When Ashley woke up the next day she got dressed, had a breakfast of jam on toast and then left the residence of Jasmine to go for a walk through Olivine City, eventually she found her feet drawing her in the direction of the Pokémon Centre. When she saw it in the distance she decided to go to check on how the Tentacool that she had left there the previous day was doing. When she had entered the Pokémon Centre she went up to the front desk and said "hi, my name's Ashley and I left my Gible here overnight."

"Ah yes, your Gible is just fine. Do you want me to get it for you?" the Nurse Joy manning the Pokémon Centre replied.

"Yes please." when she saw the Nurse Joy turn to walk off to get her Gible she asked "uh, when I left Gible here I also dropped off a Tentacool, and I was wondering how it was doing."

"Ah yes, it was severely hurt but after spending the night here in the Pokémon Centre it is as good as new."

"Oh thank goodness..." Ashley sighed in relief "...even if it is a Tentacool."

"What do you mean?"

"I've had numerous bad experiences in the past when I've dealt with Tentacool and Tentacruel."

"Oh dear, then I suppose you don't want to take it with you then."

"Not really."

"That's too bad."

"Why's that?"

"Well, it's going to need a trainer to look after it I'm afraid."

"Why's that?"

"This Tentacool has been under human care since it was born and I'm afraid that it will be unable to take care of itself in the wild."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Well in that case I'll take care of it."

"Oh thank you. I would look after it here but with all my work at the Pokémon Centre I just don't have the time."

"That's alright."

"Well, I'll get your Pokémon for you then."

When the Nurse Joy returned with Ashley's Pokeballs Ashley said "Thank you for looking after them Nurse Joy."

"That's alright."

When Ashley exited the Pokémon Centre she saw a lot of people lining up outside a building. She went up to one of the people in the back and asked "hey, what's everybody lining up for?"

The person turned around and said "when asking a person a question isn't it customary to give them your name first?"

"Uh..." Ashley said "...right! My name's Ashley, what's yours?"

"Jake, now as to your previous question; this is the line to the Annual Pokémon Swap Meet."

"Isn't that held in Palmpona?"

"No, its location changes every year, I think that it was held there a few years ago though."

"I see."

"So, are you new in town?"

"Yeah, I only arrived yesterday, why?"

"Well, this thing has been advertised for weeks all throughout the Johto region."

"Really? This might be a good thing then."

"Why's that?"

"Well, I recently caught this Tentacool and I really don't want it myself."

"Really, why not? I mean, I know that it's not too strong now but if you evolve it into a Tentacruel it will get really big and powerful."

"I know, but in the past whenever I've come into contact with Tentacool or Tentacruel, they've been attacking me or my friends, once an entire colony even attacked an entire city!"

"I'm sure that they had their reasons."

"Yeah they did, good ones too, but even so..."

"I get it."

"Yeah..."

"Well, it looks like they're opening the doors."

5 minutes later Ashley had reached the entrance to the hall and saw that there were Pokémon battles occurring all over the place on a number of makeshift battlefields. She went up to an official looking person and asked "what's going on here, I thought that this was supposed to be the Pokémon Swap Meet, not a battle tournament?"

"It is" the official replied.

"Then why are there all these battles taking place?"

"Them, they are used as kind of a way to demonstrate and advertise a Pokémon's strength."

"I see."

"Do you want to enter in to one of the battles?"

"No no, I only just caught the Pokémon that I'm going to trade yesterday."

"I see, so then you will probably want to head over to the rooms through the door at the far right of this room."

"Okay, what's through there?"

"That's where all of the trading is done."

"Alright, thanks."

Ashley then started to walk over to the door that the official indicated but when she got halfway there she saw a battle being performed by a trainer with a Mareep against a trainer with a Rattata. After the trainer with the Mareep won the trainer of the Rattata walked over to the winning trainer and said "that was a great battle mate, do ya want to trade your Mareep for my Rattata?"

"Uh, thanks for the offer, but I'm really looking to trade for a water type" the Mareeps trainer replied.

"That's a shame, ah well; I hope we meet again then."

"I'm sure that we will."

Ashley, hearing that the Mareeps trainer was looking to trade for a water type, went over to him and said "hey, I heard that you're looking to trade for a water type?"

"Yes."

"Well, I've got a Tentacool that I'm looking to trade."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I got it yesterday."

"What?"

"You hard of hearing? I said I got it yesterday."

"You must be some second rate hack of a trainer if you're trying to get rid of it just like that."

"I'm no second rate trainer."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Prove it."

"What?"

"You heard me, prove it."

"Prove it, prove it how?"

"Battle me."

"Well, alright. What are the rules?"

"How does a three on three sound to you?"

"Three on three? Uh, sorry, that's no good for me."

