Rayquaza45: What's up readers? Rayquaza45 is back with the 7th chapter. I don't want to sound pathetic but PLEASE REVIEW! I seriously haven't been getting that many and I want more. Even if you've reviewed before, please do so again! PLEASE!

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon or any aspect of it!

Chapter 7: The Final Preliminary Round

"Final preliminary round."

Those were the words going through raven-haired trainer's head as he prepared to face his opponent. A girl with long brown hair about the same age as himself. He continued to look on at her as the referee took his podium position.

"This will be a 1-on-1 pokemon battle." He said. "Each trainer must release their pokemon at the same time as the other."

"What?" Ash asked.

"It is to prevent anyone from gaining too significant of an advantage during the battle." He explained.

"I still don't get it." Ash complained.

"We don't want someone winning just because they waited for their opponent to choose a pokemon and then chose a pokemon with a type advantage." The referee went on. "This rule will be applied in the beginning of later rounds as well."

"Scared, hat boy?" The girl across the room said.

"What the…" Ash stammered. "No way!"

"Alright then." The referee said. "Please choose your pokemon."

"Go!"

"Come on out!"

Out of the pokeballs came Ash's Snorlax from one while the girl's Marowak came out from the other one.

"Let the battle begin!" The referee said.

"Snorlax, use hyper beam!" Ash yelled.

"Marowak, dodge it!" The girl ordered.

"Snore!" The sleeping pokemon shouted as it launched the super strong attack against the bone keeper pokemon. As Snorlax's hyper beam chased the dodging Marowak around the field, crumbling the ground it went over, its trainer developed a plan.

"Snorlax!" Ash yelled. "Get in close and use mega punch!"

Obeying its trainers command, Snorlax went in close to its opponent and took aim.

"Marowak, dodge it!" The girl said.

"Oh no you don't." Ash taunted. "Snorlax's become a lot more accurate and on the mark!"

"Snore!" The sleeping pokemon said, raising its fist to attack the bone keeper pokemon who tried to dodge. Though it did so successfully, Snorlax brought its arm around and mashed Marowak right into the ground.

"Marowak!" The girl shouted. "Are you okay?"

As the injured pokemon got up, something happened….it cried.

"It's crying?" Ash asked himself, already knowing the answer.

"We forfeit the match!" The girl told the referee?

"You want to forfeit?" He asked her.

"That's right."

"Well then….since Marowak's trainer has forfeit, Snorlax's trainer is the winner and proceeds on to the top 32 trainers for consideration." The referee said.

"That was easier than I thought." Ash said as he recalled Snorlax. "Thanks Snorlax."

"Just for the record, if I'd chosen any other pokemon, I'd have won." The girl said. "And your Pikachu still looks like a little girls pet."

As the girl left the room, Ash started thinking.

"Have I ever seen her before?" Ash said. "Pikachu?"

"Pi-ka." The electric rodent said.

"Alright then. I hope everyone else made it through."

In another room of the Battle Tower, emerald headband boy, Brendan Birch faced off against his opponent. A boy about the same age as himself who wore a black belt. His oponent was fighting with a Hitmontop against Brendan's Aggron.

"Aggron, use rock smash!" Brendan yelled.

"Dodge it Hitmontop!" The kid commanded.

"Don't count on it!"

As the handstand pokemon attempted to dodge the rock smash unleashed by the iron armor pokemon, it found itself falling on the floor after slipping on a jagged rock.

"Never lose sight of your surroundings!" Brendan taunted. "Do it, Aggron!"

"AGG!" The iron armor pokemon yelled as Aggron's claws on one of its hands started glowing white and it smashed the handstand pokemon with it, smashing it even further into the ground and causing it extreme pain.

"Hitmontop, you have to get out of there!" Its trainer yelled.

Managing to free itself from the ground, Hitmontop returned to its trainer's side on the field.

"Okay Hitmontop, use headbutt on it!" Its trainer commanded.

