Sorry for not updating this story lately. The main reason I haven't updated first of all was because no one seemed to enjoy that this story had no plot. Well I'll tell you all something. There is a plot. It's going to be some time though before the plot comes to pass. The first week of battling brings in a lot of old characters from som really old shows. And then half way through the second week the plot will finally begin to build up before the plot finally hits by the end of the third week. So I know it may take forever, but that's what making a good story is all about. A good story takes some time to have the plot build.

Now there's a second reason as to why this chapter has not been updated faster than I expected. Several weeks ago a storm blew its way here and knocked down the Internet. Now normally it takes maybe like a day or two before the Internet runs smoothly again, but this time the Internet stayed down. Sure it would come back up, but it would go down again in less than five minutes. So someone had to come out and take a look at it and in the end it seems like I'm going to be losing the Internet, meaning I'll have to go elsewhere to write future chapters.

Anyway, there's a certain author I would like to thank for getting the spark back in me for writing this chapter. So thank you ravengal! And I hope you keep up with those two stories of yours: Pika/Bun One Shots and IToD. So enjoy this chapter and please leave your reviews.

Chapter 13: Speed, Strength, and Bond

A white furred pokemon on two legs and two sharp claws popped out from its pokeball, bouncing back forth on its legs, looking quite eager to battle, unlike its pre-evolved form Ben had just barely managed to defeat. It's claws were just as sharp as it's previous form, if not sharper than his. "Time to beat up the tempo," Walter said, beating against the drums a little faster than normal with his Slakoth. "It's your move, my bro."

"Think I'll just stick with Bre for now," Ben said with a smile.

"Is he nuts?" Harley asked. "The pattern completely changed. Pokemon who go up against Slakoth and then Vigorath will be thrown off and lose easily."

"I wouldn't underestimate Ben's Butterfree," Oak said.

"Huh?" Harley asked. "What do you mean?"

"Trainers who try and beat a Vigorath after beating a Slakoth don't really take care of the difference of speed between the two, which is why they easily lose after. But Ben seems to have absolute confidence, which means that he might have a plan cooked up."

"You're not really making a whole lot of sense right now, Professor," Harley said.

"Just watch," Oak said. "I'm sure it will all be clear to you during this second round." Harley turned his attention back to the battle as Vigorath rushed forward, his claws glowing as he started swinging wildly in an attempt to slash Bre, but only winded up hitting air as Bre managed to somehow dodge every attack.

"Amazing!" Harley said amazed. "Ben's Butterfree is actually dodging the attack like she managed to quickly adapt to the speed change."

"Like I just stated," Oak said. "Ben had something cooked up when he chose to keep his Butterfree out. It seems like Ben managed to train his Butterfree to quickly adapt to the speed of Slakoth and its evolved forms."

"You're quick on the dot, aren't you Prof.?" Ben asked, his head turned slightly with a smirk upon his face.

"I was once the great sketcher back in my days," Oak said. "So observing is something I tend to do and take notice of." Suddenly, Bre cried out in pain as one of Vigorath's claws managed to make contact with her, leaving a rather nasty scratchmark on her body.

"I see you trained your Butterfree well," Walter said.

"Yeah," Ben admitted a little sheepishly. "Of course, Bre can't always be good when battling against Vigorath. It's kind of a fifty-fifty chance of her winning or losing. It's about as good as I could train her really."

"Bre certainly is an interesting pokemon indeed," Walter said. "But not even pokemon like her would be able to stay in rhythm to the switch out. Now Vigorath use wild slashing Fury Swipes." Vigorath moved at the speed of light, moving himself in front of Bre as he began to wildly slahs his arms about, Bre doing her best to dodge the wild slashes. Unfortunately, most of the swipes managed to catch her on her body and on her wings. The attack kept up, Bre growing tired with every passing second. More blows began to be dealt to her body until she finally couldn't dodge them any longer.

