Ash's Pokemon Journey

Summary: This story is about how I think that ash's journey should have gone through, Kanto, Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova. Smart, a psychic and an Aura user. I do not own pokemon.

Note: I am not doing the Kalos Region. So fairy pokemon and Mega Evolutions don't exist.

Chapter 124

The Hearthome Tag Battle Tournament

Today was the start of the tag battle tournament in Hearthome City. The gang was in the pokemon center and Ash was handing Dawn an entry card for the tournament. Brock explained that Zoey suggested that Dawn enter the tournament too to lift her battling spirit. "She didn't say anything about that to me" said Dawn. She didn't like when anyone made decisions for her without her knowledge. "Come on Dawn," said Ash "I can feel that you are still feeling low spirited because of your loss in the pokemon contest. And this tournament is exactly what you need to perk your spirit up again". The boys agreed and so did Piplup. Dawn hesitated, but she could see that Ash was right and she did need some perking up. So she agreed to enter the tournament.

Soon everyone was at a stadium, where the tournament was taking place. A man named Enta, who was the mayor of Hearthome City and announcer of the tournament, welcomed everyone to the tournament. He made a speech the tag battle tournament was to have two trainer partners work together as one against their opponents. Next he explained that the numbers on the trainer's entry cards were to help the trainers find their partners and see what block they were in. A big tv screen lit up to show the rounds and boxes that held the numbers. There were 32 trainers in total. Enta pressed a button and the trainers' numbers appeared. Tomo was in the E block, Dawn was in the B block, Ash was in the H block and Brock was in the E block. Enta then told everyone to look for their number partners.

It took some time but the gang started to find their partners. Tomo's partner number was 26 and it was a teenaged boy named Bert. Dawn's partner number was number 9 and it was a boy named Conway. Conway had a creepy aura round him. Brock's number partner was 21 and it was a woman named Holly who had a Wingull. Soon Ash managed to find his partner number which was 5, but it ended up as bad luck to him. His partner was Paul; Paul had come to the tag battle tournament too. Ash of course wasn't thrilled to see him and it was the same with Paul. Dawn, Tomo and Brock saw the situation and Dawn thought that Ash had the worst draw. "You make sure to stay out of my way!" Paul said to Ash, rudely. That made Ash cross. "Give it a rest will ya!" he shouted. Pikachu wanted to welcome Paul's Elekid to try to make things friendly, but Ash quickly stopped him. "Don't bother Pikachu" whispered Ash. Ash knew that Paul's Elekid was no friendly pokemon and Pikachu did as he was told. "Brock is Ash going to be okay with this?" asked Dawn. "Ash has made it clear that Paul is no friendly rival," said Brock "all we can do is see what happens during this tournament".

Etna then showed off the grand prize of the tag battle tournament. It was two bells. The bells were called soothe bells and their chimes had the ability to calm pokemon even in a rage or panic. As the tournament wasn't to start till afternoon he told everyone to learn about their partners. Ash felt he shouldn't bother with Paul because he already knew what he was like.

That afternoon the tournament was underway and Dawn and Conway went up first with the partners from block A. The rules were every trainer only used one pokemon and substitutions were not allowed. And the first team to defeat the other team was the winner of the round. Dawn sent out Piplup and Conway sent out Slowking. The other Team sent out a Scyther and Koffing. "You do the attacking Dawn and leave the defending to me" said Conway. Scyther attacked with razor wind and Koffing attacked with sludge bomb. Piplup used bubble beam to defeat the razor wind attack and Slowking used safeguard to protect itself and Piplup from the sludge bomb attack. Koffing attacked next with thunderbolt, but Slowking used protect to protect itself and Piplup from the attack. "You see," said Conway "now you do whatever you want because I'll be covering you". This was why he told Dawn to leave defending to him. Scyther moved in next with x-scissor, but Piplup moved in with peck and pecked Scyther really hard. Scyther fainted from that strong flying type move. Koffing attacked next with gyro ball, but Slowking used psychic to stop it in its tracks and made it fall to the ground hard. Koffing fainted and Conway and Dawn were the winners of the first battle.