"Hitmon-top-top-top!" The handstand pokemon repeated as it smashed its head into Aggron's side, causing no damage at all.

"Normal moves aren't very effective against Aggron." Brendan said. "How'd you get this far without knowing basic strategy?"

"Shut up!" The kid screamed. "I'll teach you about basic strategy! Hitmontop, you're close enough, use focus punch!"

"Aggron, use hyper beam!" Brendan ordered.

Before Hitmontop could get any closer from its already close range, it was sent flying by Aggron's powerful hyper beam, smashing into a wall and being knocked out.

"No! Hitmontop!"

"Hitmontop is unable to battle!" The referee said. "Aggron's trainer will be the one to proceed on to the top 32 trainers for consideration."

In another room of the Battle Tower, Brock was engaging in a battle using his Foretress against a Xatu owned by his opponent, an attractive lady slightly older than himself.

"Xatu, use psychic, now!" The lady commanded.

"Forretress, wade through the attack and use tackle!" Brock told it.

"Forre!" The bagworm pokemon said as it directly faced the mystic pokemons psychic attack. Despite the lack of effectiveness of psychic attacks on steel pokemon, Forretress was unable to get close enough to Xatu to perform its attack and was dropped into the ground.

"Forretress, get up and use spikes!" The Brock commanded.

"Xatu, use ominous wind before it gets the chance!" The lady yelled.

"Xatu!" It said as it unleashed its attack on Forretress before it could perform its own, which caused Forretress to be pushed backwards, dragging the field as it went and smashing even further into the ground than before.

"This is insane!" Brock yelled, his voice filled with anger like never before. "Forretress, get up and use tackle."

"Forre!" The bagworm pokemon shouted as it got up and approached Xatu.

"Xatu, dodge it." Its trainer commanded.

"Xatu." The mystic pokemon said as it simply flew over the attack Forretress.

"Now use ominous wind again, Xatu!"

"Xatu." It said once again as it unleashed the ghost type attack on Forretress once again, knocking it down but not out.

"Forretress, get up and use explosion right now!" Brock shouted at the top of his voice.

"For….re." The bagworm pokemon said as it struggled to get out of the ground. Eventually reaching its opponent it initiated the attack.

"Xatu, fly away from Forretress as fast as you can!" Its trainer shouted, worriedly.

"Xatu!" The mystic pokemon said as it flew away from the attacking Forretress as fast as it could. Halfway to the ceiling, Forretress combusted in the manner that an attack called "explosion" would expect. As the dust cleared, Forretress was lying on the ground, knocked out. Xatu, on the other hand, suffered significant injury, but was still conscious.

"No way!" Brock yelled.

"Forretress is unable to battle." The referee declared. "Xatu's trainer will be the one to proceed to the top 32 trainers for consideration."

As they met up after the battle, the lady confronted Brock prior to him leaving.

"Hi there." She said.

"Hello." Brock responded, in a sad tone.

"How's your Forretress." She asked.

"He's unconscious." Brock responded. "I'm taking him to the pokemon centre now."

"That's good." The lady said, but still there was more. "What exactly happened?"

"Happened?"

"Your Forretress had a type advantage."

"Type advantages aren't everything."

"True. But weren't you somewhat unreasonably aggressive and angry?"

"Maybe. I'm not exactly feeling like myself right now."

"It happens." She accepted. "I hope you'll be able to help yourself soon."

"Thank you." Brock said.

In another room of the Battle Tower, Dawn prepared to face off against her opponent. He was a rather young boy with an oversized winter coat, a stange choice of attire for a place like Olivine City.

"This will be a 1-on-1 pokemon battle." He said. "Each trainer must release their pokemon at the same time as the other."

Dawn tossed out her pokeball. "Go for it!"

"Help me now!" The young boy said as he quickly tossed out his pokeball.

Out of the pokeballs came Dawn's Buneary from one while the boy's Voltorb came out from the other one.

"Let the battle begin!" The referee said.

"Buneary, use ice beam!" Dawn commanded.

