After 2 days of plentiful rest for the weary 64 remaining trainers the Driftveil stadium was packed once again as everyone was psyched for the start off of round 3.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the PWT; pokemon world tournament! As of round 3 we are down to 64 participating trainers and all of the round 3 battles will be 3 on 3 battles. it will take 4 days for all of the 3rd round battles to take place, so until then enjoy the display of battling that is in store for you and wish the best luck to our competing trainers!

The crowd began to cheer for the trainers that were going to battle for them and give the best of luck to their favorites.

"So this is it. You ready Ash?" Asked Tyler.

"Yeah I'm so psyched! I can't wait to win my next battle!" Said Ash excitedly.

They were standing with Brock and Dawn on the field amongst all the other trainers to make it to round 3. Misty, May and the others were in the stands watching their friends as everyone turned their attention to the big screen.

And the matchups for round 3 are…!

Steven Stone vs. Grimsley

Reggie vs. Byron

Lucian vs. Kruger

Gonzap vs. Ash Ketchum

Benga vs. Dawn

Shauntel vs. Paul

Phobie vs. Michael

Palmer vs. Nitro

"Check it out. I'm battling today." Said Ash.

"And I'm battling right after you." Said Dawn.

"It looks like Paul is battling to." Noticed Brock.

"AND SO IS MY DAD!" Yelled Barry who appeared right behind them.

"Barry what is your problem? You just shouted right in my ear!" Complained Dawn.

"Barry you could calm down a little." Said Brock.

Barry just stood up, back straight with a proud smirk on his face. "No way. My dad, battle tycoon Palmer, is having his 3rd round battle today. You guys get to just sit back and watch as my dad wipes the floor with yet another trainer like he always does. MAKE SINNOH PROUD DAD!" Barry yelled out to his father in the crowd.

"Barry will you shut up for 5 seconds." Complained Dawn sick of Barry yelling right in her ear.

"Why does Palmer's opponent look so familiar?" Tyler thought.

"We should totally catch Palmer's Battle today huh Ash?" Dawn said.

"You bet." Ash turned his attention back to the screen. "But for now I need to focus on getting passed Gonzap."

"I've heard that guy has a shady history." Pointed out Tyler.

"But a battle is a battle, and to get past round 3 Ash is going to have to win it." Said Brock displaying some wise words.

"I know that Brock, of course. And that is exactly what I plan to do." Said Ash.

The final battle before lunch was Ash's battle. He was up against a fairly big dude who wore a sleeveless red jacket that was open in the front showing his muscular chest. He also had a distinctive jagged moustache and really long eyebrows that curved up over his head.

"Let the battle begin!"

"Pikachu, I choose you!"

"Go Crawdaunt!"

Pikachu jumped straight out onto the battle field. Across from him was a red crab with 2 smaller extra limbs and a gold star on its head.

Pikachu thunderbolt

Pikachu charged electricity in its 2 red cheeks and released a powerful bolt of electricity.

Sludge bomb

Crawdaunt opened 2 of its pincers and fired multiple balls of sludge that collided with the thunderbolt, causing a cloud of smoke between them and cancelling out the attack.

Aerial ace

Gonzap wasted little time as Crawdaunt charged through the smoke and was surrounded by white streaks. It was too fast and Pikachu was hit directly.

Pikachu iron tail

Pikachu's tail suddenly turned metallic and swung it towards Crawdaunt.

Counter with Crabhammer

Crawdaunt once again blocked Pikachu's move with a move of its own.

Now strength

Crawdaunt momentarily was surrounded in a red aura and then shoved it's claws forward and launched Pikachu into the air.

"Man, how am I going to do this? Crawdaunt is just too strong." Ash quickly looked up and saw that Pikachu was hovering directly in front of the sun. "that's it!"

Pikachu use electro ball

The electric mouse created a ball of electricity at the end of its tail.

Use sludge bomb

Crawdaunt looked up to see the target for its attack. But instead of firing it's sludge, it moved its claws in front of its eyes to shield them from the sun directly behind Pikachu. Pikachu did a mid-air front flip and fired its ball that slammed into Crawdaunt causing lots of damage.

Now thunderbolt

Pikachu followed up with another powerful move and fried the susceptible Crawdaunt.

"Crawdaunt is unable to battle, the winner is Pikachu!"

Ash sighed in relief as his opponent's first pokemon went down. He maintained his focus and looked to see what his next pokemon would be.

"Go Shiftry!" Gonzap's next pokemon was a grass and dark type with leaves on its hands.

*A grass type huh?* Ash thought. "Pikachu come back."

Pikachu heard its trainers call and jumped of the field and back to his side. Ash leant down and gave the mouse a congratulating pet.

