Rayquaza45: Clearly I'm not very good at following through on my threats, if you can call them that. So I didn't get 60 review, but so what! I wanted you guys to be able to read this chapter and that was it. So still, PLEASE REVIEW! I want to hear what you have to say. Please!

Chapter 10: When Gary met 'Dee-Dee'

On the battlefield field of the 46th floor of the Olivine City Battle Tower, the referee took the microphone and started talking.

"Will the green trainer approach the field?"

A girl roughly a few years older than Gary came to the trainers square at the edge of the field.

"Will the red trainer approach the field?" The referee asked.

Gary heeded the call and moved to the trainers square. Dressed in his Sinnoh region outfit, he stood in place and elicited cheers from the crowd.

"Now, are both trainers ready for battle?" The referee asked.

"Yeah!"

"Definitely!"

"Both trainers are to release their pokemon now!" The referee shouted.

"Come on out!" The girl shouted as she threw her pokeballs into the air.

"It's time to battle!" Gary shouted as he released his pokemon at the same time.

On Gary's side came his Electivire and his Arcanine. He had previously used his Electivire in the first two preliminary rounds. This would be his Arcanine's first battle of the tournament. Dome Ace Tucker had also used an Arcanine in the opening exhibition.

Gary's opponent released a Muk and an Arbok.

"There will be no substitutions." The referee announced. "Let the battle begin!"

"Muk, use body slam on Arcanine!" Gary's opponent yelled. "Arbok, attack Electivire with poison tail!"

"Arcanine, knock it away!" Gary ordered. "Electivire, wait till its closer before we do anything!"

Muk oozed his way towards Arcanine and stretched upwards to perform the attack. But Arcanine swung its tail and sent the pile of ooze backwards.

Arbok went to attack but Electivire but seemed to disappear. Gary and Electivire gasped and then looked at the side of the field that Arbok had gone to.

"Electivire, look out!" Gary wailed.

Electivire turned as Arbok got closer and closer and nailed it with poison tail. Arbok quickly fled back to its trainer's side of the field and coiled itself. Electivire got back on its feet and moved towards Arcanine.

"Arcanine, use fire spin on Muk!" Gary yelled.

"Arcanine!" The legendary pokemon shouted as it opened its mouth and a flame was released at Muk. As the flame reached the opponent, it curled around it in a tornado, trapping the sludge pokemon in a vortex of fire.

"Good job Arcanine, and make sure it stays like that!" Gary commended

"Arbok, attack Electivire with crunch!" Gary's opponent yelled.

"Electivire, protect!" Gary commanded.

"Electivire!" The thunderbolt pokemon shouted as it put up a transparent green barrier around its body, which absorbed the power of the crunch attack and left the purple snake helpless.

"Electivire, use thunder punch!" Gary ordered.

"Elec!" The thunderbolt pokemon said as its right fist began to glow a bright yellow color as it smashed said fist into Arbok's face, sending the purple snake flying.

"Arbok, no!" The girl shouted. "Muk, you have to escape the fire spin!"

"Muk!" The sludge pokemon said as it struggle to move around in the fiery tornado. Eventually exiting it, it raised it's 'arms', signaling its willingness to continue the fight.

"Now use a thunder punch on Muk, quickly!" Gary told Electivire.

Electivire ran forwards and punched Muk right on the head but the sludge pokemon growled and smashed itself forwards into Electivire's chest at point-blank range. Arcanine jumped out of the way as Electivire rolled backwards, its limbs spread out awkwardly.

As Electivire struggled to get up, Muk started to move its body in a very odd and somewhat disgusting manner, almost like dancing. Gary's opponent grinned but got serious as the legendary pokemon suddenly charged straight for Muk.

"Watch out!" The girl screamed as Arcanine tackled the sludge pokemon with all its might despite Gary not giving an order. Arcanine began snarling as the sludge pokemon began to get up once again and its partner, Arbok, rejoined it, having recovered from Electivire's thunder punch.

"Arcanine use Flamethrower." Gary said smugly.

"Dodge it guys!" The girl shouted.

