And now the moment everyone's been waiting for…you'll have to read on! And if you weren't waiting for this particular moment (which is about halfway through the story), then there's another moment at the end you should like.

Still don't own 'em.

GXGXGX

"Sunlight! Sweet, sweet sunlight!" Jaden cried, holding his arms to the heavens. "Thank the gods!"

"Um, Jaden?" Dawn asked, approaching Jaden.

"We were lost for hours and hours and—"

"Jaden?"

"—hours and hours and we couldn't get out! We were trapped! Trapped in the Forest of Doom!"

"Jaden—"

"Did we all make it out?! Syrus, where's Syrus? What about Chazz? Atticus? Jesse? Where is everyone?!"

"JADEN!"

"Yes, Dawn?"

By this time, Dawn was very frustrated. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides, she was breathing heavily, and she wore a scowl that could wither a crocodile (Jim covered Shirley's eyes). "We were only in Viridian Forest for two hours! TOPS! And everyone else is up there." She pointed at the group in front of them; obviously Jaden and Dawn were the last ones out.

"Wait…so…we were the last ones out?"

Okay, maybe not so obviously.

Everyone had caught one Pokémon (Chazz's Gastly, Adrian's Nincada, and Axel's Magby had even evolved into Haunter, Ninjask, and Magmar) each in Viridian Forest and they were only now exiting. Soon they would be in Pewter City to rest their Pokémon and grab some dinner (to the relief of Jaden).

"Hey, Dawn, Drew," Ash called. "How about, after dinner, you guys show Syrus and Atticus what contest battles are all about."

"Sounds like a plan," Dawn agreed.

"I'm game." After a pause, Drew added, "It's…just Syrus and Atticus, right?"

"Yes…" Ash replied warily.

"Where will everyone else be?"

"Training with me. Relaxing if they want, I guess."

"Good."

Ash decided it was best not to ask Drew to elaborate, but he had a feeling it had something to do with the brief fight episode last chapter—he didn't want a repeat of that. From the look on Aster's face, Ash deduced that he had figured as much as well. Fortunately, he didn't say anything.

GXGXGX

"Jaden, STOP!" Ash cried. "This food costs money! My money!"

"Huh?" Jaden detached his face from his plate of Pokémon Center food. "Mohy?" he asked, the word "money" muffled by the food in his mouth.

"Yeah, money." Ash rolled his eyes. "Just…take it down a notch, alright?"

Syrus giggled. "That's like asking a Munchlax to 'take it down a notch.'" The gang had been learning more and more of Pokémon and their habits, especially the ones already caught.

"That's the truth," Chazz mumbled. "Slacker will eat anything."

"Slacker?" Ash laughed. "Is that, like, Jaden's nickname or something?"

Chazz smirked. "Something like that."

"It is not!" Syrus protested. "That's just what Chazz calls him. Jaden's nickname is Jay. Isn't that right, Jay?" Jaden was too busy continuing with his meal to answer.

"Well, since everyone except Jaden is done—" Dawn started.

"Actually, Jay-dude is done," Atticus interrupted. "He's on—what is it? Fifth's?"

"Seventh's," Adrian corrected.

"And—ugh—counting," Aster added as Jaden licked his plate clean.

"Forget I asked! Dawn exclaimed. "As I was saying, how about me, Drew, Syrus, and Atticus go train now?"

Ash nodded. "Sounds good. Wasn't there a Contest Hall added here a while back?"

"That's right," Drew replied. "After we train, we'll take them there tomorrow."

"But we're seeing Brock tomorrow," Ash protested.

"That'll take two seconds." Drew waved his hand, as if to wave away the protest. "Contests take over a day until the final round."

"One, if it takes such a short time, then it shouldn't be a problem for us to go first. And two, it won't take a short time anyway; there's seven of them!"

"Hey, hey, guys, guys." Dawn jumped in between the two and stuck her hands out. "Stop it! Drew, it's the contest registration is tomorrow; the actual contest is the next day. We'll go to the gym tomorrow and go to the contest the day after. And Ash, you can schedule a gym battle whenever; contests dates are set. You need to be more flexible with that."

"You're a pretty good mediator for those two, Dawn," Jim noted.

Dawn grinned. "I've had some practice. Come on, boys, let's go."

GXGXGX

"The structure of contests goes like this: first, it's the appeal. Then, you battle it out." Drew shrugged. "It's simple as that. But after you understand the structure, that's when it gets hard."

"Um…I still don't quite get the structure…" Syrus murmured.

"That's cause somebody forgot to tell you what the appeal and 'battling it out' is!" Ash shouted out an open window.