"Dawn has an interesting partner," said Brock "especially since Conway is very big on defensive moves". Ash could see that Conway and Dawn really know how to battle together. He turned towards Paul who was standing someplace behind him and tried to say they should work together too. But then a flamethrower attack nearly hit Ash. "What was that for?!" shouted Ash. "Give Chimchar your opinion" said Paul. The flamethrower had come from Chimchar. "Oh so you've learnt flamethrower huh Chimchar?" said Ash. Chimchar replied with a yes. Paul rudely said it was a weak flamethrower from a weak flame. "It was good," said Ash "let me help you with Chimchar". "We don't need your help" said Paul, rudely. "Will you put aside that stubbornness and pride of yours for one day already!" said Ash, angrily, "this is a tag team tournament and we are supposed to be helping each other here!" Paul didn't take that to heart. Dawn turned up and reminded Paul what Cynthia about trainers and pokemon working together as one. Paul still didn't take the working together thing to heart. "Paul why are you here at this tournament anyway?" asked Ash. He didn't see why somebody like Paul would want to come here. "To meet fire type pokemon" answered Paul, and he left with Chimchar. "What did Paul mean?" asked Dawn. "He wants to use a opponents fire pokemon to power up Chimchar" said Brock, who understood the situation. Ash didn't like this; he felt something not good was going to end up happening later.

Soon Tomo and Bert faced their opponents in block F. Tomo used Growlithe and Bert used a Yanma. Their opponents used Shedinja and Aron. Bert's Yanma's ability speed boost made Shedinja and Aron unable to hit it with attacks, and while the two pokemon were distracted Growlithe defeated them both with flamethrower. Tomo and Bert thumbed up each other. Soon it was Brock and Holly's turn to face their opponents. Brock used Sudowoodo and Holly used her Wingull. Their opponents used Bagon and Yanma. It turned out that the opponents didn't really get along well and kept on arguing during the fight. In the end Wingull defeated Yanma with aerial ace and Sudowoodo used wood hammer to defeat Bagon. So Dawn, Tomo and Brock would go to the second round, which was tomorrow.

Now it was time for Ash and Paul to face their opponents. Ash sent out Pikachu and Paul sent out Chimchar. Their opponents sent out a Rhydon and Magmar. "This will be a tough one" said Ash. "With Pikachu, tough is right" said Paul, rudely. "Chimchar isn't a good match either" argued Ash. "You asked you?" argued Paul. "I have a bit of a bad feeling with this" said Tomo. "Yes with a fire and ground type, both Chimchar and Pikachu are at a type disadvantage" said Conway. Dawn was worried because Ash and Paul weren't great match ups. Ash started off by telling Pikachu to use hidden power. He knew that Rhydons had the ability lightning rod which attracted electricity; his Rhydon had the ability too. The hidden power ended up being super effective on Rhydon. "How was hidden power effective on Rhydon like that?" asked Dawn. "Pikachu's hidden power is ground type" answered Tomo. The gang had told Dawn before about the hidden type move has a different type for different pokemon. "Not bad I guess, but you are still in the way" Paul said to Ash. "Shut up Paul!" said Ash, angrily "I'm in this with you whether you like it or not!" Magmar attacked next with lava plume, which was an attack that spreads fire everywhere in an area and everyone gets damage. As Rhydon was a ground type it didn't affect it much. Paul ordered Chimchar to jump into the fire while Ash ordered Pikachu to dodge the attack. As Chimchar got engulfed by the flames, the flame on its tail raged and then Chimchar used flamethrower on Rhydon. "It's as I suspected," said Brock "Paul is using that lava plume to power up Chimchar's flamethrower". Unfortunately it wasn't enough to exactly damage Rhydon. Rhydon broke the flames apart and started to charge towards Chimchar. Paul was not happy with Chimchar's performance. Just then Pikachu jumped in and whacked Rhydon hard with iron tail. Rhydon's trainer noticed that Pikachu was very strong and warned his partner to be careful. Next Magmar used protect while Rhydon used surf. Using protect was to protect Magmar from the surf of course. Everyone was surprised to see that Rhydon knew surf. "Chimchar flame wheel" said Paul. He wanted Chimchar to use flame wheel while the water attack hit it. "What are you doing? That will make us lose" said Ash. The others thought Paul was crazy. Ash knew that Chimchar would get defeated, but then he got an idea. He remembered what Zoey's Glameow did with water pulse, and he told Pikachu to use iron tail. Pikachu hit the waves with iron tail and the water broke apart. Then Pikachu whacked Rhydon hard with another iron tail and Rhydon fainted. "Hey that's what Zoey did in the pokemon contest" said Dawn, who also remembered that move. "Watching other coordinators always gives Ash some new inspiration" said Brock. With Rhydon out, Ash could now use electrical attacks and he told Pikachu to use volt tackle. Paul ordered Chimchar to use dig. Magmar collided with Pikachu's volt tackle with fire punch. While Magmar was busy with Pikachu, Chimchar came out of the ground and tackled Magmar hard. Magmar fainted after that move, making Ash and Paul the winners of the battle.

