Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate you taking the time to write one.

Here's chapter 30 I hope you enjoy.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can get the gist of what his Pokémon are saying due to his close bond with them.

"- Human speech

' - Thoughts'

" - Telepathy

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

Five days after leaving Vibrava and his family, Ash and Salem were on the outskirts of Lavaridge. They walked into the town and saw a couple of trainers who were a few years older than them walking their way. The couple stopped in front of Ash and Salem and looked at Rai, Chu, Meowth, Eevee and Ralts.

"Are you two here to challenge Flannery?" the man asked.

"Yeah we're both hoping to have another good gym battle." Ash replied.

"Well you're about to have the most disappointing battle of your journey." the woman said.

The couple then started walking away from Ash and Salem. The two young trainers were wondering whether or not they were being serious, they decided the best way to find out would be to head to the gym and challenge Flannery. However a trip to the Pokémon Centre to get everyone fully healed was first on the priority list.

They walked into the Pokémon Centre and handed their Pokémon to Nurse Joy who took them to the recovery room. Rai and Meowth decided to stay and wait in the lobby with Ash, Salem, Ralts and Eevee. They all took a seat in the lobby and waited for Nurse Joy to come back. While they waited Ash placed the incubator on a table and looked around the room, spotting a TV in the corner of the room. He walked over to it and saw that a brown haired girl with a red bandana was battling a boy with bright green hair. His eyes widened as he realised who it was.

"Hey Rai, Eevee, Meowth look May's on the Television." Ash yelled.

Everyone came over and watched as May's Combusken shot a Flamethrower at her opponent's Absol. Salem handed the incubator to Ash and looked from him to the television.

"How do you know May?" Salem asked.

"I met May on my first day in Hoenn. She was being attacked by some Poochyena and a couple of Mightyena so we stepped in and saved her."

Salem nodded and turned her attention back to the television just in time to watch the Absol fire a blade of wind at the Flamethrower which cut through the attack. Combusken was forced to dive to her right to avoid the attack.

"So what exactly are we watching and who's Grasshead?" Meowth asked.

Meowth's description of May opponent made everyone chuckled, Ash then looked at the nearby tables and spotted a remote, he placed the incubator on the table and picked up the remote. He quickly pressed the info button and a box of text then appeared on the screen. He read through the text and he felt a great of pride as he saw that May was competing in the final of a Pokémon contest.

"It's the final of the Pokémon Contest in Slateport. I knew she had the potential to do well. And Grasshead is someone called Drew." Ash said.

Everyone watched as May's Combusken was sent crashing back to May due to a powerful Feint Attack by Absol. The screen showed the scores so far and they saw that May was quite a bit behind her opponent. The camera swapped to a close up of May who was looking worriedly at Combusken who was being forced to dodge a flurry of attacks. She turned her gaze to the scoreboard and saw that she had fallen a long way behind and started to wonder how she could turn it around.

"Come on May, you can do this." Ash murmured.

A determined look suddenly formed on May's face, she looked across at Drew and smirked which confused the green haired boy.

"Use Friction Uppercut!" May commanded.

Combusken's fist glowed white and she started running towards Absol, dragging her fist along the ground. Sparks started to appear around her fist as she gained speed, Absol waited for a command from Drew but nothing came as he was too busy watching Combusken. When she was close, Combusken slammed her fist into Absol's stomach which caused the Disaster Pokémon to let out a pained cry as he was launched into the air. Moments later Absol slammed to the ground, the dark type tried pushing himself to his feet but it was taking so much energy to just stay conscious. May looked at the scoreboard again but was disappointed to see that there was only thirty seconds left and she was still a long way behind Drew which meant that there was only one way that she would win.

"Finish it with Flamethrower."

