When Ash, Max and Brock arrived at the Saffron City Gym Max went up to the door and yelled out "I challenge you." the door mysteriously opened by itself and the three trainers stepped forward, entering the gym.

When they arrived at the battlefield Sabrina was standing in the Gym Leaders box waiting for them to appear, when they did she said in a dramatic tone "who is challenging me today?"

Max replied "I am" in a confident tone.

Ash addressed Sabrina asking "Uh, you don't mind if we watch do you?"

"No."

Brock said "uh, do you mind NOT turning us into dolls if Max loses this time?"

"Turn you into dolls, I haven't done anything like that in years. As a matter of fact, the last people that I turned into dolls were, hmm, let me see...ah, that's right. A trainer from Pallet Town's friends, Brock and uh, what was her name again...ah, that's right...Foggy."

Unfortunately for Sabrina, Misty came into the room just in time to hear her bungle her name. Misty, hearing Sabrina get her name horrendously wrong shrieked "MY NAME IS MISTY, M-I-S-T-Y, MISTY; The Cerulean City Gym Leader."

"Oh ri-i-ight, Misty. Hey, didn't I hear a rumour recently that someone just swept your gym with only one Pokémon?"

"Yeah, but it was my sisters that were battling at the time."

"A Gym Battle's a Gym Battle, no matter who the participating Gym Leader is."

"That's a convenient way of looking at it."

"I think I also heard that the trainer used a water Pokémon to do it too."

"Yeah, uh, that was me..." Ash said "...do you think that we can get to Max's Gym Battle now?"

Max walked up to the challengers box and, looking at the judge, asked "so, what are the rules for this Gym?"

The judge replied "the trainers will each use to Pokémon, only one Pokémon per trainer is allowed to be on the field at one time. The battle will continue until both trainers Pokémon are unconscious, or declared unable to battle. There is no time limit. The gym leader May call out their Pokémon."

"Come on out, Mismagius."

Max said to himself "Mismagius huh, alright then." In a louder voice, he called out "I choose you, Mightyena" throwing a pokeball away from himself.

Ash quietly said to Misty and Brock "so, Max caught himself a Mightyena. Normally it would be a good matchup against a ghost type like Mismagius, but Mismagius can use moves other than Psychic/Ghost moves."

"Yeah, Max is really going to have to watch out for this one" Brock said.

Max, on the battlefield, called out "Okay Mightyena, use Shadowball."

"Use confusion" Sabrina ordered her Mismagius.

"Psychic type moves don't work on Mightyena" Max informed Sabrina.

"Who said that I was aiming for Mightyena?"

Max started to say "what do you..." but trailed off when he looked up to see the Shadowball had somehow been stopped in midair. Max said "I see, well then, in that case, Mightyena, before she can do anything with it, use dark pulse and aim it at the Shadowball.

Misty asked no one in particular "what good will that do?"

"I wonder if Max is trying to use Dark Pulse in a similar manner that I used Counter Shield against Fantina with Chimchar."

"What do you mean Ash?"

"Allow me to explain" said Brock, seeing Ash nod, Brock continued "you see Misty, when Ash was in the Sinnoh region, he fought against another Ghost type Gym Leader and she tried to use a
Will-O-Wisp to block Ash's Flamethrower, but Ash used the Will-O-Wisp to power up Chimchar's move."

"Wow, I didn't realise that an opponent's move could be utilised in such a way."

"I told Max before that Ash uses Contest-like techniques to augment his battling style and his sister does the opposite."

"Why'd you do that?"

"He and his sister got into a fight over which was more difficult, Gym Battles or Contests."

"And then I go off and beat him in one move."

"Yeah."

"I almost feel bad for beating him now."

"Don't, look..." Brock said, pointing at the battlefield "...if anything it seems to have gotten him more focused on what to do, and what not to do in a battle."

Misty saw what Brock meant when she turned to look at the battle as she saw the Dark Pulse that Max had told Mightyena to use hit the Shadowball and grew bigger by absorbing it and it also, at the same time, changed colour into, what seemed to be, a deep green that seemed to make Mismagius flinch and when the blast died down it was shown that Mismagius had been knocked out.