The others were happy that Ash and Paul made it to the second round, but they knew that this battle was no teamwork type of battle. Conway called this separate effort. Paul was still telling Ash to stay out of his way. "Wake up and get it already!" argued Ash "this is a tag team battle tournament and as your partner I'm supposed to be helping you!" Paul still wouldn't accept it, which of course made Ash cross.

So Ash, Dawn, Tomo and Brock and their partners made it through the 1st round of the tag battle tournament. But there were still some more battles to get through to become the champions.

That night everyone was resting up for the 2nd round of the tournament, which was tomorrow. Nurse Joy was kept very busy with caring for everyone's pokemon, but Brock jumped in to help her and Nurse Joy accepted his help. Dawn was talking with Conway. Conway was telling Dawn about the stronger the friendships between trainers and their pokemon are the stronger they will get. "Oh yes Ash and Brock told me about this," said Dawn "they also told you have to have real trust with each other too". "That is true you do," said Conway "Ash and Brock seem to be real smart people". "They are" said Dawn. She then decided to talk to Ash; she was still worried with the fact that he was paired up with Paul.

Meanwhile Ash was with his Pikachu, Turtwig, Riolu, Staravia, Cranidos and Mothim. "Okay you guys let's do some training for tomorrow" said Ash "Riolu I've decided to use you for the second round". Riolu was happy to hear that because he wanted to get a chance of battling and he was ready to battle now. Just then Cranidos started to dig in the ground. "What are you doing Cranidos?" asked Ash. Cranidos stopped digging and showed Ash what he found. "It's another one of those strange plates" said Ash. This plate was grey-purple. "This is getting weird. Nearly everywhere we go I end up finding these plates and I already have found five of these. I found one in Oreburgh City, one that Gardenia gave me in the Eterna Forest, one just before we entered Jubilife City, one just before we left Eterna City and now one here. I am getting really confused about this". Ash's pokemon were confused too.

Suddenly they noticed a flamethrower in the sky. "What was that?" asked Ash. He, Pikachu and Riolu went to see what was happening. The flamethrower had come from Chimchar; Paul was training it with his Elekid, Torterra, Murkrow and Ursaring. But this training was harsh; he had his four pokemon attack Chimchar all together and Chimchar was to defend itself with flamethrower, and Chimchar was getting worn out by the minute. Ash turned up and asked Paul what was going on. Suddenly Chimchar blew a flamethrower attack and accidently hit Ash with it. Chimchar quickly ran over to see if Ash was okay and apologize to him. "Ouch," said Ash "I have to say Chimchar you keep getting stronger you know". Chimchar liked Ash's kind comment. "We're not through yet Chimchar" said Paul. Chimchar didn't really like the hard training, but he didn't like to disobey Paul either. "Hold it Paul," said Ash "why are you putting Chimchar through harsh training like that?" Ash had seen harsh training before but Paul's training was abusive. "That is none of your business" said Paul. "Yes it is, especially as I'm your tag team partner," argued Ash "and I don't like the fact you only entered this tournament to just power up Chimchar like this". "Your point?" said Paul. Ash was about to argue back, but then Dawn turned up to speak. "Paul you are being rude to all the trainers and their pokemon here!" she shouted. Paul took no notice and said that he wanted to have Chimchar get hit by the surf attack during the match. Ash didn't like what Paul said and grabbed him by his jacket. "Listen to me Paul!" he shouted "that surf attack would not only have seriously hurt Chimchar, it would have nearly led him to death. And if that happened what would you have done then?" Dawn quickly got Ash to let go of Paul. "Please calm down Ash" she said; she didn't want to see any violence, even if what Paul just said was terrible. "Paul if you want to power up Chimchar you should really do it by working on his strong points and weak points" said Ash. Paul thought there was no point doing that; to him it was like bathing a spoilt brat and it was a waste of his time. He also said this training was what Chimchar wanted. "Is that true Chimchar?" asked Ash "you don't really have to train like this". Paul told Chimchar to not listen to them and he and the pokemon walked away to train somewhere else.

