Chapter 2

"Swellow, I choose you!" yelled Ash as his pokeball flew through the air to burst open and reveal the bird pokemon in a bright white flash of light to meet the Swinub that stood at the other end of the ice field.

"Swinub, Blizzard" instructed David of his pokemon.

"Dodge with Quick Attack, and then gather speed for Arial Ace"

"Swe-ellow!" cried the bird as he dodged the attack and flew in close for a direct hit.

Although the attack did little damage, Swinub was knocked back a few feet from the hit, only stopping when he reached the arena wall. "Retaliate with Ice Beam!" cried his trainer before a ball of ice formed in front of the Swinub before firing off at Swellow.

"Dodge it!" Swellow tried evasive manoeuvres to escape from the beam, but it scored a direct hit on Swellow's right wing, instantly freezing it. "Head for the ground and get rid of that ice but hitting your wing on the ground!" called Ash, even though he knew this would leave Swellow vulnerable to attack.

"Excellent" murmed David to himself, "Swinub, Ice Beam...NOW!" Swinub's Ice Beam was a direct hit, freezing Swellow solid.

"No, Swellow, try to get out of there" called Ash, determined not to lose his first pokemon in less than ten minutes. At that moment, Swellow's eyes snapped open and it was visible that the pokemon was straining against the ice holding it captive.

"Swinub, charge up another ice beam to hit it as soon as that ice breaks" commanded David.

"Swellow, use Quick Attack, don't let yourself get hit!" The ice bound pokemon stopped struggling for a moment to glare at his opponent who by this time was having trouble half charging up for the ice beam, waiting to strike. Suddenly, the charge from Swinub's ice beam died down as he was no longer able to withstand the force of keeping the beam held in. Swellow took his moment and smashed
out of the ice and soared through the air. "Well done Swellow!" cried Ash, knowing that the shear determination of his pokemon had helped him escape from his icy prison.

Growling, David ordered another ice beam from Swinub, who began to charge up...but failed! "Arial Ace!" cried Ash, hoping to turn the Swinub's inability to fire an ice beam to his advantage. Again, Swellow charged into Swinub for a direct attack.

"Endure" called David. Once the attack was initiated, Swinub stopped skidding backwards on the ice and was able to remain on his feet.

"Swellow, use quick attack to get up close and grab Swinub and take it for a fly!" cried Ash, a look of a trainer with a plan on his mind. True to his instructions, Swellow shot towards Swinub and had it in the air before it could fully regain its balance. When the bird was high above the field, he let go and the Swinub fell downwards.

With a smirk upon his face, David calmly ordered "Swinub, blizzard on the ground" Ice and snow rained down from the little swinub, causing large clouds of smoke and dust to cover the field.

"Alright Ash, that did it!" screamed May from the stands.

"I wouldn't be so sure" commented Brock. "That blizzard attack on the ground caused Swinub to slow down its descent. The damage caused by the fall will have been greatly reduced by the attack." worriedly, Brock, May and Max stared at the clouds of smoke over the ice field.

"Swinub" called David "Ice Beam"

For a moment, nothing happened, causing Swellow to come further down back into battling range, then a beam of concentrated icy energy came flying out of the smoke.

"Dodge it" screamed Ash, but it was too late and Swellow fell to the ground.

"Swellow is unable to battle, Swinub wins" cried the umpire to the crowd.

"How...how did that happen?" asked Ash, staring at his fainted pokemon with disbelief. "Swellow, return" and a beam of red light drew the defeated bird into it's pokeball. "Thanx for that Swellow, you were great, but now it's time for Torkoal to finish the job" he cried as Torkoal's pokeball flew through the air and burst open to reveal the orange and black turtle.

"Torko-oal" he weezed.

"Torkoal, overheat" ordered Ash.

"Isn't that a bit risky to start off the match with overheat?" questioned May.

"Yeah, but that Swinub is tired and I think Ash recons that one hit, if it's hard enough will faint Swinub."