"Well well, you are better than the average trainers that we get around here."

"Thanks... I think."

"Well, let's see how you deal with this...go Sableye" Sabrina said whilst throwing the pokeball in the air.

"Sableye huh, well then, Mightyena return" Max said pointing Mightyena's pokeball at it. Max then reached around his back and pulled a pokeball from his belt; he threw it away from him, calling out "come on out, Shiftry."

"Shiftry, what are you thinking Max!" Misty called out.

Max looked at Misty said "I'll be fine."

Misty then mumbled to herself "if you say so."

Max then turned back to the battlefield and said "I'll even let you make the first move Sabrina."

"Why thank you Max...Sableye, use Sunny Day."

"Sunny Day, but that's only going to make Shiftry's grass attacks stronger."

"Really...my mistake, what WAS I thinking" Sabrina said in a sarcastic tone.

Max replied "I don't know. Shiftry, use Leafstorm."

"Sableye, use confusion."

"Psychic moves don't work on Shiftry either" Max said, pushing up his glasses.

Sabrina sighed, saying "still jumping to conclusion, aren't you Max?"

"What do you mean?"

"Look."

Max looked up and saw that the leaves from his attack had been stopped in mid-air. In surprise he exclaimed "you stopped my move again!"

"Very observant of you...Sableye, return the leaves at a faster rate than they were fired at." After all the leaves had impacted with Shiftry, Sabrina said "now Sableye, use Fire Punch."

To the surprise of everyone, other that Sabrina, who had actually taught Sableye the attack, and Ash, who had, with his experience in gym battles, come to expect Gym Leaders to have some way of dealing with the weaknesses of their Pokémon. Sableye rushed forward with two flame covered fists, which it implanted into Shiftry's torso, knocking it out.

Max said "Shiftry return," pointing Shiftry's pokeball at it, disappointed that he had gotten so caught up in type advantages. He then reached for Mightyena's pokeball and said "well, I guess it's up to you again...Mightyena, let's do this."

"Sableye, use Fire Punch again to end this bout."

"It's not a fighting type gym. Mightyena, use Sucker Punch followed up by Crunch."

When Sableye was three quarters of the way to Mightyena, Mightyena disappeared from its sight before reappearing at its side just before it hit it with its hind legs. The hit made Sableye stumble and lose its focus, thereby putting an end to the Fire Punch that it had gathered power for. Mightyena then rushed at Sableye and bit it with such force that it fainted almost immediately.

The judge of the match then had no choice but to announce "the winner of the battle is Mightyena and as such the winner of this Gym Battle is the challenger."

Sabrina walked over to Max and said "That was a good match Max, I now present you with the Marsh Badge. That is the proof that you were victorious in battle against me."

Max then did some ridiculous pose stating "alright, I got the Marsh Badge."

Ash Misty and Brock made their way over from the stands and Ash said "Sabrina, I'd like to challenge you to a Gym Battle if that's alright."

"You're challenging the Kanto Gyms again Ash?" Sabrina asked, shocked by the information.

"Yeah, I actually think that battling you tomorrow would be a better idea though."

"Why tomorrow? It would be far more advantageous for you to challenge me to a battle now."

"The answer to that is easy. There would be no point to my challenging the gyms again if I did something like that."

"I see, so you want to fight me when I'm at my best do you?"

"Exactly."

"Very well then, I hope that you bring your best game tomorrow then."

"I will, and don't you underestimate me because of what happened last time."

Max, not knowing Ash's history with the Saffron City Gym, asked "what do you mean, what happened last time?"

"Uh, we'll tell you later, okay Max?"

"Well, okay."

"I'll see you tomorrow Sabrina" ash said, waving goodbye as he walked off. Brock, Misty and Max followed Ash, leaving the Saffron City Gym, heading towards the Pokémon Centre to get Max's Pokémon looked at.