And here we go with round four. It's a little shorter than previous chapters, but it does what it needs to. Also, prepare to see an old face, but evolved, as it really should have.

Same disclaimer as before; Pokemon not owned by me, but by Nintendo, Game Freak, Satoshi Tajiri etc. etc

On with the Show!

Round Four: A Dragon's Fight

The Pokéball snapped open, and a ball of white light was emitted from it. The light faded to reveal a monstrous Pokémon.

"Heeeatraaaaan." it growled.

Ash swallowed nervously.

Heatran.

Dawn took out her Pokédex again to examine Heatran

Heatran, the Lava Dome Pokémon. Heatran lives in volcanic caves and uses its cross-shaped claws to maneuver across stone walls.

"And Tobias' next Pokémon is Heatran." announced the match commentator "How will Ash counter this Pokémon with its fire and steel type combination?"

"Sceptile, return." said Ash, holding up Sceptile's Pokéball.

Sceptile vanished inside, and Ash placed the Pokéball back on his belt before grabbing another.

He held it in his hand, studying it. He reflected on the Pokémon on the inside; and how it had evolved after his battle with Conway earlier in the tournament.

He grinned to himself. This is the perfect counter.

"Come out and use Dig."

He threw the Pokéball and a flash of white light announced the Pokémon's arrival, but it vanished down a hole it made in the ice that still covered most of the battlefield.

"Iron Defense." Tobias ordered calmly.

Heatran tucked its legs into itself, and a gleam of white shone over it.

Ash's Pokémon came up from underneath it and struck.

The damage caused Heatran to reel back, allowing Ash's Pokémon to appear.

"Now use Rock Smash." yelled Ash.

The Pokémon swung its claw and smashed it into Heatran, lowering its defense.

"Now use Dragon Pulse."

A blue green orb formed in the Pokémon's mouth and was sent pulsating through the air to slam into Heatran.

"And that's an amazing start to this battle by Ash's Gabite." yelled the match commentator over the din of the crowd "Despite Heatran's protective Iron Defense, Dig still had a double-super-effective power rating. Rock Smash then lowered Heatran's Defense, and Dragon Pulse did some powerful damage. This battle could soon be over folks."

Tobias kept his calm. "Heatran, use Heat Wave."

"Raaaaaaaaan!" the Pokémon growled, emitting a fiery wind from its mouth.

"Twister." yelled Ash in response.

Arms spread wide; Gabite raised its head to the sky, opened its mouth and created a spinning vortex of wind.

The burning winds of Heatran's Heat Wave were sucked up into the vortex. The flames spun above Gabite before being launched across the battlefield in different directions, melting the ice wherever the flames contacted the ground.

"Draco Meteor." commanded Ash.

Gabite's throat glowed orange as a mass of destructive energy gathered there.

It raised its head skyward, opened its mouth and launched an energy orb into the sky, where it exploded like a firework and two dozen glowing meteorites plummeted back to earth.

Some struck Heatran, but most pummeled the remaining ice, shattering it and allowing the water produced by the earlier scattering of flames to pour across the battlefield, drenching Heatran.

Once it was over, Heatran was sprawled on the ground, and Gabite stood upon one of the only remaining columns of ice.

"Heatran, use Earth Power to get rid of the water."

Heatran's body became surrounded in a yellow glow before it raised one of its feet and stomped the ground.

A shock wave shot forward, leaving massive cracks in the ground in its wake.

As the water poured into these, Tobias called out to Heatran again.

"Use Magma Storm."

With an other-worldly roar, Heatran sent a burning wave of molten rock across the battlefield, turning the water into steam, and hurtling at an alarming rate towards Gabite.

"Sandstorm."

Gabite spun rapidly, kicking up a sandstorm that repelled the burning heat.

Heatran's attack stopped, but Gabite's kept going.

What's more, Gabite's Sand Veil ability helped obscure the Pokémon in the Sandstorm, making it difficult to see.

Tobias grit his teeth in frustration.

"Heatran, watch for it, and use Hyper Beam when the chance presents itself.

"Traaan."

After a few moments of studying, Gabite appeared.

Heatran powered up the attack and fired, but missed.

"Dragon Pulse." ordered Ash.

The attack shot out from within the sandstorm and struck Heatran head on.

Heatran stumbled backwards, clearly dazed.

"Gabite! We to finish this now! Use Rock Smash!"

"GaaaAAAA!" cried Gabite as he leapt through the air and smashed his glowing arm against Heatran's body.

The mighty Pokémon gave a groan as it slumped over and hit the ground with an almighty crash.

"Heatran is unable to battle." announced the referee "Gabite wins."

"Another amazing win." exclaimed Dawn.

"Ash, if you don't wanna get fined, you'd better keep this up!" yelled Barry.

Tobias recalled his Heatran.

"I must say you are doing very well, Ash; much better than I expected. But this ends now. The Pokémon I will use to defeat you is right here in this Pokéball."

He held the Pokéball up before throwing it up high.

"Let's go!"

"Cooooahhoooo!"

In a flash of light, the new Pokémon appeared. It flew down towards the ground, sped across the battlefield between Ash, Pikachu and Gabite, turned up, spun back and came to a stop in front of Tobias, facing Ash and his Pokémon.

Ash swallowed nervously "Latios."

Dawn took out her Pokédex again.

Latios, the Eon Pokémon. Latios is highly intelligent and can fly faster than a jet by tucking in its wings.

"Let's see how powerful your Gabite really is." remarked Tobias "Latios, Dragon Pulse."

"Cooooaaaa!" An orb of blue energy formed in Latios' mouth.

"Gabite, you use Dragon Pulse too!" yelled Ash.

"Gaaaaaah!" Gabite formed a similar orb.

"Coah!" The orb flew out of Latios' mouth.

"Gah!" Gabite launched his attack too.

Both attacks met and exploded in a burst of energy.

"Such power." yelled the match commentator "But can Gabite stand up to this type weakness.

"I'm gonna win no matter what kind of Pokémon he uses." said Ash "Now Gabite! Use Rock Smash."

Both arms aglow, Gabite leapt at Latios.

"Latios, use Giga Impact." commanded Tobias.

Latios became surrounded in a yellow pulse of energy and flew at Gabite.

Both Pokémon collided, but only Gabite hit the ground.

"Gabite is unable to battle. Latios wins."

"Unbelievable! Latios defeated Gabite with just one move!"

For only the second time in this match, one of the images of the Pokémon on Ash's side of the scoreboard faded out as Gabite joined Torkoal as fainted Pokémon on Ash's team.

Ash recalled Gabite before grabbing his next Pokéball "Okay, Swellow, I choose you."

"Swell." cried the flying type on appearance.

A/N: Well, that seems like a good place to stop. What did you think?

I know another trainer in the Sinnoh League was seen to have a Heatran, but we never saw it battle, and I wanted Tobias to have a fire type and I did not want to use Moltres or Entei because he already used

Zapdos and Suicune. And there was no way I was giving him a Ho-Oh, as its a Pokemon that Ash seems to have some kind of affinity with.

Here Gible evolved into Gabite after battling Conway. I always thought that it should have evolved after that battle, especially after defeating Dusknoir like it did.

I let Gabite faint against Latios in the way that it did to mirror how Sceptile fainted in the anime episode. It kind of demonstrates just how strong Latios is, its a Pokemon that I like, and wont let it be a pushover.

Anyway, until next time,

See ya!