As always thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

The day has finally come. The Pokemon World Tournament: Junior Cup begins today! Our heroes: Ash, Hilda, Iris, Cilan, Misty, May, Dawn, Gary, and Paul make their way through Lacunosa Town. The town is lively with a festival and several merchandise markets set up on the strip outside of the stadium just for the event.

"Yes! The Junior Cup!" Ash yelled out in excitement.

"Pika-Pi!" Pikachu mimicked.

Ash bent over with his fist balled shaking in excitement, "Im gonna win here and then im gonna win the Unova League! Can't wait!" he said springing up and taking exaggeratedly long steps towards the stadium.

"Overly confident as usual. Just like a little kid." Iris huffed and shrugged.

"You said it." Misty seemingly mimicking Iris' actions.

"Um, Ash, we have to register in the Pokemon Center, and we have to get some rooms. It's a 5 day event." May pointed out to the rest of the group, reading a pamphlet.

"Already taken care of. Never count on Ash to plan ahead." Gary teased, walking over to the rest of the group with wrist bands, distributing them to the group. "Luckily me and Paul went ahead of you goofs and registered for spots in the Tournament and free rooms in the Pokemon Center."

"Free rooms?! That's great!" Dawn yelled in excitement.

"A tasty deal indeed." Cilan added, putting his wrist band on.

"The wrist bands verify your place in the Tournament. It also gives you access to free food, as long as its on the strip or at the center." Paul noted.

May got up right next to Paul with her eyes sparkling, "Free food?!"

"Yeah.." he responded sweat dropping.

"Ah, whatever. Im with Ash; im just ready to get this show on the road!" Hilda paced to the front of the group with Ash and walked confidently along with him.

"Oooluu!" Riolu echoed Hilda's words in his own way.

Everyone else in the group sweat dropped chuckling at the two. They made their way just outside of the stadium, observing the how large it was.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Dragon Novice Iris." a voice called out from behind the group.

"Oh great, its Georgia." Iris pointed out displeased. As the blue-eyed maroon haired girl with a yellow hat made her way towards Iris.

"I hope you're ready to loose, because ready to bust some Dragon Masters today!" Georgia said getting right up next to Iris, pointing at her as if to taunt her.

"I told you im not a Dragon Ma-"

"I don't care if you're a Dragon DOOFUS! Im gonna show you how much better I am, got it?!" Georgia spat as she and Iris starred each other down, ready for battle.

"Who is that Ash?" Misty asked standing right next to him, observing the Georgia/Iris stand off.

"That's Georgia. Iris' rival." Ash said under his breath, almost annoyed.

"If it isn't Cilan!" a female voice again called out from just behind the group."

"Burgundy! Have you been promoted to S-Class Connoisseur yet?" Cilan asked the purple haired girl, genuinely interested.

"Look, cut out the nice stuff! Im gonna beat you and show you who the better Connoisseur is of the both of us!" she said starring him down viciously.

"And she is?" Misty again asked Ash.

"Burgundy. Cilan's rival." Ash huffed, again annoyed.

"I see." Misty said blankly observing Burgundy's hot headed antics.

"Cynthia. You're looking good as ever. What's say me and you go out for a lunch date." Ash over heard an older voice from behind a tree beside the stadium.

"That sounds like.." He went to go investigate, Pikachu and Misty followed.

It was the Champion of the Unova region, Alder! He was standing in front of Cynthia, who was clearly unimpressed with… whatever it was Alder was doing.

"Hey, its Alder!" Ash shouted, running over to the two.

"And that's Cynthia!" Misty followed.

"Ah, its Ashton." Alder awkwardly patted Ash on the head, "So, you competing in the Cup today Ashton?"

"The name's Ash.." Ash said sweat dropping.

"Cynthia! I never got to thank you for allowing me to stay in your villa last night! My name is Misty!" Misty bowed and extended her hand, Cynthia graciously shook it and patted Azuril's head.

"Azu azu!"

"No problem Misty, and its nice to meet you too. Ash was pretty adamant about you staying." she chuckled.

"Was he now?" Misty gave a sly look at Ash. He pretended not to notice.

"I see you haven't changed." a voice called out from seemingly no where. It was Trip.

"Tristan." Alder shouted half-heartedly.

"The name's Trip."

"Hey Trip! Are you competing too?!" Ash asked enthused.

"Duh. The winner gets to face Alder - basic stuff."

"I'll see you at the Tournament." Cynthia said walking away.

"Cynthia, no! C'mon!" Alder called out desperately.

"Hey Trip." Misty greeted.

"Oh, its you."