"Voltorb, you use thunder shock!" The boy said.

"Buneary!" The pokemon said as it unleashed a jet of ice at its opponent.

"Volt-orb!" The pokemon said as it unleashed a jolt of electricity.

Both attacks cancelled each other out and created an array of sky blue sparks bathed in the yellow light of the remains of the thunder shock. This could've been a great contest move.

"Buneary, use ice beam again." Dawn told it.

"Stop it with rollout, Voltorb." Said the boy.

"Don't bet on it." Dawn told him as the light blue beam froze over the pokeball-shaped pokemon. Voltorb's voice could still be heard despite being covered in several inches of ice as Buneary danced around it.

"Buneary, stop that!" Dawn told it.

"I wouldn't celebrate yet, lady." The boy said. "Break yourself out with sonicboom, Voltorb."

"Voltorb!" The pokeball-shaped pokemon said as unleashed its sonicboom attack, causing sound waves to fly all around the arena from its body, breaking it free from the ice and returning it to the battle field.

"Now, Voltorb!" The boy yelled. "Get back in the fight with swift!"

"Counter it with dizzy punch, Buneary." Dawn commanded.

Buneary started winding up its stubby ears and charging towards its opponent as it opened its mouth and revealed a yellow ball which then started firing yellow stars.

"Buneary!" Dawn shouted. "Hit them away!"

"Buuuneeary!" The rabbit pokemon said as it ran towards its opponent, using its attack to smash away the attacking yellow stars with its ears. Eventually, Buneary reached its opponent at which point the fluff on its ears began to glow as the both the ears punched the pokeball-shaped pokemon.

"Voltorb, are you okay?" The young boy asked his pokemon.

"Voltorb!"

The young boy sighed. "That's a relief. Now use charge beam, Voltorb!"

"Volt?" The pokeball-shaped pokemon asked.

"Voltorb's been confused, Buneary!" Dawn cheered. "Use ice beam fast!"

"Dodge, it Voltorb!" The boy worriedly shouted.

"Buuuneeary!" The rabbit pokemon said as it unleashed the light blue beam at the pokemon which didn't know what to do. The beam, while not freezing Voltorb, sent it flying backwards. Voltorb, after crashing into the ground, started seeing stars.

"Voltorb is unable to battle!" The referee said. "Buneary's trainer will be the one to proceed on to the top 32 trainers for consideration."

Meanwhile, in another room of the Battle Tower, Gary Oak's Scizor was engaged in a battle against a Poliwrath belonging to a tall teenager wearing a green shirt. Gary's Scizor had already managed to land several swift attacks on Poliwrath, who had managed to land only one focus punch on Scizor.

"Poliwrath, use focus punch again!" Its trainer commanded.

"Poliwrath!" The tadpole pokemon shouted as it powered up its right arm, jumped up in the air and aimed for Scizor.

"Scizor, grab its hand with your pincers!" Gary told it.

"Sci!" "Poli?" were the reactions of the pokemon as Scizor's right pincer had grabbed Poliwrath's hand and trapped it in its claw-like grip.

"Then use focus punch with your other hand, Poliwrath." Its trainer said.

"Poli!" The tadpole pokemon said as it aimed its left hand for Scizor's chest, but was stopped when Scizor's other pincer grabbed its hand as it had done before.

"Poliwrath!" Its trainer shouted worriedly.

"Use steel wing on it Scizor!" Gary ordered.

"Scizor!" The pincer pokemon shouted as it released Poliwrath from its grip and its wings started to glow white and hit Poliwrath full on, sending it crashing into the ground.

"Poliwrath, can you get up?" Its trainer asked the fallen tadpole pokemon.

"Po..li." It said to its trainer as it struggled to get up, but eventually managed to do so.

"Alright then Poliwrath, use dynamic punch!" He said.

"Poli!" The tadpole pokemon said as a ball of light formed around its fist, approaching the pincer pokemon.