"Chimchar looks so sad" said Dawn, after they walked away. "Chimchar is like an abused child;" said Ash "he's trying so hard to meet up Paul's expectations and keep him happy, despite the abuse. But it's helpless to do anything about it like most abused people, especially children, do". Dawn agreed.

Paul started to do more abusive training for Chimchar and all of his other pokemon were firing their attacks at Chimchar. Chimchar was getting weaker and weaker and fainted from the injuries. "Wake it up with thunder Elekid" said Paul. Before Elekid's thunder attack hit Chimchar, a volt tackle stopped the attack and defended Chimchar. It was from Pikachu. "That's enough!" shouted Ash. "This is too cruel!" shouted Dawn. Ash picked up Chimchar. "I'm taking Chimchar to the pokemon center whether you like it or not!" shouted Ash. Paul just huffed and just allowed them to do it.

Chimchar was soon in the pokemon center and Brock tended to its wounds at once. Ash, Tomo and Dawn were watching through the glass and Holly was with them too. "I'm amazed with Brock on treating pokemon like this" said Holly. "Brock has learnt about medicine and caring for pokemon for years and he wants to become a pokemon doctor" said Tomo. Holly was impressed. Ash kept staring quietly at Chimchar; he hated the fact that Chimchar went through abusive training. This made him remember when Damian abused and abandon Charizard when he was a Chamander. Soon Brock came out. "How is he Brock?" asked Ash. "Chimchar needs a lot of rest," answered Brock "but it will be okay". Ash felt relieved to hear that.

Later Brock and the others had a talk with Paul; Brock could tell that Chimchar went through severe training because of the injuries. "At this point Chimchar will become strong or emotionally scarred for life, why do you push Chimchar so hard in training?" "It's what we both want" said Paul. He told everyone of the day he got Chimchar.

(Flash back)

One day Paul was catching a Ninjask, when suddenly he saw Chimchar running away from a herd of Zangoose. It might have been a fight over territory. Paul was curious to see what would happen and Paul followed the pokemon. The Zangoose chased Chimchar to the edge of a cliff, where a stream down below was. The Zangoose began to attack with moves as slash and such. Just when it looked hopeless for Chimchar, Chimchar suddenly built up a lot of strength in its flames and it defeated the Zangoose with flame wheel and frightened them away. It was more like it activated the ability blaze. Paul saw everything and was impressed with the power Chimchar showed. It was that power that made Paul decided to have him.

(Flash back end)

"With that kind of fire power I felt I could win the pokemon league for sure, but ever since that day we haven't been able to duplicate that power" said Paul. "I get it," said Brock "you're trying to recreate the stress of when those Zangoose attacked by putting Chimchar through difficult training all the time". "But Chimchar can be strong even without using the ability blaze," said Ash "lots of my pokemon have used their abilities before, but they ended up winning battles for me without having to use them. Trying to get Chimchar use blaze all the time is not right Paul". Paul huffed. "You don't know anything," he said "I need to push Chimchar to activate blaze so it can become stronger than any other fire pokemon". He got out of his seat. "Hold it Paul," said Ash "you aren't training Chimchar anymore tonight". He could sense what Paul wanted to do. "He must rest otherwise his condition will get worse". "Ash is right Chimchar needs lots of rest" said Dawn. "You have to listen to them," said Nurse Joy, who heard everything, "the reason you push your Chimchar so hard is because you are just plain impatient. I'm going to insist that you allow Chimchar to get some rest". Paul just nodded and walked away. Ash looked at Paul angrily; Paul did remind him of Damian and how he treated his pokemon.

