The next morning the gang woke up and preceded through the day. Since none of them were battling that day they all had a free day to themselves. At 10:30 the only ones left at breakfast was Tyler, Dawn, Misty, Tracey and Jamie. The others had gone off to enjoy other activities while the 5 of them were free for the day. Jamie got up and started to leave when the others but was stopped before he could get out the door.

"Hey Jamie, where are you going?" Asked Dawn.

"I going to train, like I always do." He responded as he turned to walk away again.

"Come on. Why not stick around longer?" said Dawn.

"Well what were you planning on doing?" Asked Jamie sounding kind of annoyed.

"Just let him go Dawn. It's not worth it." Said Misty. She didn't really like Jamie because of his attitude.

"I know! Let's have a battle." Suggested Dawn.

"Heh. And you think you can beat me?" Asked Jamie exasperated as he didn't even bother to turn around.

"Why not? We're both rivals in the tournament. Having a battle will surely do the both of us some good." Said Dawn.

"Hey, I'd like to battle to." Said Tyler.

Then Tracey had an idea. "You know if you all want to battle… why not make it a tag battle?"

"A tag battle?" asked Misty.

"Yeah, sounds like a great idea." Said Tyler.

"Great. Hey Tyler will you be on my team?" Asked Dawn.

"Sure thing." He replied.

"I guess that means Jamie will pair up with Misty." Said Tracey.

"What?" asked Misty half shocked and half annoyed that she would have to team up with Jamie. This time Jamie turned around only to stare down Misty who was still sitting at the table and vice versa. "Perfect." She muttered to herself.

There was tension between the 2 and they clearly didn't like each other. Jamie was not the easiest guy to like but most of the group were able to get along with him, but Misty was the only one who seemed to butt heads with him. The 2 had had friction between them since he started hanging out with them and everybody knew this to. So to find out they had to team up in a tag battle they were not so eager to jump into a battle together.

"Fine. It makes no difference to me." Jamie finally said as he turned and walked out the pokemon centre doors. Misty still glared at him until he was outside the building.

"Okay, what is the deal between the 2 of you." Asked Tyler.

"He just rubs me the wrong way alright." She responded. She got up and walked to the battle field out back. Let's get this over with.

The 4 trainers had positioned themselves on the battle field. Dawn was excited and confident about the battle because she was teaming up with an elite 4 defeater and Tyler was feeling good because they were able to get along so well. On the opposite side stood the Cerulean gym leader and the over-confident grump. Misty could barely stand just standing beside this jerk in battle, while Jamie was mentally bad mouthing Misty as she was the only one of the 4 to be eliminated from the tournament.

Tracey had volunteered to referee. "Okay this will be a 2 on 2 tag battle, with each trainer permitted to use 1 pokemon. The battle will be over when both of 1 side's pokemon are unable to continue. Trainers are you ready?"

Tyler and Dawn both nodded. Jamie and Misty just took their eyes off of Tracey and continued to glare at each other. Neither one of them was happy to be in this scenario.

"Then let the battle begin!"

"Piplup, spotlight." called Dawn.

Gallade, you're up." Said Tyler.

"Go Starmie!" yelled Misty.

"Breloom, let's go." Called Jamie.

On 1 side stood the small penguin pokemon and the psychic fighter. Opposing them was a starfish along with a mushroom boxer.

"Breloom is a fighting/ grass type. Not a great matchup with Piplup" Dawn thought in her head. "But we totally have the advantage with a flying type move."

Now Piplup use drill peck

The small penguin made a huge leap in the air and started to wind up its drill peck.

Starmie block it with water gun

Breloom go. Use sky uppercut

Before Starmie could fire its water attack, Breloom made an equally powerful jump and smashed Piplup under the beak with a glowing fist. Piplup plummeted to the ground landing with a thud on its back.

"No Piplup!" Dawn cried out.

Alright Gallade, use psyco cut

Gallade's arms started to glow silver as it started to spin in a circle firing dozens of telekinetic slashes towards Breloom. Breloom was hit and fell on its back.

"Thanks for the help." Jamie thought to himself.

Now Starmie use rapid spin

Starmie began to spin and charged towards Gallade.

Piplup use bubblebeam in a spin quick

Piplup jumped ahead of Gallade and spun around firing bubbles from its mouth. The bubbles formed a wall that blocked Starmie's impending attack.

"Wow Dawn, that was amazing." Said Tyler aw inspired.

"Thanks. That is what me and Ash like to call a counter shield.

