Hey guys I'm back. Sorry it took a while; I just got my computer back the day before yesterday and I had to type this all out in one night. I was supposed to update last night but I was too tired to revise my chapter so I put it off until today. Anyway, a couple of the reviewers have asked me a few questions and I would like to answer them right now. A reader asked if this was an Ability Shipping story or a Pearl shipping story. It's actually neither. There will be no romance in this story because the key genre is adventure. I might write a Pearl or Ability shipping story in the future but not now. Also another reader asked if Ash was going to meet all of his friends and Rivals and which region will be next. I will have Ash meet all of his friends and rivals at some point, but he won't be meeting all of them in this story. As for which region is next I have no clue. When I get into the final three chapters I will put up another poll letting you guys decide which region will come next. Also I would like to thank all those who took their time to vote for Dawn's next pokemon. The results ended up with Feebas and Pachirisu tied for the lead. So I will have Dawn catch both pokemon with Feebas coming up first in the next chapter. I'll stop blabbing now and let you read. Hope you enjoy it. Please review.

Second Round Matchups

Dawn stood there staring at the T.V. screen in worry. She was waiting for the result of the last of the eight lucky coordinators that would be moving onto to the next round. The pressure rushed through her body as a race car does on a track. She clutched her fists tighter and tighter to suppress that feeling. Finally Dawn's face appeared on the screen indicating that she would be advancing to the second round. Dawn let out a deep sigh of relief and her worried frown turned into a smile.

"Boy, what pressure! For a second I thought I wasn't going to make it" Dawn said to herself.

"Congratulations Dawn!" Zoey exclaimed.

"Thanks Zoey," she replied.

MC Marian spoke again announcing that the matchups for the battle rounds were on the screen. Everyone turned their attention to the T.V. Jessalina was paired up against a young man and Dawn was going up against Zoey.

Dawn turned to Zoey and said "Well, looks like it's me and you Zoey."

"Yeah…and I know you'll give me a good battle," Zoey replied smiling at Dawn.

The first battle was about to start and it was Jessalina against the young man.

"And we have our first match up. The lovely and energetic Jessalina versus the charming young man, Henry!" Marian announced loudly.

Henry and Jessalina emerged from the hallway and into the contest hall and walked to their ends of the battlefield.

"The second round battles are timed to five minutes during which the coordinators will chip away at each other's points by showing off their moves and style. At the end of each battle, whoever has the most remaining points will advance to the next round. Coordinators you have five minutes. Battle begin!" announced Marian.

"Drapion my darling, come out and play." Jessalina called out to the purple scorpion that was in the pokeball. She tossed the ball towards the battlefield and the purple ogre scorpion pokemon popped out.

On the other end of the battlefield Henry tossed his pokeball up into the air shouting "Alakazam, out you come!"

A large mouse like pokemon with a big mustache with a spoon in either hand came out meditating while levitating in the air. The Alakazam opened its eyes and stared menacingly at Drapion.

"Drapion, let loose your cross poison at that Alakazam," ordered Jessalina. Drapion crossed its arms in front of its face forming a purple x and fired at Alakazam.

"Alakazam, levitate upwards!" Henry called out. Alakazam who was still meditating cross legged rose high into the air avoiding cross poison.

"Magnificent! Alakazam uses its psychic abilities to avoid the attack," Marian commented.

"Drapion attack with Poison Sting," Jessie called out.

Henry quickly made his move. "Alakazam, use Psychic and bring Drapion to eye level.

Drapion opened its mouth to fire but was lifted off the ground. Drapion was steadily being raised to Alakazam at its eye level. While this was going on Alakazam was charging up a Psybeam. Drapion reached eye level to Alakazam when the latter fired a colorful beam of energy at the other hitting it full in the face. Drapion fell out of the air and hit the ground hard.

"Ugggh!" Drapion get up!" Jessie screamed throwing her hands in the air and stomping on the floor with her high heeled boot. "Don't take any more from that Alakazam. Fight back with Poison Sting."

A wave of Poison bullets were shot towards the psychic type.

"Alakazam, Reflect!" Henry ordered his pokemon.

Alakazam formed a barrier around itself causing the Poison Sting to ricochet off the barrier and head back towards Drapion.