Next day was the second round of the tag team battle. Dawn and Conway defeated their opponents with Aggron and Pachirisu. Tomo and Bert defeated their opponents with Pelipper and Graveller. Brock and Holly defeated their opponents with Croagunk and Nosepass. Then at last with was time for Ash and Paul to face their opponents. Ash sent out his Riolu and, to Ash's shock, Paul sent out Chimchar. "Hey Chimchar should be resting" said Ash. He was right because Chimchar had still not fully recovered from yesterday. Chimchar insisted though that he was okay to fight. Ash wasn't convinced by this and he told Riolu to help Chimchar through this match. Riolu understood. The opponents sent out a Metagross and a Zangoose. Conway pointed out that Riolu would have trouble with Metagross because Riolu was a fighting type and Metagross was part psychic type.

Metagross started off by getting ready to use bullet punch. Chimchar moved in to use flamethrower, but Zangoose jumped in to Chimchar from doing it. Ash ordered Riolu to attack Zangoose with aura sphere, and Riolu's aura sphere hit Zangoose. But Metagross went and punched Chimchar with bullet punch. Zangoose moved in next and scratched Riolu with x-scissor. Paul ordered Chimchar to use dig but Metagross used magnet rise to prevent Chimchar from hitting it, and then Zangoose used crush claw on him. Paul was getting angry with Chimchar's performance. Ash ordered Riolu to use blaze kick on Zangoose, but Zangoose dodged it and Metagross used psychic on him. Zangoose moved in next to use crush claw. Chimchar was scared because he had the fear of Zangoose ever since that encounter with the Zangoose swarm. Riolu used protect to protect himself and Chimchar from the crush claw attack. It was then Paul ordered Chimchar to use flame wheel on Riolu. Ash couldn't believe what Paul just said. Chimchar didn't want to, but Paul angrily ordered him to do it. Ash quickly told Riolu to move out of Chimchar's way, through telepathy. Riolu did move out of the way before Chimchar could hit him and Chimchar ended up hitting Metagross with flame wheel instead. Ash was cross with Paul. "What are you thinking?!" he demanded. Zangoose attacked next and pinned Chimchar to the ground before he could do anything. Paul ordered Chimchar to use flamethrower, but Chimchar was too afraid of Zangoose to do anything. "Guess that's it" said Paul. Ash told Riolu to use aura sphere to help Chimchar and the attack hit Zangoose hard. Zangoose blew a fire blast attack from its mouth. The attack looked very powerful and there was no way Riolu could dodge that in time. It was then Chimchar jumped in and defended Riolu from the fire blast attack. The attack was powering up his flames. Metagross was moving in to use bullet punch. "Quick give Chimchar a command" Ash said to Paul. But Paul turned away; he was giving up on Chimchar. So Ash moved in and told Chimchar to use flamethrower on Metagross. The flamethrower scored a direct hit on Metagross and Metagross fainted from the attack. "Well done Chimchar" said Ash. Chimchar looked worried because Ash had given him a command instead of Paul. Now Riolu was free to deal with Zangoose alone. First he punched Zangoose hard with sky uppercut and then used bullet punch. That made Zangoose faint, making Ash and Paul the winners of the round.

Ash praised Chimchar and Riolu for a job well done. Chimchar looked at Paul; he still had his head turned. Chimchar knew that Paul was not happy with how he battled.

That evening the worst thing happened. Paul released Chimchar and told him he was not part of his team anymore. The gang saw this. "You've given up on Chimchar haven't you?" said Ash. "That's right I need a new fire pokemon" said Paul. The gang couldn't believe this and Chimchar sadly started to walk away. Ash wasn't going to let it end like this for Chimchar. "Hey Chimchar come with us" he said. Chimchar stopped in surprise and everyone else was stunned with what Ash just said, even Paul. Ash walked over to Chimchar and held out his hand. "We will work hard together" he said. Chimchar stared in amaze that Ash was asking him to be on his team.

