Hey Everybody! So I posted twice in two weeks, bragged about it, and then didn't post for three months? Yeah, sounds about right. I'm sorry for any anxiety I caused! To make up for it, I wanted to share the reason why I wasn't writing. A few months ago I left my old job. I enjoyed it, but knew that I wanted to do something else with my life. To celebrate, my wife and I took a long-delayed honeymoon/babymoon…to Japan! We were there for the last couple of months, alternating mostly between Kyoto and Tokyo. I got to meet my father-in-law for the first time since her dad's side of the family is Japanese, and we stayed with them in their small hometown for a couple of weeks, as well! It was an amazing trip for so many reasons, but the reason that I know will interest you guys is that I GOT TO GO TO THE POKÉMON CENTER AND POKÉMON CAFÉ! It was seriously so much fun guys, and we bought SO MUCH (like, an irresponsible amount) of merchandise – both for our baby's nursery (he's coming this summer!) and for myself. If anyone's interested in all the stuff I got, send me a PM and I'll brag incessantly, but for now suffice to say we were really busy and I just couldn't tear myself away from the city long enough to write. I'm sorry about the delay, but the good news is I'm fully back in the swing of writing and will have Chapter 70 to you next Sunday!

What are you waiting for? Go read and REVIEW PLEASE!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokémon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this story are solely based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

Characters' Ages:

Ash: 18

Brock: 23

Misty: 19

"Azumarill is unable to battle. Seaking wins!"

With a flourish of the referee's flags, the battle ended as Misty shook hands with yet another defeated opponent.

"I'm sorry. Please don't cry!"

Her former opponent wiped his eyes and sped away. "I'm not crying!"

Ash gave the young trainer a sympathetic look as he ran by. "Poor guy. Been there." A smile quickly reappeared, though, when he turned to see Misty running toward him.

"Did you see?!"

"Honestly, this doesn't seem fair anymore. You blew that guy out of the water…literally!" The battlefield had been a pool this time, giving Seaking a large advantage.

"I don't wanna get cocky, but this is going much better than the last time I was here. Of course, I can still lose in the fourth round again, so…"

"Don't talk like that!" A reassuring hand gripped her shoulder. "You've got this. After all, you had the best coach!"

"Aw, you're right." Her arms wrapped around his shoulders lovingly and he prepared for a kiss, until she plucked Pikachu from off his head instead. "Pikachu was a great coach!" She nuzzled him against her face as the electric type let out a series of giggles.

"I-No, I was talking about me?"

"Come on, dummy," she sauntered towards the exit, Delia and Oak close behind.

Following a muttered "No respect," he dutifully ran after the four.

As Misty rehydrated, Ash checked her phone. "So it looks like your next opponent is going to be some guy named Thad, on an ice field? That's weird. Must be tough keeping ice on a day like this."

"Which field do we need to go to?" Oak inquired.

"Oh, um…it says twelve. We have fifteen minutes."

"Well, there's no type advantage, but at least it'll be cooler over there. Let's go!"

As they arrived, another couple of trainers were winding up their battle.

"No way."

"Hm?"

Misty pointed to the south end of the field. "That's the girl that beat me in the fourth round. Her name's Elli."

This caught everyone's attention. "The girl with the Rhyperior?"

"Yeah. She had a Dragonite last time we met. It took my Gyarados down without breaking a sweat."

"Looks like she's not breaking one now, either," Oak noted as Rhyperior lifted an opposing Lapras over her head before throwing her down, shattering the icy floor and submerging the ice and water type into the depths below. Moments later, Lapras reemerged, completely dazed.

"Lapras is unable to battle. Rhyperior wins!"

"Shouldn't Lapras have had a big advantage on this field?" Delia asked as the trainers exchanged post-battle pleasantries.

"Lapras should've had an advantage on any field because of her type," Ash noted. "Either that other trainer isn't very good, or Elli's pretty tough."

"Definitely the second one."

"Misty?!" A happy shriek came through the chain link fence. "Is that you?"

"It is! You looked good!" Misty complimented with an almost-comically large smile as the brunette ran over. "I'm surprised to see you here, honestly."

Elli blushed and played with her long hair. "Yeah, I'm kinda sad to be here, myself. After our match, I lost in the next round. Probably wouldn't have if I hadn't needed to use my strongest Pokémon on you, but that was on me for not preparing. This time, my whole team is stronger than Dragonite ever was! How have you – wait, I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I mean, I know how you've been. The whole drama with Ash and the League. It was all over the news. I'm sure you've been busy dealing with that stuff."

"Honestly, I mostly just supported him through it. I didn't have much of a part to play."

"Either way, it's impressive you made it back out here after all that. See you at the acceptance ceremony, okay?"

"You're more confident than me," Misty chuckled, waving a quick goodbye. "Good luck!"

"She didn't seem too bad," Ash remarked as they watched her walk off.

"She's not. It's nothing personal, but I'm not a big fan of anyone who embarrasses me the way she did."

"You'll get your chance for revenge after you win this match," he predicted confidently, giving the redhead a quick peck on the cheek. "Go show us what you're made of!"

"Right!"

After the field was deemed fit for battle, both trainers walked to their respective sides. Standing opposite Starmie was a Jynx that seemed utterly uninterested in her opponent.

"Begin!"

"Sing, Jynx!"

Opening her mouth, the psychic and ice type let out a high screech that emitted crimson soundwaves directly at Starmie, whose gem began flickering violently.