"And Alakazam sends Poison Sting back to Drapion!" announced Marian.

Jessalina's points took a major hit.

"Drapion, quick, Poison Sting that Poison Sting!" yelled Jessalina.

Drapion shot out another wave of Poison sting and when both attacks collided purple fireworks flew out with each separate collision.

"Oooo! So pretty!" Jessalina yelled dancing and smiling.

"And Jessalina fights back but she's almost out of time," Marian announced with her voice ringing out throughout the stadium.

Jessalina ordered a series of attacks as she saw this as her only hope to win.

"Drapion use Toxic Spikes, then fire Sludge Bomb followed by Poison Sting and Cross Poison!"

Drapion did as he was ordered, he scattered prickly thorns of poison to the other end of the battlefield. He then shot out a bomb of gunk at Alakazam followed by Poison Sting and Cross Poison. The three attacks collided right in front of Alakazam's face and exploded. Alakazam was thrown towards the ground with the force from the blast.

"Alakazam, quick Teleport," Henry called out.

Alakazam dematerialized and rematerialized right above Drapion landing very hard right on top of it. Drapion who was crushed by the force tried to buck Alakazam off but it was no use. With this Jessalina lost the remainder of her points eliminating her from the contest.

"Jessalina has run out of points, which means that Henry and his Alakazam win and both of them will be moving onto the next round.

Jessalina had a broken stunned look on her face.

"I…l…lost…" Jessalina said to herself. Sighing, she returned Drapion back into her pokeball.

She turned away and sulked off through the long hallway and ended up outside the waiting room where she was confronted by Meowth and James.

"Jessie, you tried your best," James tried to comfort her.

"Yeah, there's always other contests you can win," Meowth added.

Jessie looked at them and said. "Don't worry you two. I can make myself feel better by catching those twerps' pokemon."

"But how are you going to do that?" James asked.

Jessie responded "Simple we leave now and wait on the route north of here until the twerps come by and then we'll steal their pokemon and then it's off to Giovanni. Come on, I'll explain the plan to you as we go."

James and Meowth simply nodded and followed Jessie out of the building.

Back in the waiting room Dawn and Zoey were preparing to head out onto the battlefield. The two young coordinators looked at each other before walking into the long hallway.

As she was walking through the hallway, Dawn was feeling overwhelmed and overflowed with nervousness. After all, this was her first contest battle and she really hadn't done much practicing for it. Dawn knew she could only hope for the best and with that she bit her tongue draining some of the nervousness out of her. As she finally walked out onto the battlefield she heard the audience cheering for her.

"What could go wrong?" Dawn thought in her head. "All of these people and my friends and pokemon are cheering for me. So there's no need to worry."

Zoey had appeared at the other end feeling confident and ready to put on a good show.

"And we have our next match up," Marian's voice boomed throughout the contest hall. "We have two young coordinators, the newcomer Dawn, from Twinleaf Town and her opponent Zoey, from Snowpoint City! There will be five minutes on the clock and like always the coordinator with more points remaining after the five minutes will be moving on to the next round. Trainers, battle begin!"

Dawn drew a pokeball from her pocket and tossed it into the air calling out, "Piplup, spooootlight!"

The little blue penguin emerged from its pokeball covered in shiny stars giving its coat a sparkly blue glow.

On the other end of the battlefield Zoey had tossed her pokeball as well revealing her powerful yet beautiful Glameow.

"Piplup, let's not waste any time! Use Bubble Beam!" Dawn called.

Piplup opened his beak and fired wave of fast paced bubbles at Glameow who stared unfazed at the bubbles that were quickly approaching it.

"Use your tail to launch yourself up into the air," Zoey called.

Glameow did as told and sprang up into the air gaining extra height by using its tail as a spring.

"Now roll in the air towards Piplup and use Iron Tail when you get close," Zoey told the gray and white furred cat. Glameow spun like a ball approaching Piplup with unbelievable speed.

"Piplup, jump and use Peck," Dawn called out to Piplup, but it was too late. By the Piplup had comprehended what Dawn said, Glameow rotated right above Piplup letting an Iron Tail rip right on the back of Piplup's head thrusting Piplup forward into the air. Piplup landed face first halfway down the battlefield. Dawn's points were reduced by a fourth.