As Brock finished his sentence, the referee held up Ash's flag and announced "Swinub is unable to battle. Torkoal wins!"

"Great job Torkoal" praised Ash of his pokemon.

"Torko-oal" said the pokemon, while letting off a cloud of black smoke.

"Well done Swinub" David spoke to the pokeball, and then with a grin on his face, he released-

"And David's second pokemon is his Marowak!"

"Oh wow, I haven't seen a Marowak in battle for ages" cried Misty,watching from on top of Gyarados's head at the wide screen TV on the wall of the Gym.

"Azu, Azurill!" chirupped the baby pokemon on her lap, excited by the current events.

"And it looks like Ash from Pallet is going to get this round started with a flamethrower, but I don't think anyone expected this!" exclaimed the commentator as the Marowak spun it's bone so fast that the flamethrower was deflected, causing little or no damage.

"Marowak" came from off the screen "Bonemerang"

From the other side of the screen, a cry of "Torkoal, Iron Defence, let's go!" could be heard. But Torkoal wasn't fast enough to get into it's shell and still received half the damage.

"Ash, swap out you idiot!" screamed Misty at the TV. She groaned in frustration as Ash ignored her advice and ordered another flamethrower at Marowak.

At his trainer's command, Marowak jumped high in the air to escape form the beam of fire and the flamethrower hit the ice.

"Marowak, focus punch!" This time, it was evident that Torkoal could not escape the attack and began sliding backwards on the slippery surface of the ice to crash into a block of ice.

"No! Torkoal" called Ash to his pokemon as the camera did a close up of Ash's face and his pokemon.

'Oh, WHY did I actually leave Ash just to please my sisters?' Misty wondered to herself with anguish.

"Well, that's one tough pokemon to withstand such a strong attack. What will Ketchum do next?" asked the commentator.

"Torkoal body slam!"

"Marowak, dodge NOW!"

CRASH!! Unknown to Ash and torkoal, when Torkoal's flamethrower missed Marowak, the ice had been partially melted. Strong enough to hold the small Marowak, the heavy iron pokemon was too much for it as he landed from a full strength body slam.

"Torkoal is unable to battle, Marowak wins" announce the umpire, holding up David's flag as Torkoal groaned from within the pool of water and ice.

"Torkoal return. You were great buddy." 'Now...who to choose...I think...'

"Cawphish, I choose you" cried Ash as the pokeball flew through the air to releace the lobster pokemon. "Cawphish, Bubblebeam!"

"Marowak, dodge and use Bone Club"

"MarooooWAK!" cried the pokemon as his bone made connection with Cawphish's head.

"Cawphish caw" cried the pokemon, shaking it's head as a headache began to form.

"Bubblebeam again Cawphish"

"Marowak, get behind the ice pillar" instructed David as Cawphish's attack bounced harmlessly of the ice.

"Crabhammer"

CRASH!! Cawphish's Crabhammer went smashing through the ice pillar and into Marowak, sending the bone keeper pokemon smashing into more ice pillars.

In desperation, David ordered "Bonemerang!!" but nothing happened.

"Marowak is unable to battle, Cawphish is the winner" called the umpire, holding up Ash's flag.

"Alright, way to go Cawphish!" called Ash to his pokemon.

"Pika pika!!"(Well done!) cried Pikachu, just as excited as his trainer.

"Well done Marowak" praised David. "Well, you've done well against the offensive, how are you against this pokemon? Wobbuffet, I choose you!" as the big blue blob appeared in front of the audience.

"A Wobbuffet?" questioned May in the stands, reaching from her pokedex "Wobbuffet, the patience pokemon, Wobbuffet does nothing but endure attacks - it won't attack on it's own. However, it won't endure an attack on it's tail. When that happens, this pokemon will try to take the foe with it using Destiny Bond. Wobbuffet is the evolved form of Wynut."

"The patience pokemon? What's the use with that, it can't make any attack on the opposition." commented May.

"No," said Brock grimly, "it can do worse than just attack the foe."

"Huh?" said May, obviously confused.

