Ash and the others had just made it out of the forest. They saw another city that appeared to be made of metal at the base of a large metallic mountain. This mountain had a darker sheen; possibly made of a different mineral to the other structures, or maybe it was the source of the coal like colouration of the ground.

"I'm guessing this is Polyhex; since we did just walk through the forest." Misty looked around and couldn't help wondering; why do all these cities look the same?

"Why do these cities look the same?"

"The cities don't look the same Ash; Kaon didn't have that huge mountain near it." Max hoped Ash wouldn't be like this when they got to every city.

"And I don't recall seeing that white and blue mech in Kaon." Dawn pointed out.

"Maybe he knows where the gym is." May thought he might for some reason.

"Let's go and ask him!" Ash walked off towards the mech and the others followed.

"Hello mister…" Ash started to say before the mech spoke to him.

"Please, none of those formalities. Call me Mirage."

"Fine. Mirage, could you tell us where the gym is?"

"You are standing right outside it."

"Oh… Right thanks!"

"Wait a minute! You can't go challenging the gym yet!"

"Why not? Let me guess; this guy isn't taking any challengers either." Misty sounded annoyed.

"No, he's definitely taking challengers; but my friend is about to challenge him."

"Then why aren't you in there supporting him? I'd be supporting Ash if he was challenging the gym." Dawn asked Mirage.

"I didn't know you were allowed to." Mirage headed towards the door and Ash and the others followed him. Inside, it did look like a battle was about to take place.

"This will be a one vs. one battle and it will be over when the Pokémon on either side can no longer battle." A yellow mech shouted out across the arena.

"Go, Chimchar!" A red mech shouted from one end of the arena.

"Challenger, send out your Pokémon!" A red mech that looked similar to the yellow mech shouted from next to; who Ash assumed was, his twin.

"I'm going to win this match and prove just how weak you are."

"Cliffjumper… No need to be mean; he wasn't nasty to you now was he?"

"Fine go Bouffalant!" Cliffjumper sent out a Pokémon that looked like a bull into the arena. Ash checked it on his Pokédex.

"Bouffalant, the Bash Buffalo Pokémon. They charge wildly and headbutt everything. Their headbutts have enough destructive force to derail a train."

"Right, this battle will be between Bouffalant and Chimchar."

"I can see that Sunstreaker. I don't need you to tell me that!" The red mech shouted at the yellow mech at the side of the arena.

"Err right… Anyway, let the battle begin!" Sunstreaker shouted out.

"Bouffalant use Head Charge!" Cliffjumper's Bouffalant lowered his head and charged forward at Chimchar.

"Chimchar jump over Bouffalant then use Ember!" Chimchar waited until Bouffalant got really close and then jumped out of the way, over Bouffalant's head. Bouffalant had to slow himself down really quickly to make sure he didn't collide with the Gym Leader. His abrupt stop did kick up a lot of dust however.

"CHIMCHAR! What did you do that for? That dust could have damaged my paintjob!" The gym leader got annoyed when Chimchar sniggered at him; Chimchar was very mischievous.

"Quit your whining Knock Out. It didn't; and look…" Sunstreaker pointed at Chimchar who had now spat fire at Bouffalant, who reacted by snarling at being hit from behind. Bouffalant charged back towards his master, narrowly missing Chimchar.

"Bouffalant use Revenge!" Bouffalant waited for Chimchar to attack, wanting to build up the damage Revenge did.

"Chimchar use Ember again and stay well away!" Chimchar spat fire from where he was standing and it hit Bouffalant. Bouffalant however didn't appear fazed; he ran forward through the fire and slammed his body into Chimchar. Chimchar flew into the air and crashed to the ground in a cloud of dust. Bouffalant stood triumphantly before his master.

"It's all over now, pretty mech." Cliffjumper sounded smug. However, he quickly seemed shocked when the dust cleared and Chimchar was still standing; surrounded by fire.

"Chimchar use Flame Wheel! Let's finish this!" Chimchar jumped and rolled and fire began to swirl around him. He rolled towards Bouffalant and collided with him. Bouffalant hit the ground and didn't get up.

"Bouffalant is unable to battle! The winner is the Gym Leader, Knock Out!"

"Bouffalant return." Cliffjumper then looked grumpily at the Gym Leader. He also saw Chimchar was jumping up and down with glee.