"You did great Pikachu, get some rest." He said as he stood up and decided what pokemon would battle Shiftry.

"Starrapter I choose you!" Ash threw a pokeball up and Starrapter appeared in the air.

Starrapter aerial ace

Starrapter flew right down at Shiftry as it was enveloped by white streaks.

Aerial ace

Shiftry shot back using the same move and they collided head to head. Of course Shiftry did receive a lot more damage than Starrapter.

Now giga drain

While they were so close Shiftry started to drain the power from Starrapter so it could become healthy again. Ash knew that Starrapter was in a spot where he did not want it to be so he made his next move.

Close combat

Starrapter began to use its wings, beck and talons to smack, peck and scrape the walking tree, forcing it to stop draining Starrapter.

Now use brave bird

Starting to turn red and then eventually turning blue, Starrapter made a straight dive for Shiftry.

Faint attack

Shiftry tried to counter with a move of its own but was over powered by type advantage.

"Shiftry is unable to battle, Starrapter is the winner!"

Ash was now up 3-1 and was 1 knockout away from moving on to round 4. Little did he know that his opponent had not given up on that idea either.

"Go Skarmory!"

A metal encased bird flew down to Gonzap's side of the field. Ash took one look at Starrapter, who was currently suffering from the recoil from its last attack, and decided to use a different pokemon.

"Starrapter return." He said as he held up a pokeball and called his weary pokemon back in. he decided to switch it with his third pokemon.

"Infernape I choose you!"

In front of him appeared one of his strongest pokemon that he got from a rival of his.

Air cutter

Skarmory flew up and moved its wings apart creating several small circular blades of wind that sliced through the fire monkey's energy level.

Use Mach punch

Infernape quickly shot back with a move of its own surprising Skarmory with a shot right to the head.

Metal sound

Skarmory opened its mouth and released a shrill high pitch noise that made Infernape cringe in pain and was greatly uncomfortable with the spectators that were sitting in the front row.

*Oh man that hurts!* Ash thought to himself as he moved both hands over his ears and tried to block out the noise. In the middle of this he barely noticed Gonzap's next attack.

Drill peck

Skarmory shut its mouth, folded its wings in and charged beck first at Infernape while spinning. Ash was only now getting his bearings back as he saw the metal bird run right into Infernape knocking the monkey on to its back.

"Get up Infernape!" Ash said.

Skarmory steel wing

Skarmory's wings glew in a metallic grey and flew forward at Infernape.

Infernape close combat

Right before Skarmory reached Infernape it throw a punch to the metal bird's underbelly and followed it up with multiple punches and kicks to its hard body.

Hyper beam

Flamethrower

Skarmory launched a close range hyper beam to the Sinnoh fire starter who responded with a powerful fire attack of its own. The two attacks barley managed to miss each other and instead landed direct hits on their intended targets. Skarmory had suffered a lot of damage but remained standing, Infernape however had taken too much damage to get up.

"Infernape is unable to battle, Skarmory is the winner."

Ash held up a pokeball and returned Infernape to its confines before mulling over what pokemon to battle Skarmory.

*I'd like to give Starrapter a little more rest, besides it's at a type disadvantage against Skarmory. Which leaves me with…* he looked down to his side to see a yellow mouse looking up at him with a confident grin.

"You've got the type advantage Pikachu. Let's win this!" Said Ash confidently. Pikachu jumped out onto the battle field once again and prepared to face off with Skarmory.

Use thunderbolt

Pikachu's cheeks sparked with electricity and fired electrical jolts at the flying type.

Use air cutter

Skarmory once again fired its small wind disks in front of it. The disks came in contact with the thunderbolt and it blasted the disks and not Skarmory.

Metal sound

Skarmory emitted a shrill sound that made Pikachu cringe.

Thunderbolt

Ash had to scream at the top of his lungs in hope that Pikachu would hear him. Either he did or Pikachu was thinking the same thing. It used thunderbolt again and electrocuted Skarmory.

Hyper beam

Skarmory fired back with a black and purple beam of pure energy. It landed a direct hit on the electric mouse and launched it into the air. Ash decided to make one last shot.

Electro ball

A orb of voltage began to form on Pikachu's tail. It spun forward in mid-air and shot the ball at a susceptible Skarmory who was recharging from its last attack. It was directly hit by the electricity and fell from the severe damage.

"Skarmory is unable to battle, Pikachu is the winner and victory goes to Ash from Pallet town."

The crowd cheered as the Pallet home town hero moved on to round 4.

"Yeah we did it Pikachu!" Ash yelled.

"Pika-pika!" it cried.

"Let's keep building this momentum Pikachu, and take it all the way!"