Muk's body didn't move even as Arcanine's attack came for it. Arbok quickly managed to dodge the attack but this allowed the full power of the attack to hit Muk head-on, knocking it out of the battle.

"Muk is unable to battle!" The referee declared. "The green trainer has only one pokemon left."

"And that's gonna be all I need." The girl thought. "Arbok, use mud bomb on Electivire!"

"Arrrbok!" The purple snake said as it opened its mouth and shot large balls of mud at the thunderbolt pokemon.

"Electivire, protect!" Gary ordered.

"Electivire!" The thunderbolt pokemon shouted as it put up a transparent green barrier around its body which absorbed the force of the attacks. Now unharmed, it was ready to strike back.

"Arcanine, use take down." Gary commanded. "Electivire, follow behind Arcanine!"

"Arcanine!" The legendary pokemon shouted as it ran towards its opponent, its partner following closely behind. Upon reaching its opponent, Arcanine prepared to slam into it with great force.

"Arbok, use glare!" Gary's opponent shouted.

"Arrrbok!" The purple snake shouted as its eyes began to glow a bright blue color that. Catching a glimpse of said eyes, Arcanine was stopped in its tracks. Glare was a move that paralyzed opponents. But Gary had foreseen such a problem.

"Electivire, jump over Arcanine and use Thunder on Arbok!" He ordered.

"Arbok, use glare again!" The girl ordered.

Arbok attempted to use the move once again, but found that it was unable to do so. With its last hope for victory failing, Arbok could only look around as its opponent, who was impossible to directly hit, was prepating to fight.

"Electivire!" The thunderbolt pokemon shouted as it used it very strong legs to jump over its paralyzed partner. The balls on its antennae became surrounded by yellow electricity and a massive blast of electricity was fired at Arbok, knocking it unconscious and winning the match for Gary.

"Arbok is unable to battle. The green trainer is out of usable pokemon." The referee declared. "Victory to the red trainer, Gary Oak of Pallet Town. The red trainer will be the one who will move on to the top 8 round."

Back on the bottom floor of the Battle Tower, Gary met up with Ash, Leaf, Brendan, May and, of course, Lucas. The stage where Wallace or Tucker would usually appear has its curtains closed. The six of them were the only members of their group there, since Dawn and Brock had already been eliminated.

"Hi guys." Gary greeted everyone, even Lucas.

"Hey, Gary." Leaf said.

"How was your match?" Ash asked.

"I won, of course." He proudly responded. "And….Dawn?"

"She already left." May explained. "We trainers stayed behind but everyone else left a while ago."

All of a sudden, the lights shone brightly on the stage. The curtains opened up, revealing Dome Ace Tucker, standing there with several cameramen.

"Congratulations, trainers!" He said. "You have passed on to the round of the final 8!"

Unlike previous rounds, nobody interrupted his speech with cheering.

"The match specifications for the round of the final 8 are behind you!" He announced to everyone's surprise.

The eight trainers turned around and saw a very large TV screen come down from the ceiling. The size had to be at least 75" by 70".

"That's impressive." Lucas admitted.

The screen first showed the headline 'Battle #1' and quickly flashed to a picture of Ash and one of Lucas, signifying that they were to battle one another.

"Ash, we're battling each other." Lucas said.

"Lucky Ash!" Gary thought.

The screen then showed the headline 'Battle #2' and quickly flashed to a picture of Brendan and one of a male trainer unknown to the group.

"So I'm fighting him?" Brendan asked himself.

The screen then showed the headline 'Battle #3' and quickly flashed to a picture of Leaf and one of a light-blue haired trainer whom nobody knew, except for May.

"Leaf's fighting her?" May asked herself.

The final headline was 'Battle #4' which flashed to a picture of May and then one of Gary.

"Had to happen sooner or later." Gary pointed out.

May just shrugged. "Let's give it our best!"

"Well then trainers, you've seen who you will be fighting." Tucker started. "Your matches will be exactly two days from today on the 50th floor of this tower. As a reminder, this round is a set of 3-on-3 battles."

