Commentator: "Well this doesn't look promising... Misty Waterflower, the Blue trainer is down to her last Pokémon whilst Zachary from Mahogany Town still has one more in reserve..."

Misty could feel everyone's eyes on her as she debated her next move. All the while she kept her focus on the indifferent expression on Zachary's face and the fierce glare of his Rhyperior. Despite having the 'type advantage' initially, Rhyperior was incredibly strong, like Gym Leader team anchor strong. Feeling her hand go towards the Poké ball she wanted, she looked to the crowd and caught sight of someone she didn't expect to see watching her - Ash.

"Right Misty, what would Ash do... He'd think outside the box... That Rhyperior had a weakness policy equipped, meaning when we blasted it with hydro pump, it went insanely strong. It's dangerous in both ranged and close combat too, meaning the only way to wear this down is to play it different... And I have just the trick"

Without Vaporeon or Milotic to call on, both having fell to the monstrous Rhyperior, Misty decided to play what she hoped would be the 'ace up her sleeve'.

Misty: "Show 'em what you got Inkay!"

=[flashback]=

"Misty! Slow down!"

May panted as she finally caught up to the redhead. Holding a sheet of paper, she handed it over and gave Misty a chance to look it over a few times.

Misty: "Zachary from Mahogany Town... He's got 7 badges, all he is missing is the Blackthorn Gym one..."

May: "That's not all... Look who you potentially get in the next round..."

Misty's eye's narrowed as she spoke the name with a hint of venom.

Misty: "Serena..."

=[flashback over]=

"I have to do this... Just so I can humiliate that bitch... But first things first Misty... Snap out of it and focus on the battle!"

Announcer: "Alright... We have Inkay against Rhyperior... I don't know about you folks, but unless Misty has something up her sleeve, that little squid could end up on a plate in Kalos!"

Misty: "HEY! THAT WAS NOT COOL!"

The audience took a sharp inhale of breath at the announcer's comment and then Misty's rage breaking out to the surface.

Announcer: "Uh... Sorry?!"

Misty: "Alright Inkay! Forget about him... Let's do this!"

Inkay shouted it's name as it stared down the Rhyperior. With a look of indifference about him, Zachary simply clicked his fingers.

Zachary: "Rhyperior... Rock Blast! Knock that thing out of the sky!"

Rhyperior took aim and started to fire blasts of rock from its powerful arms.

Misty: "Inkay, Use Psychic... Go wild with it!"

Inkay's eyes widened in almost mischevious delight as Misty essentially gave it free reign to do what it wanted with the psychic attack. As the rocks started coming in, Inkay's eyes glowed blue, as did the rocks and they started to slow down at first, letting Inkay effortlessly drift between them. With the rocks still floating around it, Misty nodded.

Misty: "It won't be effective, but Return them to sender, use a psychic rock blast!"

Inkay focused its powers and began to make the rocks rotate around him in a barrier of sorts.

Zachary: "Enough, Rhyperior, fire again!"

As Rhyperior launched a rock, Inkay sent one of its own into it, smashing it out of the air much to the shock of the crowd.

(crowd)

Ash: "Wow... An Inkay... I never knew Misty had one of those..."

Sitting alongside ash was Ethan, more commonly known as 'Gold'.

Gold: "With the right trainer, Inkay can be a force to be reckoned with Ash, I'm surprised you don't have one, I thought it would be right up your street!"

Ash: "I've got my hands full with Goomy right now, little fella is almost battle ready... Gonna give him and some others a run out later in my match"

Gold: "Just don't get too cocky Ketchum... You're good, you're unorthodox, but sometimes pure power is all it takes to win a bout"

(match)

Zachary was growing frustrated. No matter what ranged attack he used, the little psychic squid was neutralising it.

Zachary: "Rhyperior... Charge in there... Take the fight to it!"

Rhyperior let out a powerful roar before it rushed forwards. Sensing the danger, Misty instinctively went to call for a double team but upon realising her Pokémon would suffer from the move, she opted for a different strategy.

Misty: "Inkay... Swagger it!"

Inkay's eyes lit up and within seconds, Rhyperior's did the same. It still continued it's head on charge but instead of hitting Inkay who managed to slip out the way, it ran head on into the arena wall, rumbling the stands a little.

Announcer: "AND RHYPERIOR IS CONFUSED! MISTY MIGHT JUST HAVE THIS!"

Zachary: "Ugh, Rhyperior, concentrate, use Focus Blast!"

Misty: "inkay, Substitute and Psych up!"

Inkay quickly created a perfect double of itself before it started to glow yellow, seemingly copying the augmented attack growth of its opponent without contrary lowering it's attack. As the focus blast came flying out, it completely obliterated the substitute but that didn't matter to Misty.

Misty: "Psywave! Lift Rhyperior up and pull it closer!"

Inkay sent out an odd wave of rainbow coloured energy which surrounded the huge final stage evolution Pokémon and summoned it towards them.