"We got her now," Walter said, smirking as Vigorath finally managed to hit Bre, leaving nice sized scratches upon her body. "And now Reversal!" Vigorath ceased his nonstop swiping and elbowed Bre in the gut. Bre felt the air leave her as she went flying back into the wall, leaving a ratehr nice imprint of her backside upon it before falling onto the ground, unconscious.

Walter beat the drum three times, smiling as he looked up at Ben. "Apparently we are now tied one for one."

"Seems like it," Ben said, holding up Bre's pokeball. "You done a good job Bre. Get some rest. Return." Bre was called back inside her pokeball, being placed back on Ben's belt before another pokeball was grabbed. "I knew bringing him was a good idea. This pokemon's quite the fighter in my group. Bruzol, you're up!"

Sending the pokeball up into the air, the ball opened up, relasing a white light that formed into a familiar sea otter with two tails known as Buizel. "I'm pumped and ready for action!" he said, getting into a fighting stance.

"Strongest fighter eh?" Walter said. "We shall see about that. Vigorath, let's start things off with an uprising winddraft of Bulk Up!" Vigorath's muscles grew as a red light enshrouded him.

"Bulk Up," Harley said, watching the start of the next battle. "Doesn't that riase both attack and defense of a pokemon?"

"It certainly does," Professor Oak said. "Buizel can learn it too, though I wonder if Ben's Buizel knows it at all."

"All right, Bruzol," Ben said. "Start things off by using Agility!" Bruzol leapt at Vigorath, his speed increasing as he ran closer.

"Smash down like a tree with Brick Break," walter said as he gave one hard smack on the drum. Vigorath raised an arm up and brought it down as Bruzol ran right underneath it, but dodged out of the way at last second.

"Now Focus Punch!" Ben ordered. Bruzol leapt right at Vigorath, his arm glowing as he made contact with the Vigorath's face at an incredible speed. Several people had to leave their table as the Vigorath crashed down upon it, bounced off, and landed on another table, breaking it as well.

"Amazing!" Harley said, his mouth agape. "It's like watching a battle of speed and strength. You just don't know who's going to win."

"Indeed," Oak said. "The difference between speed and strength makes the battle draw its length. Oh! That was a good one!" Oak grabbed out his poetry book and wrote it down, having several of the people watching look over his shoulder as he wrote.

"Not bad," Walter said as Vigorath got up. "Your Buizel is strong, but my Vigorath is stronger."

"But when it comes to speed Bruzol is unmatched," Ben said.

"We'll see about that," Walter said. "Now Vigorath, Double Team!" Walter beat on the drum fast once again as Vigorath copied himself into several clones.

"Not so impressive the second time," Ben said, resulting a bit of a frown to come from Walter. "Bruzol, Sonic Boom!" Bruzol leapt into the air, his tail glowing white before releasing multiple sonic waves, all of which quickly hit every Vigorath before Walter could order an attack. "And then use Water Pulse!"

As the last of the Sonic Booms hit the final Vigorath, Bruzol already had a blue sphere formed within his paws. Spinning around in mid-air, he released the attack on the remaining Vigorath. "Forceful Focus Punch!" Walter commanded. Vogorath's paw glowed as he reeled it back and struck the Water Pulse, which activated upon hitting his fist. Water drenched over him, drenching his fur as a light purplish tint was added to his eyes.

"All right!" Ben said. "He's confused." Everyone watching awed in impression as they watched the Vigorath wildly slash around his claws in the air, striking at nothing.

"I have to give you credit for that maneuver," Walter said, regaining his composure.

"Thanks," Ben said. "I had a feeling you were going to have your Vigorath use an attack on the Water Pulse to negate it, so Bruzol had it set to activate the moment it was hit."

("You better believe it,") Bruzol said, folding his arms and turning to the side, smirking.

