Ash was greeted with silence as he made his way into the mess hall. When he got in line for breakfast, the rest of the line left immediately. This confused him immensely. 'I wonder why they left?' he asked himself. Ash reached the food fairly quickly and started loading his plate. 'Oh well, but if it was me who caused them to leave, then I better go eat outside unless they feel the need to clear the cafeteria as well.' Ash thought and laughed quietly to himself. He finished filling his plate and headed out the door. As soon as he had left, activity in the cafeteria continued as normal. Ash went straight to an oak tree near the edge of the lawn on the outskirts of the forest. He sat down and started eating in silence when a teddyursa came over to him. "Would you like some?" he asked showing his food. The teddyursa's eyes lit up and it put out its paw expectantly. Ash laughed, "Alright, here." He placed a piece of cheese in the outstretched paw. The teddyursa stuck the cheese in its mouth then ran off into the forest. Ash sadly watched it go. "I was hoping that it would stay with me for at least a little while." He sighed and returned to his food. He finished his breakfast in silence and went to return his tray. Again he got the same treatment. Everybody ignored him and only paid him enough attention to get out of his way. Ash suppressed another sigh and made his way to Giovanni's office. As he reached the door, he heard voices coming from the room so he paused. 'It's not polite to eavesdrop.' he thought to himself and knocked. Immediately the voices stopped.

"Enter." came Giovanni's commanding voice. Ash opened the door and walked inside. "Ash my boy, you're right on time." He said as his son took his place in the large room. "This is Butch, he will be you're training partner. I have prepared a gym for you. Prepare to battle."

"At the word 'battle' Ash's ears perked. "You mean with pokemon?" he asked and at Giovanni's nod, cried out "YES!! Can I chose my own!?" he asked looking to his father for confirmation. Again Giovanni nodded and pressed a button on his desk, opening a door in the wall.

"The pokeballs are labeled. Choose whichever you like."

"Thank you father!" Ash cried and ran into the room.

"Now, where were we?" Giovanni asked Butch but before he could respond, Giovanni answered himself. "Oh yes, I want you to tell me everything that goes on in that battle today. I will be monitoring the whole thing myself, but you can get far more data from being the actual opponent. Tell me everything. Understand?" he asked.

"Yes sir." Butch responded.

At that moment, Ash came out of the room. "All ready!" he said. "Lead the way." He told Butch who looked at Giovanni who in turn nodded.

"Follow me." Butch said and left the room with Ash in tow. Butch led the way down to a gym with a referee already waiting inside.

The referee explained the rules. "This will be a two-on-two pokemon battle. Whoever's pokemon are unable to battle first loses. Understand?" he finished and the two contestants nodded. "Alright, then begin!"

Butch was the first to call out his pokemon. "Growlith, go!" he cried, releasing an orange and black striped pokemon from its pokeball. "Your turn." He said with a sneer at Ash.

"Alright!" Ash cried with his usual confidence, seemingly unaffected by Butch's hateful expression, and reached up to turn his hat around but when he failed to feel anything, he was confused. "Was I wearing a hat?" he asked Butch but when he saw him shake his head, he dismissed it as nothing. "Apalm, go!" he cried as well, releasing a purple monkey with a hand at the end of its tail.

"Since you're just a shrimp, you can have the first move." Butch sneered. "You're gonna need it."

"You'll regret this, but, Apalm swift!" he cried. The pokemon responded by shooting stars out of the hand on his tail at the growlith.

Butch called out, "Flame thrower." This prompted the little dog to unleash a fiery storm which incinerated the stars, but before growlith could counter attack, Ash had apalm on the move. Growlith turned around; trying futilely to see the monkey, but it was not to be. When Ash was sure that growlith would be unable to respond in time, he called out his attack.

"Now Apalm! Focus punch!" Apalm started running towards growlith's unprotected back, storing up energy in its tail as he went along. "Do it!" Ash cried as Apalm neared the growlith who was desperately trying to turn around. The apalm let out an incredible punch right on the head of the growlith.

"Growlith!" cried out Butch in alarm.

When the dust cleared, Apalm was the only pokemon left standing. "Grolith is unable to battle. Apalm wins!" cried the unnamed referee.

"Well that wasn't much of a challenge." said a disappointed Ash. "Apalm, return!" he called and a red light shot out from the pokeball and enveloped Apalm, returning it to where it came from. "You did great." he whispered to the pokeball. "Ready to give up yet?" he taunted.

"Hey kid," Butch replied, "who do you think you are?"

"I think that I'm the best trainer here." Ash was quick to respond, his mouth falling to habits that his mind had forgotten.

"You think so?" Butch asked mockingly but when Ash nodded, he became angry. "I'm going to knock that cocky little grin from your face permanently this time. Magmar, GO!" he called and released a red and yellow pokemon.

"If you're going to use magmar, then I'm going to use," he paused as he released what looked like a miniature dinosaur with a bulb on its back from its pokeball, "Bulbasaur!" he cried out its name. Ash looked as confident as ever at the matchup. "Go ahead, make the first move." Ash offered.

This offer just enraged Butch further. "There is absolutely NO way that that puny little grass type can beat my fire type magmar." If Ash doubted bulbasaur's chance of success, he didn't let it show but just kept smiling that cheeky little grin of his. If anything, this only served to enrage Butch more. "You aked for it!" he cried, his temper finally besting what little control he had. "Magmar, Flame Thrower!" The pokemon's eyes flashed red in acknowledgement as it stored up the energy required to unleash the stream of flame.

Ash was quick to react. "Bulbasaur, fire one round of razor leaf and then get behind it and use leach seed." Bulbasaur grunted in agreement and executed the move to perfection firing its leach seed into the nook under magmar's head after the razor leaves created an opening as well as a defense by blocking most of the flame. Some still got through but it was nothing that leach seed couldn't heal. Bolts of red light shot around magmar as an enormous amount of energy was drained. Ash realized that this was the perfect opportunity to end the battle quickly. You see, he saw the damage that bulbasaur took from the fire and didn't want to drag this out any longer than he had to. "Bulbasaur, finish it off quickly with tackle!" he cried. Bulbasaur complied willingly and within a matter of seconds, Butch's last pokemon was out of the battle.

The referee made the final call. "Magmar is unable to battle. The match goes to Ash and his bulbasaur!"

Butch was unable to believe what had happened as he called back the magmar, but Ash, by reflex, did his signature move with the peace sign. As he did the move, Ash felt an emptiness. He pondered that for a moment but put it from his mind when the bulbasaur rubbed against his leg. Ash knelt down to scratch its ears absentmindedly. Just then a messenger entered the room. "A message for Ash." Ash looked up. "You are to report to Giovanni's office immediately." Finished relaying the message, the messenger retreated from the room.

Ash shrugged. "Return bulbasaur." he called and bulbasaur was swallowed by the same red light that took apalm. With a nod of thanks to the referee, Ash left the room to respond to the summons.