- 11 -

The gym waited silently, as the two pokemon stared at each other. Elena paced back in forth in front of Nosepass, glaring at the bigger pokemon. Nosepass stood still, calmly watching the small puppy. It was standing perfectly still, in the center of the battle area.

May looked from the two competitors, to Roxanne, who was just as still as her pokemon. It was starting to unnerve her quite a bit. She started biting her lower lip, thinking of what attack to use. Already it was obvious this battle wouldn't be easy...

"Elena, use Bite." Growling, Elena lunged forward, and clamped her jaws down on Nosepass's leg, but it seemingly did nothing to it. Letting go, Elena backed off, looking from opponent to trainer in confusion. May was just as confused as her pokemon about why it didn't have any affect.

Ash frowned, watching the slow battle from the sidelines. Nosepass was obviously of higher strength then Elena. Not to mention, its Special Defense was most likely strengthened using items of some sort. Amber made a small 'chu'ing sound from the spot on top of his head.

Frustrated, May watched Roxanne, who still has of yet to say a word to her Nosepass. She wasn't even going to counter the attack? "Tackle attack!" May called out to her awaiting pokemon.

Elena once again charged at Nosepass, then tried two more times. After the third Tackle, Roxanne finally put her attention into ordering her pokemon. "Wait'll Ash sees on what I can do," she whispered to herself, before issuing an order, "Nosepass, use Harden, then Rock Throw!"

Nosepass shone for a few seconds, before dimming back to normal. "Elena, evade the attack," she said.

As the rocks appeared and started falling, Elena dodged back and forth away from them. Just as the remaining ones fell, one huge piece fell on the pup's leg, hurting her severely. Elena limped back to her starting place, still able to fight even though she now was injured. May started to pull the puppy's pokeball out to return her, when Elena turned and barked. She wanted to keep fighting.

Ash turned his head to look at a group of young girls nearby in the crowd, who where talking quietly. "Aw, that is so sweet. That poochyena wants to fight for her!" one of them said quietly.

It seemed most of the occupants of the gym at that moment had been moved by the young pokemon's determination to fight for her trainer. May smiled at her pokemon, before nodding and leaving the pokeball in its holder. Ash leaned back against the railings, folding his arms across his chest.

He certainly was proud of her...her skill in both battle and reading with pokemon had improved greatly compared to when they first started on the journey. Amber seemed to have noticed that also... "One day, she'll be able to actually talk with Pokemon, without me being there to translate," he said softly to the baby.

Amber nodded in agreement. Roxanne's expression changed, as she stepped forward. "End this battle! Use Rock Tomb!"

Rock Tomb was a pokemon attack that would cover the opponent in rock, lowering their speed. Nosepass nodded to Roxanne, before powering up. May stepped back, her expression turning panicked. Pulling out her pokedex, she pointed it at Nosepass, her hand shaking. In its small robotic male voice, it talked about how Nosepass was like a magnet, and always pointed North.

"Elena, use Bite!" the small dog pokemon half ran, half limped forward, and lunged at the other pokemon. Nosepass was like a living compass, and its nose was the pointer, and that was exactly what she was aiming for. There was an audible gasp throughout the class. "Has she gone suicidal or something?!" several of them asked each other.

Ash looked at the group talking, and they silenced when they noticed the glare he was giving them. Amber giggled, breaking the silence that had fallen. He turned his glance back to the battle at hand.

The energy building up inside of Nosepass had made it start glowing a bright green. Elena sank her teeth into its nose, putting all of her strength behind the Bite. Howling, Nosepass swung its head violently to shake off the pouch, losing all of its concentration on the attack.

Elena jumped back, when Nosepass lost balance and fell over. Around the room boulders where floating in mid-air, awaiting the attack to be unleashed. Rock Tomb was about to fall onto Elena, but when she attacked Nosepass it had cancelled out the attack and now they just floated above them silently.

The class gasped, as the rocks fell down atop Nosepass, as it no long was concentrating on holding them up. Dust, dirt, and rock flew up from the falling point. When the air finally cleared off all of the dust, everyone exchanged shocked looks. Roxanne stared, her shock obvious. A very much-knocked out Nosepass was under the rubble of the failed Rock Tomb.