"Indeed," Walter said. "But I think it's high time to wrap this up. Now Vigorath, let's use the final move of the battle. Focus Blast!" Hearing the command of his trainer and despite being confused, Vigorath turned towards Bruzol, looking directly at him as an orb of a light orange color formed in his claws.

"Hmm," Oak said. "It seems to me that Vigorath, despite being confused, is actually going to get the attck to hit dead on. This is one of the few times a confused pokemon actually manages to hit its target without missing."

"I wonder how Ben's going to deal with this," Harley thought out loud.

"All right Bruzol," Ben said. "Let's use our ace in the deck. Aqua Jet!" Bruzol unfolded his arms and got back into his battle stance, bending his legs as water began to enshroud his body. Using his feet, Bruzol shot off the ground and sped right at the Vigorath as the orb was just neared charged.

"Can you feel that?" Harley asked. "It's like you can feel the strength of that Aqua Jet."

"I feel it too, Harley," Oak said. "That kind of power can only be felt from a trainer who trains their pokemon exceptionally well. Ben has definitely trained his pokemon to emit off that kind of strength."

By this time, Bruzol had reached Vigorath, aiming directly into the Focus Blast orb and causing a detonation, one which filled the club up with smoke. No one could see anything, being that they had their eyes closed and were coughing. This went on for several minutes before the smoke began clearing up. Both Ben and Walter remained silent as they both awaited to see if they're pokemon were still standing. As the smoke cleared, both pokemon soon became visible, everyone suprised to see the two lying unconsious upon the ground.

"Wait!" Harley said. "Bruzol clearly had the upperhand. So why has he fainted?"

"While Vigorath had more strength and less speed to deal with, Bruzol was the complete opposite," Oak explained. "Being that Bruzol relied more on speed than strength, his defenses were left wide open and the blast did a considerable amount of damage to him, resulting in a one-hit K.O. to be exact."

"Oh!" Harley said. "That makes sense."

"So it seems like we're tied two for two," Ben said. "Which only leaves us one pokemon each to battle with."

"Quite right, bro," Walter said smiling as he recalled his Vigorath, Ben recalling his Buizel. "So this last battle will determine who gets to move on and who gets to leave."

"Sounds about right," Ben said, grabbing his last pokeball and enlarging it, Walter doing the same. "Blake, you're up."

"Go my lazy winter day Drowzee!"

"Awww!" the red headed gym leader squealed as she stared at her opponent's final pokemon. Everyone who was gathered around the fountain watching the battle also awwed and stared as the cute, cuddly brown bear with the crescent moon upon it's head gazed back so adorably, placing a paw up to his mouth. "He's so cute!"

("Do I really?") the Teddiursa asked, tilting his head, causing everyone's heart to melt, all except one, that is.

"Big deal," Conway thought. "So it's cute. I'd take the initiative and attack. From the way things look, I'd have to say that the Teddiursa hasn't been used in battle a lot. Only for main distractions."

"Hmph," replied the gym leader's opponent. "I told you that this pokemon was undefeatable. You're too busy admiring such a adorable pokemon as he that you can't even attack. If I were you I'd surrender for being unable to land an attack on him."

The gym leader quickly shook her head, snapping out of her trance. "You must be joking if you think I'm just going to surrender. I've actually had a situation involving a rotten Teddiursa, so I'm not that gullible to surrender. Now Staryu, Water Gun." Staryu shot off a stream of water at the Teddiursa, knocking it off the fountain.

"Oh no!" the trainer said, rushing over to her pokemon. "Teddiursa, are you all right?" All she got in response though as she helped her pokemon up were tears of fright. Teddiursa then took off running, wanting to be away from the battle. "Teddiursa! Wait!" The girl turned to the red haired gym leader and pointed a finger at her. "How dare you harm my darling Teddiursa. You'll pay for this, mark my words." With that the girl ran after her Teddiursa. The crowd watching the battle all began to disperse the area, all talking amongst each other about how lame the battle ended.

