"Begin with infestation, Swalot."

The audience went even crazier as they saw that Ash owned more than one legendary pokemon. It was a rare sight to see, after all. Many were interested to watch how Ash would battle with his mew against Swalot, as not many people had even seen the pokemon from Hoenn before. Ash himself was also curious in how Koga would fight with Swalot and if it would be different compared to the rest of his pokemon or not.

"Fire spin and wil-o-wisp."

"Shadow ball."

"Dodge it and use volt switch."

Emmie burned Swalot and she trapped her inside a whirlpool of fire, which constantly stole the health of her opponent each turn. She then dodged the shadow ball and switched herself out of the battle, whilst still inflicting damage onto the poison type. Then, Gengar was revealed from the pokeball and the new battle between the two poison types commenced.

"Destiny bond, Gengar."

"Earthquake."

"Jump up and use psychic."

"Infestation."

"Shadow ball."

Gengar used destiny bond, in case he lost the battle. That way, Swalot would also faint and the battle would end in a draw. He also managed to avoid the earthquake by jumping up and keeping himself up in the air with psychic. Also, he hurt Swalot by throwing her around the battlefield with the commanded move. In return, she used infestation on Gengar. However, this wasn't very effective as bug type moves were weak against poison types.

"You use your shadow ball as well."

"Facade, then perish song again."

Koga recognised the deathly tune, 'This strategy again? I would substitute pokemon at this stage, but the league doesn't allow me to so I guess that this battle will just be a draw unless I take Gengar down quickly.'

"Use shadow ball again."

"Hex and focus blast."

As one turn passed, the two ghost type attacks collided. Naturally, hex overpowered the shadow ball since it was a stronger move. Swalot was hit with both of the attacks and she was starting to feel drained after having so much of her health drained away. Ash had hope that he would be able to take Swalot down quick enough, before the perish song effected the pokemon.

"Ice beam."

The elite four member could only pray that the ice beam would freeze Gengar by some miracle before the last turn, so he could win the match. However, that wasn't what happened. Just after the attack landed on the ghost type he released the focus blast, which made a rather large impact on Swalot. She was sent flying backwards by the immense force of the attack, until she eventually crashed against a wall. Ash took this chance to make his last move.

"Quickly, charge in and use foul play."

"Water pulse."

That was it. At that very moment both of the Pokemon collapsed onto the ground, signifying that battle's end. It was another draw and one thought passed through both trainers' minds as they approached their Pokemon: 'We have to win the next one.'

"Both pokemon are unable to battle, so this match is a draw. Please send out your last pokemon."

"I'm proud of you Gengar, so get lots of rest," Ash stroked his head. "Emmie, I choose you."

Koga bowed his head down, "You did your best Swalot, now return. Go, Muk."

"Right Emmie, let's start off with aura sphere."

"Dark pulse."

"Nasty plot and sandstorm."

"Toxic."

"Sand tomb, then high horsepower."

"Infestation."

"Wil-o-wisp, then earthquake."

The legendary pokemon raised her special attack stat by quite a bit, she burned Muk, used a super effective attack on him; she was able to take away some of the poison type's health by using two super effective health draining moves: sandstorm and sand tomb. On the other hand Muk poisoned Emmie, also used a super effective move against her and sapped a little bit of her health with infestation. So far, the battle was extremely tense and everyone could sense the obvious tension between Ash and the elite four member.

Koga strategised, 'Once Muk begins to feel more tired, I could use the same plan that I used on Latias earlier. I know that it's risky, but a draw is better than a loss.'

"Emmie, use psychic fangs and iron tail."

"Shadow sneak, then shadow punch."

"Dig."

"Venoshock and facade."

Muk avoided Emmie's attacks by using shadow sneak and he strikes with shadow punch once he was at a close enough distance from her. Unfortunately for him, she protected herself by using dig. However Muk took advantage of how near she was with venoshock, then using facade straight afterwards.

He furrowed his eyebrows in deep thought, 'Considering that Muk used toxic, I think that mew is on the verge of fainting. Muk is also almost there, so I may as well use this move now.'

"Life dew."

"Explosion, Muk."

Ash frowned in what almost seemed like disappointment, 'Seriously, this again?'

There was a loud boom, an echo and a powerful wind that almost blew the audience away. Everyone already knew the outcome of the match, but they were still leaning forward in anticipation and trying to see the end results of the battle through the smoke. Finally the smoke cleared and it revealed the two pokemon, who were lying unconscious on the ground. Koga had learned the sheer power of legendary pokemon and Ash was not so lucky this time, like he was with Latias.