Zachary: "We got it right where we want it... MEGAHORN!"

Misty panicked. She knew Inkay being dual Psychic/Dark was likely to be one-shotted by the powerful bug based horn attack but luckily, she had a plan"

Misty: "Quick Inkay... Turn it's strength against it... FOUL PLAY!"

Inkay's tentacles extended. Glowing with dark and psychic energy, they constricted the horn and hoisted the huge Pokémon up in the air before dumping it down, using the power of it's attack against it and rendering it unable to battle! The referee raised the blue flag and the crowd let out a huge cheer, this one was going to the wire.

Announcer: "Look at that! Seafood surprise got us to the one-pokémon shootout... But what is Zachary going to bring?"

Zachary smirked and threw out a Pokéball. As the white light began to take shape, Misty's eyes widened in shock.

Announcer: "IT LOOKS LIKE WE'VE GOT A BATTLE NOW... ZACHARY JUST SENT OUT LUXRAY!"

"I don't think he realises Inkay isn't a water type... We've got this!"

Misty: "Alright Inkay... Psyshock!"

Inkay shot forwards, firing pink bolts of energy at the Luxray who stood proud.

Zach: "Luxray... thundershock it's attack then close in with Thunder Fang!"

Luxray shot a blast of electric at the incoming Psyshock, creating a small explosion before it jumped through the dust with electricity crackling in its mouth.

Misty: "Inkay... Dark Pulse and get outta there now!"

Inkay shot backwards, releasing the dark type projectile like a squid would release a jet of ink. Luxray tumbled to the ground but it picked itself up and roared before unleashing a thunderbolt attack.

Misty: "Light Screen then Psychic!"

Inkay created a golden screen in front of it, managing to take the sting out of the attack, deflecting it to the floor and when it shot a sphere of psychic energy forwards, knocking Luxray into the wall, the crowd cheered.

Announcer: "MISTY SEEMS TO HAVE SWITCHED THINGS AROUND... CAN ZACHARY COME BACK FROM THIS?"

"Don't count on it... Time to end this!"

Misty pointed at Luxray.

Misty: "Inkay... Finish it with Superpower!"

Inkay charged forwards at full speed. Having copied the attack growth from Rhyperior before, the fighting move was a guarenteed win. Smashing into the Luxray at full speed, Inkay sent it across the ring and into the wall before it slumped to the floor"

Official: "Luxray is unable to battle... The winner of this round, Misty Waterflower from Cerulean City!"

The crowd were on their feet as Inkay floated towards Misty who pulled it into a tight embrace. Jumping the barrier, May ran up alongside Misty and threw her arms round her.

May: "You did it Misty! Next stop - taking that Smug Bitch out!"

Misty nodded as May kissed her on the cheek and held her free arm up in the air whilst some of the crowd chanted her name. Looking round, Misty was only concerned about one person. Seeing him stood near the exit, the two locked eyes for a split second and in that fraction of time, despite no words being said, Misty understood it perfectly. Mouthing 'Thank you' in Ash's direction, the Raven haired trainer simply pulled down on the peak of his cap before turning his back and exiting the arena, presumably to catch Clair's match.

May: "Uh Mist... What was that about?"

Misty: "Nothing... I'll fill you in later... Right now we gotta get my guys recovered and see how Paul is getting on..."

=...=...=

Unlike Misty who had a relatively straight forward comeback, Paul's battle was totally one sided. With his Urisang clean sweeping his opponent. Though he might have become slightly kinder to his Pokémon as time had passed, he still retained that fierce and uncompromising battling style which made him such a tough opponent to face. With Dawn cheering him on and him, as usual trying to 'ignore it' but all the while enjoying how cute she looked whilst doing it, he noticed someone in the stands who he could have sworn wasn't there at the start of the match.

"That green hair... The smug look... Drew? I better warn Ash about this soon!"

=...=...=

Announcer: "And now in the main stadium... We have our first Gym Leader Exhibition Match... Goldenrod's very own Whitney... Against the toughest Gym leader in Johto... Clair!"

The two women nodded to each other from across the field. As their eyes locked and they remained 'calm', you could feel the excitement building in the crowd. As was expected, Whitney was the favourite of the crowd, her being the trainer based in the city, and also one of the more likable ones too as she was always seen out and about, socialising and getting along with everyone, but people knew the moment her Pokémon came out, that playful demeanour went out the window and she was as ruthless as her opponent. Clair on the other hand always seemed to sport the 'Resting Bitch Face' so no one could really judge what was going through her mind, but from her body language, many would say arrogance.

Clair stood there, slightly side on, arms folded across her chest with her signature black 'barbed' whip coiled and hanging from her right hand whilst the slight breeze in the stadium caused her cloak to flutter and her hair to blow slightly behind her. It was an intimidating sight, made even more so when both trainers acknowledged the referee's signal to start.

Announcer: "Remember folks, this is one on one, first to faint three Pokémon wins. There will be no substitutions and furthermore, should you wish to use Mega-Evolution, feel free..."