Tucker paused again, expecting some cheers, but nothing happened.

He used a 'fake cough' and put away his microphone. "The best of luck to you all."

Back at Leaf's vacation house, everyone was doing their thing. Ash was training with Brock on the outside field. Leaf and May continued their secret discussions in the attic. Brendan was in the kitchen, drinking lemonade to see how much his tongue could fuzz up.

Dawn remained locked up in her room just as Brock had been not long ago. Gary sat on a couch, thinking about everything that had happened between Dawn and him since the day they met.

(Several months ago, in the Sinnoh region)

Ash, Brock and Dawn had been traveling together for some time now. Ash had just won his second Sinnoh League badge from the gym in Eterna City. Dawn had been starting out as a pokemon coordinator and had won one contest ribbon so far.

One day, by complete chance, Gary had encountered Ash and his friends for the first time in the region. He had been working with Professor Rowan in order to save a group of Sheildon from a maniacal woman named Hunter J who sells pokemon for profit.

Upon finding out that Gary was the grandson of Professor Samuel Oak, Dawn started going completely gaga over him. She constantly pestered him for poetry, thinking he was also a poet like his grandfather. The he wasn't, even stating so himself, he couldn't help but be flattered by the compliments and requests of a girl like her.

When he decided to go after Hunter J after she managed to get away with a Sheildon, Dawn tried her best to stop him but gave up in the wake of his determination. After finally accepting that he was going, she told him to be careful. He seemed to take pride in the fact that she told him, rather than Ash, to be careful

"After that, I kinda couldn't get her outta my head." Gary thought to himself back in reality.

Brendan had now joined him in the livingroom without his notice, having drunk all the lemonade he could handle.

"Gary, you alright?" Brendan asked him.

"Huh?" Gary asked, not having realized that Brendan was there. "Uhh…yeah, I'm good."

Was he really? Not exactly.

After stopping Hunter J and saving the Sheildon, Gary had met up with Ash once again. Ash had been training with his Gligar, who just couldn't seem to get stronger.

Immediately after seeing Gary, Dawn went gaga once again, requesting a poem. Later on, he even made a rhyme without intending to, which made her quite happy.

He and Ash even had a battle to see if Gary could help out with Gligar's confidence, but they ended up scaring it with Umbreon's shadow ball. Seeing Gligar's plight, Gary offered something to help out: a razor fang which would make Gligar evolve into a Gliscor. Gligar was more than willing to accept but Ash, of course, refused, believing that evolution was no substitute for hard work.

Dawn even suggested that Ash be more like Gary when it came to caring for his pokemon, something Ash didn't take to very well. Gary couldn't exactly hide his enthusiasm at being considered superior to Ash, considering that Ash had beaten him in every official competition they'd entered together, having surpassed him in the Indigo League and beating him in the Johto League. Least of all, he couldn't his enthusiasm when a cute girl was the instigator of it, especially when it made Ash jealous.

A while afterwards, due to the interference of three bumbling idiots, Ash finally allowed his Gligar to use the razor fang to evolve into a Gliscor and save Ash from a huge fall.

By the end of it all, Ash thanked Gary for everything he'd done. Dawn commented once again on a rhyme Gary ended up making. But this wasn't the same type of rhyme as before; it was an intentional one that Gary had thought of himself. Seeing the huge smile on her face made him crack one as well. They departed for their separate ways once again, hoping to meet up once again.

Back in reality, Gary turned to Brendan, who was washing down the lemonade with a surprisingly large sandwich.

"Hey, Brendan." Gary started. "Is Dawn still in her room?"

"Yeah, I think so." Brendan said with his mouth full.

"Alright then." Gary thought to himself. "Thanks."

At Dawn's door on the second floor of the house, Gary started knocking.

"Dawn? It's Gary!" Gary called. "Can I come in?"

Without even answering, Dawn opened the door. She was wearing her pink pajamas and her dark blue hair was somewhat tufted.

"Yes." She responded with little or no emotion. "You can."

