Plusle and Minun also started to glow blue and rise up off the ground.

"Use swift once more and finish him." Ben yelled to them.

Minun and Plusle fired the glowing stars at Umbreon somehow while suspended in the air right towards Umbreon.

"Quick finish the attack."

The Cheering Pokemon then collided with one other at the exact same moment that swift hit Umbreon head on. The two attacks had somehow kicked up more dust, blocking out the view of the battle's aftermath.

Who won? I can't see who yet. It's too dusty again to see.

I waited for the dust to clear and upon it clearing I saw two fainted Pokémon. Umbreon and Plusle, Minun was still standing by himself breathing heavily and looking rather beat up. That meant that Ben had won the battle.

Gary mumbled something I couldn't hear and withdrew his Pokémon in a flash of red light back into its pokeball, Gary then replaced the pokeball on his belt and stomped back into the lab slamming the door behind him with a bang.

After that Ben walked over to Minun and picked him up and placed him on his shoulder before saying. "Good job, Minun."

"Min minun," He said thank you. Then he looked at Plusle with sad look, "Minun," he said sadly shaking his head.

Ben walked over to the newly awakened Plusle. "I expect better of you. You shouldn't have fainted. Minun didn't faint. You shouldn't have either. You obviously need more training to prevent this from happening again." He told the red Pokemon sternly.

I could feel Ash tense up underneath me. This just added more fuel to the fire of Ash's dislike of the boy. I climbed down onto Ash's shoulder and got his attention, once he saw me I shook my head and waved my hand. "Just let it be." I told him, Ash relaxed just a bit with a sigh.

Ash and I then turned our attention back to Ben who was shifting through his bag for something. He seemed to go through every pocket before finding what he wanted. Ben pulled out two Oran berries and gave them to the Cheering Pokémon who gladly accepted them and nibbled away at them contently. Ben smiled and petted both of their heads caringly.

I smiled, glad to find out that the dark skinned boy wasn't a complete asshole after all.