Whitney reached for her first Pokémon whilst Clair let her whip uncoil. With one of the coil's snagging one of her Pokéballs, she brought it up, hoisting the ball in the air, swinging it round before cracking it, sending it forwards whilst Whitney threw hers out without much imagery behind it.

Whitney: "Lopunny!"

Clair: "Altaria!"

Announcer: "First up, we have Lopunny and Altaria!"

Clair: "You know what to do Altaria... To the sky, find the tailwind and ride it!"

Altaria let out a chirp of its name as it acknowledged it's trainer and flew up. Lopunny on the other hand simply watched, hopping from one foot to the other, carefully watching the cloud-dragon circle above it. As Altaria started to pick up speed, Whitney shouted to her Pokémon.

Whitney: "Now Lopunny... Charge Beam, full spread!"

Lopunny started to release blasts of energy as Altaria managed to slip through them with little fuss, but each time it tried to descend, the beams came closer.

Clair: "Altaria, focus, time your descent and go into Dragon Rush!"

Altaria made another pass as Lopunny kept it circling. Spotting an opening, Altaria looped round and dropped down into a high speed descent with a purple and blue hue forming round it.

Whitney: "Now Lopunny, Ice Punch!"

Clair's eye's widened in shock as Lopunny's fist began to glow white and frost started to fall from it. Altaria was too comitted to the nosedive to pull out and as it came crashing down with the Dragon rush, Lopunny easily jumped out the way before twisting round and flooring the Altaria with Ice Punch, fainting it in one hit.

Official: "Altaria is unable to battle, Lopunny is the victor!"

A wave of surprise swept the stadium before a massive cheer. Having just arrived in time for her battle, to see his girlfriend go down 1-0, Ash shook his head.

"I warned her about that Lopunny... Just like a dragon... Always thinks it knows best!"

Announcer: "And Whitney takes the first round with an impressive one hit knock out punch to the dragon trainer... But round two is underway, Clair has just sent out... Oh man, She's just sent out Dragonair... This fight is on!"

Clair: "Dragonair, it defeated Altaria in one blow, don't let your guard down! You know what to do!"

Clair snapped her whip for added effect and the crack of the whip made the serpentine dragon's eyes narrow. It knew what the whip crack meant - Clair was putting full trust in her. Not wanting to let her master down, Dragonair started to arc about as it floated above the stadium floor, weaving around in a figure of eight. As it did this, almost luring the Lopunny into a trance, Whitney managed to get through to her Pokémon.

Whitney: "Lopunny, It's using Dragon Dance! Don't just stand there, Ice Punch! We can't let it build up momentum!"

Regaining its senses, Lopunny lunged forwards, going for the super effective move but Dragonair scouted it, effortlessly slipping round the rabbit before its tail glowed white with water swirling round it. Swinging it round, the graceful Pokémon smashed its tail into Lopunny's back.

Announcer: "What an Aqua Tail from Dragonair... It looks like Clair is letting her Pokémon decide what it wants to do... What trust and discipline!"

Lopunny crashed into the arena wall but it picked itself back up.

Whitney: "Mega Kick!"

Lopunny jumped and extended its legs as Dragonair was poised to strike. A golden glow formed around it's horn before the discharge of energy smashed into the airborne rabbit. As Thunder Wave found it's mark, Dragonair took the Mega Kick much to the crowd's surprise.

Clair: "Good Dragonair... Now follow it up with the usual!"

Cracking the whip once again, Dragonair withdrew closer to it's trainer whilst creating copies of itself. As it started to perform the double team, Lopunny was ready to attack again.

Whitney: "Lopunny, Low Sweep, take them all out, then Ice Beam the real one!"

As Lopunny pounced forwards before dropping into a sweeping kick, yellow sparks gripped it's body, paralysing it momentarily.

Announcer: "And it looks like Lopunny is paralyzed... Dragonair took that megakick to ensure thunder wave could set in..."

Clair: "Finish it... Dragon Breath!"

The helpless Lopunny could only watch as the blue flames crashed into it. Not wanting her Pokémon to suffer further, Whitney withdrawn it, signalling it couldn't continue.

Announcer: "And now it's 1 a piece... Who will Whitney send out next?"

Clair: "Get ready Dragonair... I don't think it's time for 'her' to come out, but she's going to have something up her sleeve regardless..."

Whitney smiled.

Whitney: "Let's see how good your dragons really are when their attacks are useless... Clefable... Do it!"

The crowd cheered whilst Ash looked on, deep in concentration.

"Dragonair knows it's attacks are useless now when it comes to the big ones, but if Clair can find a way to negate it's special attacks and bring the fight up close, she might just be able to do this one..."

Clair: "Dragonair... Close in with Aqua Jet into Aqua Tail... Put it on the back foot!"

Whitney: "Disarming Voice Clefable! Keep it away!"

Round three was looking to be a good one!

=...=...=

A/N: Rest of Battle to come