"Piplup, get up!" Dawn encouraged the little blue penguin who was still struggling to get up. Piplup stood up and started to peck at the ground.

Dawn started to worry again as she said "Piplup! What are you doing?" Clearly the blow to the back of the head from the Iron Tail had knocked Piplup into confusion, but Dawn wasn't experienced enough to catch that detail. The judges reduced Dawn's points by a half leaving Dawn with only third of her points left.

Ash was paying close attention noticing something wrong about Piplup that Dawn hadn't.

"Glameow, use another Iron Tail!" Zoey ordered as struck Piplup again but this time in the front of the head causing Piplup to snap out of confusion.

"Glameow, charge in and use Shadow Claw," Zoey called out to Glameow ordering another attack.

"Piplup! Now spin and dodge it," Dawn ordered. Piplup spun off to the side and brushed past Glameow avoiding the attack.

"And Piplup makes a comeback," Marian announced.

The judges took off points from Zoey's total reducing her bye one fifth.

"Glameow, extend your tail," Zoey ordered. Glameow straightened its tail hitting Piplup from behind tossing the little blue penguin pokemon out of the air.

The judges took off more points from Dawn, leaving her with only a small fraction of points left.

"Glameow! Quick before Piplup recovers, use Shadow Claw," Zoey called out. "Glameow extended its claw allowing a shadow claw to emerge and reach out to Piplup striking it with power and speed. The attack knocked Piplup out causing Dawn to loose instantly.

"Piplup no!" Dawn cried with a depressed look on her face. Dawn was stunned with the shock of losing as she sighed returning Piplup back into its pokeball.

"And we have our second winner, Zoey," Marian announced.

Zoey felt proud to be the winner but she wasn't paying any attention to anything else but Dawn. She walked over to her with Glameow by her side. She approached Dawn and held out her hand and saying it was a good battle. Dawn took this as a sign of friendship and rivalry and shook Zoey's hand. Then she turned around and disappeared into the long hallway. Dawn returned to the waiting room where she was greeted by Ash and Brock who came to tell her how well she did. She thanked them and then took off running shedding tears from her eyes.

"Whoa Dawn, are you okay?" Ash called after her. Ash was worried; he decided to follow her but was stopped by Brock who knew she needed some time alone.

In the lobby Dawn sat on a chair crying. It was the norm for a beginning coordinator to feel the way she did. Dawn was devastated that her first contest didn't go as planned. She cried for about fifteen minutes until she got a hold of herself. It was at this time when Zoey had walked into the room to check up on Dawn. Zoey walked over to where Dawn was sitting.

"Hey Dawn," Zoey said in a soothing comforting voice. Dawn looked up at Zoey and stared blankly into her face.

"How are you feeling?" Zoey asked.

"Not so good," Dawn replied. This was my first contest and I blew it. How am I ever going to win a contest when there are so many good coordinators like you around?"

Zoey didn't like the sound of that. No matter how flattering that comment was she wasn't going to let Dawn lose confidence in herself. Her eyebrows narrowed down as she stared at Dawn with annoyance.

"Dawn, don't be like that!" Zoey scolded. "Negative attitudes get you nowhere. What you need is some inspiration and advice and I can help you with that."

"Really, you will?" Dawn asked.

Zoey nodded. "Good trainers want to see their friends and rivals at their best," Zoey said. "And that's what I want from you."

As hopeful as this all sounded, Dawn still wasn't feeling better. Zoey noticed this look and pulled up a chair in front of Dawn and sat down in it. She gently placed her hand on Dawn prompting her to look up at Zoey's friendly face.

"Dawn," she said soothingly. "You've just started out as a trainer. It takes time and practice to become successful. Everyone loses their first contest Dawn; that's just the norm. The important thing is to learn from a loss not to be discouraged by it."

Dawn looked down at the gleaming marble floor of the lobby room trying to make sense of the advice Zoey had just given her.

"If it makes you feel any better," Zoey continued. "It took me three losses until I finally won my first contest. It took three failures to learn from my mistakes. Each time I lost I spent time with my pokemon polishing the skills that were dry at first. We put all our hard work into our fourth contest and we won. From there it was uphill for me. I still loose from time to time and that's when I take a break and spend time with my pokemon practicing before entering another contest."

