-part 2-
Back in Pallet Town, Tracey Sketchit and Delia Ketchum sat down on the couch in Professor Oak's living room. A bowl of popcorn, a large bottle of pop, and three glasses rested on the coffee table in front of them. Using the remote, Tracey flipped on the TV just in time to see a couple of Pokemon League broadcasters he recognized go on the air. "It's starting, Professor!" he called.
"Be right there!" Professor Oak called back, quickly saving the research document he had been working on on his computer, and rushing to the living room.
One of the broadcasters, a bearded man with glasses, began to speak. "Hello, everyone, and welcome to the 10th Annual Poison Pokemon Tournament here in Fallarbor Town! I'm George Green, I'll be your move-by-move announcer today, and to my left is color commentator, Chuck McDonald."
"Hello everyone," said Chuck, "we've got quite an exciting tournament in store for you today, with some very skilled Pokemon trainers from all across the Hoenn, Johto, and Kanto regions, and even one who hails from all the way down in the Orange Islands."
As the broadcasters continued with their pre-show report, Ash, Brock, and Monica waited in the large series of locker rooms under the bleachers with the other trainers who would be taking part. May and Max waited anxiously in the stands for the tournament to start. Ash, Brock, and Monica were all scanning the crowd, trying to pick up any clues they could as to the kind of competition they would be facing. Suddenly, three figures that were very familiar to Ash and Brock walked up out of nowhere and stood right in front of them.
"It's Team Rocket!" Ash exclaimed in surprise, recognizing them as the very same Jessie, James, and Meowth that had been following him for years, trying repeatedly to steal his Pikachu and whatever other Pokemon they could, but failing every single time. "What are you three doing here?" he asked in an accusing tone.
Jessie and James calmly held up their hands in defense. "Don't get your shorts in a knot, twerp, we're not interested in Pikachu this time," said Jessie. "We just want to compete in the tournament legitimately and win that trophy!" With those last few words, she had started to stare off into space, as if she was still gazing at the trophy they all had seen beforehand. "I've never legitimately won anything in my life, so this time I'm going to try and I'm going to win!"
"Not just you, Jessie," James reminded her, laying a hand on her shoulder gently. "WE will try. We are entering separately so as to have a better chance that one of us will win, remember? And whether I win or you do, the trophy belongs to all three of us." The trophy that was to be the prize for the winner of the tournament was certainly worth admiration. The solid gold- painted cup had the silhouettes of a Koffing, a Tentacool, a Nidoking, a Crobat, and a Seviper engraved on the outside. The cup's three silver tiers listed basic information about every single Poison-type Pokemon known to exist: their habitats, basic tips on when to evolve them, as well as a list of every attack each of them could ever learn.
"Did ya hear dat, twoips?" asked Meowth. "Dis time we're strictly on de up- and-up. Youz know about how Jessie grew up in a poor family. She desoives a chance to win somethin' dat she oined instead o' stole!"
"Wow, it sounds like you guys are really serious about this," said Brock.
"Yeah, but I have just one question," Ash added. "James, how can you enter a Poison type tournament when you only have Cacnea, a Grass-type?"
"That is my secret, for now," James replied mysteriously. "You'll find out once the tournament starts. But before you ask, no, like we said, this is strictly legit. Even the tournament officials allowed us to enter, but they did say that the tournament was under heavy security so we shouldn't try anything funny."
"Not dat we was goin' to anyway," added Meowth.
Just then, the stadium announcer's booming voice welcomed everyone to the tournament and announced that it was about to start. "Will our first competitors, James Gardener from Team Rocket and Melody Singer from Shamouti Island, please take the field?"
"Well, that's my cue, I've gotta go," said James, and the three Team Rocket members left, with Jessie and Meowth escorting James to the door.
"What do you make of that, Brock?" asked Ash, not sure if he really believed what he had just saw.
"Well they seemed sincere to me." said Brock, pondering.
"Have you known them long?" Monica asked.
"Yeah.but we're not exactly friends. You might have gathered that they're always trying to steal Pokemon," Ash explained. "Wait, did that announcer just say Melody from Shamouti Island?"
"Hey, that's right! We can't miss this!" Brock exclaimed.
"Right!" Ash agreed. The three trainers ran to the other end of the locker room, where a big-screen TV was set up that let the waiting trainers watch the current battles. Brock had never met Melody, but Ash and Misty had told him so much about their adventure with her that Brock felt like he had been there himself. "Since when is Melody a trainer, anyway?" Ash suddenly asked nobody in particular. "She never mentioned having any Pokemon when we first met her." Ash quickly filled Monica in on their adventure in the Orange Islands with Melody, the legend referring to Ash himself, Lugia, and the trio of legendary elemental birds.