Combusken opened her mouth and shot a burst of flames at Absol who was standing on shaky legs. The Disaster Pokémon saw the attack headed his way and although he tried to dodge the flames he was too weakened from the last attack. The flames engulfed Absol and he let out another pained cry, this one only lasted for a few seconds though. When the flames died down everyone could see a burnt, unconscious Absol in the middle of the battlefield. A series of crosses appeared on the judges screens and the main screen removed the image of Drew and Absol. A massive smile broke out on her face and she ran on to the battlefield bringing Combusken into a hug which the tired fire type returned.

"The winner is May Maple." the announcer said.

The judges stepped on to the battlefield and walked over to May who immediately released her hold on Combusken and they both turned to face the judges. Mr Contesta smiled at the young co-ordinator and presented a ribbon to her. May took the ribbon and held it up for everyone to see.

"Ash Ketchum and Salem Ashni your Pokémon have been healed." Nurse Joy called out.

The young trainers turned away from the television and collected their Pokémon from Nurse Joy. They thanked her and then left the Pokémon Centre, heading for the Lavaridge Town gym to win their fourth badge.

Ash and Salem arrived at the gym a few minutes later, they opened the door and walked inside. They looked around the battle room they were in and spotted a red haired woman sat on one of the benches. They knew that the leader of the gym was Flannery who had red hair so they walked over to her and waited for her to say something. A couple of minutes passed and the woman said nothing, Ash and Salem looked at one another and then back to the woman.

"Are you Flannery?" Ash asked.

The woman looked up at Ash and sighed.

"Yeah that's me. I guess you're both here for a gym battle." Flannery mumbled.

Ash and Salem frowned and exchanged a glance.

"Um are you okay?" Salem asked.

"Yeah I'm fine." Flannery replied.

Flannery sighed again, she then got up and walked over to the gym leader box.

"So who am I facing first?"

"You can go first Salem."

"Okay."

Salem stepped on to the battlefield and took her place in the trainer box. She took Jolteon's Pokéball off her belt and waited for Flannery to choose her Pokémon. She finally chose one and threw a Pokéball revealing a Magcargo. Salem then sent out Jolteon and their battle started.

Five minutes later Salem knocked out the last of Flannery's Pokémon without taking any damage to her own. A frown was on her face as she thought about her victory, she wiped the frown off of her face when she saw Flannery approaching. The redhead stopped in front of Salem and held out a Heat badge. Salem reluctantly took the badge, she looked at it and had never felt so disappointed to win a badge. Flannery then looked over to Ash as her shoulders slumped again.

"Come on let's get this over with." Flannery said with a sigh.

Ash frowned as he got up and stood in the challengers box, Flannery stood in the gym leader box and nodded at the ref.

"This battle is between Ash Ketchum and Flannery the Lavaridge Town gym leader. This is a three vs three battle and only the challenger is allowed to switch Pokémon. Flannery will choose..."

"Wait a second." another voice said.

Everyone looked to the entrance and saw an elderly man who was wearing a purple coloured suit, he had grey hair and was wearing a pair of glasses. He walked over to Flannery and pulled her into a hug, the fire gym leader relaxed in his embrace and returned the hug.

"What are you doing here grandfather?" Flannery asked.

"Can't a grandfather come and see his granddaughter?"

Flannery looked at her grandfather knowing that wasn't the only reason. He saw that she didn't believe him so he sighed and released his grip on her.

"Fine I'd heard that you weren't battling to your full potential and challengers were leaving feeling disappointed."

Flannery looked down guiltily which worried her grandfather.

"What's wrong Flannery? Why have you suddenly started losing so easily?"

"There was a challenger a month ago that beat me. He said that I was weak and that I wasn't worthy of being your granddaughter."

"You know that's not true Flannery, don't you?"

Flannery just shrugged as she continued to stare at the ground. This shocked her grandfather as he'd never seen his granddaughter who had been known for her fiery spirit look so demoralised. He looked across the battlefield and saw that Ash was talking with Salem. He looked at the Raichu stood next to Ash and he came up with a plan.

"Excuse me Ash but would you mind having a battle with me? I think Flannery could do with seeing a battle to get her confidence back."

Ash liked the sound of that, the old man carried himself in a way that gave off a sense of power.