"What! Why?"

"Well, I've only got Tentacool and one other."

"You've only got two Pokémon?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Well, I suppose one on one will be alright then."

"Alright, let's go" Ashley said, walking towards the end of the field that the trainer of the Rattata had previously occupied.

"Don't hold anything back, you hear."

"I never intended to."

"Go Rill" the as yet unnamed trainer announced, throwing a pokéball towards Ashley. Out of the pokéball came an Azumarill.

Ashley said to herself "Azumarill huh, well I guess he really isn't holding back, in that case..." Ashley reached behind her back and grabbed a pokéball. She threw it towards her opponent and said "Gible, I choose you."

"Wha... you're using a ground type like Gible against my water type Azumarill?"

Ashley replied "I told you I only have two Pokémon didn't I, or did you think that I would use a Pokémon that I just caught against a Pokémon that has clearly been with you for quite some time?"

"Well, no, I..."

Ashley sighed and said "tell ya what, I'll even let you have the first move, how's that?"

"That will be both your first and last mistake."

In the crowd that was gathering around the battlefield that Ashley and her opponent were using were whispers of "who does she think she is" and "do you think that she knows who she's battling against?"

Ashley's opponent said "Rill, use Water Gun on Gible." The Azumarill launched a powerful, and large, stream of water straight at Gible.

Ashley said "Gible, use Dragon Pulse and aim it at the centre of that attack." Gible fired a green orb into the attack that pushed straight through the torrent of water, pushing the water to the sides, completely missing Gible. It didn't end there though, not only did it completely protect Gible from the powerful Water Gun, it continued on to hit the Azumarill, sending it skidding back a few feet. Ashley then said "it looks like you've trained your Azumarill well."

"I should think so" the opposing trainer replied.

"I was expecting your Azumarill to go flying from that."

"How arrogant can she be?" was heard in the crowd.

"I'm not arrogant" Ashley yelled, hearing what the crowd was saying.

"Never mind them..." Ashley's opponent said "...Rill, use Hydro Pump."

Ashley thought 'hmm, that trick with Dragon Pulse won't work this time, well then...' she then called out "use dig." Gible dug a hole in the ground, causing the high powered water attack to continue on past Ashley's head. Ashley then said "alright, now come up under Azumarill and use Rock Smash." The land-sharks dorsal fin came out of the ground and raced towards Azumarill. When it was close enough it came out from under the ground with a fist glowing whit but Azumarill, by command of its trainer, had jumped into the air and came down using Iron Tail to send Gible flying towards Ashley. Ashley said "alright Gible, use Dragon Pulse while Azumarill is still in the air." Gible gathered the energy to fire a Dragon Pulse but, before it could release the technique, the trainer returned the Azumarill in a beam of red energy. Ashley, surprised at the trainers action cried out "what did you do that for?"

Out loud the trainer said "the point of this match was to prove to me that you are not a second rate trainer that I thought you to be and you have, beyond a shadow of a doubt, proven that therefore there is no more reason to continue on with this battle." Inside though, he was thinking 'it wouldn't do to have one of the Hoenn Elite Four to be defeated at the hands of some nobody from the Sinnoh Region.' He then continued speaking "Why don't I give you this Mareep that I was looking to trade?"

"Well, thanks a lot, but like I told you before, I'm more than willing to trade my Tentacool for it. You did say that you were looking for a water type, right?"

"Well, yes."

"Well then, let's go."

"Alright" he said, while thinking 'what a weird young lady. She could have gotten that Mareep for free. I wonder why she still wanted to trade for it.' The two trainers started to walk away from the battlefield and he asked "so, why do you still want to trade your Tentacool?"

"Oh, that's easy."

"So?"

"Whenever I've run into a Tentacruel or even a Tentacool in the past, they've been attacking me and/or my friends. I normally like any Pokémon but when it comes to those two..."

"I see. They're usually a very calm and peaceful species, despite the name."

"Yeah, usually when I see them, humans were, for one reason or another, encroaching on their territory."

"So then you know that..."

"Yeah, but even so..."

"Fair enough."

"At that point they arrived at one of the Pokémon exchange machines. They went to the operator and said "we'd like to exchange our Pokémon if that's okay."

"That's fine..." the operator said "...just put your pokéballs into the slots provided and then leave the rest to me."

"Sure thing" Ashley and the Elite Four member simultaneously said.

They put their pokéballs into the slots provided and then the attendant pressed a button and the pokéballs disappeared into a weird silver light and, three seconds later, reappeared. The attendant said "alright, the trade is complete. Please come again."

The Elite Four member and Ashley then walked off. Ashley turned to the Elite Four member and asked "so, what is your name?"

"I'm Zachariah, you?"

"Ashley."

