I'm trying to get these chapters out to you guys as soon as possible, but I don't want to rush them all, otherwise they wouldn't be up to par as I would like. Also, for those of you, who reviewed, thank you. You also gave me some ideas on who to use within these last few battles. I'll either be doing both battles in this chapter, or separate them into two parts. So it maybe a little longer than usual if I decide to combine them. So without further ado, here's chapter 35!

Chapter 35- The Final Four Part 1!

"And now ladies and gentleman, here are the matches for the final four!" Rich announced to everyone in the stadium.

Everyone in the stadium was watching the big screen as the pictures of the trainers began to shuffle around. The tension was rising, especially for Ash. He, Misty, Paul, and Domino were all on the battlefield watching the screen with everyone else in the stadium.

"Who am I going to face?" Ash thought nervously. "I don't wanna face Misty at all. I know Paul's tough, but I don't know what kind of Pokemon he's got and that goes same with Dominique; she's incredibly powerful."

As the pictures began to slow down, it went to a complete stop, revealing the final two battles.

"And the two battles are Dominique vs. Ash and Paul vs. Misty! Tomorrow will be an off day, so the stadium can be rebuilt." Rich announced, excited about the battles.

Ash and Misty, who were standing right next to each other, turned to their left and saw the other two trainers. There was a moment of silence, but then Dominique spoke. "Well, good luck to you Ash! Let's have a great battle!"

Ash gave her a small grin and replied, "Thanks; good luck to you too."

Paul just glared at the couple before angrily speaking to them. "You're little girlfriend's going down first and then I'm after you!"

"I don't think so you jerk!" Misty yelled back at him while being held back by her boyfriend.

He just shrugged it off and walked away. That left both Ash and Misty really infuriated with the Veilstone City trainer. But they couldn't do anything about him so they just walked back to their friends. Obviously, they all had questions.

"What's Paul's problem?" Dawn was the first to ask. "I know he's a jerk, but he never acted like this before."

"I can't tell you honestly." Ash answered her right away. "It's like he has some personal reason that he hates me and Misty."

"Well, I say we just enjoy the rest of the night tonight and then we can help you both with picking your Pokemon tomorrow." Brock suggested, trying to change the mood of seemingly tense atmosphere.

"I agree with Brock!" May squealed happily. "Let's go out to eat!"

"Okay female Ash!" Misty joked, causing everyone in the group to laugh, even Ash.

After that, the group of trainers and coordinators all went out to get something to eat, enjoying each other's company.

XXX

Paul and Domino were back in their cabin talking through video to Giovanni to receive their orders on what to do next for the tournament. It was the most secretive cabin in all of the

"Paul, I want you to use these Pokemon. Especially this last one, but only if she brings down you're first five Pokemon." The Team Rocket Boss explained explicitly to the Sinnoh native.

"Yes sir." Paul simply replied, holding an evil smile, wondering the possibilities of what the Pokemon could be.

"You may be dismissed. I need to talk to Domino alone." Giovanni ordered.

"Yes sir. I'll go out for a walk." Paul responded while gathering the pokeballs he would use against his opponent tomorrow and left the room.

After he left, Domino went to make sure that he did left and to make sure that no one else was spying on them. "The proximity is clear sir."

"Excellent," Giovanni began. "There's something very important you must do if you lose to him."

XXX

After a great night out with friends, Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu were all up making last minute preparations along with Dawn, May, and Max, who all showed up, joining them on their walk towards the stadium.

"So Ash, you're the first battle." Max reminded the Pallet Town trainer. "Are you ready?"

"Of course I'm ready!" Ash exclaimed, confident that he would win.

"Be careful Ash." Misty warned. "You really don't know anything about Dominique. I mean she's nice and everything, but there's something strange about her."

"What do you mean 'strange'?" May asked.

"Well," She hesitantly began, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. "She doesn't seem who she say's to be."

"I agree." Dawn chimed in. "There's something weird about her."

After another five minutes of walking, they made it to the stadium. Once they made it, there was someone familiar greeting them.

"Hey Mr. Goodshow!" The group exclaimed, happy to see the elderly man.