"I'll get you next time." And with that he walked off in a sulky mood.

"Cliffjumper! Wait up!" Mirage shouted from the stands.

"You didn't see that, did you Mirage?" Cliffjumper hoped not.

"Unfortunately, yes. You didn't need to be as nasty to Knock Out, he wasn't nasty to you."

"I don't need to be lectured Mirage. And you mean he hasn't been nasty yet."

"Why would he be nasty to you?"

"Because we just don't get on, alright." Cliffjumper walked off out the door and Mirage followed.

"Right, now to see if that dust actually did any damage…"

"You're worse than Sunstreaker, Knocks! Why are you two so bothered about if you get a bit mucky?"

"Sideswipe! I am not that bad!" Sunstreaker shouted back at his twin.

"Come on Chimchar, let's go and get you rested up. Professor Perceptor informs me that we are likely to be receiving the person he asked for help soon."

"Hey! Knock Out!" Ash shouted at him from the stands. Knock Out looked around and saw a boy in the stands shouting and waving at him.

"Yes. What is it?"

"You said you were likely to be receiving the person Perceptor asked for help soon. Well, I'm here now!"

"You?! Err… You want to challenge me?" Knock Out looked and sounded confused.

"Of course I do! I came all the way from Kanto to challenge this League!" Ash was hoping that Knock Out had enough Pokémon to challenge him; Chimchar looked badly hurt from the last battle.

"You'll have to wait; I need to heal my Pokémon." Knock Out was about to walk off to heal his Pokémon when a Chansey waddled up and healed Chimchar.

"Chansey! What are you doing?" Brock ran towards Chansey; who was healing Pokémon without asking again.

"This is your Chansey?"

"Yes Knock Out." Brock sounded nervous.

"You should keep her on a leash, Chimchar might have attacked her. But besides that, thank you for having her heal my Pokémon." Knock Out then turned to face Ash.

"Would you like to challenge me…?" Knock Out paused hoping Ash would say his name.

"Yes! I'd love to!" Ash answered.

"Fine then, let us arrange this battle!" Sideswipe shouted. Knock Out moved to one end of the arena and Ash stood at the other.

XxX

"This battle will be between…" Sunstreaker paused.

"What is your name challenger?" Sideswipe asked Ash.

"Ash."

"This battle will be between Ash, the Challenger and Knock Out, the Gym Leader. It will be two on two and it will be over when all Pokémon used by one side can no longer battle." Sunstreaker said.

"Gym Leader, choose your Pokémon!" Sideswipe shouted.

"Alright! Vulpix let's go!" Knock Out called out a fiery fox.

"Challenger, choose your Pokémon!" Sunstreaker told Ash.

"Staraptor, I choose you!" Ash sent out his predatory bird Pokémon.

"Looks like it's Staraptor vs. Vulpix to start the battle." Sunstreaker called out to the battlers.

"Let the battle begin!" Both twins called out.

"Aerial Ace, Staraptor!" Staraptor swooped up into the sky, and then began to fly in a straight line towards Vulpix.

"Jump over him Vulpix!" Vulpix did as his master told and Staraptor missed.

"Now use Flamethrower!" Vulpix spat a stream of fire at Staraptor's tail. Staraptor didn't like the stream of flames hitting it; so flew higher into the air to get out of the way.

"Use Brave Bird!" Staraptor swooped down, cloaked in a blue glow and slammed into Vulpix; who was knocked into the air. A few sparks jolted Staraptor but he seemed ok afterwards.

"Use Confuse Ray, Vulpix!" Vulpix's eyes glowed with an eerie light purple and Staraptor seemed surprised at the look Vulpix was giving him. Star? Staraptor fluttered back down towards the ground.

"Staraptor use Close Combat!" Staraptor seemed to know what that was and flew towards Vulpix. He used his talons to pound Vulpix. The amount of hits combined with the strength of them made Vulpix collapse.

"Vulpix is unable to battle!" Sunstreaker sounded surprised that Vulpix fainted so quickly.

"Vulpix return." Knock Out paused to think about something. Should I use…? No! She never listens to a word I tell her! I'll have to use Chimchar.

"Go Chimchar!" Knock Out summoned his fire monkey.

"Why'd that take so long?" Sideswipe whispered to Sunstreaker.