All the rooms of the house were the same. The only difference was the positioning of various furniture, beds and closets. Gary's room had two beds since he shared it with Brendan. Dawn want back into her bed and covered up with her blanket.

Dawn's Piplup was across the room and couldn't bear to see its trainer so sad. But managed to look up when Gary's cell phone began to ring.

Sometimes she's hot
Sometimes I'm cold
Sometimes my head wants to explode
But when I think about it I'm so in love with her! Every other time!

"Grandpa?" Gary asked as he answered his phone. "I'll call you back?"

Gary shut off his cell phone and sat on the edge of Dawn's bed as she lay in it, her entire body up to her neck covered in her blanket.

"Dawn?" He asked. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Not now." She responded.

"It's not gonna go down like that." Gary said. "The longer you keep it up, the worse it'll get when it comes out in the future."

"You seem to know that pretty well." She pointed out.

"I know a thing or two." Gary told her, referring to how Ash reacted 6 years after a picture of Leaf kissing him was discovered.

"Well…it's just about Brendan's force in our battle." She came out.

"Force?"

"I'm not a prideful person, so I can admit that he'd probably have won our battle." Dawn ranted. "But he just went insane in our battle."

"You told him he shouldn't go easy on you." Gary said.

"That's not what I meant." Dawn wailed. "There's a difference between giving your all and battling just to humiliate your opponent."

"True enough."

"And then there was that time he insulted Pachirisu." Dawn went on. "He needed Pikachu but when Ash pointed out that I had Pachirisu, he called it pitiful."

"Yeah, that was crossing the line."

"That was when I decided to use Pachirisu against him if we fought." Dawn explained.

"But was that smart?" Gary asked. "Brendan's powerful. When it comes to the pure power of his pokemon, he probably trumps the rest of us."

"I don't get it." Dawn admitted.

"You wanted to prove to him that Pachirisu wasn't weak, but did you chose the right outlet?" Gary asked.

"Outlet?"

"You tried to prove him wrong in an official battle, the result of which could've changed everything." Gary went on. "But you took an unnecessary risk since you knew that the pokemon Brendan had were really strong."

"If I'd won, it'd have been the biggest humiliation of his life." Dawn said, trying to defend herself.

"Yeah but that was a big 'if' and you knew it." Gary told her. "Couldn't you have just confronted him about it straight up?"

"I….guess." Dawn admitted.

"So will you come out of here with me?" Gary asked her.

"Yeah." She said, finally smiling.

"You know, this is almost like how we first got together." Gary reminded her. "It was just after the Sinnoh League ended."

"Wow, you're right." Dawn told him. "Kinda strange."

(Several months ago)

The Sinnoh League had just ended and Ash was out. Though happy with how far he'd come, he couldn't help but be disappointed by not winning. Though admittedly, he'd enjoyed battling that trainer who'd entered with a Darkrai. It was the first time he ever battled a legendary pokemon in a league competition, having only fought such pokemon in the Kanto Battle Frontier.

Ash, Dawn and Brock stayed for the closing ceremonies and left the island afterwards and headed back to the mainland. They briefly took a rest stop at Veilstone City and said their goodbyes to Ash's rival Paul. After losing in the league, Paul vowed to change his ways and work harder to be a better trainer; he would work with his pokemon and discover where true strength lies.

Ash's other rival, Barry, went to the Sinnoh Battle Frontier to visit his father, Tower Tycoon Palmer, the head of the regional Battle Tower. Having lost the conference, Barry decided he needed to train harder and adopt a hybrid of effort and caring for pokemon.

At the pokemon centre in Veilstone City, Ash and the gang had taken back their pokemon from Nurse Joy, but as they were leaving they noticed a familiar face.

"Hey there!" A brown-haired boy in a black shirt called out.

Ash turned around. "Gary?"

"How ya doin' Ash?" He asked. "I watched the Sinnoh League on TV."

"Then you noticed the Darkrai?" Ash asked.

"Never mind tha-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the blue-haired coordinator showed up in the space between Ash and Gary and started it all.

"Hi, Gary!" She said with enthusiasm.