"Hello everyone!" He happily greeted the young trainers. "I'm sorry, but Ash and Misty need to head to the trainer's waiting room right away."

"Don't worry, we understand." Brock answered for the group. "Good luck to the both of you."

"Yeah, good luck!"

"I wanna see you both in the final battle!"

The couple thanked their friends and then followed Mr. Goodshow to the waiting room. He opened the door and revealed a medium sized room with two leather couches, a couple of flat screens, a bar, a mini fridge, and a table filled with appetizers. Also in the room were their opponents for the day: Paul and Dominique.

"Hey guys!" The undercover Rocket agent happily greeted the two trainers, walking up to them and shaking hands. Meanwhile, Paul just stayed at his spot on the couch, giving them both his usual scowl.

"Hey their Dominique. Good luck in our match today." Ash happily told her.

"And speaking of your match," The old man interrupted them. "You and Dominique are up right now."

"Do I have to stay in here to watch the battle?" Misty asked before they all left.

"Of course not! You can sit in the stands with your friends or you can stay on Ash's sideline." The head of the P.L.A laughed out, chuckling at the end.

"Thank you." The red headed gym leader thought. She couldn't stand to be in the room alone with Paul. She thought that he would try to intimidate her and would probably end up getting in trouble for killing Paul.

She began to walk with the group and to everyone's surprise, Paul decided to join them. But he kept his distance from everyone else. They continued to walk until there were two different hallways leading to two different locker rooms.

"Well, I'll be outside introducing you two." President Goodshow said to Ash and Dominique. "Don't worry, you'll each have five minutes before you get out. Good luck to the both of you and do your best!"

"Thank you." The whole group replied.

As soon as he left, each of them said their final words to each other. Ash and Misty walked towards the right and entered their locker room as Dominique and Paul walked to the left and entered the other locker room. Ash began to walk around, pacing in the locker room nervously. Sure he had made it to the final four before, but this time he knew he had a chance to actually win and make it to the championship round.

"Ash, are you okay?" Misty asked with much concern in her voice.

"Yeah," He answered right away, looking at her with sweat on his face. "Just a little nervous is all."

"You're more than a little nervous." She joked. "You gotta calm down. Brock believes in you, May and Max believe in you, Dawn believes in you, and I believe in you. You have to believe in yourself."

He heard her inspirational speech loud and clear. He knew that she was right. He knew that he had so many people believing in him. She didn't even mention his mother or Professor Oak. "You're right Mist." He grabbed her and passionately kissed her. Unfortunately, it was interrupted by Mr. Goodshow's announcement.

"Now for the first half of our final four, we have Ash and Dominique!"

"Let's go Mist." He said, changing his tone back to more serious. With that, they both walked to the stadium.

XXX

"I suggest you win this battle to make it easier for the both of us." Paul spat at the undercover Rocket.

"I suggest you watch your tone with me." Domino spat back with twice the ferocity. "You're lucky I haven't killed you yet."

Although she said those words, Paul wasn't intimidated at all. He was confident enough that she wouldn't touch him.

"Whatever." He replied with no emotion in his voice.

"Now for the first half of our final four, we have Ash and Dominique!"

With the announcement, she left him alone in the locker room and walked onto the battlefield.

XXX

Both trainers were standing in their respective trainers boxes. The battlefield was a rocky terrain with some mountainous rocks on the field.

Misty was sitting on Ash's trainer bench, looking at him. He seemed very confident, but she could tell that he was still nervous. Brock and the rest of the gang began to cheer for him on the field.

"Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the first of two final four matches! This will be a full six on six battle. Trainers may switch Pokemon whenever they want. The winner will be decided once all six Pokemon are defeated. Are the rules clear?" The referee explained.

"Yup!" Ash exclaimed.

"You know I am!" She exclaimed with the same enthusiasm.

"Then let the battle begin!" He exclaimed as he waved up the two flags, indicating the start of the battle.

"Let's go Alakazam!" The human psychic type took a battle position, similar to a boxer's pose while holding his spoons tightly.