"How do you know Trip?" Ash asked confused.

"I battled him when we first landed. We didn't get to finish, though."

"Is Paul here too?" Trip asked acting as if he really didn't really care what the answer was.

"You know Paul too?"

"Paul came to Unova with me. I met him on the plane. Me, him, and Trip battled some Plasma grunts." Misty said dismissively.

"You didn't tell me any of that." Ash huffed with a hint of anger.

"Im gonna go prepare for the ceremony. Cynthia - the Champion of the Sinnoh region - will be battling Caitlin of the Elite 4, its basic stuff." Trip said walking towards the stadium.

"Don't get me started on not telling anybody anything, you've barely talked to me since you left for Unova!" Misty shot back.

"Hmph." Ash simply began walking towards the stadium.

"What do you care? I barely know Paul or Trip!"

"Sure." he replied sarcastically.

All 32 contestants made their way into the stadium and lined up on a platform that overlooked the battle field. The stadium was packed with hundreds of screaming fans, ready for the battles.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Pokemon World Tournament: Junior Cup! I am Freddy 'The Scoop'!" All of the fans applauded, rocking the stadium.

He continued, "Joining me to my right is Champion of the Unova region, Alder! As you all know, Alder will go face-to-face with whomever of our 32 contestants comes out on top! 5 rounds will take place over the coarse of 5 days! There will be afternoon battles, and evening battles for each round - just like the Unova League. On the final day, the winner of the 5th round in the afternoon, will battle our Champion Alder that evening! Lets give it up to our contestants who hail from all over!" The crowd gave them a warm welcome.

"Good luck to all of our contestants!" The crowd again applauded.

"Now, before we announce the first round, it is my distinct honor to present to you our special demonstration battle featuring Cynthia, Champion of the Sinnoh region!" Cynthia stepped out of one side of the battle field with a purple robe, she discarded the robe and made her way to the battlers box, with the spotlight on her.

"Facing her, we also have a member of the Unova Elite 4, Caitlin " Caitlin descended from a large flower that opened as she stepped out of it and made her way to the battlers box across from Cynthia.

"Begin!" the judge standing on the outside/middle sideline portion of the field.

"Garchomp, spotlight!" Cynthia sent her majestic Dragon-Pokemon out of its Poke-Ball. It let out a loud battle cry and extended it's wings/claws, ready for battle.

"Its been a long time Cynthia, I look forward to our battle." said Caitlin as she clicked a Poke-Ball to enlarge it.

"And I am looking forward to battling you, Caitlin." Cynthia replied.

Gothitelle, illuminate the stadium with elegance. Gothitelle appeared out of its Poke-Ball, ready for battle.

"Wow! I can't believe we get to see such an awesome battle!" Iris said with a sparkle in her eyes, admiring the two powerful Trainers and their Pokemon.

"So cool!" Ash added.

"Maybe you can learn a thing or two Ash." Misty teased from right beside him.

"Haa haa." he laughed over exaggeratedly.

Sparks flew as the two powerful Pokemon went back and fourth exchanging blows. Garchomp released a powerful Draco Meteor that popped in the air causing a meteor shower hurling on the battle field; Gothitelle repelled most of them with Thunderbolt, but took a significant amount of damage. Gothitelle swung Garchomp on the stadium's roof with Psychic. Garchomp quickly bounced off of the roof and came descending at what seemed like the speed of sound towards Gothitelle with Dragon Rush. Gothitelle attempted to stop it in it's tracks with Brick Break; the two Pokemon collided and the stadium shook. The clock (this would be the only timed battle in the ceremony) hit zero and the battle was over, without either Pokemon fainting, although Gothitelle was near the edge. Cynthia and Caitlin met at the center of the field to shake hands and congratulate each other as the stadium applauded a wonderful match.

"Thank you Cynthia and Caitlin for a wonderful demonstration match! Now, let's announce the first round matches on the jumbo-tron! First we have Trip versus Burgundy!"

Trip's picture appeared on the screen along with Burgundy's. Trip stood calmly with his hands in his pockets, unfazed by the fact he would be battling first. "I wanted to battle Cilan!" Burgundy huffed disappointed.

"Hilda versus Dino!"

Hilda's picture appeared alongside the spiky maroon haired Dino. "Sweet! Im second." Hilda said with a clinched fist.

"Dawn versus Craig!"

Dawn's picture appeared alongside a short stubby blonde haired young man. "Alright! Ready Piplup?" Dawn asked her penguin Pokemon enthused. "Pipp!"

"Good luck Dawn!" Ash, along with everyone in the group except Misty.