"Just wait and watch" replied Brock.

"Cawphish, vicegrip" called Ash as soon as the round began.

"..."

"Wobbuffet!"

"What is David doing? He's just letting Cawphish beat up Wobbuffet! Has he just given up?" asked May as Cawphish's Crabhammer made a direct hit.

"May!! SHUT UP! Brock said to just wait and see" screamed Max, thoughly annoyed that his sister STILL hadn't got David's tactic.

"Alright Cawphish, let's finish this with another Crabhammer!" yelled Ash excited that he was easily winning the round. Moments before the Crabhammer found it's target, David ordered

"Wobbuffet, Destiny Bond!"

"No!" screamed Ash. But it was too late. Cawphish's Crabhammer made a direct hit just as Wobbuffet's eyes glowed purple and the purple swirls covered Cawphish's eyes, causing the pokemon to faint with swirly eyes.

"This round is a draw" said the Umpire.

"Oh, that's what he was going to do!" squealed May. Brock, Morrison, Tyson and Max facefell in despair at May's stupidity.

"Well, with three pokemon down each, the field of battle must now be changed as we now go for a short interval." informed the telovision.

"Ash you idiot! HOW did you fall for that trick!!" screamed Misty in frustration at the TV "I ca- AAAAAAHHHH" screamed Misty as she jumped up...but fell off Gyarados's head into the water, taking Azurill with her. When she surfaced, laughter varying from the giggles of Azurill to gwaffing from Gyarados and "Psi, Psi" from Psyduck surrounded the gym.

"Oh ha, ha, very funny!" Said Misty, attempting to be cross but failing miserable and joining in with her jubilant pokemon. "I'll just go and get dried off and grab some pop corn. Any requests?"

At the mention of treats, all the pokemon started jumping up and down all calling for their favourites. "Ok, ok, I'll get a bit of everything! Give me a VERY loud yell when it starts again!" replied Misty backing away from her hyper pokemon.

10 minutes later, Misty could hear the excited squeals of her pokemon in the pool. "Poli, politoed poli pol" cried Politoed running to the door.

"Ok, ok come and give me a hand with this," gesturing to the mountain of food and poke-snacks on the tray. With the tray carried between them, they quickly moved into the gym arena.

"What did we miss?" questioned Misty.

"Hya ya, ha hi-ya ha-ha!" (Not much, but it's a grass field) replied Staryu as everyone ran forward to take their favourite poke-snack.

"Great" said Misty as everyone settled down to watch the on going match.

"Glalie, Headbutt" commanded Ash as the floating head flew through the air to hit the opposing Vibrava.

"Double Team!" cried David as multiple copies of Vibrava appeared all over the field, causing the attack to miss and Glalie to hit a tree.

"Ice Beam!"

"Dragon Breath!"

And the two attacks met. It looked like the two attacks were equal in power, but soon, Dragon Breath pushed Glalie back into the arena wall, dealing a direct hit with a lot of damage.

"No! Glalie" cried Ash

"Gla-Glalie!" Cried the pokemon as he levitated uneasily towards his opponent.

'Glalie needs a moment to rest...should I swap...no, I think he can do it!' thought Ash to himself. "Dodge it!" he cried, angry at himself for thinking of strategy and not concentrating on the battle as Glalie only just avoided another Dragon Breath. 'Yes! That's it!' "Glalie, Double Team and keep moving!" Immediately, copies of Glalie appeared all over the battle field, constantly moving and rotating, causing Vibrava's attack to miss.

"Two can play at that game, Vibrava, Double Team!" Again, copies of the pokemon appeared. The two trainers stared at each other across the battle arena before David gave a sly grin. "Vibrava!" he called, not losing eye contact with Ash, "Faint Attack". All the clones of Vibrava molded into one before it disappeared from sight.

"Gla-a-alie!" cried one of the Glalies', the real one and he fell to the ground, fainted while allhis copies vanished.

"Glalie is unable to battle. Vibrava wins" announced the Umpire, holding up the respective flag.