"Oh, hi Dawn." Gary responded awkwardly to the girl who was right up in his face. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, so how have you been?" She responded.

"I'm great too, so how has your work been?" She went on.

"Uhh…good to hear." Gary struggled to say. "My research is going great."

Dawn pestered Gary for a few more minutes. Ash suggested that they all go out to eat since it didn't seem like Dawn was going to let up anytime soon. Brock accompanied them as well.

At a cafe, Pikachu leapt up on the table. Dawn continued to talk to Gary, not allowing Ash or Brock to get in any words with him so they ordered something. But all of a sudden, a large green robot with a dome-shaped body and pincer-like arms came up the street.

Three shadowy figures came out of the top of the robot and struck a very familiar and irritating pose.

"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!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Meowth's the name!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"It's been a while since I heard them do that one." Ash thought.

For several moments, the passersby on the street looked like the trio as if they were a gang of circus performers. After a few more minutes of silence, Jessie spoke up.

"What's the matter with you twerps?" She shouted in an insane rage. "Shouldn't you be running and screaming?"

Ash got confused. "When have we ever run away from you?"

"Pi-Ka!"

"Admittedly, it's often us who runs away an-" James tried to say before he was cut off.

"Whose side are you on?" Jessie shouted at him.

"What are you guys doing here?" Dawn asked them from the street.

"I think we odda get what we came for and get out butts outta here!" Meowth suggested.

"I think you're right." Jessie said. "Let's go for it!" She said as she took out a remote control and started pressing buttons.

"Pi-Kaaaa!" The electric mouse pokemon shouted as one of the robots claws grabbed it and pulled it back.

"Pikachu, use thunderbolt!" Ash told it.

"Piiika-Chuuuuuuuu!" It shouted as electrical energy was released from its body.

"Haha, twerps, you should know by now that we'd only use an electricity-proof device to catch Pikachu!" Jessie taunted.

"Let's get outta here!" Meowth said as the giant robot drove back down the street with Pikachu captive.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted as he collapsed on the ground.

"Ash, come on, we'll get Pikachu back!" Brock told him. "They wouldn't have gotten far in that gigantic thing."

"They'll need a big place for that machine of theirs." Gary said. "We could scout out the city for all possible areas."

"Or we could just follow their tire tracks." Dawn suggested, pointing out tire tracks that the robot left as it made its escape.

"Alright." Ash said, finally getting on his feet. "Let's go get 'em!"

As expected, Team Rocket was eating in the middle of a large meadow. Their robot had made deep tracks in the grass. Pikachu was trapped in a glass box which seemed to absorb any electricity thrown at it.

"So have you called the boss yet?" Jessie asked Meowth.

"Not yet." Meowth replied. "But neva worry! We'll be back in time to give Pikachu to da boss!"

"I hope we can get on with it." James added. "Why did we stop?"

"We stopped because we need to eat!" Jessie shouted.

At that, Ash, Gary, Brock and Dawn showed up on the meadow, ran across and confronted Team Rocket face to face.

"Twerps?" Jessie shouted. "How did you find us?"

"You left a trail!" Gary told them.

"That was your worst robot yet!" Dawn shouted.

"How dare yew twerps insult my inventions?" Meowth shouted. "I odda use it on all a yaz!"

"We'll be doing a lot more than interrupting." Gary said as he threw out his pokeball. "Come on out, Blastoise!"

"You got that right." Ash said as he did the same. "Come on out, Torterra!"

"Get in there, Piplup!" Dawn told it.

"You too!" Brock said as he threw his own pokeball. "Croagunk!"

The light from the pokeballs came out and formed themselves into Blastoise and Torterra while Piplup and Croagunk came right next to them.

"Seviper!" Jessie shouted, releasing two pokeballs. "And Yanmega!"

"Go Carnivine!" James shouted as he threw out his pokeball.

As Carnivine came out, it latched on to James' head with its mouth.

"Carnivine, no!" James frantically shouted. Finally after it got off, he commenced his attack. "Carnivine use bullet seed."