"Thanks Ash!" Dawn replied with a warm smile, Misty glared at her.

"May versus Samantha!"

"Yes! Can't wait!" May said confidently. Everyone in the group wished her luck.

"Flora versus Corey!"

"Gary versus Geraldo!"

Gary's face appeared on the screen alongside Geraldo's, "About time." Gary muttered.

"Trace versus Rigsby!" Trace was a tall, dark-blue haired young man with a dark-red jacket and black-jeans. "Alright, time to go." he said from his place in line.

"Misty versus Cedric!"

"That's you. Lots of luck Misty." Ash turned to her wishing her luck.

"Yeah. Thanks." she nodded firmly.

"And now for the evening battles: Cilan versus Wayne!"

Everyone wished Cilan good luck.

"Paul versus Ivan!" Paul stood calmly under whelmed, similar to Trip.

"Good luck, Paul!" Ash exclaimed.

"Thanks Ash." he responded.

"Antonio versus Blake!"

"Sam versus Epps!"

"Ash versus Lane!"

"Yes! You ready Pikachu!?"

"PIKA!" Pikachu clinched his fist in excitement.

Everyone wished Ash the best of luck.

"Katie versus Anderson!"

Katie's face appeared on the screen, she was a green haired young woman in her late-teens, "Hey that's Katie! I battled her in the Hoenn League!" Ash said surprised by her appearance.

"That's right, I remember that." Misty said looking up at the jumbo-tron.

"Yeahh, that IS Katie. This Tournament has some stiff competition." May added.

"Travis versus Charley!"

"And finally, Iris versus Georgia!"

"Finally, a chance to beat that Dragon looser!" Georgia said pretentiously.

"If you want to battle a Dragon-type, than that's what you'll get." Iris retorted as if she knew something Georgia didn't.

"We wish all of our contestants the best of luck! With that, lets get the Junior Cup underway! First up, we have Trip and Burgundy!" Freddy announced.

"Hmph. All I want to do is beat that loser Cilan. This is just practice." Burgundy said as she made her way to the battlers box.

"Burgundy and Trip. This will be interesting." Cilan said observing the two.

"Yeah." Ash nodded in agreement.

"Begin!" the judge signaled the flags to start and the fans applauded.

"Darmanitan, allons-y!" Burgundy released her Fire-type who hunched over ready to battle.

"Serperior!" Trip threw Serperior's ball on the field releasing the grass snake.

"Whoa. Servine must have evolved." Ash noted pointing his Poke-Dex at Serperior.

"Its really strong. It was about to beat Staryu before our battle was interrupted by the grunts." Misty said observing the grass snake Pokemon.

"It's evaluating tim-" Before Burgundy could strike her evaluation pose, Trip interrupted her, "Serperior, Coil!" Serperior's body glowed purple as it coiled up.

"How dare you interrupt my evaluation! Flame Charge Darmanitan!" she scolded. Darmanitan launched itself at Serperior full speed while it's body emitted fire.

Serperior dodged the attack swiftly and effortlessly.

"That speed!" May exclaimed.

"It didn't even break a sweat!" Cilan added.

"Now, Solarbeam!" Trip commanded. Serperior absorbed the sunlight that beamed in from the stadium's glass roof top. It released the powerful beam that overwhelmed Darmanitan and knocked it out, just like that.

Silence came over the stadium.

The dust cleared and Darmanitan had been defeated. "Darmanitan is unable to battle!" the judge proclaimed, "Serperior is the winner! Trip will move on to the second round!"

The crowed applauded.

"Trip and Serperior combine to make an excellent dish." Cilan observed with his hand on his chin.

"Yeah, they're good." May added astonished.

"Congratulations to Trip and his Serperior moving on to Round 2! With that, our next match will be Hilda versus Dino!" Freddy announced from the press box. "Champion Alder, what are your thoughts on this match?"

"Both of these Trainers have all 8 of their Unova gym badges. This will be an interesting match for sure." Alder asserted.

"Good luck Hilda!" Misty said walking up next to her.

"Azu!" Azuril wished Hilda luck from Misty's arms.

"You'll do great Hilda!" Ash added reassuringly.

"Ooluu!" Riolu, who stood beside his Trainer's side, held up a clinched fist in excitement.

"Thanks guys." Hilda nodded and made her way from the platform located between the stadium seats to the battlers box, with Riolu following. They faced Dino - the spiky maroon haired Trainer.

"The battle will be one-on-one, begin!" the judge declared.

"Alright, Heatmor - go!" Dino released his Heatmor from it's PokeBall. Heatmor blew tiny flames from it's long noise and prepared for battle.

