The Junior Battle Masters Tournament is underway, where the winner of the tournament will have the chance to battle one of the Elite Four: Ginger. Our heroes have met up with their old friends: Shade, Flint, and Nathan. They're all battling to see who will win. Flint and Davis have cleared through their battles, and the battle between Nathan and Tetsu is still going on. Who will be advancing to the second round? Let's find out...

A new adventure, another day

One more challenge that comes our way

Its up to me and you

I know what we've got to do

We are together now

Friends forever now

Whatever comes our way, we won't run away

Standing tall

And one for all

It's our destiny

Pokemon

(Davis' voice) Speedy Burn

Gabite and Kingler collided their attacks with it being Crab Hammer against Aerial Ace. Both sides tried to push the other back.

"Don't back down, Kingler! Let them have it with Crab Hammer!" Tetsu called as Kingler was going to use its second claw to attack with.

"Get back!" Nathan called. Kingler swung its claw, but Gabite was able to jump back and avoided Kingler's attack and gave an opening. "Now use Dragon Pulse!" Gabite fired the attack and blasted Kingler hard. Kingler was knocked back right into the wall and was knocked out of the battle.

"Kingler is unable to battle! Gabite is the winner!"

"Nathan is now the fifth trainer moving to the second round." Vanessa announced.

"Excellent work, Gabite." Nathan said as he scratched Gabite's chin while Tetsu brought Kingler back in it's pokeball.

"Dang it! I can't believe I lost!" Tetsu complained.

"Too bad for Tetsu." Davis said.

"True, but it happens. I believe it's now my turn for a battle." Cletus said as he was ready for his battle and the first round was wrapping up. "Take Down, Herdier!" Herdier charged right at a Wigglytuff and knocked it out of the battle.

"Gallade, Psycho Cut!" Shade went on with his battle as Gallade attacked a Munchlax and won his battle. The last battle featured a Clefable against Miltank with Miltank winning the battle.

"The first round is now over! Those were some great battles." Vanessa said.

"Indeed, but I say we take a break for lunch before moving on." Ginger said as that sounded like a great idea.

...

The Pokemon Center

Everyone is taking a break from the battling and recharging themselves at the Pokemon Center with some rest and lunch. Davis and Cletus were eating, but Tetsu was still bummed that he lost his battle.

"Man. I really wanted to have a battle against Ginger." Tetsu complained.

"Maybe some other time, but you'll get a nice view from when I take her on." Davis said.

"It's a little early to get cocky, Davis. I still have a chance myself." Cletus said. All of them were enjoying themselves, but Tetsu took a look outside the window and saw Flint doing some training with his Quilava.

"Instead of resting, looks like Flint is doing some training." Tetsu said with the others noticing. "Guys, I'm a little worried about Flint. He doesn't seem to be acting like himself. I think there's something bothering him."

"I think you might be right." Cletus said.

"What do you think, Davis?" Imperialdramon asked.

"I say we keep our eyes open." Davis said as he's getting a bit concerned himself. "It could be something he doesn't want to talk about, but we'll get a chance. For all we know, he's just focused on winning. Let's just give him some space for now." That seems to be all they can do for now, but they're still concerned for their friend. What could be going on with Flint?

...

The Tournament

"We are back and ready to move to the second round of the tournament." Vanessa said. "We're done with the first round, but let's see who will be battling in the second round." They all looked to see who would be battling who. With a good shuffle, they all were revealed and two of the battles would be Nathan vs. Davis and Shade vs. Cletus.

"Awesome! I'm battling in the first match against Nathan!" Davis said.

"And it looks like Shade will be my opponent." Cletus said.

"Davis, you ready to go?" Nathan asked.

"I'm so ready for this." Davis said as the two of them went on the field.

"It looks like our two trainers are set to get started, and so are we." Vanessa said. "The first match of the second round is going to be between Nathan and Davis."

"The last time we battled, I'll admit you threw me off my game with that whole rotation battle, but this battle is one-on-one. I'm not going down here." Davis said as he held up a luxury ball.

"A luxury ball?!" Tetsu said.

"That can only be one pokemon." Cletus said.

"Let's see if that's true." Nathan said as he got a pokeball ready. "Luxio, let's go!"

"Growlithe, I choose you!" Davis called as they called out their pokemon.

"Luxio!"

"Growlithe!" Upon seeing Nathan's pokemon, Davis reached out for his pokedex and tried to learn more about it.

"Luxio, the Spark Pokemon. An electric-type, and the evolve form of Shinx. When a group brings their tails together, powerful electricity can generate into their claws."

"An electric-type. Well, it's not going to stop us." Davis said. "I'm ready to battle, so let's do this! Growlithe, start by using Flame Charge!"

"Growl!" Growlithe surrounded its body in fire and charged right at Luxio.

"We won't back down either! Use Spark!" Nathan ordered.

"Luxio!" Luxio encased itself in electricity and charged. The two of them crashed into each other and tried to push the other back, but they both ended up cancelling each other out.

"A collision between fire and electricity. I certainly wouldn't want to be caught in the middle of that." Vanessa said.

"Now use Fire Spin!" Davis ordered. Growlithe breathed out a flame that started spinning around Luxio and trapped it in a vortex of fire and didn't seem to be a way out. "Now use Flame Charge again!" Growlithe charged straight at them again in flames. Growlithe pushed through the flames and smashed right into Luxio and caused the flames to dissipate.