Breloom energy ball

Breloom charged head first and broke through the bubbles and fired a green ball of energy at Piplup.

Gallade block it

Gallade jumped in front of Piplup this time, crossed its arms and protected Piplup from the energy ball. Piplup flashed a fin's up at Gallade who responded with a smirk.

"Don't think that a flashy move like that can save you."

Dawn and Tyler looked over at Jamie.

The fancy artwork of a coordinator won't be much help in a real battle. you're trying to cover for your weakness with unorthodox techniques that try to throw a trainer off guard. But the fact is if you don't toughen up your pokemon there is nothing you can do against a trainer who has any idea what they're doing!"

Tyler was used to this by now so he was able to keep a straight face. But Dawn started to get upset and insulted as she grit her teeth.

We'll show ya. Gallade use night slash on Starmie

Gallade's arm obtained a shadowy glow as it ran forward and raked across the front of Starmie.

Starmie counter with ice beam

Starmie immediately fired back a quick ice beam and made direct contact with Gallade.

Piplup help Gallade. Use hydro pump

Piplup launched a powerful blast of water back at the opposing side.

Zen headbutt

Breloom's head glowed pink and ran into the water blast. It pushed forward and made head to head contact with Piplup.

Quick Gallade psyco cut

Gallade did a cutting motion in the air that formed a single psychic slice that hit Breloom at its feet.

Now Piplup drill peck

Piplup came down toward breloom.

Starmie defend Breloom with rapid spin

Starmie made a spin in the air and Piplup's drill peck ended up hitting Starmie right in its jewel. Starmie fell back down to the battle field and landed with a thud.

"Starmie is unable to battle." Called Tracey.

Misty solemnly dropped down to her knees in defeat.

"Totally predictable." Said Jamie.

Misty looked up and once again glared at Jamie.

Breloom dynamic punch

Breloom sprung forward and landed Gallade a punch right in the gut. Gallade was knocked off its feet but was a little wobbly getting up.

Piplup ice beam

Piplup fired at ice attack at the susceptible grass type.

Zen headbutt

Breloom's head lit up again and jumped up to Piplup. The psychic energy from the zen headbutt partially deflected the ice beam as Piplup was hit again.

Energy ball

Breloom used a grass attack at the water starter. Piplup just stood there and took the hit. Piplup was down and out.

"Piplup is unable to battle." Said Tracey.

"Piplup why didn't you try to dodge?" Asked Dawn worriedly.

"Piplup must have flinched from the headbutt." Informed Tyler.

"What's wrong?" asked Dawn noticing a frown on his face.

"That." He replied. Dawn looked over to where he pointed to see Gallade smashing its head of a tree.

"What's wrong with Gallade?" asked Dawn.

"It must have gotten confused by dynamic punch." Tyler Said.

Breloom sky uppercut

Breloom charged forth and smashed Gallade's head between its fist and a tree. Tyler got a last second idea and tried it out of desperation.

Gallade close combat

After the hit Gallade came to its senses and started to punch, kick and smack Breloom down to the ground leaving it with swirls in its eyes.

"Breloom is unable to battle, Gallade is the winner and victory goes to the team of Tyler and Dawn." Called Tracey.

"Yeah we won!" shouted Dawn happily as Tyler returned Gallade for some rest.

Jamie just closed his eyes and held put a pokeball. "Breloom return." He said from across the battlefield. He put the ball into his pocket and started to walk off.

"Jamie wait." Jamie stopped and turned around to see Dawn running up to him.

"That was a great battle. Breloom is really strong." She said with a smile. A smirk crossed Jamie's face as well.

"I'm glad you think so. But next time you see Breloom it'll be even stronger." He said. He looked back at Tyler. "Good work with Gallade Tyler." He said.

"Hey thanks." Said Tyler.

Jamie looked at Misty and stared at her 1 more time before turning to walk to the pokemon centre.

"You handled that surprisingly well." Said Tyler looking at Dawn.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well he insulted you as a coordinator."

"Maybe, but I think he was just trying to help in his own way."

"Wow. You must never get upset about anything.

"Don't try me." Said Dawn with a stern look on her face.

"Okay, Okay. Message received." He said with sweat dripping down the back of his head.

"Piplup and Starmie are both injured. Let's go back to the pokemon centre." Suggested Misty.

"Yeah, let's do that." Said Dawn.

And with that the 3 of them walked down the path that Jamie had just followed to return to the centre.