Dawn looked up again feeling much better. A smile also appeared on her face.

"Dawn, your first contest win is around the corner," Zoey said. "But you need to take into consideration what I told you now. And you and I will battle in the finals of the Grand Festival."

Dawn got up from the chair and hugged Zoey. "Thank you so much Zoey, thank you so much," Dawn said shedding tears of happiness.

"You're welcome Dawn," Zoey replied feeling happy that she was able to help her new friend.

"Now let's get back inside to the others," Zoey said. "The last battle is coming and it's me versus the winner of the current battle. You can pick up a few tips from our battle."

Dawn nodded in agreement and followed Zoey back into the waiting room to see Ash and Brock. The boys saw that Dawn was feeling much better and looked at Zoey wondering what her trick was to comfort Dawn.

"It's alright guys," Zoey informed them. "I got it all under control."

Ash and Brock understood and they turned their attention to the ongoing battle. It was Henry and his Alakazam against a boy named Xavier and his Rhyperior. There were ten seconds left when Henry's Alakazam used Psycho Cut as Rhyperior was about to create an Earthquake. The Psycho Cut struck Rhyperior's leg hard causing it to cry out in pain stumbling out of balance.

The timer ran out leaving Henry with more points.

"Henry wins!" Marian announced. "Henry now advances to the final round to battle Zoey. Our final round battle will take place in just a few minutes so sit back and hang tight."

A couple minutes later Henry walked into the waiting room where he was congratulated by the other coordinators.

Henry walked up to Zoey and said, "well… it's just you and me now, let's make this a great battle." He held out his hand which Zoey shook.

"You bet," Zoey said.

Henry then turned his attention to Dawn. "Dawn you did wonderful for your first contest. Don't worry about this loss. Keep training with your pokemon and you'll win sooner or later."

"Thanks Henry," Dawn replied.

Henry simply nodded and walked away.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Marian started. "It is now time for our final round battle.

Zoey and Henry heard this and quickly made their way through the long hallways which were at either side of the waiting room.

Marian continued. "On my left we have Henry and on my right we have Zoey."

Both coordinators walked out onto the battlefield and waited for Marian to finish briefing the rules.

"This battle will be five minutes long and the trainer who has more points left will win. Without further of due, let the battle begin!" Marian said with her booming voice.

"Glameow! Curtain!" Zoey announced throwing a pokeball into the air.

"Alakazam! Out you come!" Henry called throwing his pokeball into the air.

"Glameow! Use Shadow Claw!" Zoey ordered. Glameow extended its claw turning it into a wispy shape of a long claw. It extended across the battlefield towards Alakazam.

"Alakazam, Teleport!" Henry told his pokemon. With that Alakazam dodged Shadow Claw by dematerializing and then re-materializing behind Glameow. Zoey lost few points because of Henry's brilliant tactic.

"Alakazam, use Psychic and lift Glameow off the ground and high into the air," Henry called out.

Glameow was raised all the way to ceiling of the contest hall while Zoey looked on with worry.

"Now drop it really fast and when it gets within range use Psycho Cut," Henry informed his Alakazam. Alakazam did as told and dropped Glameow from the ceiling. When Glameow got within striking range Alakazam was preparing to unleash Psycho Cut.

Zoey needed to find a way as quickly as possible or her points could go down the drain. She was getting even more worried as Glameow closed in on Alakazam and then out of the blue the light bulb in her head went off.

"Glameow, use Protect!" Zoey called out. Glameow instantly formed a shield around itself before colliding with the Psycho Cut that Alakazam had used. The collision was followed by a loud boom and bunch of pink sparkles.

Henry's points dropped by a third and not only had Glameow protected itself from what would have been a devastating combo move but it used Alakazam's moves to look beautiful.

"Amazing!" Marian exclaimed. "Just amazing! Zoey and Glameow went defensive while looking beautiful at the same time. That was truly something to behold." The audience agreed by cheering loudly for Zoey and Glameow.

"Glameow, charge towards Alakazam," Zoey called out. Glameow leapt into action bolting towards the psychic pokemon at an incredibly high speed.

Zoey waited until Glameow was half down the battlefield before giving her next order.

"Now jump and use Dark Pulse while spinning," Zoey called out.

