Ash and Pikachu walked out of a Pokemon Center, stretching and all pumped for a battle.

"Great, we're all set now! Time to face the Dewford Gym!"

"PikaPika!" Pikachu agreed with vigor. Running off, they failed to notice that Trace and Elaine were slowly following them, barely awake.

"He sure is raring to go." Elaine yawned. Trace nodded groggily.

"He's just excited off that match with Milo. He'll get over it eventually. Eevee came out, just as tired as she yawned, though when she noticed Clefairy, she asked why she was holding a pillow. Looking down at her arms, the Fairy Pokemon yelped in realization, before the two Pokemon started laughing about how tired they were. Elaine thought it was a precious moment.

"Aww, look at them being so cute." Trace smiled in silent agreement. Once they caught up to Ash, they were able to see him to try and knock on the door, only for it to open so fast he was smashed into the wall next to the door as a dozen surfing girls flooded out the gym.

"Ash!" Elaine ran to her best friend whom collapsed onto the ground, dazed from what just happened.

"Heeeey, surprise attacks are no fair." He grumbled. He then felt his head being picked up by his crush as she looked down at him worriedly. "Are you okay?!"

"Calm down, he's gotten into worse scraps before." Trace rolled his eyes. "What's all the fuss?" Considering what she said, she was acting a bit out of character with this amount of affection, and reflexively let his head go to wave her hands defensively, accidentally letting it clunk on the ground.

"Ow."

"I was just surprised is all!" She nervously laughed. "All the other times I was either expecting it or I'm giving him the hurt! I didn't know if this was serious!" Trace looked down at her suspiciously. He's never seen her this flighty when it came to making an excuse unless it was to her parents.

"Hey dude, are you okay?" Ash's vision refocused where he saw the gym leader, a tanned man with cyan hair and surfing clothes. Elaine was smitten.

"Hellooooo." Standing up and placing a foot to his side, she pushed him away. "Are you perhaps the gym leader here?"

"Haha, I'm him! Brawly, the gym leader of the Dewford Gym! Can I help you with something, bra?"

"I was wondering if you'd da-I mean battle me! I request to you a battle!" She showed him her Rotom Phone, while also blushing like mad as she turned her face away so he wouldn't see.

"Sorry bra, no can do. I'm off to surf some gnarly waves after a wicked storm yesterday. Come meet me tomorrow, that cool?"

"Very cool." Elaine sighed like she was in love.

"Radical. Okay, surfs up!" He ran off, while another dozen more women followed him. Amused chuckling brought Elaine out of her stupor as she looked at Trace.

"What's so funny?" She asked defensively.

"Oh sure, lone wolves and 50s tough guys aren't your thing but freaking surfers?" She didn't appreciate him mocking her tastes.

"Hey, as far as you need to know, surfers are among girls's top five most attractive males. The wet hair from the ocean, their shiny glistening skin from surfing, their compassion to nature almost unsurpassed by any other-"

"Speaking like an 80's cliche?" Trace interrupted her. He crossed his arms. "I'm sorry, even if I was a girl, I just couldn't get into him due to being such a cliche. If I learn he eats granola then you can definitely take him with me not there."

"What do you have against surfers?" She asked him, irritated by his behavior. He shrugged.

"Nothing. I'd imagine I'd get along well with surfers. Except when they're hollow cliches that check off all the boxes with no depth to them." Elaine turned her back to him in defiance.

"Whatever, like you said you're not a girl."

"That's not what I-" She cut him off.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the beach." Walking off annoyed with a confused Clefairy following her, Trace eyed her as she left while Ash came up to his best friend.

"What happened?"

"Miss 'above loners and tough guys' is suddenly smitten with a cliche surfer."

"What?!" Ash gasped. "Why?!" Trace put his hands behind his back as he shrugged again.

"Don't ask me. Girls are weird sometimes." He and Eevee went off towards the beach, and with nothing better to do, so did Ash and Pikachu.

Elaine finally made it to the beach, where after changing, she wore a dark blue bikini. Unbeknownst to her though, she was being watched by a trio of suspicious bar tenders serving out drinks.

"Ah, the ocean! It looks so beautiful! What do you think Clefairy?" She asked her partner.

"Clefairy!" She nodded with a smile. Looking around, she spotted Brawly, surfing on the waves with his Makuhita, a small yellow sumo.

"Brawly! Here I come!" She ran to the ocean and dived right in. As she swam though, her leg accidentally brushed against one Carvanna of two, which made her wince. Especially when in retaliation, it bite her leg. "Ow! What's got me?!" She cried out, though her troubles really became apparent when the wave Brawly was riding on caught the poor girl, sending her screaming and crashing into the ocean. Upon surfacing, she tried to stay afloat. "Ah! Help! Help me! I'm hurt!" Brawly couldn't hear her pleas for help due to the waves as he went farther and farther away. Clefairy saw her in trouble though and yelled in shock.

"Clefairy!" Looking around, she saw Trace and Ash arriving at the beach, and ran to them. "CleClefairy! Clefairy fairy!"

