Chapter Nineteen: Phenac Madness

In the only Pokemon Gym in Orre, a Gym battle is coming to an end. Lance starts to show to see what's going on in there. Also, Misty and AJ, along with Pikachu, rides quickly in their bikes to get away from the mob.

In Misty's match against Wes in the under Colloseum, both were using their last Pokemon: Misty and Pikachu versus Wes and his Togekiss. (Note that the ceiling had a crack due to earier battles of the same match.) Togekiss was pretty tough and managed to hurt Pikachu to 1HP. Pikachu then started to use Ion Charge to send Togekiss up in the air and then Pikachu used a powerful Thunder. BAD MISTAKE! Pikachu aimed it for Togekiss, but Togekiss is just below the ceiling crack. The Thunder not only broke the crack, but made a hole even in the Pyrite Town below it made of lightning. Dill sees this in the nearest window of Realgam Tower. It can even be seen in the base of Mt. Battle, where the Mountain guards were staring from awe. Pikachu badly injured Togekiss almost to death, along with Togekiss' surroundings, even Misty, Wes, and the audience. Misty won by default, but the police started to show up. AJ sends out Flygon to fly himself and Misty, with Pikachu, up the long tunnel up. Then they rided their bikes out of Pyrite Town.

Meanwhile, Sabrina's group find themselves near Realgam Tower, but the ride was terrifing to even think about. Somehow, Zario is immune to the terror. Queen Ivysaur sees Dill inside Realgam Tower.

Back to the Gym battle.

Abel: Well, Justy. Just one more round and it's over.
Justy: Yeah. let's make this count.
Abel: Right.
Lance (in the distance): Hey! What did I miss?
May: Lance? You're here?
Lance: Yep.
Max: What brings you here?
Lance: I have several reasons, but mostly because Cynthia told me to.
Max: Oh.
Lance: Plus, I need to verify that the whole "Ash is kidnapped" is true.
Abel: Do you mind? We're going to have a dramatic scene here.
Lance: Go ahead. (To May and Max) Lucky I brought my video camara.
May: (To Lance) Why so?
Lance: A) To see the dramatic scene and B) If Abel loses, I'll prove it!
Max: Oh. How likely will Abel lose?
Lance: We'll see. Oh, it's starting.

Two people, both good Pokemon Trainers, are making their last-minute stares before releasing their Pokemon. On one hand lies an Ultra Ball. The other a plain Pokeball. Both are thrown at the same time. After the light effects are done, one side has a mighty Tyranitar with a fierce look and the other, an equally mighty Staraptor with the will to fight. Tyranitar's Sand Stream starts to blow, but the Staraptor blew it away easily with his wings. Staraptor charges toward Tyranitar, but a rock wall came out of the floor (Which leaves part if the lower level blocked.). It didn't matter, since Staraptor goes for Steel Wing to destroy the wall. What Staraptor didn't saw was Tyranitar using Thunder behind the wall. Staraptor tries to go away and succeeds, also dodging Thunder. Tyranitar unleases Rock Slide, but Staraptor climbs the rocks to gain altitude without trying. Then, Staraptor divebombs Tyranitar, yet another rock comes out of nowhere, hitting Staraptor. Since Staraptor was really colse to Tyranitar anyway, he uses Close Combat on Tyranitar. After all that neck-to-neck battle time, Tyranitar re-releases Sand Stream to cover the whole field. The Staraptor flew up to the one spot in the field that is unaffected by Sand Stream and hides. Tyranitar thinks that one more Thunder will beat the Staraptor and attacks. Sure, it worked, but then, Staraptor charged with the lightning with a finishing Brave Bird. When the sandstorm was gone, everyone sees the results.

Lance: Nice.
Max: Is that all you'll say?
Lance: No.
Justy: Well, well, well...
Abel: Not bad for a match, now is it?
Justy: Agree.
Abel: Thanks, Solar. Return!
Justy: Return, also. Here's that badge. Abel gets the badge
Abel: Cool. Now, I'll be off.
Justy: Come back someday.
Abel: Sure. Aren't you three coming?
Lance: Hold on. I'm coming.
Max and May: Me too.

The four of them leave, but as they left, they saw Misty and AJ dashing to the Coloseum of Phenac City.

Abel: I take it that this will be the last Coloseum match.
Misty: That's right. Misty looks behind Abel Hi, May. Hi, Max. Hi, Lance.
May, May, Lance: Hi, Misty.
Lance: By the way, Abel. I forgot to tell you. Whatever happened to Ash? Didn't Cynthia tell you to keep an eye on him?
Abel: sigh Didn't expect that invisible aircraft coming to steal Ash's group AND the All-Stars.
Lance: So that explains why you're using different Pokemon... Why is Pikachu still here?
Misty: Team Rocket didn't stole Pikachu and I came along to protect him.
AJ: I'll go ahead, now... AJ leaves to the Coloseum
Lance: Anyway, do you have any idea what to do?
Abel: Our best lead is the Mt. Battle tournament and...cell phone rings. It's Dill. Hello.
Dill: Hey. I got some bad news.
Abel: What is it?
Dill: Well, it's concerning the Mt. Battle tournament. According to this file I found, Whichever team wins the tournament will enter the base and gets mind-controlled by something and will serve some team called Neo Galactic X.
Lance: takes Abel's phone You mean that evil alliance I've heard about?
Dill: Lance? Since when did you arrived? And yes, that alliance.
Abel: takes phone back So, what you're saying is that if we win, we'll be evil?
Dill: Not only that, but according to this article, "If Abel and his team enters and wins this very tournament, not only will his team be brainwashed, but Abel will be EXECUTED shortly after. Then there will be no threat for us to take over the world." Deep, huh? Looks like that evil don't like you.
May: takes the phone EXECUTED?!
Max: takes the phone Why would they do that?
Dill: They're EVIL, right? I'll like to talk to Abel, now. Max gives phone back So, leader, what to do now?
Abel: Well, let's continue this mission. We can't stop this now. We need allies in case this happens.
Dill: Fine. Wait, isn't that Zario with Sabrina and the queen?
Abel: Zario? He's in Orre?
Dill: Guess so. Let me talk to him. Over and out! hangs up
Abel: hangs up Well, this doesn't sound good.
Misty: Well, what now?
Abel: I say we watch AJ beat the crud out of Phenac's tournament.

The group heads for Phenac Coloseum and watches AJ beat the tournament. All the matches were "easy picking by the MAN" to AJ.

AJ, leaving: That was easy.
Lance: I can see what you mean. That was a bit one-sided there.
Abel: Now that we're done here, let's go to Mt. Battle.
Max: Right. We'll come too.
Abel: Okay.

They leave Phenac City when they see a familiar face. (end of chapter)