"You're a pretty good trainer Ashley, have you been doing it for a long period of time?"

"Not really. I only received Gible a few months ago from my grandmother and have been training with it in my home town."

"A few months! The way you battled I would have thought that you'd been training Pokémon for years."

"Well I come from a village that tends to produce a lot of dragon trainers."

"Well, even so, you handled it very well during our battle. If you're ever in the Hoenn Region you might want to try your hand at challenging the gyms there."

"I'll make sure to do that."

"I'll be waiting for a rematch then."

"You better not let up in your training then."

"I've no intention of doing so. Well, I'll be seeing you later then Ashley."

"Yeah, good luck" Ashley said bidding farewell to Zachariah.

Just as they were about to exit the building and go their separate ways, a trainer came running back into the building and bumped into Zachariah, who fell down at the same time as the other trainer. Zachariah propped himself up with his arms behind his back and asked the trainer "what's got you so worked up?"

"I'm sorry..." the trainer said "...but I just traded my Gorebyss for a Crocanaw but when I tried to call it out the pokéball was empty."

"What?"

Ashley, who had been in similar situations before, asked "Which machine did you use?"

"I used the first one on the right in the first room on the left."

Ashley looked at Zachariah and started to ask "isn't that..."

"...The one that we just used?" Zachariah finished. They both tried to call out the Pokémon that they had just traded; only to find out that their pokéballs were just as empty as the trainer that they just met were. Zachariah said "we've been had."

"Way to state the obvious" Ashley said. the three trainers ran into the room that had the transfer machine that they had all used in it and Ashley, in a loud voice, demanded "alright, what have you done with our Pokémon?"

The attendant responded "I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about the fact that we just used this machine to trade our Pokémon and now we don't have them."

"I'm sorry, if you have a problem why don't you try calling our customer service desk?"

"Your customer service..." Ashley trailed off furiously.

"Let me try" Zachariah said, putting a hand on Ashley's shoulder.

"Alright."

"Now, do you know who I am?" Zachariah asked the attendant.

"An irate customer" the attendant replied.

"I'm Zachariah of the Hoenn Elite Four. Now, can you please tell us exactly what happened to our Pokémon?"

'Oh dear lord, we just tried to swindle a member of the Elite Four of the Hoenn Region' the operator thought. She then said "I'm sorry sir, we were just closing for the day."

"'we', what do you mean 'we'?"

"'we', did I say 'we', I meant 'I', my shift is just finishing for today."

"This Pokémon Swap Meet is not run in shifts" someone from the managing committee of the Pokémon Swap Meet, who had just arrived, said.

"Uh, argh, god dammit. Fine, Frank, the gig's up" the operator said, knocking on the machine which, for some reason, sounded hollow. Behind the machine, where none of the gathered people could see a door opened and out stepped a man in a red uniform with a black 'R' emblazoned onto his jacket stepped out.

The man, frank, said to his partner "looks like it's time to skedaddle Christie."

The female, now identified as Christie, raised her hand and then quickly threw a ball onto the ground by her feet. The next thing the gathered people knew, the room was full of smoke. While the smoke was covering the entire room the duo, who, if you haven't already guessed, had been identified as members of Team Rocket, went out and stood on the ledge of the closest window, strapping on their backpacks. As the smoke cleared the people the team rocket agents swindled saw the two standing outside. The next thing that anybody knew they had jumped off the side of the building. There was a cry of 'no, don't do it' but after they jumped they pressed a button on their backpack releasing, essentially, a hang glider. Zachariah and Ashley rushed to the window and Ashley said "darn it, we just missed them."

"No need to worry" Zachariah said.

"Don't worry? Team rocket just got away with a lot of our Pokémon."

"I know..." Zachariah said, retrieving a pokéball from his belt "...go, Skarmory." A Skarmory appeared from the pokéball and Zachariah got on its back, he turned back to face Ashley and extending his hand and asked "well, what are you waiting for?"

Ashley took the proffered hand and say down on the steel flying type Pokémon behind Zachariah. When she was secure on Skarmoy's back she said "let's go."

Skarmory then took off after team rocket. When they were within earshot Zachariah called out "give back the Pokémon that you stole."

'"No way" Christie yelled back.

"You've got all the people hopes and dreams in that bag, give them back."

"Not happening" Frank called.

"Tseh, this isn't going anywhere, Skarmory, use swift on one side of their gliders."

"No wait..." Ashley called as Skarmory fired its attack at the gliders which, now that they were full of holes, were now completely useless, dropped to the ground, along with the two team rocket members. Luckily for them they had reached a forested area and the tree branches had somewhat provided them with enough resistance that they didn't break anything when they landed.

Frank, feeling his chest, arms and legs cried out "I'm alive, I don't know how it is, but I'm really alive."