"Carnivine!" The bug catcher pokemon shouted as it unleashed a barrage of yellow seeds at its opponents. Hitting all of them but only managing to minorly injure Piplup.

"Torterra, leaf storm" Ash commanded.

"Tor!" The continent pokemon boomed as leaves came off its back and it fired them at Team Rocket.

"Wobbuffet!" Jessie shouted. "Get in there and counter for once!"

"Wobba!" The pokemon said as its body began to glow. The glow on its body repelled the leaf storm back towards the pokemon.

"Torterra!" Ash called out as his pokemon was clipped to the side by the returning leaf storm.

"Seviper, use poison tail!" Jessie ordered. "Yanmega, use ancient power!"

"Blastoise, use hydro pump!" Gary ordered.

"Torterra, use energy ball on Carnivine." Ash told it.

"Croagunk, get around Seviper's tail and use poison jab!" Brock told it.

"Blass!" The shellfish pokemon shouted as streams of water came out of the cannons in its shell and blasted their way through the ancient power attack used by Yanmega and struck down the ogre darner pokemon with extreme force.

Meanwhile, Croagunk powered up its right fist and leapt around the fang snake pokemon, Seviper, doing all it could to try and get a clear shot and avoid the poison tail attack.

"Blastoise, help out Croagunk!" Gary commanded.

"Blastoise!" The shellfish pokemon boomed as it retreated into its shell and spun itself towards Seviper and Croagunk.

"Seviiiiper!" The fang snake pokemon shouted as it took the full force of Blastoise's attack. Croagunk, being the agile pokemon that it is, managed to get out of the way and allow Blastoise to get a clear shot at Seviper, knocking it out.

Meanwhile, Torterra had already knocked out Carnivine with its powerful energy ball and was now at the back of the machine, tearing it apart to save Pikachu.

At the same time, Piplup recovered from Carnivine's bullet seed and went to help Torterra.

"Great job, Piplup!"

"Keep going, Torterra!" Ash cheered.

"Yanmega, get back up and use steel wing!" Jessie commanded.

"Yannnn!" The ogre darner pokemon zipped by, recovering from Blastoise's attack. It wings began to glow white as it dived down from the air and attacked Piplup with its wings.

"Piiiplup!" The penguin pokemon shouted as it reeled in pain.

"Croagunk, attack Yanmega with poison jab!" Brock ordered.

"Blastoise!" Gary shouted. "You get in there too."

"Croa!" "Blass!" The pokemon said as they went to the machine to fight off Yanmega and save Pikachu. Blastoise knelt down in order to give Croagunk an edge over the flying Yanmega.

"Cragunk!" The toxic mouth pokemon shouted as it jumped on Blastiose's back and leapt into the air with its hand held high and smashed Yanmega right into the ground with its powerful poison smash.

Torterra had almost ripped the machine to pieces and freed Pikachu. They, along with Croagunk and Blastoise lined up and prepared their final attack.

"Poison sting!"

"Leaf storm!" Ash shouted. "Pikachu, use thunderbolt!"

"Hydro pump!"

"Croooa!" "Tor!" "Piiiiika-Chuuuuuuuu!" "Blassstoise!" The pokemon all roared as they unleashed their attacks at Team Rocket and their defeated pokemon. Blowing up what was left of the robot Torterra had already ripped apart, the attacks caused an explosion, resulting in Team Rocket and their defeated pokemon being blown away.

"I guess our foolproof plan wasn't so foolproof after all!"

"But who's the fool, us or dem?"

"Does that really matter now?"

"We're blasting off again!"

Moments later, Team Rocket was out of sight and everyone recalled their pokemon.

"Are you okay, Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Pi-Ka!"

But all else was not okay, as Dawn was holding her Piplup in her arms. It had been seriously injured in the fight and needed to be taken to the pokemon centre.

Upon arrival, Dawn raced in ahead of the boys and got Nurse Joy's attention.

"Nurse Joy!" Dawn said, holding out Piplup. "It was injured, can you help it?"

"Oh dear." Nurse Joy said in a tone that didn't exactly make Dawn happy. "These injuries are quite serious."