Ash studied the psychic type on the field and luckily for him, he had a dark type Pokemon in his party. "I choose you, Scrafty!" Ash exclaimed as he released the Hoodlum Pokemon from his poke ball. He took a similar stance as his opponent.

"Huh. He's a lot smarter than I figured." Domino thought. "Whatever, I'll still beat him." "Now use focus punch!"

"Dodge them Scrafty!" The Psi Pokemon began to throw his giant fists at the small dark/fighting type, but luckily for Ash, Scrafty was quick enough to dodge them. He knew that he needed to go on the attack and fast. "Now use dark pulse!"

The orange Hoodlum Pokemon charged and unleashed a spiral of dark energy right at his opponent and hit his opponent right in his chest, causing him to fall on his back and the undercover Rocket agent to get agitated.

"Come on Alakazam, get up!" She encouraged her Pokemon. Listening, he slowly got up onto his feet after getting hit by the super effective attack. "Great, now use light screen!" The Psi Pokemon focused his two spoons to create a light, almost invisible shield.

This was what Ash wanted. Trying to hide a very obvious grin, he gave his Pokemon the next command. "Now use brick break!" The Hoodlum Pokemon's hand began to glow as he jumped towards his opponent. His hand made contact with the Psi Pokemon's shield and destroyed it and also hitting his opponent and made him stumble back.

Now was the time for Ash to finish the battle. "Hit him with crunch!" Still in range, Scrafty jumped towards his opponent and bit him on the left arm.

"Come on Alakazam, you gotta fight back!" The undercover Rocket agent yelled at the weakened Pokemon. At this point, she was frustrated with the Pokemon and basically gave up the battle.

"Finish this with headbutt!" Ash commanded.

The Hoodlum Pokemon again jumped towards the dazed Psi Pokemon but this time head first and smashed his head against his, which caused Alakazam to fall over and faint.

"Alakazam is unable to battle, Scrafty wins!"

"And with that, Ash wins the first battle! A rarity for whoever faces Dominique! Who will she use now?!"

She gave a happy look at her opponent, trying to hide the frustration and anger she was really holding. She had to put her emotions aside and release her next Pokemon. "Let's go Braviary!" The eagle like Pokemon shot up into the air and hissed his own name, and waiting for her command, which she gave right away.

"Let's finish this battle right away with brave bird!" The Valiant Pokemon shot at the Hoodlum Pokemon covered in a red aura of powerful energy and shot at Scrafty like a missile. Braviary then expanded its wings and then the energy turned blue and ran into Scrafty, causing a huge explosion. Braviary flew out, recovering from recoil damage while the smoke cleared. The result was Scrafty lying on the ground fainted.

"Scrafty is unable to battle, Braviary wins!"

Ash returned the fainted dark/fighting type into its red and white spherical home and praised it for its efforts. He then grabbed the next pokeball and tossed it onto the field, releasing Feraligatr.

The Big Jaw Pokemon came out and shouted its name, ready for battle. Ash wanted to end this battle right away and didn't hesitate to call out his first order. "Use ice beam!"

"Dodge it by using agility!" As Feraligatr shot beams of ice at his opponent, Braviary was able to easily dodge them, making Ash a bit angry, making Domino very happy. Then Ash thought of an idea of how to slow it down.

"Aim your ice beam at the tip of its wings!" He ordered.

The blue crocodilian shot a beam of ice a little to the right of where the eagle was flying. Domino just looked at her opponent with confusion on her face.

She didn't notice, but Braviary was starting to lose speed. Then eventually the tip of the right wing of Braviary was covered in ice. That was the point where it began to lose altitude and the opportunity for Ash to finish this battle. "Use an ice brick break!"

"What?!"

"What?!"

"What did he just say?!"

The Big Jaw Pokemon using his incredible leg strength and jumped up as high to where Braviary was flying with his hand glowing and covered in ice and chopped down onto the head of the Valiant Pokemon, causing him to crash into the ground. The result was to Ash's liking and Domino's dislike.

"Braviary is unable to battle, Feraligatr wins!"

"With a bit of luck, strategy, and an improvised move, Ash and Feraligatr win this round, causing Dominique to fall behind once again!"