"I'm guessing he was considering using that Pokémon."

"I hope not! That Pokémon doesn't listen to him!" Sideswipe said quietly back to his twin.

"Are you two quite finished?" Knock Out looked at them crossly.

"Err… Yes Knocks."

"Right then, Chimchar use Flame Wheel!" Chimchar jumped and flipped in the air. When he landed, a wheel of fire was spinning around him; propelling him towards Staraptor.

"Staraptor dodge it!" Staraptor appeared transfixed by the flames, unable to move. He ignored Ash's command.

"Finally! I was beginning to think the Confuse Ray didn't work!" Just as Knock Out spoke, Chimchar slammed into Staraptor and Staraptor fell down. Chimchar flipped back across the arena towards his master and he noticed that Staraptor had swirls in his eyes.

"Staraptor is unable to battle!" Sideswipe called out, feeling slightly more confident now.

"Staraptor return." Ash returned his bird Pokémon back to its pokéball.

"You did good Staraptor. Go Buizel!" Buizel appeared and looked smugly at Chimchar, motioning his paw in a 'come and get me' way.

"Buizel use Water Gun!" Bui-Bui-BUIZ! Buizel shot a stream of water at Chimchar; who seemed quite surprised. Chimchar shook off the last drops of water when the stream subsided.

"Chimchar use Scratch!" Knock Out was feeling rather nervous now; Chimchar didn't know any moves that would help against a water type. Chimchar ran forward, not picking up on his master's nervousness at all. He scratched his claws across Buizel's stomach.

"Buizel use Water Pulse!" Buizel collected a ball of water in paws as Chimchar jumped back across the arena to his master. Just as Chimchar landed the last jump, the ball of water slammed into his back and he was thrown up into the air. Chimchar landed back on his feet but wobbled a bit; he'd taken a lot of damage from those attacks. Suddenly, Chimchar began to glow with a reddish aura.

"Chimchar use Flame Wheel!" Knock Out hoped that Chimchar didn't take another hit; that had to be his Blaze ability. Chimchar didn't get hit by any attacks while he rolled towards Buizel and he managed to collide with Buizel. Buizel was knocked backwards with force of the attack.

"Are you ok Buizel?" Ash asked; hoping Buizel answered and didn't collapse. Bui! Bui! Buizel answered his master as if saying 'I can still win this!'

"Buizel, Aqua Jet!" Buizel jumped into the air and began to spin the Aqua Jet around this time, so it looked more like a drill made out of water.

"Chimchar dodge it!" Chimchar looked scared of the swirling water and didn't seem to hear his master. Buizel collided with Chimchar and he fell to the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"Chimchar is unable to battle! That means the winner is Ash!" Sideswipe happily announced.

"Well done Buizel!" Ash went and hugged Buizel for winning the battle. Bui… Buizel looked slightly confused. Meanwhile, Knock Out walked on to the arena and picked up Chimchar.

"Don't worry Chimchar, you tried your best." Chim… Chimchar still sounded disappointed.

"If it makes you feel any better, I think you almost beat that water type!" Chimchar looked slightly happier and jumped down on to the floor next to his master.

"Now, we'd better give Ash the gym badge." Knock Out began walking over to where Ash was and spoke to his helpers.

"Sideswipe, or Sunstreaker since I never did find out which of you actually carries the gym badges, present Ash with the Star Badge." Sunstreaker pulled out a badge from somewhere and gave it to Ash. Ash looked at the badge. It looked like a six point star; with one of the points turned into a comet like tail. It had a purple outline; but was red inside.

"Here you go. This is proof that you won at this gym." Sunstreaker looked amusedly at Knock Out, still struggling to believe he lost.

"Yes! I just won… the Star Badge!" Ash called out. Pi-Pikachu! Bui-Bui! Star-Raptor! Ash's Pokémon sounded like they were cheering too.

"Well done Ash." Brock congratulated him. However, just as this was happening; an explosion could be seen coming from the doorway. Two shadowy figures stepped out from the cloud of smoke.

"Who dares to attack my gym?" Knock Out shouted angrily at the intruders.

AN: Cruel Cliff-hanger! I wonder who these two intruders are… You'll have to wait until next chapter to find out! And the same goes for the Pokémon Knocks was debating whether or not to use. The reason that the Decepticons are being nice to people should become apparent next chapter as well.