Disclaimer: I don't even want to own Pokemon, too much stress.
Chapter 4
Starting Off
Ash woke in the morning and saw that he was one of the first few up. He quickly dressed and went to the main cafeteria and showed his seal to Nurse Joy."Here you go young man," Nurse Joy said cheerfully, handing him a tray. "You'll need your strength too if you want to beat any of the gym leaders on these islands."
"What's so special about them?" Ash asked casually.
Nurse Joy smiled at him. "Well I can't tell you their strategies, but each of them has a specific way of running gym battles. Some let you substitute, others don't. Some have more Pokemon, like James, he has trainers use all six. And others use less, but I believe three is the lowest any gym leader uses. Well, enjoy your breakfast Ash," Nurse Joy said, turning to another contestant.
After about an hour everyone else was up, and Misty and Brock had settled in to have their breakfast with Ash. They were all eating happily when a man in his early twenties walked into the room. Hedidn't seem very special, but he did have a special air about him that silenced all the excited trainers.
"Greetings," he said. "My name is James, and I am the gym leader for the city of Sacred Heights. I would like to expound upon the rules that you have been given so far. The first is there is to be no battling in the streets of the towns or in the Pokemarts. Any such behavior and you will be automatically disqualified, with almost no exceptions." James paused to allow all the trainers to assimilate that fact. "Second, the Sacred Seals are your tickets to battling the gym leaders and to the final match. If you don't have one you don't battle a gym leader and if you don't have two then you don't compete in the final rounds. Even if you should defeat one gym, you will be allowed to keep the badge as a symbol of participation and the usual honor of defeating a gym leader. Third, I am the final gym leader each of you will face. I do not accept challenges from any trainer unless he or she presents to me the other seven badges." James paused again, and looked around the room to show that he meant that. Gary snapped his fingers in frustration.
"Now finally, and this is the most important part. The trainer who wins this tournament will be given a rare Pokemon and will receive permission from the Elite Four themselves to carry around a seventh Pokemon." James stressed the last two words to show everyone what they were really competing for. "Now, good luck to all. When the whistle sounds at eight o'clock, the tournament will begin. You will have three weeks to travel to all the cities, collect the gym badges, and collect the extra Sacred Seal needed to enter the final competition. Until we meet in person." James left the room full of tension as each trainer was watching him leave the room. He had very clearly stated with his body language that he was going to be the hardest gym leader to beat. Ash suddenly remembered that he had trainers use six Pokemon, and wondered which ones James used. But, Ash didn't have time to think about that. All the trainers were going to get their stuff and head for the front doors.
When Ash had finished gathering all his personnal items, and counted out all six of the Pokemon he'd brought with him to start out: Pikachu, Bayleef, Cyndaquil, Totodile, and his two newly acquired Pokemon: Onix and Xatu.
Ash took his place in the crowd of trainers, each with a burning fire in their eyes to win, and waited for the whistle. Officer Jenny moved to where they could all see them and said loudly, "Let's have a good clean tournament," then blew the whistle. Trainers ran as fast as they could to get out of the Pokemoncenter and spread out in different directions. Ash stopped and looked at his Sacred Seal. At the top was a button which when he depressed opened the emblem into a small digital map. He looked at the map and saw that the closest city was Nebla City. "Well Pikachu?" Ash asked. "What do you think? Should we start there?"
Pikachu's enthusiastic reply made Ash smile as he headed toward the nearest bus that would take him to Nebla City. Once aboard he took a look at the few othertrainers that had decided to take the same route as him. None of them looked very seasoned and this lightened Ash's mood a little. "Wait," he said quietly to himself. "They may look like novices but they still are going to compete, which makes them advisaries.
When the bus pulled into Nebla City three hours later, Ash found the gym with little problem. It was an impressively tall building, stretching toward the heavens with ten stories. "Wow," Ash said.
"You like this gym too, huh?"
Ash turned around to see a girl staring up at the building as well. She was cute for a trainer with curly blonde hair and a pretty smile. "What is your name?" she asked him, her blue eyes studying him closely.
"My name is Ash Ketchum," he said. "Who are you?"
"Oh I'm Suzie," she said with a slight giggle. "I'm the youngest gym leader in the Eden Isles. But, if you want you can wait until tomorrow to challenge me."
"No, let's do this," Ash said, his face set and his heartbeat quickening at the thought of a battle.
"I'm sorry, but I can't battle today," Suzie said, a frown replacing her vibrant smile. "I was hoping you would postpone on your own, but if you can come back tomorrow, I'll battle you first thing in the morning."
"Why can't you battle today?" Ash asked.
"My Pidgeot is sick and I don't know what's wrong. Normally I would battle without him, but he's one of my main Pokemon," Suzie said.
"I have a Pidgeot. Maybe I can help you find out what's wrong," Ash said.
"That'd be great," Suzie said. "Come on, let's go." Suzie took off at a run into the gym and Ash followed closely behind her.
A/N: Let me know if I should continue. I don't want to have another story like the Lost Ones where I like it but no one else does.