"I wish that stupid announcer would shut up." Domino thought angrily. She would usually remain cool and collected on an important task like this. She knew that Ash was a great trainer, but not this great.

Paul was smirking because he could tell that she was getting frustrated. He knew that Ash could come up with the craziest strategies off the top of his head. And now that he has fully evolved Pokemon, he was even more dangerous. Maybe Giovanni was right: maybe he couldn't defeat Ash now.

Domino just threw a random pokeball out there without thinking of what it was and with her luck, it was a Haxorus.

"Alright Haxorus, start this battle off with a hyper beam!"

As soon as Ash heard her command, he knew that Feraligatr would lose the battle if he got hit. "You gotta dodge it!"

The Axe Jaw Pokemon charged up the powerful attack in his mouth and unleashed a beam of raw energy right at its opponent. Luckily for Ash, the Big Jaw Pokemon jumped to the side of the attack, but it almost hit Ash. Luckily he was fine though, but the league official turned towards Dominique and had to give her a warning. "Watch where you're attacking, if you do that again, you'll be disqualified."

"Fine." She muttered.

"Use ice beam!" Ash ordered his Pokemon.

"Block it!"

As Feraligatr shot a powerful beam of ice at the dragon type, Haxorus crossed her arms to block the attack. The attack hit and her arms were frozen, but because she was very strong, the dark green dragon brock through the ice, making Ash a bit frustrated. He remembered seeing this after witnessing Iris and Drayden battle.

"Time to finish this battle with giga impact!" She ordered.

"Feraligatr, use ice aqua jet!" He smirked as he commanded.

The Dragon type mustered up his energy and launched towards her opponent engulfed by a purple shield of energy with orange streaks. The water type launched himself while engulfing himself by water. Then he shot an ice beam inside the shield of water now turning into ice, creating an ice missile. The two attacks collided in the middle of the battlefield, causing an explosion with chunks of ice flying all over the field with a thick layer of dust covering the field.

The result was both Pokemon lying on the ground, trying to get up. They both struggled to get to their knees, but as soon as they did, they both fell on their stomachs, fainted on the ground. The referee went to check on the conditions of both Pokemon and it was clear that they weren't getting up.

"Both Feraligatr and Haxorus are both unable to battle, this match is a draw." The referee announced as he waved both flags in the air.

Both trainers returned their Pokemon. Ash praised his Pokemon for his hard work, while Domino cursed it under her breath to make sure no one heard it. They both chose their next Pokemon.

"Hariyama, I choose you!" The bulky, round fighting type came out of its pokeball and got into a sumo wrestling stance, getting itself ready for battle.

The Pallet Town trainer looked down at his third Pokemon's pokeball. He rarely used this Pokemon, but he could always count on it whenever needed. "I choose you, Muk!"

"Muk?" Misty questioned.

"He has a Muk?" Both Rocket trainers asked out loud.

"Ew gross! Why would he use that thing?!" May and Dawn exclaimed in disgust.

The pile of purple sludge was happy to see the battlefield for the first time this tournament. Standing across was his opponent, eager to get this battle finished, the same with his trainer, who was starting to show anger. Without any warning, she gave her command right after the referee announced the start of the match. "Let's finish this quick, use giga impact!"

The Arm Thrust Pokemon launched himself, being surrounded by a purple aura with orange streaks right at the Sludge Pokemon. As Hariyama was inching closer and closer, neither Ash nor Muk were intimidated.

"Perfect." Ash thought. She did exactly what he wanted her to do. "You know what to do Muk!"

The fighting type crashed into the poisonous pile of sludge. The collision was so powerful that it could take out Snorlax, which caused a mini explosion on the field. Once the smoke cleared, the result was what nobody expected: both standing on the field, seemingly perfectly fine.

While everyone in the stand was confused on what happened, Domino figured it out right away. "Acid armor huh, very clever Ketchum."

"Thanks." He replied.

"But that won't get you the win. Use arm thrust to break that armor." With his very large hands, he began to thrust away at the seemingly invisible shield. He cracked it with his left hand and then finally broke it with his right hand, which caused the purple sludge to cringe in pain.