"Ugh, Surf it out!" Misty cried, covering her own ears in pain.

"Hyah!" Releasing a tidal wave from its top three points, Starmie flooded out the impromptu concert as Jynx was washed up against a glacier.

"What was that?" Delia asked from the bleachers. "I've heard Jigglypuff sing before, but that was awful."

Oak scratched his chin for a moment before Ash interjected. "Perish Song. I've seen it used before. It can cause a Pokémon to faint immediately if it goes on long enough, but it also KOs the Pokémon using it."

Jynx lined up an Ice Punch that sent Starmie spinning across the ice. Misty ordered a Rapid Spin in response, turning the momentum of the damage into a new attack that now sent Jynx hurtling backwards.

"Not only that," Oak added, "even when only partially effective, it has the ability to weaken both Pokémon considerably. If Misty doesn't pull out the win quickly, Perish Song will put both Starmie and Jynx down for the count!"

"But why would Jynx's trainer use a move that hurts his own Pokémon?"

Ash and Oak both shrugged as Starmie created a billowing cloud over the field – blocking the hot sun, and creating a light drizzle.

"Psychic!" both trainers shouted across the field.

As a purple aura surrounded the field, the Pokémon cried out as beams of psychic energy roared from their bodies and collided mid-field. Shards of snow and ice pelted Ash, Delia, and Oak as the thick ice field, already weakened by the day's intense heat, split in half with a thunderous crack, causing Jynx to fall into the icy waters beneath.

The gem on Starmie's body was flashing even more perilously now as Misty ordered a Thunder attack.

"Cover your eyes!" Ash advised, putting his hand up to block Delia's view. The crackling boom of electricity followed moments after a blinding white light pierced his own eyelids.

Opening their eyes once again, the spectators were treated to a smoky haze. All was quiet for several moments, but Misty was confident in the outcome. To be safe, she ordered Starmie back to battle position. To her surprise, though, the water type didn't emerge from the mist, and as the view grew clearer, she was horrified to find Starmie out cold. Jynx lay fried in the water.

"What?!"

"Well, who fainted first?" Thad demanded from the referee.

The referee was stone-faced for a moment, before slowly lifting his flag to Misty's side. "Starmie defeated Jynx prior to fainting. Therefore, Starmie is the winner."

Misty began to run toward her Pokémon, before accidentally slipping and falling to her knees.

"Misty!" Ash dashed to the gate.

Groaning, she got back up and flinched at her now-bruising kneecaps. She slowly continued to shuffle her way to Starmie.

"Are you okay, Star?"

A weak light blinked in return.

"Oh, man…"

"Are you okay?!" Ash called, sliding across the ice. "That was a nasty fall!"

"No, I'm fine. I don't know what happened to Starmie, though. I have six Pokémon, but you know I was hoping to keep her healthy. Psychic's one of my most powerful attacks."

"That screech; it was a Perish Song."

"Wait. Really?"

"Yeah," another voice piped. Turning, they saw Thad standing outside the field's perimeter. "I call it 'Sing' to throw off opponents."

"Isn't that against League rules?" Ash asked, a little angry.

"Not in college matches," Misty answered. "Don't get mad, Ash. It was a good strategy," she noted, standing and walking to Thad. "I didn't even realize what had happened, so it almost worked."

"Sorry for the trickery, but everyone knows who you are. I knew I'd have to pull out all the stops if I was coming out on top in this match. Unfortunately, that meant sacrificing Jynx's health. I was just hoping she'd outlast Starmie long enough to get the win."

Misty blushed. "Well, this is the round I lost in last time I was here. I'm not that strong."

"Yeah, right. Cerulean's the scariest gym in the north thanks to you."

"Well, thank you. My sisters have a big part to play in that, too, though. Don't give up. Your strategy was pretty unique."

He smiled. "Thanks. I think I might hit the road again, actually. The only reason I wanted to go to college was to compete in the PCL, so if I can't do that, I'd rather keep training." He nodded to Ash. "And mad props to you on all the work you're doing for Sinnoh. I almost wanna be a gym leader over there after seeing how good they have it."

Ash smiled back. "We'd be happy to have you, Thad. Not many people can compete with Misty."

As they left the stadium, Ash checked the phone again and gave a nervous chuckle.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Um, I don't know how to say this." He gave Misty a furtive glance. "You've got Elli next on the ground field."

"Of course I do."

Author's Notes: In keeping with my shorter chapter standard, I decided to split up this chapter, because with the Elli battle it was running long and I couldn't have updated this Sunday. I had a ton of fun in Japan, but honestly felt so bad for making you guys wait for an update, so I wanted to push this out as soon as possible so you'd at least know I'm alive.

Also, the last chapter had all the battles taking place from Misty's perspective. While that's obviously fine, I wanted to shake it up this chapter and do the battle from the perspective of her spectators, mostly because I hate it when battle scenes get too formulaic (i.e. "Misty and her opponent meet…Misty battles her opponent…Misty defeats her opponent…Misty and opponent shake hands). Watching the battle from Ash's perspective gives a nice twist to it and doesn't bog me down in boring inner-monologues. Next chapter, though, will be a return to Misty's perspective as she looks to avenge her loss from seven months earlier. She currently only has to win the fifth and sixth rounds of the tournament to achieve the scholarship position…can she do it? Come back next Sunday to find out!