"So what's going to happen?" Dawn worriedly asked.

"It can heal." Nurse joy said. "But it'll have to stay the night."

"Then we'll stay the night." Dawn said, turning to the others.

Late that night, at around 11:00pm, Dawn was still in the pokemon centre room while the boys had gone outside for some reason or another. As she lay in her pajamas, hoping Piplup would recover fast, the door opened to a surprising face.

"Hey, Dawn." Gary said. "Still awake?"

Gary looked somewhat different from before. As he walked over to the open window and turned back to look at Dawn, his hair and face started to glow bright blue in the moonlight. His hair swished around in the wind as he ran his fingers through it to correct it. He stood tall and broad shouldered and looked like he was going to carry Dawn off into the sky right away.

"Yeah." Dawn meekly said. "I'm still awake."

He immediately sat on her bed, next to her. He started running his fingers through her hair as he'd done to his.

"You're really….."

"Gary." Dawn started. "I know I've acted like a complete ditz around you and I-"

"I like that." Gary interrupted.

"What?" Dawn asked.

"You know what I've done as a researcher and still you want me to be more." Gary explained. "People expect a lot from me, but you want me to be what I am and do what I can do."

"Gary."

"Dawn."

Words lead to actions, actions would lead to more actions. One thing lead to another and eventually it was done.

The next morning was bright and sunny. Dawn was informed by Nurse Joy that Piplup had fully recovered from its injuries and was given back to her shortly after a final check up.

After much deliberation, the group of four decided to travel to Ash and Gary's hometown of Pallet and check out the options from there.

(Present day)

"So are you coming?" Gary asked Dawn, who'd stopped in her place.

"Huh?" Dawn said as she came back to reality. "Yeah, I am."

Back downstairs, Gary went to to his room and Dawn convinced him that she was okay. Dawn met up with May and Leaf who were hanging out in the attic.

"Hey!" Dawn called out to the two girls.

"Hey." "Hi."

"So have you talked about everything with Ash?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah." Leaf started. "May pretty much made me realize that Ash isn't that complicated and that our feelings are mutual."

"So what next?" Dawn questioned.

"I'll work out something or another with Ash." Leaf explained. "But I won't make the same mistakes I made last time. Tricking him wasn't a good idea."

"You're right about that." May happily agreed.

"So how are you gonna do it next time?" Dawn asked.

"Maybe just the basic approach?" Leaf suggested.

On the outside training field, Ash trained with Infernape while Brock watched over him. While training, Brendan came out of the house and approached Ash, having something he needed to say.

"Ash?"

The raven haired trainer turned around, seeing the boy with the emerald bandana. His red eyes stared right into Ash's.

"What is it, Brendan?" Ash asked.

"Remember what went down with you and Leaf that night?" Brendan asked.

"Yeah." Ash responded. "What about it?"

"Pi-Ka." The electric mouse added from Ash's shoulder.

"I just did what I did to help Leaf." Brendan said. "I'm really not the kind of person who'd do that and enjoy it. In fact, I asked Leaf if that was really necessary."

"Well I understand why she came up with the idea since some of the places we went wouldn't allow Pikachu to come." Ash went on. "But the fact is, you said you needed Pikachu when you didn't and when I left, you left him alone in my bedroom!"

"That's not true!" Brendan defended himself. "I took Pikachu all around with me while you were out but it went to your room all by itself. I tried to get it but it didn't wanna come with me."

"Pikachu, is that true?" Ash asked him friend.

"Piiiika." The electric mouse said.

"Well then…." Ash hesitated.

"Are we okay?" Brendan asked.

"Uhh…yeah." Ash happily responded as he held out his hand.

"Glad to hear it." Brendan said as he shook Ash's hand.

Brock, meanwhile, was off in the corner crying 'man-tears' over the scene.

The next day, Ash trained with Infernape a little more. When he saw him, Brendan felt like he had to say something.

"Ash, you're battling Lucas, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, I am." Ash told him.

"Lucas has quite a few fire-type pokemon with him." Brendan revealed

"So he's a fire-type user?" Ash asked.