"Wow, you guys have had some awesome adventures," said Monica, truly amazed. "I wish I could meet some legendary Pokemon."
Just then, the battle on the TV began. Ash noticed that Jessie and Meowth were not far away, just as intent on the screen as he was. Out of the corner of his eye, Ash could also see Brock and Monica sitting next to him. She seemed to be enjoying Brock's presence just as much as he enjoyed hers, and she didn't object when Brock casually placed his arm up on top of the couch behind her, then gradually brought it down so it was around her shoulders.
***
Since some Poison Pokemon were also Water-types, the battlefield for the Poison Pokemon Tournament had been carefully constructed. It was about the size of most of the fields used for the Indigo League Tournament or the Silver Conference, so the Pokemon had plenty of room to move around. Running down the middle of the field was a deep, oblong pool with a rocky bottom. Ample room separated each end of the pool from the walls, so a Pokemon could run from one long side of the pool to the other if it needed to. On the east side of the pool, one of the long sides, the field consisted of rocks and boulders of various sizes. On the pool's west side was a grassy area that stretched over both short ends of the pool. The opposing trainers stared each other down from the opposite short ends of the pool.
The tournament was divided into three cups. Trainers could enter one, two, or three Poison Pokemon in the tournament, so that was how the cups were arranged. In the #1 Cup, trainers would use just one Pokemon each, two in the #2 Cup, and three in the #3 Cup. All the cups would proceed via basic elimination rules. The first-place winner of each cup would receive a trophy just like the one all the trainers had seen in a glass case in the lobby before heading to the locker rooms.
Watching Melody, on the screen, take her position at one end of the field, and James at the other, Ash was reminded of when he first met her, because her outfit looked quite similar to what she had been wearing that day. He was even surprised that he remembered what she had been wearing at all, but after he and Misty had recounted the entire adventure to Brock during their travels, the whole thing seemed permanently etched in his mind, including anything about Melody he could remember. Melody was wearing a white beret and dark sunglasses, a pink tank top over a black tank top, and blue jeans. She still wore her hair down in the same way Ash remembered.
Out on the field, now that both opponents were ready, the referee signalled the match to begin.
Back in Pallet Town, Tracey Sketchit and Delia Ketchum sat down on the couch in Professor Oak's living room. A bowl of popcorn, a large bottle of pop, and three glasses rested on the coffee table in front of them. Using the remote, Tracey flipped on the TV just in time to see a couple of Pokemon League broadcasters he recognized go on the air. "It's starting, Professor!" he called.
"Be right there!" Professor Oak called back, quickly saving the research document he had been working on on his computer, and rushing to the living room.
One of the broadcasters, a bearded man with glasses, began to speak. "Hello, everyone, and welcome to the 10th Annual Poison Pokemon Tournament here in Fallarbor Town! I'm George Green, I'll be your move-by-move announcer today, and to my left is color commentator, Chuck McDonald."
"Hello everyone," said Chuck, "we've got quite an exciting tournament in store for you today, with some very skilled Pokemon trainers from all across the Hoenn, Johto, and Kanto regions, and even one who hails from all the way down in the Orange Islands."
As the broadcasters continued with their pre-show report, Ash, Brock, and Monica waited in the large series of locker rooms under the bleachers with the other trainers who would be taking part. May and Max waited anxiously in the stands for the tournament to start. Ash, Brock, and Monica were all scanning the crowd, trying to pick up any clues they could as to the kind of competition they would be facing. Suddenly, three figures that were very familiar to Ash and Brock walked up out of nowhere and stood right in front of them.
"It's Team Rocket!" Ash exclaimed in surprise, recognizing them as the very same Jessie, James, and Meowth that had been following him for years, trying repeatedly to steal his Pikachu and whatever other Pokemon they could, but failing every single time. "What are you three doing here?" he asked in an accusing tone.
Jessie and James calmly held up their hands in defense. "Don't get your shorts in a knot, twerp, we're not interested in Pikachu this time," said Jessie. "We just want to compete in the tournament legitimately and win that trophy!" With those last few words, she had started to stare off into space, as if she was still gazing at the trophy they all had seen beforehand. "I've never legitimately won anything in my life, so this time I'm going to try and I'm going to win!"