"Heatmor, huh? Okay," Hilda focused intently at Heatmor as she grabbed a Poke-Ball, clicking it to enlarge it, "Dewott - I choose you!" she said throwing Dewott's Poke-Ball out on the field.

Dewott emerged from it's Poke-Ball, ready for battle, "Dewwwott!"

"Heatmor, use Smokescreen!"

Heatmor blew smoke that consumed Dewott.

"Dewott, stay focused and use Water Gun!"

Dewott's Water Gun spewed out of the smoke and missed Heatmor completely.

"Alright Heatmor, Incinerate!" Heatmor spit up fireball-like flames that landed in the cloud of smoke that surrounded Dewott.

"Dewwwott!" Dewott shouted; Hilda could barely see Dewott through the smoke and noticed it was hit by Incinerate.

"C'mon Dewott! Focus! You have to focus!" Hilda exclaimed.

"Ooluu! Ooluu!" Riolu added.

Dewott stood up and closed it's eyes.

"Heatmor use Flamethrower!" Heatmor shot out a powerful Flamethrower that quickly made it's way to Dewott, Dewott sensed the Flamethrower and dodged; suddenly, water began circulating in front of Dewott's mouth, with that, Dewott shot out a powerful Hydro Pump attack that surged through the cloud of smoke.

Hilda clasped her hands together in joy, "That was Hydro Pump! You did it!"

As the smoke cleared, a large shadow took the place of Dewott's original position. A unicorn-like figure slowly revealed itself to be Samurott.

"AHHHHHHH! Dewott, you evolved!"

Samurott turned to Hilda and smiled.

"Wow! What Pokemon is that!? Its so awesome!" Misty said in-awe of Hilda's majestic Samurott, a Water-type Misty had never seen before.

"Check it out." Ash said holding out his Poke-Dex in view for Misty to see.

"Samurott, the formidable Pokemon and the final evolved form of Oshawott. Samurott is protected by armor and can defeat opponents with a single sword swipe. It's glare can paralyze them as well." Ash's Poke-Dex read.

"That's so cool! What an awesome Water-type!" Misty praised with her eyes glistening as she observed Samurott.

"Everone here sure is looking strong." Dawn pointed out uneasily.

"Pip-pipliupp." Piplup added from her arms.

"Yeah. Hilda will even more tough to beat now." Ash firmly nodded

"Ooluu!" Riolu exclaimed, equally as excited.

"Heatmor is unable to battle! Hilda and Samurott are the winners!" the judge declared, rasing his right hand towards Hilda's side.

Hilda and Riolu ran on the field hugging the newly evolved Samurott. The crowd applauded for her as she celebrated with Samurott and Riolu.

"Next we have Dawn versus Craig!"

"You ready, Piplup?" Dawn asked her penguin Pokemon, who was resting in her arms.

"PIP!" Piplup responded enthusiastically.

"Good luck girl!" May said putting her hand on Dawn's shoulder.

"Thanks! We're gonna do our best!" Dawn made her way over to the battlers box and opposed Craig, a young blonde haired Trainer.

The noon battles went on. Dawn's Piplup defeated Craig's Stoutland with Drill Peck. May's Glaceon defeated Samantha's Lilligant with a powerful/super effective Ice Shard attack. Flora's Gothorita defeated Corey's Crobat with Psychic. Gary's recently captured Scolipede defeated Geraldo's Reuniclus with Poison Sting.

"Next we have Trace versus Rigsby." Freddy announced as the fans cheered accordingly. Trace's Ferrothorn released a powerful Seed Bomb that overwhelmed Rigsby's Vanillite with a barrage of hard-shell seeds and with that, the battle was over in minutes.

"Wow, he's really good." Misty pointed out.

"Yeah." Ash nodded in agreement.

"Next we have Misty versus Cedric!" Freddy announced.

"My turn. Hey Ash, can you hold Azuril for me?" Misty asked turning to him.

"Sure. Here, take my Poke-Dex - since most of the Trainer's here are using Unova Pokemon." Ash responded taking hold of Misty's Azuril and handing Misty his Poke-Dex.

"Azzzuu!" Azuril happily made herself comfortable in Ash's arms.

"Thanks Ash." she said smiling and tucking the Poke-Dex away, before petting Azuril.

"So who are you gonna use?"

"I think im gonna see how me and Ducklett work together." Misty said looking at Ducklett's Poke-Ball.

"That's a great idea!" Ash said supportive of Misty's decision to use a Pokemon she just caught recently.

"A great opportunity to see if the ingredients blend to make a great meal." Cilan asserted.

"Go get 'em Misty!" Iris added.