Drew gave him a silent glare. In response, Ash flashed a thumbs up, grinned, and slammed the window shut.

"He's right, you know." Dawn winked. "Alright boys, the appeal is when you show off your Pokémon's moves. Like so. Pachirisu, spotlight!" Dawn dramatically released her Pachirisu.

"Hey, you have one of them, too!" Syrus cried, shocked that Dawn had the same Pokémon as the one he had caught in Viridian Forest.

"Uh huh." Dawn nodded. "Now, Pachirisu, use Discharge!" Blasts of lightning let lose from Pachirisu's body. "Now, follow with Sweet Kiss!" Small red hearts were scattered after the bolts of electricity, wowing Syrus and Atticus. Drew stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against a tree. "Awesome job, Pachirisu! Now, boys, that's just a simple combo. There are many other combinations Pokémon can use in a contest appeal." Dawn finished, recalling her Pokémon.

"Cool!" Atticus exclaimed exuberantly.

"You just try to make your moves as awesome and breathtaking as possible," Drew explained. "Sixteen people move on from the appeal out of all who try out. The rest are out of the running. Each of the sixteen is pitted against someone and the people who lose are also out of the running. Then it's down to eight. The battle each other again until there's four. When there's finally two, they battle each other in the final match; whoever wins gets the Contest Ribbon. When you have five you can participate in the Grand—"

"Drew!" Dawn interrupted. "We'll cross that bridge eventually. They've never even seen a Contest Hall before!"

"Contest Hall?" Atticus questioned.

"It's where the contests take place."

"And…what did Drew mean when he said 'pitted against each other'? We aren't…fighting, are we?" Syrus asked nervously.

Dawn laughed. "No! Your Pokémon battle!"

Syrus breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, okay. Just like training, then?"

"Just like training. Except with one little difference. You have to keep the appeal factor. If you appeal enough, you'll win before any Pokémon has to faint. Oh, and one more thing. Between the appeal and the battling, most people switch Pokémon."

Meanwhile, inside the Pokémon Center…

"How are they doing?" Max asked Ash, who, unbeknownst to Dawn and Drew, was still peeking out the Pokémon Center window.

"Well, now that Drew shut up, they seem to be doing okay…I can't really hear unless I open the window, though," Ash replied. "Hey, wait a second…Max, you're eleven."

"Really?" Max said sarcastically. "I could have sworn I was twenty-one."

"If you're eleven then…you're a trainer! You got your starter Pokémon!"

"Yeah, a year ago," Max stated pointedly, rolling his eyes.

"What kind of Pokémon do you have?" Ash asked excitedly. "How many have you caught?"

At this point, Jim strode into the room. "I don't think you have the authority to ask that, mate."

"Huh?" Ash scowled. "Why's that?"

"You still haven't answered our question."

"Well, really, it was Atticus's question, but still—" Jesse commented as the rest of the gang entered the room.

"Aw, man, not this again," Ash moaned.

"Flashback time!" Jaden cheered in a sing-song voice.

"Oh, alright, fine!" Ash gave in. "I'll tell you what happened with Misty…"

FLASHBACK!

Ash poked his head around the tree. There was a meeting of the relatively small—but incredibly-growing—Team Light. So far, it only consisted of Norman, Gary, May, Max, and Team Rocket, but the latter was a huge organization.

May and Max were the only two not wearing white. Ash scowled; Norman had sent May to battle Ash (he had won, of course), but that battle had been dangerous. May could have taken away his freewill! Suffice to say, he no longer trusted her.

He shifted his weight. What he didn't know was that there was a small twig underneath his foot…

CRACK!

"What was that?!" Norman demanded. He caught sight of Ash's hat as the boy tried to quietly slip away. "Ketchum. Get him!"

Ash gave up trying to slip away quietly and tore through the woods full speed.

"After him!"

"Catch Ketchum!"

"No!" Ash gasped. He had run right into a river filled with rapids. He (idiotically) had left his Pokémon with Professor Oak during his mission, so they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. He had no escape. No way out. Ash slowly turned to face his pursuers: about twenty Team Light members. There was no way he could get out of this; they would capture him and bring him back to Norman, where he would be lent Pokémon and forced to battle.

"Ash!" Ash wheeled around to find…Misty! She was riding her Gyarados, which was easily avoiding the currents and rapids. Misty leapt off Gyarados and returned it to its ball. "Take Gyarados and get out of here, Ash!"

"Misty!" Ash protested as Misty handed him the Pokéball. "What about you?!"

"I'll hold them off. Just go!" Misty pulled out another Pokéball. "Go, Starmie!"

Ash gazed at the ball in his hand, released Gyarados, and floated away down the river, not even looking back.