The referee stepped forward and made his final announcement, "Both pokemon are unable to battle so this battle has ended in a draw, meaning that Ash Ketchum will not be moving on to challenge the next elite four member."

His frown deepened, 'That is seriously disappointing: I wanted another intense battle, not to be taken out almost straight away with an explosion. Oh well, Koga was a great challenge apart from that.'

"Thank you, Muk," Koga returned him to his pokeball. "Ash, that was great match: you've improved so much since our gym battle."

"I really enjoyed battling you, Koga," Ash nodded whilst ruffling Emmie's fur and also putting her back. "It would be great if we could battle again."

Koga agreed with the trainer's statement, "Yes, it would."

"Well see you soon, Koga."

"You too and I'm sure you'll go far in the next league you decide to participate in."

...

As Misty caught sight of Ash after exiting the stadium, she grinned and waved, "Hey, Ash!"

"Yo, Misty," Ash smiled.

"That was a great battle," Misty complimented. "It's just too bad that Koga used explosion twice."

Ash rolled his eyes, "I know, I was really annoyed. I guess I'll just have to look into different ways to counter and survive that, in case any other people I battle against use the same kind of techniques."

"I guess that's one way to look at it," Misty shrugged. "I bet that you could've moved on if he didn't do that."

"Yeah, it's probably why he did that in the first place."

"Anyway," Misty reminded herself and her friend. "We've got a lot to do before we leave, don't we?"

"Mhmm," Ash responded. "I've got to go and drop Tyranitar back to his mother, which shouldn't take too long... Then stop at Alto Mare for Latias, which could take longer-"

"Are you doing it before, or after Christmas?" Misty questioned.

The trainer thought for a moment, then answered, "I'll make sure Tyranitar gets back today, but I'm not too sure about Latias..."

"I'm sure that Bianca and Lorenzo won't mind too much if you wait a little bit: after all, it's nearly Christmas," Misty suggested. "It would be a shame if you couldn't spend Christmas with your mother."

"Yes, you're was a genius!" Ash chuckled gratefully. "I'll call them after we get back from returning Tyranitar to his mother."

Misty told him, "For now though, we need to heal you're pokemon."

"Indeed we do," Ash then rushed to the pokemon centre, with Misty trying to catch up with him.

...

Once Ash handed his pokemon over to nurse Joy, he chose to stop at their room. Before he left, nurse Joy notified, "Oh Misty, your sisters have been trying to call you."

With a suprised expression, she replied, "Ah thank you, nurse Joy."

Ash turned to face his friend, "Hey, should I leave or stay with you?"

"You can go to the room if you want," Misty stroked Pikachu's head. "I'll tell you about the call later."

"Sure."

After he went upstairs, Misty walked over to the video phones and dialled the Cerulean gym's number. Not even a few seconds later, her sisters screeched into the phone, "Misty we need you to like, stop travelling with your boyfriend and come back here ASAP!"

"He's not my boyfriend," Misty folded her arms, before concern became evident on her face. "Why do you need me, anyway?"

"Well, we've just won tickets from this beauty contest and we can travel the world now," Violet explained dreamily with stars in her eyes.

Lily added with an eye roll , "And we like, really hate this job."

Daisy intervened, "But we know how much you love battling: so if you could get back here then that would be like, totally awesome."

"I see," Misty hesitated. "How long will you be away?"

"Umm," Lily pretended to think. "A whole year! Isn't that great?"

Misty fake smiled, "Yeah, totally! How long until you leave?"

"We're leaving tomorrow," Violet squealed in excitement. "I'm can't wait to see all of the hot guys."

"So you'll have to get here like, really quickly," Lily stated the obvious, with sarcasm.

"I get it, I'll be back as soon as I can be," Misty tried to stop her tears from falling and said one last thing before hanging up. "Have a good Christmas without me."

She then made her way up to her and Ash's room. As soon as she opened the door and saw Ash, she finally let her tears stream down her face, whilst she held onto Ash tightly and cried with her face on his shoulder. Saying that Ash was shocked was a complete understatement. He'd never seen his closest friend cry this much and he felt a sudden rush of rage for her sisters. He pulled her in closer and he grimaced at the sight of her breaking down.

'What on Earth did they say to make her cry this much?'