Domino was beginning to feel pleased with what was going on, but she had to end it now. "Brick break!"

When Hariyama raised his left arm for the finishing blow, he quickly pulled it back and cringed in pain, starting to lose his breath, and holding his sides. With Domino being a smart trainer, she knew that her Pokemon had just been poisoned.

Now was the time for Ash to finish this battle. "Use sludge bomb!" The pile of sludge opened his mouth and shot out a ton of bombs at the bulky fighting type in the face. He stumbled backwards and fell on his back. He struggled to get back up, but his attempt failed.

"Hariyama is unable to battle, Muk wins!"

"After being poisoned and being hit by a direct sludge bomb, Muk defeats Hariyama!"

"Alright, great job Muk!" The Pallet Town trainer exclaimed towards the affectionate poison type. He happily replied by saying his name.

She angrily returned the fainted fighting type. She had been holding in her frustration this entire battle and now it was beginning to visibly show, especially in her eyes, as they began to turn darker and darker, like the day changing into night time.

"Let's go Luxray!" The undercover Rocket agent shouted as the Gleam Eyes Pokemon came out of his pokeball. This Luxray was different than most. Instead of its skin being blue, it was gold.

"Wow, and this Luxray's shiny!"

"Alright Luxray, let's end this quickly. Use thunderbolt!" The gold and black lion charged up and unleashed a powerful jolt of electricity at his opponent. Muk couldn't do anything except take the full force of the electric attack. After he was finished, the pile of sludge lied on the ground fainted and unable to move.

"Muk is unable to battle, Luxray wins!"

"And that was a quick battle! Ash has two Pokemon left, who will he use next?!"

Ash pulled out his next pokeball and tossed it on the field, revealing a Tauros. The Wild Bull Pokemon began to prepare for battle by slamming his hoofs into the ground, staring down his opponent.

After the referee waved his flags to begin the battle, both trainers didn't waste any time in beginning the battle.

"Luxray use thunderbolt!"

"Tauros use hyper beam!"

After both Pokemon charged up, they unleashed their respective attacks, Luxray with his stream of powerful electricity and Tauros with his beam of raw energy. The two powerful attacks collided in the middle of the battlefield and caused a huge explosion. The result of the two attacks was a draw.

"Since you can't move right away after hyper beam, now's my time to strike." Domino thought happily, finally having some momentum on her side. "Use another thunderbolt!"

Ash knew that he couldn't move right away, but he did have a strategy for it. "Use double team!"

As the attack was reaching closer and closer, the attack hit the wild bull, or what seemed to be. It was revealed that it was only a carbon copy of the original, so now that there were only three left.

Domino should have seen this coming. But she couldn't back down. "Use iron-". She was interrupted by Ash's order. "Earthquake!"

The Wild Bull Pokemon raised its two legs and stomped onto the ground as hard as it possibly could and made the earth shake, causing great damage to the electric type. The Gleam Eyes Pokemon was struggling to stay up after taking all the damage. Now was the time that Ash finished it. "Use giga impact!"

"Dodge it!" Domino called.

Tauros began to rush towards his tired and beaten opponent being surrounded by a purple shield with orange streaks. Luxray couldn't do anything and was forced to take the hit head on, causing him to fly back and hit the wall of the arena. The result of the hit was obvious.

"Luxray is unable to battle, Tauros wins!"

"And now Dominique is down to her last Pokemon! What will it be?"

"You're a great trainer Ash, but you're not going to win." Domino told Ash hastily. "Let's go Metagross!"

Ash was confused by her sudden change of attitude and so were friends.

"I knew something was up with her." May said, as she could hear her on the battlefield.

Misty analyzed Dominique based off on what she just said and the way she sounded. "She sounds so familiar. Where did I meet her?" Her thoughts got distracted as she heard a big thud hit the ground, which was Tauros being defeated by Metagross.

She was now worried about Ash as he looked like he lost a bit of confidence. Even though he'd been dominating most of the battle, this last stretch was starting to be mentally tough for the black haired trainer.

"I trust my Pokemon. I choose you, Typhlosion!"