"Sure sounds good to me."

"Thank you Ash. Flannery go sit down and watch this battle."

The redhead nodded and walked over to the benches on the sideline, she sat down next to Salem who was watching the battlefield intently. The referee stepped forward and hoped that this time he wouldn't be interrupted.

"This battle is between Ash Ketchum and Mr Moore. It will be a one on one battle."

Mr Moore took a Pokéball out of his pocket.

"I'll choose first. Go Typhlosion!"

He threw the Pokéball and a large badger like Pokémon burst out of it. When it landed on the battlefield the Typhlosion released a massive amount of flames that would put the fires of Moltres to shame. An excited smile appeared on Ash's face as he watched the display of power.

"That Typhlosion looks powerful. Rai you're up."

Raichu stepped on to the battlefield and had an excited look on his face that mirrored his best friends. Typhlosion smirked at Rai which the mouse copied, the two Pokémon then got into a combat stance.

"Alright let's start things off with a Thunderbolt."

"Take it and see how powerful this Raichu is."

Rai fired a large bolt of electricity at Typhlosion who made no effort to dodge the attack. The bolt of electricity hit Typhlosion which caused him to let out a small growl as the electricity shocked him. Ash and Rai looked confident as the Thunderbolt continued to electrocute Typhlosion, however the confident look was soon wiped off their faces when Typhlosion roared and released some flames which dispelled the electricity. A small smile appeared on Mr Moore's face as he heard Typhlosion growling. Most people would assume that he was growling because he was angry however he had been with Typhlosion long enough to know that although there was some anger in the growl he was mainly making that noise because the attack hurt.

"I have to admit I'm impressed. It takes a special Pokémon to cause Typhlosion pain. Now it's our turn, Typhlosion use Flamethrower."

Flames erupted from the red spots around Typhlosion's neck raising the room temperature until it was unbearably hot. The flames were then channelled into his open mouth and a few seconds later Typhlosion launched the most enormous Flamethrower Ash had ever seen at Rai. Ash and Rai's eyes widened as they saw the massive Flamethrower. They'd seen Moltres, Entei, Charizard and so many other powerful trainers and gym leaders Pokémon use Flamethrower and none of them had ever shown power like this.

"Rai dodge it with Quick Attack."

"Follow his movements and use Fire Punch then try another Flamethrower."

Rai quickly got over his shock at the Flamethrower headed his way and, in a flash of white he shot off, The Flamethrower passed by harmlessly and Rai was confident that he was safe, suddenly he felt himself slam into something. He looked up just in time to see a flaming fist heading straight at his face, due to how close Typhlosion was Rai had no chance to either dodge or block the attack so the fist slammed straight into his face making Rai see stars. The force behind the punch sent Rai crashing back towards Ash, he got back to his feet just in time to be engulfed in flames. Ash watched in horror as he heard Rai scream in pain as the flames scorched him. The flames died down revealing Rai who was standing but was covered in burns.

"Rai are you okay to continue?" Ash asked worriedly.

'Of course I am.' Rai growled.

Ash wasn't convinced by Rai's response, but he was his best friend and he wouldn't go against his wishes.

"Alright Rai if you're sure you okay then use Iron Tail on the ground, then hit him with a flurry of Thunder Punches."

Although Rai was confused by Ash's instruction, he quickly complied as his tail turned metallic. He then slammed his tail down on the battlefield which caused a small tremor, this caused Typhlosion to stumble which was an opportunity that Rai would not waste. He ran at Typhlosion as his fists crackled with electricity. Typhlosion regained his balance just in time for Rai's right fist to slam into his gut, the punch slightly winded Typhlosion and he staggered back a few steps as he tried to recover. Rai didn't stop the assault though and he launched himself at Typhlosion hitting him with a barrage of Thunder Punches. Typhlosion was gradually forced to give ground as he started to block and dodge some of the punches, he looked back at this trainer waiting for a command.

"Use double Focus Punch."