"Staryu, return!" the gym leader yelled, recalling her Staryu within the pokeball. "Some people shouldn't even be in battles."

"I couldn't agree quite more," Conway spoke up as he walked over to her. "She was all talk. I could have finished her in half the time you did."

"Uh... thanks, I guess?" the gym leader asked, loking a little annoyed.

"You mentioned you were a gym leader," Conway said. "Which gym do you keep charge of?"

Before the red hair girl could answer, there was a yell from behind. "Hey Conway!" came the familiar yell of Brock as he, Soledad, and Tara all came walking over. "Where'd you go? No one was watching the bags when I returned. I thought you were."

"Oh!" Conway said, remembering that he was keeping watch over the bags. "I'm so sorry. I got caught up in a battle here."

"Brock!" the gym leader said, rushing forward and giving him a hug. "What are you doing here? It's so good to see you!"

"Misty?" Brock said surprised. "What are you doing here? Don't tell me you're in the tournament too."

"Well I wouldn't be here if I wasn't," the gym leader, Misty, replied.

"Good point," Brock said.

"So I take it that you're here in the tournament too?" Misty asked rhetorically.

"I'm not the only one," Brock said. "Ash and May are here too. And these are some friends we've met in our journey." Introductions then all went around as Misty was introduced to Soledad, Tara, and Conway, the last creeping her out a bit since he was studying her.

"Well it's all very nice to meet you all," Misty said. "I should probably let you get back to your shopping though."

"Nonsense," Soledad said. "I think we've done enough shopping for today. Why don't we catch up with everyone? I'm sure Ash and May will be happy to see you again."

"Thank goodness," Brock and Conway thought as the five began making their way out from the mall, the guys having to carry a heavy load of store bought items.

"You're joking me, right?" the spiky hair trainer yelled. "Are you even taking this battle seriously? I mean you've already lost two pokemon and I'm still on my first."

"Whatever man," the messy hair trainer said. "I'm just here to win it."

"If that's the kind of attitude you're going to have then why become a pokemon trainer in the first place?" asked the spiky hair trainer.

"Whatever," the messy hair trainer said. "Are you going to attack or what? I'm getting bored over here."

"Fine then," the spiky hair trainer said. "Now Nidoqueen, use Earthquake." Nidoqueen roared in understandment as she smashed a foot down upon the ground, causing the entire ground to shake, causing people watching the battle to stumble around, a few falling onto the ground. However, the Nidoqueen's opponent, which just so happened to be a Farfetch'd, flapped its wings, rising into the air, avoiding the attack altogether.

"Now use Cut," the messy hair trainer said. Farfetch'd flew directly at Nidoqueen, taking the stick that was in his beak out into one of his wings, raising it up and coming directly down on Nidoqueen. Nidoqueen staggered back a bit, the attack stinging upon her chest, but not by much.

"Pathetic," the spiky hair trainer said. "You're not even worth the time to battle. Nidoqueen, wrap this up with Stomp." The Nidoqueen rushed forward at Farfetch'd, the stinging in her chest not hurting her that much as she leapt into the air and prepared to stomp Farfetch'd into the ground.

"Use Aerial Ace!" the messy looking trainer said. Farfetch'd leapt back and immediately snapped his wings open, taking flight as Nidoqueen landed, her foot leaving a rather nice sized crack where Farfetch'd stood not moments before. Looking up into the sky, Nidoqueen watched as Farfetch'd banked around before beginning to dive bomb, his speed increasing and his momentum building as his beak grew sharper. "Got it all bagged up in one."

"Wait for it, Nidoqueen," the spiky hair trainer said. "Wait until it gets close." Nidoqueen stood her ground as Farfetch'd grew more speed and momentum as he neared Nidoqueen. His wings were level as he was about mere inches from striking Nidoqueen when suddenly, Nidoqueen raised up an arm, her eyes narrowed, and brought it down, managing to negate the attack and shove the bird pokemon's head into the ground.