"You got lucky, that's what happened" Ashley said, leaning against the trunk of a tree.

"Yeah, I guess that I...wait a second, you're not Christie."

Ashley smirked and said "very observant. Now, you, while still alive, are in serious trouble."

"If you're looking for trouble" frank said.

"Then you might as well make it double" Christie said, walking into the small clearing from somewhere.

"To infect the world with devastation."

"To unite the peoples within every nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To reach the stars above."

"Christie."

"Francis."

"Team rocket, blasting off day and night."

"Surrender now for you will surely lose this fight."

"Hmm, it's kind of different to the one that I usually hear."

"Do you know these people Ashley?"

"Not these two, but I have had a brush in with some Team Rocket agents on my way here."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Were they as lame as these two?"

"Just about."

"Hey, don't insult the motto" Christie said.

"I'll do what I want, when I want and right now, I want those Pokémon you stole back."

"Well too bad Jiggly, you can't have them."

"Jiggly? What do you...Ah, I get it. Are you jealous, Matchstick?"

"Matchsti..." Christie growled out, her face turning red in fury.

"Uh, you really shouldn't have done that" Francis said.

"Really, why's that? All I did was point out that has no..."

"Right. That's it. Pokémon battle. You. me. Right now" Christie said, rage completely taking over her.

"okay sure thing Matchstick. Go Gible" Ashley said, throwing the pokéball containing Gible.

"A Gible, hey Christie, isn't that an exceedingly rare Pokémon?" Francis asked his partner.

"I don't care about that."

"Wha...?"

"Come on Matchstick, are we going to battle or not?"

"Yes we are, come on out, Houndour" Christie shouted.

"Gible, use Rock Smash on Houndour." Gible ran up to Houndour and hit it with the rock type move and Houndour flew up in the air.

"Houndour, flip in the air and use Flamethrower when you land."

"Gible, use Dragon Pulse" Ashley said almost as if she was bored. Gible used Dragon Pulse and Houndour went flying from the clearing and of into the distance.

"Ahh! Houndour!" Christie cried.

"Ashley, I'll finish this if you don't mind?" Zachariah offered.

"By all means" Ashley replied.

"Thank you. Swampert, I choose you..." Zachariah said, throwing a pokéball into the air "...use Hydro Cannon." Swampert let out a powerful burst of water, sending Francis and Christie off into the distance in the same direction as Houndour. "So, what do you say that we return, these, to the people at the Pokémon Swap Meet?" Zachariah asked.

"Sounds like a plan to me" Ashley replied.

5 minutes later Ashley and Zachariah had flown back to the building that the Annual Pokémon Swap Meet was being held at and were in the process of handing back the Pokémon that had been stolen by Francis and Christie had stolen when Whitney walked to where they were, figuring that Ashley would, going by past experiences, be involved in any situation. When she saw that her instincts were correct, she said "hey Ashley how's Tentacool?"

"It's just fine, I was actually in the process of trading it to Zachariah here when Team Rocket showed up."

"What, again?"

"Yeah. Well, we handled it and got all of the Pokémon that they stole back. Now..." Ashley said as she handed the last pokéball back to its trainer "...we can complete the trade."

"A-a-are, you..." Zachariah sighed "...Zachariah of the Hoenn Elite Four?" Whitney asked in something akin to awe.

"Yes I am, why?"

"If I'd known that you'd be here I would have called my second cousin to come here."

"Why is that?"

"He just loves water type Pokémon. Right now he's training to become a Pokémon Breeder that specialises in water types."

"Really? Where does your cousin live? I'd like to pay your cousin a visit. I'm always interested in new ways to take care of my Pokémon."

"Well, we've never really been that close, me being a normal type trainer. But the last I heard he was living on Yellow Rock Island."

"Alright, I was meaning to go there anyway."

"Well, tell him that I say 'hi' when you get there."

"Sure thing" Zachariah said as the trade was completed.

"Come on out Mareep" Ashley said, releasing her newly traded Pokémon.

"Well, it would seem that my business here has been completed. Good day ladies" Zachariah said, walking off.

Whitney turned to Ashley and asked "so, Team Rocket up to their usual tricks then?"

"Yeah, though this time it was a pair that I've never seen before."

"Really?"

"Yeah, there must be a recruitment process."

"Well, I think that we should leave such things to the Pokémon G-men."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"I wonder what happened to the two with a Meowth that I met with you before."

"Last I saw of them they were in the Sinnoh region. Who knows where they are now."

"I suppose that's a good thing."

"Yeah, well let's not count the Pidgey before they hatch eh; or should that be Miltank?"

"Not funny" Whitney said.

"I thought it was."

"Well, maybe just a little."

"Why don't we head back to the gym for now?"

"sure thing."