"Dodge it Scizor!" Gary told it.

"Scizor!" The pincer pokemon said as it took to the skies to avoid Poliwrath's attack.

"Poliwrath!" Its trainer said. "Jump up and use focus punch!"

"Scizor!" Gary shouted. "Use steel wing when Poliwrath is close enough."

"Poliwrath!"

"Scizor!"

Both the pokemon started shouting as they met in the air, preparing to unleash their attack and win the battle. With its longer body, Scizor was able to land its attack before Poliwrath could to the same, but when it had the chance, not having been completely knocked down by the attack, Gary gave an order.

"Scizor! Twist your body and use metal claw"

"Scizor!" The pincer pokemon yelled out as it twisted its body in a 270 degree angle, giving it a clear view of Poliwrath's attack but making said attack impossible to hit with. After the attack had failed, Scizor unleashed its metal claw attack, sending Poliwrath crashing into the ground below.

"Poliwrath!" Its trainer cried out, running up to it.

"Po…li!" The tadpole pokemon said as it fainted.

"Poliwrath is unable to battle." The referee declared. "Scizor's trainer will be the one to proceed to the top 32 trainers for consideration."

In another room of the Battle Tower, Leaf Green prepared to engage her opponent, a teenage boy wearing a gold and blue cap backwards, in a battle as the referee entered the room.

"This will be a 1-on-1 pokemon battle." He said. "Each trainer must release their pokemon at the same time as the other."

"Got it!" Leaf said, understanding rules Ash failed to.

"Get ready." Her opponent said.

"Come on out!" Leaf said as she threw her pokeball into the air.

"Go for it!" The boy said as he did the same.

Out of the pokeballs came a Typhlosion on the boy's side and a Dusknoir on Leaf's side. The two pokemon immediately faced down one another.

"Let the battle begin." The referee said.

"Typhlosion!" The boy yelled. "Use flame thrower!"

"Dusknoir!" Leaf yelled. "Get around it!"

"Dusk!" "Ty!" Those were the sounds the pokemon made as they followed their orders. Typhlosion aimed its flame thrower directly at the approaching Dusknoir. Following its order to get around the incoming fiery wave, Dusknoir effortlessly moved around the attack and approached ever so closely to Typhlosion.

"Typhlosion, get out of there!" Jimmy yelled out of concern.

"Dusknoir!" Leaf yelled. "Use pursuit."

"Dusk!" The gripper pokemon shouted as it pursued the fleeing Typhlosion, attacking it with extra force since it tried to flee. Typhlosion, though hurt somewhat, shrugged off the attack.

"Alright now, Typhlosion!" The boy shouted. "Use quick attack!"

"Dusknoir, you use confuse ray, fast!" Leaf told it.

"Typhlosion!" "Dusknoir!" The pokemon shouted as their attacks collided with the other. Typhlosion's attack had pushed back Dusknoir while the gripper pokemon's attack caused Typhlosion to walk in a very strange manner.

"Typhlosion!" The boy worriedly shouted. "Snap out of it!"

"Dusknoir!" Leaf shouted. "Hit it with shadow punch!"

"Dusk!" It shouted as its hands became outlined in a grey aura. After it punched the air, another fist of a shadow appeared in front of Typhlosion and punched it in the face, sending it reeling backwards!

"Typhlosion! Are you okay?" Its trainer asked

"Ty?" The fiery blaze pokemon asked, still under the influence of the confuse ray.

"Dusknoir! Use shadow punch!" Leaf told it.

"Typhlosion, run!" The boy shouted.

"Ty?"

"Dusk!" The gripper pokemon shouted as it punched the air which created a shadow image of a fist which punched the unmoving Typhlosion in the stomach, making it bend over and reel from the attack. Dusknoir then went back to Leaf's side.

"Giving up yet?" Leaf said to the boy.

"No way" He replied. "We're not done yet, right Typhlosion!"

