The Silver Conference

The chart for who would be facing whom in the semi-finals was on display. Challengers would be placed in groups of three and whoever got the most wins in the group would advance to the selected sixteen. Emily was going to be placed in division E in stadium C where she would be facing Ethan and Billie.

Emily left the stadium and met Ethan at the front door. They weren't scheduled to battle until tomorrow afternoon, but Ethan wanted a practice match to see what Emily was capable of. But Emily wouldn't battle. The security guards said that there was to be no outside competition of any kind. Ethan didn't mind and instead asked Emily if she wanted to join him for lunch. Apparantly, Yugi didn't take kindly to the matter that Ethan was trying to flirt with Emily and tried telling him to back off. To avoid causing any trouble, Joey took Yugi by the hand and took him back to the suite.

Emily returned as well and began analyzing Ethan and Billie's Pokémon so she would have an idea on what she would be up against. Most of Ethan's Pokémon were poison-types and Billie seemed to have a party of various types like Emily did.

It was time for Emily and Ethan to have their first match. Ethan was permitted to make the first call, so he chose Muk. Emily called on Lumina to start things off. Muk made the first move by attacking with Sludge. Lumina dodged and used Swift. Muk raised his defenses by using Harden. He tried to attack with Sludge Bomb, but Lumina dodged with ease and defeated him with her Psychic attack. To everyone's surprise, Ethan's next Pokémon was not a poison-type, but a bug-type called Pinsir. Emily withdrew Lumina and called on Salamando. Ethan became nervous and decided to substitute Venomoth for Pinsir. Venomoth flapped her wings and began releasing toxic spores. Salamando engulfed himself in his flames and attacked with Flare Blitz. The spores still ended up poisoning Salamando. Venomoth tried to use Supersonic, but Salamando dodged and used Flamethrower.

Venomoth was down, but Salamando was still poisoned. Not to mention Flare Blitz caused recoil damage. Ethan sent Pinsir back into battle and tapped into the power of his Keystone. Pinsir had gained a pair of wings as he Mega Evolved. Salamando attacked with Flamethrower, but Pinsir dodged and caught him in his horns. Salamando tried to attack with Flamethrower, but the thorns in the horns put him in a lot of pain. Pinsir let him go and tossed him to the ground. The poisoning took what was left of Salamando's strength.

Emily tossed her Pokéball and called on Sylphid. She was going to have to match speed for speed. Sylphid used Discharge and paralyzed Pinsir as he attacked him. Pinsir tried to fight back and attack with Submission, but Sylphid dodged and attacked with Thunder Fang. The effects of Mega Evolution wore off and the battle was over.

The result of the match earned Emily three points for her victory. Ethan's loss didn't earn him any points. Depending how their matches with Billie would go would decide the status of their ranks. If Ethan would defeat Billie, he would earn three points too. Or if their match would result in a draw, both challengers would earn one point.

It was anyone's game based on how the battle was going. Ethan and Billie each had one Pokémon left. It was now down to Ethan's Muk against Billie's Dugtrio. Dugtrio was worn out after battling Venomoth and Arbok, so Muk was able to beat Dugtrio with ease. Now Ethan and Emily were tied with three points.

Billie returned to the Pokémon Center to get her Pokémon's strength restored. She and Emily wouldn't be battling until the next few hours, so there was time for the girls to prepare for the match. Outside, Salamando and Sylphid were exercising. They saw a tasty apple in the tree and decided to share it. Salamando used his fire to burn the stem from the branch and Sylphid used his electricity to split the apple. Now both brothers had half. There were two other Pokémon; a Typhlosion and an Ampharos with a Mega Stone. The brothers saw them and asked them if they wanted to share. Typhlosion and Ampharos accepted their kindness and happily ate the split apple.

"Excuse me," Sylphid inquired, "but couldn't you save some for us?"

Salamando agreed. "Don't we get a share too?"

Typhlosion sneered. "I'm sorry, but when you said you wanted to share with us, we thought it was for us."