"Farfetch'd!" the messy looking trainer cried out as Nidoqueen removed her paw from the pokemon's head. Farfetch'd was clearly knocked out from the Nidoqueen's strength. "Tch." The messy trainer returned his Farfetch'd and drew out the card he held, throwing it to the spiky hair trainer. "Here man. You can have this. This tournament is lame."

The spiky hair trainer remained silent as his opponent turned and walked away, passing through the crowds, all of which were beginning to disperse themselves to talk over the battle. Only one remained however and walked up to the spiky hair trainer. "Kind of a shame he isn't in tune with his pokemon, isn't Gary?" Tracy asked. "Kind of like someone else we know."

"Yeah," the spiky hair trainer, Gary, said as he turned to look at Tracy. "So what brings you to Angelinic City? Out sketching as usual?"

"Some what," Tracy replied. "I've enetered the tournament just like you. Even assistants need a break from the lab every now and then to get out and battle, right?"

"They certainly do," Gary said. "And I have a feeling my old rival's somewhere too."

"You guessed right," Tracy said. "Ash already had his match for this week, so he's out training his other pokemon."

"Maybe I should go see how much stronger he's become since last we saw each other," Gary said. "You know where he's training at?"

"Not entirely," Tracy said. "But he should be back at the hotel we're staying at by tonight, so you can catch up with him there."

"Sounds good," Gary said, returning his Nidoqueen before he and Tracy walked away from the post office.

"Well," Tyler said with some hesitation upon Dawn's question. "I wouldn't really say I've met Ash. He isn't the kind of guy to pass along such wisdom as this trainer did. He more or less originated from the Orange Islands if my memory recalls correctly."

"Well then it can't be Ash," Dawn said. "He lives in the Kanto Region."

"Quite so, quite so," Tyler said as May and Drew suddenly rushed over.

"Dawn," May said worriedly. "Are you all right?"

"No need to worry," Dawn said. "I was just listening to some of Tyler's past adventures."

"Oh!" May said. "I didn't recognize you there for a moment Tyler. What brings you here?"

"Just strolling around, stopping and watching battles," Tyler replied. "I happened to notice that you two were doing a bit of battling. Practicing for your upcoming battles no less."

"More or less," Drew said. "I have a feeling though that you're not just here to watch us battle."

"You think so, do you?" Tyler asked, taken by surprise.

"Oh I get it," May said, getting on to what Drew meant.

"What?" Dawn asked. "What do you get?"

"It's nothing," Drew said after a smirk, running his fingers through his hair as always. "But anyway, I think we've done enough battling for today. Can't wear our pokemon out before our battle."

"That's true," May said. "Wouldn't you agree Beautifly?"

("I do,") Beautifly replied with a nod. ("I'm wiped.")

"Guess that settles it then," Drew said. "Besides, I am hungry for luch."

"Me too," May said.

"I'm for that," Dawn said.

"Excellent then," Tyler said. "How would you all like to eat out? We can meet up with the others after we eat."

"Sounds good," May said. "Knowing Ash, it would take forever to find him and stop his battling long enough for him to eat." Everybody laughed at that, knowing that that was most possibly true.

"You're right about that," Dawn said. "When it comes to Ash, battling and food are the only two things that are always on his mind."

"Yeah but we may run into him at a restaurant or something," Drew said.

"Speaking of restauarants," Tyler said. "Our stomachs won't be getting any fuller just standing here."

"Then what are we waiting for?" May asked. "Let's go!" May, Drew, Tyler and the pokemon all began walking ahead with Dawn in the rear, lagging behind, back deep in thought over what she thought earlier before Tyler showed up. However, she was snapped back out of her thoughts as a hand suddenly extended in front of her.

"Coming?" Tyler asked, standing before her with a concerned look on his face.

"Oh!" Dawn said, blushing a little as she took his hand. "Yeah. Of course."