Glameow jumped high into the air and spun really fast to build up extra energy for the Dark Pulse. At last Glameow fired Dark Pulse with all its might hitting Alakazam full in the face causing it to lose balance.

The tension was getting to Henry as he stared nervously at the ensuing battle in front of him.

"Alakazam use Calm Mind to calm down, then use Psycho Cut again," Henry ordered without thinking.

"You couldn't have used Calm Mind at a worse time," Zoey called out Henry from the other end of the battlefield. Zoey had regained her confidence which made Henry even more nervous because he knew what was coming up and he can't do anything about it until Alakazam was done using Calm Mind.

"Glameow, charge in from the air and use Iron tail on Alakazam's head," Zoey called out not wanting to waste any time.

Alakazam closed its eyes meditating to gain energy for its next attack while Glameow was coming in at full speed with a powerful Iron Tail ready to be use.

Glameow who was now within tail length of Alakazam quickly spun around slapping Alakazam right across the forehead throwing it backwards until it landed at Henry's feet. With the shock to its forehead, Alakazam snapped its eyes open crying out loud in pain.

"Wow! That's some strategy! Combining power with an elegant execution of a supercharged Iron Tail was phenomenal way to show off what Glameow is really made of," Marian commented with an amazed look on her face.

Seeing this, the judges subtracted another third of Henry's points leaving him with only a third of his points.

"Alakazam, use Psycho Cut NOW!" Henry ordered frustrated because he was lagging behind with only about a minute left to go.

Alakazam charged at Glameow while building up energy in the spoon in its right hand. Despite its best effort, Alakazam's speed reduced significantly which was due to the shock it received from the Iron Tail

"Glameow, use Metal Claw to intercept and then quickly spin around with another Iron Tail but this time to its feet," Zoey ordered.

Glameow intercepted the Psycho Cut with an equally powered Metal Claw and then whipped around faster than Alakazam could comprehend what was coming next. Glameow landed one shockingly powerful Iron Tail to Alakazam's feet to which Alakazam screamed out in pain.

"AAAAALLLLAAAAAKKKAAAAAZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMM MM!"

Alakazam could take no more as it fainted unable to bear to pain.

"Alakazam, NOOOOOOOOO!" Henry yelled worried.

"And Alakazam is out for the count," Marian spoke into the microphone. "And this means Zoey is this year's winner of the Jubilife Contest."

Henry was devastated as he returned Alakazam. He couldn't believe that he lost his mojo in last two minutes.

Marian then spoke again. "And now Mr. Contesta will present Zoey with her Jubilife Ribbon."

Mr. Contesta got up from his seat at the judges panel and walked over to Zoey and handed her the ribbon and congratulated her.

"Congratulations, young lady. A marvelous performance indeed," Mr. Contesta praised.

"Thank you, sir," Zoey responded with utmost respect.

"Thank you all for being her today," Marian told the crowd. "Remember trainers, there are many contests yet to be held this year in the Sinnoh Region so if haven't won five ribbons yet be sure to win all five to secure your place at the Grand Festival. We will see you all back here next year. Thank you and have a nice day."

30 minutes later outside Freedom Hall. Time: 5:37 pm.

Dawn and Zoey walked out of the contest hall to meet Ash and Brock who were waiting at the entrance for them to show up. Dawn was excieted about Zoey's win that she couldn't wait to start training.

"Wow Zoey! That was one awesome battle," Dawn exclaimed.

"Thanks Dawn," Zoey said. "You will win too once you implement what I told you," she said to Dawn smiling.

"And I can't wait to get started!" Dawn yelled with happiness.

Zoey smiled and said "Well guys, I better be going now. I'll see you three at the next contest."

"See ya later Zoey," Dawn said waving to her new rival and friend. With that Zoey walked away.

"I think it's we better go too," Ash advised.

Brock and Dawn nodded and followed Ash out of Jubilife city and onto the next route.

Sometime later in the day on a path to Oreburgh City.

Ash, Brock, and Dawn had been walking for about three hours on a path towards Oreburgh City when they decided to stop for the night.

"This looks like a good place to set up camp," Brock said. "There's a forest nearby for firewood, a pond over there for water, and a relatively flat ground to sleep on."