Ampharos laughed. "You should have said something. If you had, we wouldn't have eaten it."

Sylphid growled, but Salamando told him to let it go. "We'll just get another one."

Soon, Ampharos and Typhlosion started making fun of Salamando and Sylphid for being so small. The brothers didn't appreciate being bullied around and started fighting with Typhlosion and Ampharos. The fighting caused a commotion. Emily saw what was happening and tried to get the boys to stop fighting. It also turned out that Typhlosion and Ampharos belonged to Billie and she tried to get them to break it up too. The Pokémon listened to the girls and decided to settle things at this afternoon's battle.

Billie was permited to make the first move. She chose Ampharos as her first Pokémon. Emily decided to choose Sylphid as her first Pokémon. Ampharos and Sylphid still had a score to settle, but they decided to get the match over with first. Billie tapped into the power of her Keystone, allowing Ampharos to Mega Evolve. Ampharos made the first move by attacking with Power Gem, but Sylphid dodged and used Quick Attack. Ampharos sent him flying with Thunder Punch. Sylphid took no damage, but got his strength restored thanks to his special ability. Ampharos used Iron Tail and landed a direct hit on Sylphid. Sylphid caught Ampharos' tail in his teeth and attacked with Thunder Fang. Ampharos returned to her original state and fell in defeat.

Billie called Ampharos back and chose Graveler as her next Pokémon. Normally, Graveler are light brown, but this Graveler was dark brown like nutmeg. Sylphid tried to attack with Discharge, but Graveler withstood the attack and attacked with Earthquake. Sylphid tried to attack with Quick Attack, but Graveler finished him off with Magnitude.

Emily chose Undine as her next Pokémon. Graveler used Rock Throw, but Undine dodged the rocks and froze the field with her Aurora Beam. Graveler's feet were stuck in the ice, but he freed himself by using Earthquake. But while he was occupied, Undine attacked with Water Pulse. Graveler was no longer able to battle.

Billie's last Pokémon was Typhlosion. Emily and Undine had to be careful. Typhlosion were very swift. Undine heard about how this Typhlosion was being a bully to her younger brothers and she was going to teach him a lesson. Being a male, Typhlosion knew not to hurt girls, but that didn't mean he was going to go easy on Undine. Gathering her strength to make it the strongest Water Gun she can, Undine shoots a spray of water like a cannon. She learned to used Hydro Pump. Typhlosion got drenched, but he pulled himself together and attacked with Flamethrower. Undine tried to counter with Water Gun, but the collision of the attacks created a cloud of steam. Typhlosion broke through and knocked Undine out with his Flame Wheel.

Emily was down to her last Pokémon. She chose Salamando. He and Typhlosion had a score to settle and they were ready to settle things between them. Salamando engulfed himself in his flames and attacked with Flare Blitz. Typhlosion charged as well with Flame Wheel. They both got knocked back. Typhlosion was worn out after battling with Undine, but all the firepower was raising Salamando's attack strength. Typhlosion attacked with Swift, but Salamando intercepted with Flamethrower. He leaped on Typhlosion and bit down on his arm with Fire Fang. Typhlosion shook him off and tossed him across the field. Salamando and Typhlosion kept going at each other without taking a chance to dodge any attacks. They were fighting for their pride as fire Pokémon.

After going tirelessly at each other, the two hot-headed fire Pokémon were weakly standing on their feet panting from exhaustion. Typhlosion grinned at Salamando and said weakly, "You got guts, kid. Not bad."

Salamando returned the gesture. "You're not so bad yourself." Having settled their differences, they both fall in defeat. They finally had respect for each other.

The results were tallied with Billie having one point, Ethan having three points, and Emily coming out on top with four points. She would be advancing to the next round. To everyone's surprise, Max and Emily were going to battle each other in their next battle.

"So it's finally come to this," said Max. "I hope you're ready."

"We knew we'd have to face each other sooner or later," said Emily. "There's no better time than the time our match was arranged."