Typhlosion nodded and he ducked under a punch which made Rai lose his balance. The fire types fists glowed white and he hit Rai with an uppercut that launched him into the air, Typhlosion then judged where Rai would land and he threw his fist in that direction. The fist slammed into Rai's face and the electric type rocketed at the wall behind him. He came to a sudden stop when he crashed into the wall and he slumped to the ground. Ash ran over to where Rai was and knelt next to him. He watched as the mouse struggled to his feet and started walking back to the battlefield. Ash grabbed Rai to stop him but immediately let go when he heard the mouse growl.

"Rai you fought bravely but you need to stop before you get yourself badly injured."

'I'm finishing this battle with or without your help.'

After a moments thought Ash reluctantly nodded, he knew that if he didn't help Rai then he'd just do something crazy that would get him hurt. Rai looked gratefully at Ash and slowly made his way back on to the battlefield. Ash looked at Typhlosion who appeared to be just as energised as when he was first sent out. He started to think about what move Rai should use to go down fighting. He considered using Volt Tackle but Rai was burnt so his physical power would be reduced also Rai would suffer recoil damage which would cause him even more pain.

"Rai use a full power Thunder."

"End this with one more Flamethrower."

Rai drew upon all of his reserves to charge the most powerful electric attack he had ever used. A massive bolt of electricity shot off of Rai and headed straight for Typhlosion, the fire type was amazed at the amount of electricity the mouse had generated but he wasn't intimidated. Typhlosion opened his mouth and fired another immense burst of flames at the electricity. The attacks clashed and both Typhlosion and Mr Moore were shocked to see that Rai's Thunderbolt was matching the Flamethrower however it was obvious that Rai was weakening as Typhlosion pushed back the Thunder. Finally Rai felt the last of his energy be sapped, the Thunder instantly dissipated and Rai braced himself expecting to feel another Flamethrower scorch him. A few moments passed and Rai still hadn't felt the flames, he looked up and saw that the Flamethrower was nowhere to be seen. He felt someone pick him up and turned his attention to the person seeing the concerned face of his best friend.

"Hey buddy how are you?" Ash asked.

'I've been better but I'll live."

Mr Moore and Typhlosion then stepped into view.

"That was a great battle Ash, you did really well. It's been a while since someone managed to even damage Typhlosion."

Typhlosion nodded in agreement.

"Thanks Mr Moore. Just out of curiosity how much damage did we do to Typhlosion?"

"I'd say about ten percent." Mr Moore quickly answered.

Ash and Raichu's faces fell, they thought they'd done more damage than that considering how long that Thunderbolt had shocked him and how many Thunder Punches he'd been hit by. Mr Moore saw the looks on their faces and placed a hand on Ash's shoulder and his other on Rai's head. Ash and Rai looked at Mr Moore who was smiling at them.

"I can see that you're disappointed but there's one thing you need to know. I am a former Elite 4 member."

Ash wasn't completely shocked at that, he'd suspected as much during their battle but hearing it made Ash and Raichu feel a lot better about their performance.

"Well given how much power you just displayed and the tactics that you used, that doesn't really surprise me." Ash replied.

"I was actually one of the most powerful members at the time. In fact I had a very close match with a former Champion for the title. Sadly his Dragonite just managed to outlast Typhlosion."

Ash's eyes suddenly widened as he remembered one of the stories Professor Oak told him, this made him realise just who he was talking to.

"Hang on a minute are you telling me that you're the person that pushed Professor Oak to his limits fifty years ago?"

Mr Moore chuckled at the shocked look on Ash's face.

"Yes that would be me. Typhlosion always wanted a rematch but Samuel gave up his title as Champion to pursue a career as a Professor. Maybe we'll have to go to Kanto and see if he'd give us one more battle."

"I think he'd enjoy one last battle. I'll be sure to tell him that you want a match." Ash said.

"Thank you Ash, now if you'll excuse me I need to speak with my granddaughter."