Ash and Dawn nodded in agreement and let out all their pokemon in order to efficiently set up camp. Ash his pokemon set up the tent and Dawn and her pokemon went to fill up the gang's water bottles. In the meantime Brock started to cook a delicious meal for all of them. After about a few minutes Dawn returned with filled up water bottles and Ash had finished putting up the tent.

Brock was impressed by their accurate timing.

"Just in time you two. Dinner's ready to be served," Brock told them as he saw the hungry looks on everyone's faces.

The three and their pokemon dug into their delicious dinner enjoying every bite of it. Everything was going well until they heard and felt a rumbling. Out of nowhere a machine rolled into their campsite. The machine was modeled to look like a metallic version of a Drapion. The machine shot out a giant net which swooped down capturing all of their pokemon except for Brock's Gigalith who was left out because the net wasn't big enough.

The Drapion machine lifted the net up and dumped all of their pokemon into its storage compartment.

"What the….?" Ash said stunned.

"Who's there?" Brock called out

"Yeah come out where we can see you!" Dawn yelled in a demanding voice.

All of a sudden the eyes of the Drapion turned on shinning bright light at the three young coordinators who quickly tried shield their eyes from the light.

The Drapion's head opened a platform hold three figures elevated out.

Jessie: Prepare for trouble.

James: And make it double.

Jessie: To protect the world from devastation.

James: To unite all people within our nation.

Jessie: To denounce the evils of truth and love.

James: To extend our reach to the stars above.

Jessie: Jessie

James: James

Jessie: Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light.

James: Surrender now or prepare to fight.

Meowth: Meowth, that's right.

"You guys again!" Ash scowled. "What are…"

"Wait!" Brock interrupted "Who's Team Rocket?"

Team Rocket, Ash, and Dawn nearly hit the ground when they heard what Brock just asked.

"You mean you don't know?!" Ash asked surprised.

"They're the infamous Team Rocket who's known worldwide for steeling other people's pokemon for their desire to rule the world with extreme power.

"Yeah and in case you haven't noticed new twerp," Jessie began. "We're here to steal your pokemon."

"With the help of our machine which I built with extensive knowledge of machines.

"And we've decided to call this baby The Mega Drapion X1000 Mach 1," Meowth said with an evil grin on his face.

"Give us your pokemon back!" Dawn demanded.

"No can do ," Jessie teased. "And you can't do anything about it."

Brock stepped in and said, "Maybe she can't, but I can! There's still my Gigalith left."

Team Rocket turned their heads towards Gigalith and stared in shock. Jessie grabbed Meowth by the shoulders and started to shake him violently.

"Meowth! I told you to catch all of them!" Jessie screamed in his ears. James also scolded Meowth. "All means all Meowth. Not all but one."

Meowth jumped to his defense and said, "Alright! I messed up. But even if we capture that lug, there's no room left in the storage compartment.

Jessie and James stopped yelling and checked the control panel which showed the compartment bar vacancy which read zero percent vacant.

"Uggh! Whatever. Now let's get out of here."

With that Meowth gunned the engines and sped towards Ash and his friends.

"Not so fast!" Brock warned. "Gigalith, use Rock Wrecker and aim only at the head of the machine.

Gigalith shot a few rocks at the Drapion machine which collided with its head. The collisions caused the head part of the machine to explode sending Team Rocket blasting off.

"Next time we're going to need a bigger net," Jessie scowled at James.

"Point taken." James replied flying through the air.

"We'll back twerps!" Meowth yelled.

"TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAAAIIINNN!" Team Rocket yelled as they vanished into the evening sky.

Gigalith walked to the machine and used Rock Wrecker once more creating a massive hole in the side letting all of their pokemon back out.

"Thanks Brock,"Ash said. "You and Gigalith were a big help."

"Guess there's a lot more to you than meets the eye.," Dawn replied gratefully knowing that Brock saved all of their pokemon.

"You're welcome! Now shall we finish our dinner?" Brock asked. They all nodded and resumed eating. Once they were done eating, they cleaned up after themselves putting everything back into their backpacks. Finally they fell into a deep sleep knowing that tomorrow would be a long journey to Oreburgh City.

Note: The next chapter will be a little shorter and will feature Dawn catching Feebas. Also from now on I will be updating chapters only on the weekends in order to do my schoolwork without this getting in the way.