"Thanks." Misty simply nodded and made her way to the battlers box. Cedric was a short grey haired Trainer with a yellow button-down, blue jeans and reading-glasses.

"Gurdurr, go!" Cedric sent his bulky Gurdurr who had an I-beam propped over its shoulder, starring down Misty. She pulled out Ash's Poke-Dex and aimed it at the muscular Pokemon.

"Gurdurr. This Pokemon is so muscular that even a group of wrestlers cannot make it budge." the Poke-Dex read.

"Wow, sounds strong." She grabbed her Poke-Ball and clicked it's center to enlarge it, "Misty calls Ducklett!" Ducklett flew out of the shining light that emitted from it's Poke-Ball and hovered in front of Misty.

"Ladies and gentlemen: Misty is a Gym Leader hailing all the way from the Kanto region! This is her first Tournament here in Unova so lets all give her a warm welcome!" Freddy 'The scoop' announced to the crowd to which they responded kindly, giving Misty a warm welcome.

Misty waived somewhat nervously as the fans cheered, she tried to shake off the applause and not let it go to her head. "Okay. So Gurdurr's a Fighting-type, I can take advantage of that because Ducklett is part Flying-type. "Alright Ducklet, Air Cutter!" Misty commanded.

"Duckkkkk" Ducklet rapidly flapped it's wings together summoning several air disks hurling towards Gurdurr.

"Gurdurr use your beam to block!" Gurdurr held it's beam in front of it, shielding it from most of the Air Cutter disks. After Gurdurr was pushed back by the attack it rested it's beam back on it's shoulder.

"I didn't know it could do that.." Misty sweat dropped.

"Now Gurdurr, Rock Throw!" Gurdurr slammed it's beam in the ground and it proceeded to grab stones that formed from the impact and chucked them at Ducklett.

"AHH! A Rock-type move!" Misty cringed as she desperately tried to conjure something up before the super-effective attack hit.

"Shoot those rocks down with Water Gun!"

"Duckkklett!" Ducklet quickly shot Water Gun attack's out of it's bill that successfully hit a few rocks - stopping their momentum - however, Ducklett wasn't able to hit two of the rocks and they pelted it, knocking the tiny Duck Pokemon down.

"Alright Gurdurr, Dynamic Punch!"

Gurdurr ran towards Ducklett with a white aura surrounding it's reared back fist.

Misty gritted her teeth and squinted at Gurdurr who was approaching with a powerful attack. Think Misty. Ducklett's too tired to fly and avoid the attack. There has to be another way..

Just then, Misty noticed that Gurdurr was moving at a slow pace, although it was running as fast as it could. She took notice to it's stubby legs and an idea came to her.

Gurdurr is so strong and muscular it's bulky body hinders it's speed.

"Ducklett use Water Gun on Gurdurr's legs!"

Ash and the gang all looked bewildered by Misty's command.

"Why would she attack it's legs?" Ash asked piecing together her command.

"Hard to say." Cilan answered still glued to the action.

"How clever."

Everyone looked at Paul.

"She's taking advantage of Gurdurr's lack of speed."

The Water Gun hit Gurdurr's legs and sure enough tripped it up, causing it to fall flat on it's face just in front of Ducklett.

"Now Ducklett, finish it off with Air Slash!" Misty commanded firmly.

Ducklett elevated and swiped it's wing one good time and the powerful gust of wind hit the defenseless Gurdurr, knocking it out.

The judge took notice of Gurdurr's dizzy eyes, "Gurdurr is unable to battle, which means Misty will be moving on to the Second Round!"

The crowd cheered as Misty hugged her Ducklett. "You were awesome!"

"Duckklett duckk!" Ducklett replied warmly as it nuzzled up to Misty.

"Alright folks: that wraps up the afternoon set of the First Round! Enjoy the festivities on the strip and we'll kick the evening set off at 6:30 and wrap up the First Round! See you then!"

"Misty you were great!" Ash congratulated her as he handed Azuril to her.

Misty hugged Azuril and put her on the bleachers just behind them and swung her arms around Ash's neck pulling him in for a tight embrace.

"I won!"

"Yeah! You were great!" Ash was inherently a bit hesitant at first just because of nervousness, but he eventually gave in and embraced her back. "You were awesome."

Ash looked up and noticed Gary teasing him with a sly grin. He shot Gary a dirty look even though his blush said he was enjoying the hug and didn't care about anything else.

Review and tell me what you thought! Who of these contestants would you like to see battle in future rounds? What Pokemon would you like to see battle?

Heavy Pokeshipping next chapter. See ya next time:)