"Typhlosion!" The fiery blaze pokemon shouted as the flames on its back burned brighter than ever, Typhlosion stood up tall roaring with its mouth wide open, ready to fight once more, having snapped out of its confusion.

"Great!" Leaf said. "Winning by default is no fun!"

"Hope you like losing honestly then." The boy shouted. "Typhlosion, use double edge!"

"Typhlosion!" The fiery blaze pokemon shouted as it approached Dusknoir.

"Prepare a counterattack, Dusknoir!" Leaf told it.

"Dusknoir." The gripper pokemon said as it effortlessly took Typhlosion's attack. Since normal moves didn't affect ghost pokemon, Dusknoir was unharmed by the double edge. The drawback was that Typhlosion suffered no recoil damage since the attack failed. However, Dusknoir now had a clear view of Typhlosion.

"Dusknoir!" Leaf shouted. "Use shadow punch again!"

"Typhlosion! You have to dodge it!" Its trainer shouted.

But it wasn't meant to be as the gripper pokemon scored a point blank range hit on Typhlosion, sending it reeling back towards the other side of the field.

"That won't happen again!" The opponent shouted with his fist raised into the air. "Typhlosion, finish it off with fire blast!"

"Dusknoir, use future sight!" Leaf commanded.

"Typhlosion!" "Dusknoir." The pokemon shouted as they unleashed their attacks. Typhlosion's powerful fire attack scored a direct hit on Dusknoir who was sent crashing into the ground. Dusknoir had already activated its future sight attack.

"Dusknoir, we need to keep going!" Leaf said.

"Typhlosion, use flame wheel again." Its trainer commanded.

"Ty!" The fiery blaze pokemon shouted as it enveloped itself in a wheel of fire and headed towards Dusknoir, who was attempting to get up.

"Typhlosion's coming for us!" Leaf shouted. "Use shadow punch on the ground below!"

"Dusk!" The gripper pokemon said as it's air punch below created a shadow punch that broke the ground of the field, causing the spinning Typhlosion to lose its balance and go soaring into the air above Dusknoir.

"That's fine, Typhlosion!" Its trainer told it. "You have a clear view, use flame thrower!"

"Typh-"

The fiery blaze pokemon suddenly fell to the ground, creating a crater in its area of impact. The future sight attack used by Dusknoir earlier had taken effect.

"No! Typhlosion!" The boy shouted.

"Dusknoir!" Leaf shouted. "Finish it off with shadow punch!"

"Dusknoir!" The gripper pokemon shouted as it delivered the final attack to Typhlosion, pushing it further into the ground and knocking it unconscious.

"Typhlosion is unable to battle." The referee declared. "Dusknoir's trainer will be the one to proceed to the top 32 trainers for consideration."

"You still rock, Typhlosion." The boy said, recalling his injured pokemon back to its pokeball. "I'll take you to the pokemon centre when we get down."

At the exit of the arena, Leaf and the boy officially introduced themselves.

"Hey there." The boy said. "The name's Jimmy."

"Leaf." She told him, simply.

"Well that was an awesome battle." He told her. "I couldn't do much."

"Well you weren't exactly helpless." Leaf laughed. "So what next?"

"I'll be sticking around Olivine to watch the tournament." Jimmy replied. "Just cause I'm out doesn't mean I can't enjoy myself."

"So you live here?" Leaf asked.

"Nope. I'm from New Bark Town." He told her. "But my family owns a place or two in Olivine so I come here a lot."

"Your family has connections here?"

"That's right."

"Cool." Leaf said. "Can I ask you a favour?"

In another room of the Battle Tower, the light-brown haired coordinator had nearly managed to use her Glaceon to defeat a Dodrio belonging to her opponent.

"Now, Galceon!" May shouted. "Finish it off with ice beam!"

"Glaceon!" The fresh snow pokemon shouted as it unleashed a crystal blue beam of ice at this unmoving Dodrio, knocking it out and winning the battle for its trainer.

"Dodrio is unable to battle." The referee declared. "Glaceon's trainer will be the one to proceed to the top 32 trainers for consideration."

