HGSS: Johto Saga

Season 2 Opening: Born to be a Winner

Part 10

Catchy Goldenrod, Part 2

"Sneasel, use Metal Claw!" The Sneasel plowed into his opponents Venomoth and Kakuna.

"Gah! We took out one of your pokemon...but...no!" He recalls his pokemon as Whitney declares Silver the winner.

"All right, the Top 8 are these competitors: Brandon, Ethan, May, Hilton, Kyle, Lando, Zoe, and Silver! Now, our matchups for the Top 8 are...Zoe vs. Brandon, May vs. Hilton, Kyle vs. Silver and Ethan vs. Lando! These matches will be one-on-one single battles! Let's get going!"

The girl named Zoe walks onto the battlefield, Brandon on the opposite side.

"Heh, you're gonna get creamed!" She declares.

"Is that so? We'll see about that! Come on out Grovyle!" He sends out the gecko from before.

"Yeah, that's right! Especially with my...Sandshrew!" She sends out a small, tan and cream colored shrew.

"Grovyle, let's send it packing! Use Leaf Blade!"

"Sandshrew, use Sand Tomb!" Sandshrew puts its feet underground, and then a huge column of sand starts whip around Grovyle, throwing it violently.

"Grovyle! Use Agility and shoot yourself up with Bullet Seed at the ground!" Grovyle starts moving its legs incredibly fast, and then shooting bullet seed at the ground, which in turn threw it up into the air.

"Now, Leaf Blade!" Grovyle shot itself from the ceiling, and slashed Grovyle with its huge blade. It sent it fainted across the ground.

"No! Sandshrew! Return, buddy!"

"The winner is Brandon! Who proceeds to the Semi-Finals!"

"Awesome job, Grovyle!" He congratulated as he recalled his pokemon.

After some time, Whitney announced the semi-finalists. "Okay, the Final Four are: Ethan, Silver, Hilton and Brandon! Silver is against Brandon, and Hilton vs. Ethan!"

Ethan walks up to the field, Hilton across from him.

"Come on out, Sl-what the?" He stops as a small purple monkey type pokemon skitters across the field. Ethan pulls out his pokedex to find that it's an 'Aipom'.

"Hey!" People in the crowd started gathering to capture it, sputtering things like, 'that's an extremely rare pokemon to see every day!' and 'gotta get Aipom'!

Ethan rushes after it. Aipom is frightened by the people, and runs towards Ethan. It climbs up his body and sets itself on his shoulders. Everyone comes rushing towards him suddenly.

"Hey...stop! Stop!...STOP!" Ethan screams, and the crowd of people stops. He realizes it was because Whitney halted them.

"Obviously, this pokemon has a connection with this boy, so leave it ALONE!" She turns to face Ethan. "You...that Aipom seems to feel something in you."

"Um...okay? Does that mean it..."

"Probably. Talk to it and find out."

He faces the Aipom on his shoulder. "Hey, little guy. You got scared from the sudden rush of people, right?" It nods. "Well, you're safe now. Wanna come with me?"

Aipom stares at him blankly, but then nods. He takes out a pokeball and taps it on Aipom's head. After a minute, it stopped shaking. The crowd went back into the stands.

"Yes! I caught...an Aipom!"

The battle continues, and Ethan sends out Hoothoot.

His opponent calls on a Machop.

"Machop use Bulk Up!" Ethan takes advantage of this moment.

"Hoothoot, use Drill Peck!" Hoothoot spins and collides with Machop, instantly fainting from the type disadvantage.

"No!" The big guy rumbled.

In the final battle, it was Ethan vs. Silver.

"Wait, you got beaten by Silver?" Ethan asks Brandon.

"Yeah, his Sneasel is one tough cookie. Knocked out my Lairon with three hits."

"Well, now I'm going against him...my rival!"

In the next battle, Silver smirks at seeing Ethan.

"So you were strong enough to make it to the finals! Pretty strange. However, you're going to get thrown aside! Come out, Murkrow!"

He sends out a black flying pokemon that seemed to have a hat on.

"So that's your little 'replacement' for Zubat?! You make me sick! Go Aipom!" He sends out his new monkey pokemon.

"Well, that little capture you made almost made me lose my lunch. Forming a bond with pokemon...just a load of garbage! Murkrow, use Assurance!" Murkrow glows purple and heads for Aipom.

"Aipom, use Faint Attack!" Aipom starts to dash for Murkrow, but stops short. Murkrow flies overhead, but Aipom slams it in the stomach.

"Nice!" Ethan cheered.

"Murkrow, turn back and use Wing Attack!" Murkrow turned from the air and its wings started to shone brightly.

"Aipom, use Swift!" Aipom flung its tail and released a wave of glittering stars. They collided with Murkrow and it went down.

"Murkrow! Get up and use Haze!" Murkrow stood up gruffly and released a sparkling cloud of smoke c=from its mouth.

"Now use Wing Attack!" It zoomed into the haze and slammed into Aipom. It rode its wing into the air.

"Perfect! Aipom, use a straight-forward Faint Attack from there!" Aipom threw its fist into Murkrow, sending it back to the ground. Aipom latched onto the ceiling.

"Murkrow, get back up and use Aerial Ace!" Murkrow stood up weakly and bolted into the air, piercing wind around it.

"Aipom, one moer Swift attack!" Aipom released a huge wave of stars and they crushed Murkrow into smoke. It fell to the ground, knocked out.

"Return...meh, I'm still not fazed by being beaten by a weakling," Silver mumbled. He walked away. Aipom landed on Ethan's head, grinning.

"Great job! Here is your prize, Ethan!" Whitney presented him with Silk Scarf. "It powers up Normal Type moves! Great job on winning this month's Tournament!"

Later in a restaurant...

Everyone was sipping down milkshakes. Ethan was busy tying the Silk Scarf around Aipom's neck.

"There!" He said as he finished.

"Wow, Aipom looks cute!" Lyra blurted as she watched Aipom tug at it, then sit comfortably on Ethan's shoulder.

"Well, I need to train for my contest in the morning. It's tomorrow afternoon right?"

May nodded. "Yup. And I'll give you some first-timer pointers. I know a bit about contests, since I haven't lost even one yet."

"Thanks, Lyra."

Brandon stands up and recycles his plastic cup. I'm gonna head to the Pokemon Center and crash. See you guys in the morning...oh yeah, Room 13, heh."

Brandon leaves, leaving the three of them sitting, finishing their shakes.