So the question was will Chimchar join Ash after being abandoned by Paul?

Chimchar was feeling uncertain after Ash asked him to become his pokemon now. "Come on Chimchar" said Ash. Pikachu and Riolu encouraged Chimchar to join them too. "I've seen of how strong you are when it comes to battling, especially when you give it your all," said Ash "I'd love to have a strong fire pokemon like you on my team". "You two belong together," said Paul, rudely, "both of you are pathetic". "Hey my brother is not pathetic and neither is Chimchar!" shouted Tomo. "Ignore him," said Ash "we will prove that Paul is wrong about you Chimchar". Paul huffed and walked away. Chimchar stared at Ash's eyes; he could see that Ash's eyes weren't cold and angry like Paul's, they were warm and kind. Chimchar placed a hand on Ash's hand, meaning he accepted to go with Ash. Brock, Dawn and Tomo smiled; this was a very touching scene. Ash took out a pokeball and used it to catch Chimchar. "Chimchar is mine now" smiled Ash.

After capturing Chimchar Ash spoke with Prof Oak on the phone. Chimchar was at the lab. Ash explained to Prof Oak about Chimchar and Paul. "I see so Chimchar went through very harsh training and then was abandoned by Paul," said Prof Oak "well it is a good thing that you decided to have Chimchar Ash". "Professor, have Chimchar get a nice long rest over there," said Ash "he's still very warn out from yesterday and today. Oh and have him get acquainted with my Charizard and Tomo's Chimchar; they went through nasty times with abusive trainers too". "I understand and I will do just that" said Prof Oak, and the phone call ended.

The next day was the semi-finals of the tag battle tournament. Dawn and Conway were up against Tomo and Bert in the first round. Tomo and Bert did their best, but Dawn and Conway defeated them. Now it was Ash and Paul's turn and they were facing Brock and Holly. Ash called out his Staravia and Paul called out his Torterra. Brock called out his Nosepass and Holly sent out a Farfetch'd. Since Torterra could deal with Nosepass easily, Ash had Staravia attack Farfetch'd with aerial ace. Brock ordered Nosepass to use discharge on Staravia and Holly ordered Farfetch'd to use air slash on Torterra. Ash had Staravia move out of the way before discharge could hit him and Paul ordered Torterra to use hyper beam. Torterra's hyper beam was no joke; it broke through Farfetch'd's air slash attack and took down Farfetch'd at once. Brock and Holly were surprised from that. Brock moved in and ordered Nosepass to use stone edge. Torterra couldn't move yet because of using hyper beam and got hit by the stone edge attack. Ash ordered Staravia to use steel wing on Nosepass and Brock ordered Nosepass to use discharge on Staravia. But before any of the pokemon could do anything, Torterra let out a leaf storm attack and it hit Nosepass. Torterra was able to move now. Poor Nosepass was knocked out by that powerful grass type move. So Ash and Paul were the winners of the round. Ash wasn't happy because Paul didn't let him do anything much in this battle.

Before the final battle could take place, which was in the afternoon, the gang took a quick rest at the pokemon center. By that time Holly and Bert had left to continue their journeys and training; they didn't want to stay for the closing of the tournament because of their losses. Ash saw Paul getting his Torterra back from Nurse Joy. Paul stared at Ash and then left. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'll be glad when this tournament is over" Ash said to the others. The reason why Ash said that was because he was getting fed up with battling along Paul's side. The others understood.

That afternoon it was time for the final round of the tag team tournament. Enta reminded everyone that whoever won the last battle would win the soothe bells. Dawn and Conway sent out Buizel and Heracross and Ash and Paul sent out Vigoroth and Elekid. Paul snorted. "I can't believe you have a Vigoroth" he said. "Hey don't go thinking my Vigoroth is pathetic," said Ash, angrily, "my Vigoroth is tougher than you think". Paul didn't believe that.