"What's wrong with Clefairy?" Ash asked Trace, whom shrugged. The Fairy Pokemon pointed to the ocean, where they saw Elaine in the middle of drowning!

"Elaine!" Both the boys yelled as they ran with Clefairy where they were nearest to her on shore. Clefairy went to Elaine's stuff and pressed Azumarill's pokeball, letting her out.

"Azumarill?" She asked.

"Azumarill, we've got to get to Elaine!" Ash pointed to her master. The Aqua Rabbit Pokemon gasped at the event and nodded in understanding. She went to the water, and letting Ash hold onto her body, she swam forward with great speed thanks to being a water type. Elaine eventually lost her strength as she was pulled under, the two carvanna dragging her down by her legs to have her as a treat undisturbed by the humans above. That it until a Bubblebeam blasted one of them off, sending it reeling. Realizing it was alone, it spotted the approaching Azumarill and Ash, the latter even getting it off by punching it! Having lost its nerve, it swam off, along with the other. Both trainer and Pokemon grabbed hold of Elaine as they went straight up to the surface, gasping at getting fresh air. Once they were at the shore, a crowd that had gathered thanks to Trace cheered as they had managed to save her and get her onto the sand. It was then Brawly spotted the crowd once he was on the beach and wondered what was happening.

"Elaine, Elaine!" Ash tried to wake her up, but she wasn't responding immediately. He then did chest compressions before putting his lips onto hers, performing CPR. Trace watched with clear worry, remembering when they were taught this, when he almost drowned in Pallet Town when they were only a little older than toddlers. With a few more chest presses, Elaine spat out water, showing she was alive to everyone's relief. Opening her eyes weakly, she saw everyone looking down at her.

"Elaine!" Both boys hugged her tightly, and everyone celebrated that she was saved. Realizing what happened, and what almost happened, Elaine began to cry quite strongly as she hugged her friends. She couldn't say anything, for the thought of dying alone under the waves was horrifying. Her Pokemon were also crying into their arms

"Whoa, dudes! Are you all alright?!" Brawly asked them once he got close enough. One of the beach goers answered him.

"This girl, Elaine right? She was drowning! But that friend of hers saved her!" Brawly looked at Ash, and knelt down to him.

"You saved this Elaine girl bro?" He asked the trainer. Turning to him, his eyes just as full of tears, nodded.

"Y-yeah. She's one of my best friends. I had to save her." Elaine, even in her shock, heard that, and looked at her best friend.

"You-you did?" The two then shared eye contact.

"Yeah." Brawly smiled.

"Radical. Dude, you have my upmost respect." Unfortunately, the sentiment was not to last as a net captured Pikachu, Clefairy, Azumarill and Eevee as they were all dragged yelling towards a boat in the water. Our heroes called out to their Pokemon as Team Rocket began their motto.

"Prepare for trouble lurking in the seas!"

"From beyond the stars, this was a breeze!"

"An evil as old as the ocean!"

"Sent here to put our plans in motion!"

"Plus there's me!" Meowth spoke up.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"And James!"

"And Meowth are the names!"

"Anywhere there's peace in the waves..."

"Team Rocket..."

"Will be there..."

"...to put peace in the graves!"

"Dudes, not cool! You're all being whack!" Brawly called them out.

"Speaking of whacking, it's time we whack on out of here before we're whacked!" Meowth recommended before they started to speed away in their boat.

"Stop you-Agh!" Elaine tried to stand up, but her legs were punctured and bloody. Her friends and Pokemon tried to keep her still out of worry.

"Don't worry Elaine, I gots this! Dudettes, get Elaine to the Pokemon Center!" Brawly told his surfing students, whom complied as they safely took her to get some help. "Makuhita, get to them quick!" The gym leader told his ace. It nodded as it went to the ocean, and used its mighty powerful arms to propel itself faster than Team Rocket's boat. Once the Pokemon splashed into the water, Azumarill along with the others were able to escape out of the net. Angry at being kidnapped, Pikachu leapt off Azumarill and gave Team Rocket a Thundershock which really hurt them, along with their boat exploding.

"I guess we won't be surfing anytime soon!" James yelled out.

"Haven't you heard of wind surfing?!" Jessie shouted at him.

"We're hanging 10 to the sky!" Meowth screeched.

"Team Rocket's blasting off agaaaaaaaain!" Team Rocket zoomed into the sky, before they made a twinkle in the sky.

"Awesome Makuhita!" Brawly praised his Pokemon as they all got to the shore. "Now that's how you show them!"

"Makuhita!" It responded with a smile.

"Now then, how about we check on your Elaine friend?"

"Ah, right!" Ash gasped as he and everyone else ran to make sure she was okay.

A/N: Wow, I have to admit, this was not something I expected to write. But wow, what a suspenseful moment there. Whoo. So who's going to face Brawly in the next chapter? Will it be Ash taking her place, or will Elaine refuse to stay out of commission? Stay tuned. Also, I'm a bit surprised no one's responded to my previous A/N, or the battle back then. I mean no one has to unless I'm asking but still I thought there'd be a reply. Oh well, at least this one will given how it turned out. I'm looking forwards to making more potential left turn plot twists like this in the future. It was quite good.