END FLASHBACK

Ash stared at the floor, his bangs covering his eyes, fists clenched at his sides. "I didn't even look back. I knew there was no way that she could take on twenty at once. But I didn't do any thing to stop her. There was room for both of us on that Gyarados, but I knew they would chase us if there wasn't a distraction. Misty knew that too."

There was silence. That's why Ash was so touchy about Misty: she sacrificed herself to save him.

GXGXGX

"HEY!"

"Oh, quit complaining—it's ELEVEN!"

"I like to sleep LATE!"

Drew smirked, an empty bucket (which had previously held ice water) dangling from his hand. "Looks like we'll have to break you of that."

"Guys, are you ready yet?" Ash poked his head in the room. "I told Brock that we'll meet him in two hou—what happened?!" Ash spotted the bucket in Drew's hand, which was steadily dripping freezing water onto the floor. "Oh. You know, you could have just told him to get up like I told Jaden. Well, screamed at Jaden, but you get the point."

Drew shrugged. "This way was more fun."

"I'm gonna kill you someday," Aster grumbled, sitting up, shaking his head, and causing water to fly everywhere.

"I'd like to see you try," Drew mocked.

Ash sighed. "Shut up and get some breakfast, you two. First, we register for the contest; that leaves just enough time to meet up with Brock." Ash turned around and began to walk away. "Oh, and Aster, this reminds me: while we're in town, we'll need to get you some new clothes after we face Brock. You've probably noticed that battling in suit isn't the best idea. And besides, speaking of ideas, we don't want Team Light getting the wrong one from your appearance."

As Ash left the room, Aster turned to the side on his bed, so that his feet were touching the floor. He swung his legs around and into the back of Drew's knees, causing them to buckle. "Oops, sorry. Did I do that?" Aster asked innocently as he stood up. Drew growled and closed his eyes, mentally counting to ten. When he opened his eyes, Aster was gone. Drew got up from where he lay on the floor and followed, grumbling to himself the whole way.

GXGXGX

"Now that you've registered for the contest," Dawn started. "You're totally ready to kick butt out there. Drew and I didn't enter because we wanted to give you the best chance possible. We have been doing this for years."

Syrus and Atticus had just been registered in the Pewter City Pokémon contest; now they were on their way to the Pewter City Gym.

"Here we are!" Ash announced, stopping outside of a large building. "The Pewter City Gym." Ash cupped his hands to his mouth. "Hey, BROCK! You there?!"

No reply.

"Exactly how is he supposed to hear you?" Aster scoffed.

Ash shrugged. "I thought he'd be waiting. I guess we'll just go on in." The others followed as Ash stepped through the Gym doors. "He should be in…here. Or not." Once again, Brock was no where to be found. "Where is—uh oh." Ash took off on a mad sprint around the building. "BROCK! BROCK, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"I'm over here!" a voice called from an adjoining room. "I'm in a Gym battle!"

Ash sighed in relief. "ALRIGHT! We'll just wait our turn then!" Ash turned back to the group. "That's a relief; he scared me for a minute, there. I thought that Team Light…"

"…came over a brainwashed him," Dawn finished. "So I guess we'll just have to wait here for a while, huh?"

"Looks like it." Ash turned to the doors leading into the room where Brock was. "Or we could see who he's battling." Ash poked his head through the door. "Hm. Never seen them before. But at least they aren't Team Light. The one's dressed about as obviously as Chazz is."

"They? There's more than one?" Chazz asked with a slight attitude from Ash's comment.

"There are two. The one is black's battling and the one in yellow's watching."

"Black? Yellow?" Syrus repeated.

Jaden glanced at him. "You don't think…?"

"Nah. Couldn't be." Syrus shook his head vigorously. "But…then again…"

Chazz and Atticus, who (amazingly) knew exactly what they were talking about, ran to the door. Chazz pushed Ash out of the way and glanced out.

"No way!" he gasped. "It's Zane…and Bastion!"

GXGXGX

I did say that they would come if they got enough votes, didn't I? But besides that, I wanted to switch Aster's clothes for a while, so after Zane and Bastion explain how they got there and after the other seven battle Brock, they'll go shopping! YAY! I can think of at least two people who'll be looking forward to the opportunity (laughs evilly).

Oh, and SURPRISE! Ash is upset cause of the whole sacrifice thing. That means: no Pokeshipping. You can spin it that way in your minds (because I'm not pairing them with anyone), but the only romance in this story after this will be implied Contestshipping (implied cause Drew and May won't confess their love or anything—people will just tease them about it and Drew will get all pissed off and that's about the extent of it).