Raising his green flag, the referee looked at the two pokemon. "Nosepass is unable to battle!" he called, "The winner of this battle and this gym challenge is trainer Marian Ketchum!"

The cheer of the crowd drowned out anything else said by the referee. Both Ash and Amber had taken up into cheering with the class.

May ran forward, and hugged Elena. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you!" she said, not bothering to breath between words. "You did a great job!"

Elena barked, her tail swinging happily. May laughed, when the puppy licked her. The class had started talking quietly, exchanging ideas and opinions on the battle, and totally ignoring the battlefield for the most part. Her laugh turned into a yelp, when someone picked her up and did a complete spin, swinging her at the same time.

That someone turned out to be Ash, when May finally opened her eyes again, and smiled. Laughing, he put her back down gently. "You did it! You won the battle!"

Amber slid down off of Ash's head onto his shoulder, and hopped onto May's. She squealed, clapping happily, thrilled that her human mother has won. "Chu! Chuuuu!"

Sweetly, Ash kissed May on the cheek. She smiled, before looking past him at the class. Her smile turned into a smirk, as she saw the numerous envious looks being shot at them by most of the females.

Smiling, Roxanne recalled her fallen Nosepass to the pokeball she held out, before walking the length of the battlefield. "Congratulations!" she said, shaking May's hand, "I can now see why Ash chose you to be his wife. You are an excellent trainer when to comes to battling."

"I learn from the best," May said, turning a light shade of red. She leaned back, letting Ash hug her again. He was about to give her another kiss, when the sudden explosion startled everyone.

Someone had set off a smoke bomb near them, and it filled the whole of the gym with dark thick smoke. The students and other wanderers scattered, panicked by the 'attack' and scampered to get away. Not many of them screamed or yelled, though it was obvious they where all very much afraid.

May looked around, frowning, as she stood next to Ash, who was just as confused as she was. Roxanne hurried to get to over to them, not liking being out in the open by herself. "What..."

"Who did that?" Ash asked, his voice demanding. Someone tapped on his shoulder rapidly. Frowning, Ash turned around, to be given a sharp punch in the face. He went unconscious. Choking slightly, May grabbed the pokeball holding Beautifly, and let the pokemon out.

"Clear out this smoke if you can Beautifly!" May said. Beautifly made a small sound, and flapped its wings quickly, the smoke being blown away. Standing near the front doors of the gym where two strangers. The woman had dark blue eyes, and silky midnight blue hair, which was hanging about her shoulders loosely. She looked like she could still seem seductive no matter what the situation was. Her cohort was a tall man, with a build that was more athletic then muscular, with bright green eyes and red hair. Overall, he was very handsome, but also looked very cunning.

May screamed out of rage and alarm. The man held Ash on his shoulder, being anything but gentle about it. "Who are you? What do you want?" she yelled, "Let him go!"

Lightly, the woman laughs, before both her and the man's laughter turns haughty. "Like we would listen to some the likes of you? I am Kayley, and this is Thorne," she said, "We are of Team Magma!"

Both Roxanne and May frowned. Both Kayley and Thorne were in the outfit for Team Magma, red and white bandanas and all. "We are going to take him with us to headquarters, just like our boss instructed," Thorne sneered, "That's all you need to know."

Kayley smiles at the still knocked out Ash, before gently kissing him on the neck. "I'll...take good care of him." she said, giving May a lingering look, "...if you know what I mean."

May stared at her, before narrowing her eyes. Her temper was at boiling point. Kayley smirked, and started out the doors. Thorne looked at her, before smirking. "We'll get you also...you'll be mine."

Thorne followed Kayley out, leaving May, Roxanne, Amber, Elena, and Beautifly to stare in shock after them.

AN- Gomen for the late update! I have had a lot going on, and my To-Do list is growing! -.- So, here is my current update for The Amatuer Trainer. School is about to start on the 25th, so it might be even harder for me to update, but I'll manage it some how!

DJ- Thank you DJ! So am I, it is always so much fun! I'll try to write the next chapter when I shrink the list of things that I need to get done. ¬.¬;; cruel, cruel life -.-;

Phoenix727- Thank you! No, I don't think anyone has, and if they did, neither team listened. Finally? -blinks- I've seen a handful of fanfictions where Ash is the pokemon master. Or do you mean recent fanfictions?