"That was so fast..." murmured Misty to her pokemon. "How's he going to cope now? From what I've heard from him, Glalie is one of his strongest pokemon." she stared blankly at the TV screen as the commentator informed the group that Ash only has two pokemon left in the battle, not that she needed reminding!

The camera zoomed in on Ash's face again. He was grim and appeared to be calculating which of his two remaining pokemon would be best at taking on this part ground, part dragon pokemon.

"Grovyle, I choose you!" and the green grass lizard appeared, placing it's twig in it's mouth.

"Grovyle"

"Ash you twerp, how is a grass type going to win over a dragon type!" she said with fustration.

The camera focused in on the two pokemon, one on the grass, the other hovering in the air.

"Grovyle" came from off screen "Bullet Seed!"

"bzzzzzz" as Vibrava easily evaded the attack.

"Vibrava, Dragon Breath!" A blast of breath flew at Grovyle who dodged with Quick Attack.

"Leaf Blade"

"Double Team" and Grovyle's attack went through one of the clones.

"Faint Attack!"

"Leaf Blade to protect" and the attack glanced off the glowing blades. "Leaf Blade again Grovyle"

Due to the close proximity of the attack, Vibrava was unable to evade and took a full hit.

"Grovyle, into the grass!" as the lizard disappeared from sight.

"Stop playing hide and seek, Vibrava, Dragon Breath!" called David, feeling that victory was in
sight. The hot breath burned all the grass on the field...but no Grovyle!

"Now Grovyle, Leaf Blade!" cried Ash and his pokemon appeared from in a tree onto the back of Vibrava, dealing a direct hit, causing the pokemon to crash to the ground due to the weight of Grovyle and the damage from the attack. "Finish it with pound!"

"Gro-o-o-vyle!" cried the lizard as he successfully delivered a pound, driving Vibrava into the ground and out for the count.

"Yes, well done Ash!! But how did he come up with that? Since when did Ash ever think of strategic plans?" questioned Misty, remembering the rash 10 year old in his first tournament. She was brought back to the present day by the hushed whispers from her pokemon. "What?" she demanded.

"Hya hyia" (Nothing, honest!) replied Starmie with as much innocence as possible.

"Hmmmm" said Misty, "You're up to something." before returning to the TV screen.

"Politoed poli poli toed toe" (She really does have it bad!) said Politoed to Psyduck.

"Psyiyiyiyi!" replied Psyduck as Politoed rolled it's eyes in desperation.

"Squirtle, you're up!" cried David as he threw the next pokeball into the arena.

"Squirtle Squirt!" cried the pokemon.

"Grovyle, bullet seed attack!" called Ash.

"Grovyle!" and bullets sped towards his opponent.

"Withdraw" instructed David and the tiny turtle pokemon withrew into his shell, causing the bullet seed attack to bounce off the hard shell causing Ash to grimace, this was going to be harder than it looked.

"Grovyle, Quick Attack then Leaf Blade!"

"Grovyle!" as the pokemon sped into the withdrawn shell before powering up his leaves.

"Sqirtle, Hydro Pump!" and the shell span at high speed, shooting water out of the holes from it's head, arms and legs, giving a direct hit on Grovyle, smashing him into a tree. Grovyle, sat up and glared at the tiny turtle who smiled sweetly in return before sending an ice beam at the lizard at his trainer's command.

"Dodge it!" screamed Ash with desperation. Grovyle wasn't quick enough and ended up with his foot trapped in a block of ice.

"Excellent," smirked David, "this is going to be easier than I thought! Another ice beam Squirtle!"

"Bullet Seed!" instructed Ash, hoping feverently that the Bullet Seed attack would be stronger than Squirtle's Ice Beam. Amazingly, the ice beam hit the seeds, freezing them solid, but not stopping the seed's flight through the air, hitting Squirtle and throwing it backwards, altering the direction of the Ice Beam, causing it to hit the tree above Grovyle. "Get out of that ice!" immediately, Grovyle used Bullet Seed, breaking up the prison around its foot. "Leaf Blade again Grovyle!"