Back on the bottom floor of the Battle Tower, the winning 32 trainers gathered around. Ash had managed to find Brendan and May but Dawn, Gary and Leaf were nowhere to be seen.

"Where did everyone else go?" Ash wondered. "I thought all the battles were finished."

"Brock's not here either." May pointed out.

At that, Dawn approached the group alongside another boy who was not Gary. He was a boy about the same age as Dawn wearing a reddish-orange hat, a red scarf over a blue and white striped t-shirt with light-blue sleeves. He wore blue jeans and white shoes with a red stripe at the end. The boy jolted Brendan's memory.

"Guys!" She said. "I want you to meet Lucas!"

"Friend of yours?" May asked.

"Yeah." Dawn said. "Lucas is from Twinleaf town just like me and he's worked as an assistant to Professor Rowan."

"It's nice to meet you all." Lucas said.

"Hi there." Ash said. "My name's Ash."

"I'm May."

"Pi-Kachu." The electric mouse pokemon said.

But there was no need for Brendan to introduce himself in the same way.

"How's it been, Lucas?" Brendan asked.

"Fine." Lucas replied. "How've you been?"

"I've been alright." Brendan told him

"What?" Dawn asked, her head twisting all around. "You two know each other?"

"Lucas is a competitive trainer too." Brendan said. "I battled him in Sinnoh once."

"Yeah." Lucas agreed. "It was quite the short battle."

"Hey, you were the one who lost." Brendan said.

"So?"

"So why are you pointing out something that's so self-defeating?" Brendan asked.

Lucas just shrugged. "Making conversation?"

Brenda just started chuckling.

"So you made it past this round too, Lucas?" Ash asked.

"That's right." He answered. "I've been in around Battle Towers for a year or two now."

"So that's why you entered the tournament?" May asked.

"Yup." Lucas said. "I was also hoping Brendan would be there so I could beat him early on."

"You're welcome to try." Brendan said, as if issuing a challenge.

At that moment, Gary and Leaf found the rest of the gang, evidently having been unable to find them regardless of the fact that the crowd is much smaller than it was at the beginning of the tournament.

"Hey there." Gary said, before noticing Lucas. "Who's the guy with the scarf?"

Before Lucas could answer him, the ceiling lights went out while spotlights appeared on the stage where Wallace and Tucker normally spoke. As expected, one of them, specifically Tucker, entered from the curtains and took the microphone.

"First of all." He started. "I'd like to congratulate all 32 of you trainers for making it past the final preliminary round."

Amidst the cheering, Tucker put his hand up, indicating that he had more to say.

"Tonight at 6:00pm, a list of the 16 selected trainers will be posted here at the Battle Tower as well as at the Olivine City pokemon centre. Whether or not you make it through, know that you have still made an accomplishment in anyone's books. A list of rules for the following round of 16 will be included with the names of the qualifying trainers and match specifications will be posted tomorrow. We thank you all once again."

As the trainers dissipated, Gary and Leaf turned to Dawn and Lucas once more.

"So who's the scarf guy?" Gary asked.

"The name's Lucas." He told him, putting out his hand. Gary was hesitant to go for it, so Leaf did.

"I'm Leaf." She said. "And this is Gary."

"Nice to meet both of you." Lucas said in a polite tone.

"So, Lucas?" Dawn started. "Where are you staying?"

"I got a room at the pokemon centre a while ago." He explained.

"Good to know." Dawn said, staying next to him.

"So I guess we'll see you later, right?" Brendan asked.

"I guess."

"This guy's trying to get in on my girl!" Gary thought. "I'm so gonna teach him a lesson!"

At 6:00 that evening, Gary and Leaf went to the Battle Tower together to pick up the information and had returned to Leaf's vacation house with the list of the 16 qualifying trainers at 6:25.

As to Brock, everyone had decided to leave him alone when they found out that he lost his battle and refused to speak with anyone. Though it killed them that they couldn't help Brock since they didn't know what the problem was, they had to accept it for now.