"No not exactly, but his starter was an Infernape and when I battled him in Sinnoh, he used quite a few fire-types against me but it wasn't a big problem for me since my Swampert is quite resistant to them." Brendan explained. "You might want to bring a few water or ground-types to fight against him with."

"I guess that'd make sense." Ash admitted. Several seconds later, he ran off. "I'm going to the pokemon centre!" He shouted from afar.

Down at the pokemon centre, Ash had called up Professor Oak and explained his situation.

"Oh, well, Ash my boy, that's a good idea." The old man said. "Which pokemon would you like me to send?"

"I probably should've thought about this s'more." Ash thought. "I guess they're as good as choice as any."

"Ummm….Ash?" The professor called out.

"Sorry, Professor Oak." Ash said. "I'll use Totodile and Buizel."

"Very well then, Ash." The professor responded. "I'll need you to send back two of your pokemon as well."

"Alright then." Ash responded.

"I'll have them sent over in a jiffy, Ash." The professor assured him. "And all the best in the tournament."

"Thanks for everything Glalie and Snorlax." Ash thought as he put two pokeballs on the transporter. The pokeballs were zapped away and, several seconds later, two other ones appeared in their place. Ash took the pokeballs in his hand and attached them to the pokeball holders on his belt.

"Time to go back." Ash said to himself, since he had to train even more.

As Ash exited the pokemon centre, he saw somebody out of the corner of his eye that he vaguely recognized. It was the boy who had battled May in the tournament. He could only fight with his Beedril because his Miltank refused to obey his orders.

"Hey there." Ash said to the boy.

"Hey!" The boy shouted. "I remember you! You were in the tournament!"

"Yeah, I was." Ash said.

"I was in it too, but I couldn't get very far." The boy sadly whined.

"Well, what do you think the problem was?" Ash asked, genuinely trying to help the boy.

"I dunno." He revealed. "Miltank was so powerful when I saw my friend battle with him."

"Wait, so Miltank isn't your pokemon?" Ash asked.

"Nope." The boy said. "I borrowed it from my friend when I saw how strong it was."

"Pokemon battling is all about trusting your pokemon and them trusting you." Ash explained. "If you haven't built up a strong bond with your pokemon, it won't obey you, trust me."

"So, was I wrong?" The boy asked.

"You see…..." Ash said. "I think borrowing your friends Miltank wasn't a very good idea since you had no experience with it."

"I guess…." The boy admitted.

"Work hard with your pokemon, and they'll do everything they can for you."

Back at Leaf's vacation house, Ash brought out Totodile and Buizel and started training them with the same accuracy methods he'd used for Snorlax. Both were shooting their water gun attacks at the wooden targets.

"Let's keep going Totodile!" Ash shouted. "You too, Buizel!"

From the inside, Leaf was watching Ash train. She was alone as Dawn and May were with Gary and Brendan.

"Tomorrow, you'll get to put your training to the test, Ash." Leaf thought to herself.

Back upstairs, when Brendan tried to get into his room, only to find that the door was locked, he started banging on it harshly.

"Gary, let me in!" He shouted.

One sound was heard and a muffled voice started speaking.

"I really don't think you wanna come in right now, dude." The voice said.

"Are you serious?" Brendan said, having a suspicion about what was going on in the room.

"Yeah." The voice said.

"Fine but you better not screw up my half of the room!" Brendan shouted.

"I'll keep that in mind." The voice assured him.

"Oh he is so gonna get it when he comes out!" Brendan thought. "I wonder where May is. She'd probably wanna hear about this thing going on!"

Rayquaza45: Oh boy, what's Brendan gonna say to everyone? So..did you like the chapter? Well then right a review about it and tell me EVERYTHING. There's no minimum review limit but I hope you'll review to make me happy. And maybe I'll upload then next chapter faster the more reviews I get. So keep reviewing!

Next time: Chapter 11: I Think The Tower Moved

The top eight round of the Battle Spirits Tournament begins and Ash has to fight Lucas. Who will come out victorious?

Till next time!