Ash had chosen not to say anything and he patiently waited for her to recover. Eventually, Misty pulled away from the hug and took a step backwards. She focused her eyes from the floor onto Ash and wiped the remaining tears off of her face, then spoke with a shaky voice, "Let's take Tyranitar back... I'll tell you what they said on the way: I think I need some fresh air, anyway."

"Whatever you want, Mist."

...

It took a few minutes for them to actually head outside: Misty washed her face with cold water and changed clothes, to make herself feel more fresh and clean from the pain she felt at the time. Half of the journey there was silent, since Misty felt afraid to talk and Ash didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. After all he knew how sensitive she truly was and he didn't want to end anything with a fight, awkwardness or any more tears.

Soon, Misty was frustrated and questioned, "Aren't you going to ask me anything?"

"I didn't want to rush you against your will, so I was just waiting for you."

"Do you want to know?"

"Yeah."

"Do you care?"

"Of course, I do."

"Fine," Misty bit her lip. "I guess I can start explaining, now."

Ash shrugged, "Go for it."

"I might've overreacted slightly with how much I cried earlier-"

He encouraged her, "Don't worry, just say as much as you want and tell me how you feel."

They slowed down, until they eventually stood still in the sunset and Misty murmured, "My sisters are leaving tomorrow to go on a world trip for a year and they're leaving me to be Cerulean city's gym leader."

"Oh, no..."

"And they didn't even want to spend Christmas with me... they didn't even wish me a 'merry christmas' at all," Misty sniffled. "The worst part is that they sounded like they couldn't wait to leave me, alone! I know they don't like me, but you'd think that they'd at least cared a little bit."

Ash nodded in understanding, "That really is terrible Misty, I really can't believe you're sisters would do something that horrible."

"I know..."

Then, they started to walk again and Ash tried to lift her mood up, "There are more positive way to think about this, though."

"Like what?"

"Well," Ash gazed into her eyes. "You can think of it as being one step closer to becoming a water pokemon master, like you've always dreamed of."

"I guess..."

Ash grinned, "You could make the gym way better than they ever could, just to spite them."

Misty giggled, "Maybe."

"I know that you could run a gym way better than them," Ash place his hand onto her shoulder. "Because you actually enjoy and care about battles and pokemon, unlike them."

Ash's friend dozed off tiredly and let out an, "Mm."

"Plus, I could stay and help you run the gym for a while," Ash proposed an idea. "I was planning on staying at home for a month to train my pokemon, but we can always train our pokemon together at your gym if you want."

She snapped out of her daydream, "That would be great, but you don't have to stay for too long: I know how much you want to go to Hoenn."

"You can tell me to leave, when you get fed up of me," Ash joked. "You're my friend and I'll always be there and willing to support you. You know that, right?"

Misty nodded, then briefly changed the subject, "It's getting late now: we need to hurry."

"Yup, let's get going."

"And Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No problem, Mist."

...

Ash released Tyranitar from his pokeball when they arrived at the same spot. Tyranitar looked around and he realised where he was. He asked Ash, "Could you speak to my mother?"

"Sure," Ash nodded and petted his head. "Hi, Tyranitar said that he wanted to come back to you."

"Are you in the same spot?"

"Yes, we are."

"I'll be there in a minute, then."

"She's already nearby, she'll be there really soon."

"That's good: I'm excited to see her again," Tyranitar smiled. "I'll be able to come back anytime, right?"

"Of course!" Ash exclaimed. "Everyone's happy to have you around, you know. I'll miss you as well, too."

"I'll miss you as well, Ash."

They chatted for slightly longer, until there were large stomps heading towards where they were. It must've been Tyranitar's mother, so he shouted, "Mother, is that you?"

"It is, son," she smiled. "Are you ready to go?"

"I am."

"Thanks again for raising my son to be so strong," his mother said gratefully. "Will you be coming back soon?"

"I can trust Tyranitar to get back on his own," Ash told her the truth. "Emmie will be able to help him, when he needs it."

"I see," his mother nodded. "See you soon, then."

"Bye, Ash."

"I hope we can meet again soon!"

...

"Are you going to come to Alto-Mare with me, or are you going to go home straight away?" Ash wondered.

Misty mused for a moment, then chose, "I'll come with you, but I'm going to have to head home straight afterwards."

"Cool... should we head over to Pallet town tomorrow?"

"Yeah, we should if we want to get there in time."

...

Author's notes:

So Ash didn't win against Koga, but hopefully he should be heading to Hoenn soon :D