Leaf had got everyone, except Brock, to gather around in the living room so she could tell them the news that everyone wanted to hear.

"Alright guys, this is how it is..." She started.

She remained silent for a few more moments..

"Leaf?" Dawn asked.

"All six of us here made the cut!" She shouted out.

"Are you serious?" Ash asked, getting off his seat. "All of us?"

"Yep!" Leaf said. "All six of us are in the top 16 round."

"What about Lucas?" Dawn asked.

"Oh…yeah." Leaf said as she looked through the paper. "He's there too!"

"Awesome!" Dawn cheered.

"I'm gonna thrash that guy." Gary thought.

Later that evening, at around 7:30pm, Leaf got five of the gang together once again, except Ash. She'd purposely left out Ash for a while so she could talk to the others. They'd all been outside with their pokemon celebrating that they'd made the top 16 round. Leaf had already put on a nice and tight pair of jeans and a tight green t-shirt with the words 'Brunette's are heartbreakers' written on it in addition to her hat. Eventually, Ash entered as expected and then it all began.

"How about we all go to the pier tonight?" She asked them all as she saw Ash enter.

"This city has a pier?" Ash asked from the door.

Gary just sighed. "Olivine is by the sea, it's standard for them to have one."

"Yeah." May said. "But why don't you and Ash go on ahead?"

"What?" Ash shouted?

"Pika?" The electric mouse chattered.

"The rest of us need to get ready." May explained. "You and Leaf are already ready."

"I'm barely ready!" Ash complained.

"Trust me Ash. You look fine." Leaf told him.

"Pikachu, come on." Ash said.

"Umm….Ash, I was wondering if I could borrow Pikachu." Brendan said, shocking Ash.

"Borrow Pikachu?" Ash asked. "Why?"

"I need its help and I don't have any powerful electric pokemon on hand." Brendan explained.

"Dawn has Pachirisu." Ash pointed out.

"I said powerful, not pitiful." Brendan said, seriously angering Dawn. Nobody had told him to say THAT during yesterday's talk.

"Pika?" Pikachu said, not wanting to leave Ash.

"Pikachu, if Brendan needs you, help him." Ash said. "It'll be alright."

"Piiiika." The electric mouse sadly agreed.

"I'm so using Pachirisu to whip him if I'm paired against him." Dawn thought.

It took a few more minutes of convincing for Ash to agree to go on ahead with Leaf and let the others catch up with him later on. But eventually, he succumbed and agreed to it. Quickly taking care of his hygiene, putting on a new black T-shirt and his Sinnoh region hat, Ash went with Leaf to the Olivine City pier, expecting everyone else to follow.

On the Olivine City pier, at about 8:00pm, Leaf and Ash were waiting alone at the entrance. Gary and the others were expected to appear any minute and then they could all go on in. But all of a sudden:

Take my hand (take my hand)
Take my whole life too (life too)
For I can't help falling in love with you

Leaf held off on answering her cell phone till the third line of lyrics, hoping to give Ash a hint of what to expect.

"It's Leaf!" She said when she finally answered it.

She spoke on the phone for a few minutes in a conversation where she seemed to know exactly what to say since she didn't have to stop and think at any point. She finally hung up after a while

"That was May." Leaf said as she looked right at Ash. "She says something at the Battle Tower came up and so she and the others are going there instead."

"What was that?" Ash shouted.

"Some business at the Battle Tower, like I said." Leaf went on. "They said they'll take care of everything but that they probably won't be coming here tonight because this may take a while."

"How did they find out about that information?" Ash wondered. "And why do they all need to go take care of business? And how do Pikachu and Brendan fit in?"

"It's just you and me, Ash." Leaf told him.

Rayquaza45: Oh boy! Ash and Leaf are all alone together on the Olivine City pier. What could possible happen?

Next time: Chapter 8: Challenging the Dating Frontier!

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Till next time, people.