Salem then came over and started talking to Ash while Mr Moore walked over to his granddaughter who was still sat on the bench. He sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her. She looked up at him and he was relieved to see that the downtrodden and demoralised look was no longer on her face.

"Listen Flannery our family has been known for being strong battlers. It's in my blood, it was in your fathers blood and it is in your blood too. So I want you to stop listening to people who tell you otherwise and show people your true power."

A small, confident smirk appeared on Flannery's face, it was a look that she had always worn during gym battles. Mr Moore smiled at his granddaughter and watched as she got up and walked over to Ash and Salem with her head held high. Ash and Salem turned their attention to the fiery gym leader and were surprised to see the complete change in her posture as well as the smirk that was now on her face.

"Ash come back tomorrow and I'll give you a true gym battle. Salem you can have a rematch if you want as well."

Both of the young trainers nodded and then left the gym so that Mr Moore could train his granddaughter for her matches tomorrow.

Ash and Salem quickly made their way to the Pokémon Centre to get Rai healed and were now sat in the Pokémon Centre wondering what to do now. They looked around the lobby hoping to find something when Salem spotted an interesting poster about the Hot Springs. She got up and walked over to the poster, she read it and saw that the Hot Springs were open all day. She walked back over to Ash who had been playing with Eevee and Ralts.

"Why don't we check out the hot springs. They're supposed to be good for both humans and Pokémon." Salem suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. If you want to go ahead that's fine. I'll stay and wait for Rai." Ash replied.

"I'm not going to leave you here. I'll wait as well." Salem said.

"Actually If you're heading to the Hot Springs you can take your Raichu, the Hot Springs will help the healing process. Also try holding your egg in the water, it can speed up the hatching process." Nurse Joy informed.

Ash and Salem's eyes lit up, they went and got Rai who was glad to come since he'd be getting out of the hospital room. He hated lying in a hospital bed with nothing to do, he jumped off of the bed and walked alongside Ash as they left the Pokémon Centre. They were at the Hot Springs a few minutes and were amazed at how big the place was. They walked through the main entrance and up to the main desk.

"Hello welcome to Lavaridge Hot Springs. How can I help you?" the woman said cheerfully.

"We'd both like to spend some time in your hot springs."

"Okay that will be one hundred Pokédollars each."

Ash gave the woman his Pokédex which she scanned on the machine that transferred the funds. She handed the Pokédex back to Ash and gave him and Salem a towel each. She pointed to the other side of the room, Ash and Salem turned to look at what she was pointing at.

"Go down the corridor and you'll see signposts for the male and female areas. You can send out your Pokémon, just make sure that they don't disturb other customers."

Ash and Salem nodded and then walked down the corridor, splitting up when they came to the signpost that directed them towards their separate areas.

Ash sighed in content as he eased himself into the water, he couldn't believe how incredible the water felt. He felt something nudge his side and looked down seeing Eevee and Ralts floating either side of him. He wasted no time pulling them too him and hugged them both tightly.

"So when did you both learn to swim?"

Ralts and Eevee giggled in response, Ash was wondering why they were giggling when he saw a blue glow just beneath them. He looked around the area and saw that Togetic was surrounded in a similar glow. He smiled at him gratefully and made a note mentally to make a special meal for him.

"Thanks Togetic."

"It's my pleasure Ash."

Ash rubbed his daughters heads and then picked up the incubator that had been sat on the ground next to the hot spring. He slowly took the lid off and then pressed the button that released the arms grip on the egg. Ash then carefully took the egg out of the incubator and held it tightly against his chest underwater. He looked around the area and saw everyone relaxing either in the water or on the ground so he closed his eyes and felt his problems fade away.

All of the Pokémon followed their trainers example except for Rai who was too busy thinking about Chu. He'd found himself doing that more and more recently and it had now gotten to the point where he had to tell her how he felt no matter what her response would be. The problem was trying to get some time to talk to her in private. He suddenly had an idea as he looked at all of his friends, he knew that Salem and her Pokémon would be acting the same way so he waited until nobody was looking at him, he then slipped away and headed towards the area he hoped he'd find Chu.