By this stage, Squirtle was back on its feet and ready for battle, "Rapid Spin!"
Both attacks met in mid air, causing billows of smoke to fill the arena, causing both trainer to squint through the dust to see what happened on the field of battle.

When the dust cleared, squirtle was on it's feet, panting while "Grovyle is unable to battle, Squirtle Wins!"

"How did that happen? I thought Water types were weak against Grass types!" questioned May.

"That may be true, but due to the nature of the attack, Squirtle was heavily protected in it's shell, therefore avoiding the main damage from the Leaf Blade. Grovyle wasn't so lucky." replied Tyson from the seat next to her.

"Oh"

"Don't worry May" boasted Morrison from further down the line of friends, "Ash has Pikachu next, he's bound to win with an advantage like that!"

"Hmmm that may be so, but I've also heard of a Squirtle beating an electric type before. Ash's Squirtle actually..."rambled Brock

"WILL YOU GUYS PLEASE SHUT UP" yelled Max, his head all big and leaning over the others, "I WOULD LIKE
TO WATCH THE MATCH!!"

"..."

"Come on Pikachu!! You can do it!!" willed Misty as she stared intently at the screen.

"Ash is down to his final pokemon while David still has two left. For his last pokemon, Ash has chosen his Pikachu." informed the commentator.

"Pikachu!" called Ash, "Thunderbolt!"

"Pikaaaaaachuuu!" and electrical energy flew towards Squirtle.

"Withdraw" said his opponent, causing the electrical attack to have very little effect on the turtle.

"Fine, Pikachu Iron Tail!" could be heard from off screen.

"Pi-pi-pikachu!" and with Pikachu's amazing speed he swung his bright white, charged up tail into the shell containing the withdrawn Squirtle, sending it flying into the wall, forcing it out.

"Now hit it with a thunderbolt attack!"

"Withdraw again Squirtle!"said David, shocked at Pikachu's immense speed. However, Squirtle was unable to withdraw as he was too shaken up from the previous attack and promptly fainted when hit by the thunderbolt attack.

"Alright Pikachu! Ash is only pokemon battle away from his first ever final!!"

BZZZZZZZZZZ BZZZZZZZZZ BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ (door buzzer)

Misty's head expanded with rage, becoming VERY big and VERY red! "How DARE someone want to come here for a match when such an important tournament is on the television!!!!" screamed Misty while still staring at the screen.

Seeing his trainer about to explode, Politoed volunteered his services to run to the door with a note and tell whoever was at the door to buzz off. "Thanx Politoed, you can watch the bits of the match you miss with me later on the recorder!!" called Misty as Politoed walked out of the room.

"Poli poli toe poli politoed toed toed" (she's recording it and STILL won't leave the screen!" mumbled the pokemon as he scurried off to the door expecting the usual rookie trainer.

"Well Ash, we're down to our last pokemon, lets see who has the bigger volts! Mareep, I choose you!"

"Mareeeeep!" it cried as the fluffy sheep like pokemon appeared before the crowd.

"Well, now we can test Ash's long term memory!" chuckled Brock.

"Huh?" all Brock's companions looked at Brock with bemused expressions.

"We met a flock of Mareep when we travelled through Johto. I'll tell you later if you don't find out now!" replied Brock

"Pikachu, thunderbolt attack!"

"Obviously forgot..." said Brock, not looking suprised.

"Pikaaaaaaaaaachu!" screamed the little pokemon as he let out his powerful electrical attack.

"Mareeeeeeeeeep!!" cried his opponent as she smiled, lapping up the energy being freely supplied.

"Well, thank you for charging up my Mareep Ash, obviously you haven't fought against a Mareep. It's wool soaks up electrical energy, giving it's electrical attacks even more power!" gloated David, pleased to have an advantage against his opponent, preventing the use of two of Pikachu's best attacks.