Ash started the battle by telling Vigoroth to bulk up and Paul ordered Elekid to use thunder. Dawn ordered Buizel to use aqua jet on Vigoroth. Ash ordered Vigoroth use counter and when Buizel hit Vigoroth with aqua jet he got bounced back and hurt. Elekid moved in and shocked Heracross good with thunder. But then Heracross used revenge and knocked Elekid back with its horn. Ash ordered Vigoroth to use thunderbolt and Buizel got hit by it. "Oh no" said Dawn; she didn't expect this. "Calm down," said Conway "we must stay focused and focus on Elekid as we planned". Dawn told Buizel to use aqua jet again and Buizel headed for Elekid. Elekid used protect, but Heracross had a surprise. It knew a move called feint; feint was a move that could break through protect and detect. So Heracross broke through Elekid's protect and hit Elekid with its horn. Then Buizel went to try and hit Vigoroth with water gun, but Vigoroth dodged it and scratched Buizel hard with crush claw. Paul ordered Elekid to use thunder punch while Conway ordered Heracross to counter it with mega horn. The two pokemon collided with each other and got thrown back. Suddenly Elekid glowed and evolved to Electabuzz. This was going to be trouble for Dawn and Conway because Electabuzz was stronger than it was as Elekid. Paul ordered Electabuzz to use thunder. Conway ordered Heracross to use mega horn on Electabuzz and Dawn ordered Buizel to use water gun on Vigoroth. Vigoroth dodged the water gun attack and used flamethrower on Heracross, and Electabuzz hit Buizel with its thunder move. Poor Buizel and Heracross were hurt pretty well and they fainted.

So Ash and Paul not only became the winners of the battle, but the winners of the tag team tournament. Ash was happy and hugged his Vigoroth. Paul snorted. "Your Vigoroth wasn't as shabby as I thought," he said, rudely, "but it was Electabuzz's thunder that won us the battle". "Whatever" said Ash; he decided to ignore it because they won the tournament.

At the closing ceremony of the tag team tournament, Ash and Paul were standing on stage because they were the winners. Paul's Torterra and Electabuzz were standing next to Paul while Ash's Pikachu, Riolu, Staravia and Vigoroth stood next to Ash. Enta presented the soothe bells to Ash and Paul. Ash thanked Enta and accepted the bell while Paul just took his. The audience and the other contestants, who stayed for the closing ceremony, clapped and cheered for Ash and Paul and their pokemon. Brock pointed out that Paul's real reward was his Elekid evolving to Electabuzz and Dawn reminded him that Paul only entered the tournament to power up his pokemon. Conway thought that it was ironic that Ash and Paul, the least well suited team, won the tournament, but he still accepted it. Ash was happy that he won the tournament and the soothe bell.

When it was all over, the gang went to rest up in the pokemon center. Dawn was happy for Ash that he won and she promised to win the competition she enters in the future. "I take it you feel better now Dawn?" asked Brock. "I do, and I'm glad that I participated in this; it was a nice change of pace for me" answered Dawn. Suddenly Paul turned up and gave his soothe bell to Ash; he didn't want it to begin with. Then he took his leave. So Ash ended up having two soothe bells and he hoped that he would never have to partner up with Paul in anything ever again. Just then Conway appeared and told Ash that there was a gym in Paul's home town Veilstone City. So the next destination for gym badges was Veilstone City.

So with the tag team battle over, the gang could leave Hearthome City to continue their journey. Dawn was perked up now after her loss at the pokemon contest and promised to work hard for the next pokemon contest. Ash was not only happy we won the tournament and the bells; he was also happy that he had Paul's Chimchar now and could give him a happier life.

Sorry for the wait; it always takes me a long time when I get to these tournament chapters. Sorry if readers thought that I was going to have Ash punch Paul, but no having him just grab Paul by the shirt was enough, besides Dawn would never like that.

Now everyone about Arceus; I had been thinking ever since I said that I was going to have Ash catch an Arceus, but I've changed my mind. I decided that this Arceus that the gang encounters after Ash finds all the plates will bond with Ash like I had Ho-Oh bond with Ash. I am sorry but I finally decided that it didn't sound right to have Ash catch an Arceus.

Thank you everyone for voting on my poll; Ash will catch Popplio when I ever get to Ash's Aloha Quest. Now I have another poll question for you to vote on. What Alohan poison type pokemon should Ash get?