What Rai didn't know was that Chu had the same idea and was trying to find him. They both walked around a corner and since they weren't looking where they were going they crashed into each other, Rai was the first to recover and was ready to give whoever he crashed into a piece of his mind.

'Hey watch where you're go...' Rai said until he saw who he crashed into.

He quickly helped Chu up and rubbed the back of his head.

'Sorry Chu, I thought it was someone else.' Rai said apologetically.

'Don't worry about it. I was about to start yelling too.' Chu replied.

They both stood there in silence trying to find the right words to say.

'Chu I'm glad I ran into you. I was just coming to find you.' Rai said.

'Really?' Chu asked.

'Yeah, Chu there's something I need to tell you.'

She simply stood there and waited for him to continue

'I've been kinda trying to find a way to say this for a while now. The thing is that I'm in l-love w-with y-y-you.' Rai stuttered.

Rai immediately looked away from Chu and he closed his eyes as he didn't want to see whatever she may do to him because of his confession. He waited for several minutes but he still heard nothing, he cracked open an eye and was startled to see a tear trickling down Chu's cheek. He instantly pulled her into a hug and tried to think of what he can do to fix what he's done.

'Chu I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you.'

Chu chuckled at Rai's wrong assumption. Rai was confused by the chuckled and released his grip on Chu so he could look her in the eyes.

'Rai you didn't upset me. I'm happy.'

Before Rai could respond he felt a pair of lips press against his, he melted into the kiss and returned it. They were eventually forced to break the kiss due to lack of oxygen, they breathed heavily as they refilled their lungs and gazed at each other. The sound of a clock chiming broke them out of it and they realised how long they'd been gone.

'Come on we'd better get back to the others before they start to worry about us.' Chu said.

Rai nodded and the electric types ran back to their trainers who had been frantically searching for them. After a congrats from everyone about their newly formed relationship and a telling off from Ash and Salem they followed their trainers back to the Pokémon Centre. The group entered the building and after getting a couple rooms from Nurse Joy they went to their rooms and fell to sleep.

Notes

So Ash finally loses a battle in this story, but then when you think about it he wasn't exactly winning the battle against Rethant now was he. The reason for this was that I thought I needed to show that although Ash has improved, he still has a long way to go. I didn't want you to think that Ash is a super unbeatable OP character like some stories make him. For any of you that may think I made Ash too weak due to how little damage Rai did to Typhlosion bear in mind that Mr Moore in this story was almost on a par with Champion Samuel Oak who was at the time considered one of the most powerful Champions ever. Also Typhlosion was his most powerful Pokémon so it's pretty much the equivalent in terms of power of fighting Cynthia's Garchomp.

I considered adding the gym battle against Flannery but the battle would have made this chapter a little too long in my opinion. The gym battle will come next chapter as will the arrival of a new OC.

Thanks for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.

Ash:

Kanto - Raichu, Meowth, Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros(x24), Snorlax, Sandshrew, Aerodactyl (Fossilised) & Eevee (Shiny)

Johto - Totodile, Meganium, Cyndaquil, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny), Phanpy, Hitmontop, Togetic & Sneasel

Hoenn - Marshtomp, Nincada, Treecko, Zangoose, Sableye, Raimodo (Egg) & Ralts

Sinnoh - Monferno

Kalos – Meowstic & Amaura (Fossilised)

Pokémon on hand – Raichu, Meowth, Meowstic, Heracross, Kingler, Nincada, Hitmontop, Butterfree, Raimodo (Egg), Togetic, Ralts & Eevee

Salem:

Kanto - Raichu & Jolteon

Johto – Chinchou, Togetic & Mareep

Hoenn – Electrike, Plusle & Minun

Sinnoh - Luxray

Unova - Zebstrika & Galvantula

Pokémon on hand – Raichu, Galvantula, Jolteon, Luxray, Togetic, Plusle & Minun