Growling, Ash responded by telling Pikachu to use Iron Tail, making a direct hit on the sheep, sending her flying backwards. "Pikapi! pi chu pikachu!" (Ash! I can't move!) called Ash's pokemon to his trainer as he tried to fight off the effects of paralysis.

"Mareep, are you ok?" Questioned David. After recieving the offermative he ordered, "Mareep, Body Slam!"

"Dodge it Pikachu!" screamed Ash, starting to get frantic at how bad the odds on winning the match were becoming. Pikachu was just able to use his quick attack to get out of the way of the charging wool pokemon. "Alright Pikachu, try and shake off that paralysis with another Iron Tail!" Pikachu tried the attack, but was unable to move from the spot.

"Mareep, Thunder!"

"Mareeeeeeeeeeeeep!" cried the pokemon as she unleashed the most powerful electrical attack.

"Well, I think this match is over!" scoffed David, certain that no pokemon could ever take his
Mareep's Thunder attack after she had been fully charged.

"I wouldn't be so sure!" replied Ash as Pikachu came bounding out of the smoke, recovered from his paralysis and still able to battle despite the strong attack. "Alright Pikachu, Iron Tail!"

"Pikaaaaaaaaachuu!" as the attack connected and sent the Mareep flying.

"Hidden Power!" The Mareep initiated the attack in mid air, allowing her to slow down her speed and land safely. "Hidden Power again!" beads of white light started moving in an intricate pattern in front of Mareep before being fired directly at Pikachu.

"Dodge with Quick Attack!" Pikachu easily dodged, "Now, Quick Attack!" Speeding towards Mareep, Pikachu flew through the air to collide dead on. It seemed that none of Pikachu's attacks were particularly effective against Mareep and he was slowly being worn down as he began to pant.

Even though it was a small movement, Ash spotted that Mareep was now holding her tail closer to her body, almost as if trying to protect it. The brightness of the bulb had also decreased, indicating that her electrical energy was becoming very low. 'Now I've got you!' "Pikachu another Iron Tail on Mareep's tail!"

"Mareep thunderbolt!"

"Pikachu thunder!" Electricity flew all around the arena, norrowly missing Ash and David.

"What's Ash doing! I thought Mareep would absorb all electrical attack energy, why is he charging it up again!" questioned May.

"He's copying what I did in my last match." replied Tyson, patient as ever towards the naive girl. "I had Meowth use thunderbolt to protect himself against Pikachu's thunderbolt. Seems like he's learning quite a few techniques!"

"Oh..."

Unexpectedly, Mareep's thunderbolt attack stopped. "Pikachu, stop thunder!" cried Ash urgently, hoping that Mareep's wool wouldn't become too full of static too soon. Already ahead of his trainer, Pikachu's attack had already stopped. "Now, Quick Attack then Iron Tail the light on Mareep's tail before it can recover!"

"Pikachu!!" he carried out his trainer's command, dealing direct hits.

"Ma-a-are-e-ep!" cried the pokemon as it fell to it's knees, unable to stand.

"Mareep is unable to battle, Pikachu wins. The victor of this match is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!" announced the umpire to huge cheers from the crowds.

"Alright Pikachu! You did it, come here buddy!" cried Ash as his first pokemon leapt into his arms.

"Go Ash, that was great!" squeaked May.

"Yeah, that was really excellent!" cheered Max.

"I can't believe that took you so long to win!" scorned Morrison.

"Looks like you've learned a few things this week!" commented Tyson.

"Well done Ash, you've made it to the final, against the lovely Samantha..." drooled Brock.

Turning, Ash saw all his friends in the stand behind him. After giving them all a wide grin, he turned back to the battle field to see David storming off away from the field of battle, obviously furious at having lost to someone much younger than himself.

"Pikapi?" came from below.

"Yeah, don't worry Pikachu, I just wanted to talk to David, don't think I'll get a chance to now though" shrugged Ash. "Come on, let's get something to eat!"

"Pika! kachu, ka pi pikachu!!" (Woow! Ketchup, here I come!)