The Volcano Pokemon was ecstatic to take the battlefield, considering that he lost the last time he battled. He was determined to win this time around. So the fire type took a battle stance as fire unleashed from his neck, indicating that it was ready to battle.

"Let's start this off with an earthquake!" Domino ordered. The Iron Leg Pokemon stomped his front right leg onto the ground, causing the already damaged battlefield to shake tremendously.

"Jump and use flare blitz!" Ash commanded. He took a little bit of damage from the earthquake, but obliged and jumped as his body began to heat up. Then the flames turned blue and then shot at Metagross like a missile. Once they collided, the steel type began to feel the burn of the attack.

After he finished the attack, Typhlosion jumped back and took some recoil damage. He stared down Metagross, who had some burns but other than that, looked like he didn't take any damage at all, which surprised everyone in the stadium.

"Unbelievable! Metagross just took on a very powerful flare blitz and looked like it didn't take any damage at all!"

"But how is that possible?!" He thought.

"You got lucky to get that first hit. And it's the only one you'll get on it." She replied. She also knew that he was wondering, so he answered him. "I've trained my Metagross in hot volcanos, so he's really resistant to fire attacks."

He couldn't think of anything else but attack. "Alright let's go Typhlosion, use flamethrower!"

"You must be more ignorant than I thought." She replied to his order. "Metagross use psychic!"

As the powerful stream of fire was approaching the steel/psychic type, it used its psychic powers to control the fire and just tossed it to the side, which surprised everyone.

"Like I said, my Metagross's very powerful. Now use meteor mash!" The Iron Leg Pokemon jumped incredibly high towards the fire type and smashed it in its chest and sent it flying back to hit the wall, causing great concern.

"Come on Typhlosion! I know you can get up!" Ash encouraged his Pokemon.

The fire badger slowly rose back to his feet and relit his collar and giving a loud roar. Ash now had a strategy that he could attempt against the powerful Metagross. "Awesome Typhlosion! Now use fire spin!"

Before the Volcano Pokemon released the attack, he was engulfed by a powerful red energy, activating its special ability blaze. After getting an extra boost, the fire spin looked more like a fire tornado as it engulfed the steel type.

"Come on Metagross! Hyper beam!" The Iron Leg Pokemon was still strong enough to charge up and unleash a beam of raw energy through its fire trap.

"Perfect." He thought, smiling as he knew he was confident enough to win now. "Use dig to dodge!"

As ordered, Typhlosion dodged the beam by digging underground.

Domino growled in frustration, as she knew now that she was in a bad spot. Metagross couldn't move due to the after effects of hyper beam.

Now was the time for Ash to win the battle. "Now shoot up and use flare blitz!"

Just like a missile, it shot up and hit the Iron Leg Pokemon from underneath, while engulfing itself in a blue fire. The two attacks combined and caused an explosion, causing a heat wave to travel through the stadium, causing everyone to heat up. After the smoke cleared, Typhlosion ended up on top of its fainted opponent.

"Metagross is unable to battle, Typhlosion wins, which means that Ash Ketchum is moving on to the final round!"

"And that's all she wrote! Ash defeats Dominique and moves on to the final round! We'll take a one hour break so that the trainers can also witness the other battle!"

Ash jumped and cheered as he ran towards his very weak Typhlosion, giving it a huge hug. Misty eventually joined the two as she embraced the two of them.

Domino angrily returned the fainted Pokemon and walked towards Paul. "You better win, or else."

"Is that a threat?" He asked hastily.

"It's a promise." She responded angrily.

She walked out of the stadium at a fast pace, not even wanting to acknowledge her opponent. She quickly returned to her secret hideout at the village and called her boss.

"As you saw, I lost." Domino began.

"Yes I know, but that's alright." The Rocket Boss replied calmly. "After Paul wins, I need you to execute the plan we've talked about."

XXX

That's chapter 35! As you can see, I've decided to divide up the final four. It would take too long for me to write both battles in one chapter. Also, I apologize on how long this chapter's taken.

So now Ash has won his final four battle, who will he face, Misty or Paul? And what's Team Rocket's plan? Find out next chapter! Which I will work on right away!