"Not just you, Jessie," James reminded her, laying a hand on her shoulder gently. "WE will try. We are entering separately so as to have a better chance that one of us will win, remember? And whether I win or you do, the trophy belongs to all three of us." The trophy that was to be the prize for the winner of the tournament was certainly worth admiration. The solid gold- painted cup had the silhouettes of a Koffing, a Tentacool, a Nidoking, a Crobat, and a Seviper engraved on the outside. The cup's three silver tiers listed basic information about every single Poison-type Pokemon known to exist: their habitats, basic tips on when to evolve them, as well as a list of every attack each of them could ever learn.
"Did ya hear dat, twoips?" asked Meowth. "Dis time we're strictly on de up- and-up. Youz know about how Jessie grew up in a poor family. She desoives a chance to win somethin' dat she oined instead o' stole!"
"Wow, it sounds like you guys are really serious about this," said Brock.
"Yeah, but I have just one question," Ash added. "James, how can you enter a Poison type tournament when you only have Cacnea, a Grass-type?"
"That is my secret, for now," James replied mysteriously. "You'll find out once the tournament starts. But before you ask, no, like we said, this is strictly legit. Even the tournament officials allowed us to enter, but they did say that the tournament was under heavy security so we shouldn't try anything funny."
"Not dat we was goin' to anyway," added Meowth.
Just then, the stadium announcer's booming voice welcomed everyone to the tournament and announced that it was about to start. "Will our first competitors, James Gardener from Team Rocket and Melody Singer from Shamouti Island, please take the field?"
"Well, that's my cue, I've gotta go," said James, and the three Team Rocket members left, with Jessie and Meowth escorting James to the door.
"What do you make of that, Brock?" asked Ash, not sure if he really believed what he had just saw.
"Well they seemed sincere to me." said Brock, pondering.
"Have you known them long?" Monica asked.
"Yeah.but we're not exactly friends. You might have gathered that they're always trying to steal Pokemon," Ash explained. "Wait, did that announcer just say Melody from Shamouti Island?"
"Hey, that's right! We can't miss this!" Brock exclaimed.
"Right!" Ash agreed. The three trainers ran to the other end of the locker room, where a big-screen TV was set up that let the waiting trainers watch the current battles. Brock had never met Melody, but Ash and Misty had told him so much about their adventure with her that Brock felt like he had been there himself. "Since when is Melody a trainer, anyway?" Ash suddenly asked nobody in particular. "She never mentioned having any Pokemon when we first met her." Ash quickly filled Monica in on their adventure in the Orange Islands with Melody, the legend referring to Ash himself, Lugia, and the trio of legendary elemental birds.
"Wow, you guys have had some awesome adventures," said Monica, truly amazed. "I wish I could meet some legendary Pokemon."
Just then, the battle on the TV began. Ash noticed that Jessie and Meowth were not far away, just as intent on the screen as he was. Out of the corner of his eye, Ash could also see Brock and Monica sitting next to him. She seemed to be enjoying Brock's presence just as much as he enjoyed hers, and she didn't object when Brock casually placed his arm up on top of the couch behind her, then gradually brought it down so it was around her shoulders.
***
Since some Poison Pokemon were also Water-types, the battlefield for the Poison Pokemon Tournament had been carefully constructed. It was about the size of most of the fields used for the Indigo League Tournament or the Silver Conference, so the Pokemon had plenty of room to move around. Running down the middle of the field was a deep, oblong pool with a rocky bottom. Ample room separated each end of the pool from the walls, so a Pokemon could run from one long side of the pool to the other if it needed to. On the east side of the pool, one of the long sides, the field consisted of rocks and boulders of various sizes. On the pool's west side was a grassy area that stretched over both short ends of the pool. The opposing trainers stared each other down from the opposite short ends of the pool.
The tournament was divided into three cups. Trainers could enter one, two, or three Poison Pokemon in the tournament, so that was how the cups were arranged. In the #1 Cup, trainers would use just one Pokemon each, two in the #2 Cup, and three in the #3 Cup. All the cups would proceed via basic elimination rules. The first-place winner of each cup would receive a trophy just like the one all the trainers had seen in a glass case in the lobby before heading to the locker rooms.
Watching Melody, on the screen, take her position at one end of the field, and James at the other, Ash was reminded of when he first met her, because her outfit looked quite similar to what she had been wearing that day. He was even surprised that he remembered what she had been wearing at all, but after he and Misty had recounted the entire adventure to Brock during their travels, the whole thing seemed permanently etched in his mind, including anything about Melody he could remember. Melody was wearing a white beret and dark sunglasses, a pink tank top over a black tank top, and blue jeans. She still wore her hair down in the same way Ash remembered.
Out on the field, now that both opponents were ready, the referee signalled the match to begin.