"Growlithe is really turning up the heat now. As a fire-type user myself, it was a good combo." Vanessa said.

"You'll need more than that. Let's see how tough you are after this. Luxio, Leer!" Nathan ordered. Luxio's eyes glowed as it gave a scary look right at Growlithe and it caused Growlithe to shake a little. "Now use Spark!" Luxio charged right at Growlithe and tackled Growlithe with electricity. Growlithe took a lot of damage with it sliding against the ground.

"Ouch. That had to have hurt." Vanessa said.

"Leer can weaken a pokemon's defense. That's why Spark seems to have caused a lot more damage." Ginger clarified.

"Are you okay, Growlithe?!" Davis called. It looked like Growlithe could keep battling as it was able to get back up.

"Sorry, but this ends now. Finish it with another Spark!" Nathan called with Luxio charging in for the final blow.

"Growlithe, Agility!" Davis ordered. Growlithe was able to move incredibly fast and was able to avoid Luxio's attack. Growlithe was running circles around Luxio and Luxio was having a hard time keeping up with Growlithe. It kept looking around and couldn't get a lock on Growlithe. "Now use Flame Charge!" Growlithe used Flame Charge again and smashed right against Luxio. Luxio didn't even see the attack coming.

"Get that Growlithe!" Nathan called. Luxio turned to Growlithe, but Growlithe was moving even faster. Everyone was actually amazed with that speed.

"Look at Growlithe go!" Vanessa said.

"Quite an increase in speed. Davis and Growlithe are battling pretty well out there." Ginger said.

"Between Flame Charge and Agility, Growlithe got a major increase in speed!" Cletus said with excitement. "It's a great combination if you want to move faster!"

"Growlithe is moving so fast that Luxio doesn't know where the next attack is going to come from!" Tetsu said as Davis' friends all loved how this was playing out for him.

"Yeah, Growlithe! Let them have it!" Imperialdramon cheered.

"You heard him. Let's finish this with Reversal!" Davis said. Growlithe was glowing in a bright orange power and smashed itself against Luxio. Luxio was knocked all the way to the end of the battlefield with Luxio being knocked out.

"Luxio is unable to battle! Growlithe is the winner!"

"There you have it! Davis is the first trainer that is advancing to the semi-finals!" Vanessa announced.

"Oh yeah! Way to go, Growlithe!" Davis cheered as Growlithe ran straight to him and into Davis' arms. "You really are man's best friend." He said with Growlithe licking Davis' face.

"That was awesome! What was that last attack they just used?" Tetsu questioned.

"Reversal? It's quite the attack. The less energy you have, the more powerful the attack is." Cletus said.

"Think about it." Shade said as he stepped in. "Nathan had Luxio used Leer to lower Growlithe's defensive power. When that happened, Spark did a lot more damage and Growlithe lost more energy."

"I get it now." Tetsu said. "Davis practically turned the tables on Nathan from when he used Leer. It ended up helping him more than it did Nathan." It was quite a turn, but poor Luxio felt bad about losing.

"Hey... It's okay, Luxio. We'll get them next time." Nathan said as he tried cheering Luxio up. He brought Luxio back in its pokeball so it can rest. Once he did that, he went over to Davis. "That was a good battle, Davis."

"Thanks, and our next one will settle things." Davis said, but Nathan didn't understand. "You and I are now tied one-to-one in our battles. The next time we battle, at the Centros League, we'll settle the score."

"You're quite the trainer." Nathan said as he found Davis amusing. "Sure. Let's have another battle at the Centros League." He agreed as the two of them shook hands. The people did enjoy that battle. Flint was cracking a smile as he enjoyed it, but he stopped himself from smiling and tried to focus and get serious, especially since it was his turn to battle.

"It's now time for the second battle." Ginger announced. "This next match features Flint vs. Bobbi." The two trainers went out on the field as it was now their turn to battle.

"Gothorita, let's go!" Bobbi called as she made her choice.

"Gothorita!"

"A Gothorita?" Davis questioned as he pulled out his pokedex.

"Gothorita, the Manipulate Pokemon. A psychic-type, and the evolve form of Gothita. Some people believe this pokemon came from outer space because they believe Gothorita made the constellations."

"Magcargo, turn up the heat!" Flint called.

"Magcargo!" Seeing that pokemon, Davis aimed his pokedex at it as well.

"Magcargo, the Lava Pokemon. A fire and rock-type, and the evolve form of Slugma. It's shell is made out of molten lava and fire can erupt right out of the hole near the top."

"Didn't Flint have a Slugma when we first met him?" Tetsu questioned.

"He did! That's got to be the same Slugma!" Davis realized.

"We'll finish this real quick! Magcargo, Rock Tomb!" Flint called as he wasn't wasting any time. Magcargo formed some rocks and threw them all at Gothorita. Gothorita ended up surrounded by the rocks and was being squeezed by them. "Now use Body Slam!"

"Magcargo!" Magcargo jumped up in the air and got right over the rock pile. Magcargo smashed right against the rocks and it looked like it did some real damage. Magcargo slithered off of Gothorita and Gothorita was already knocked out.

"Gothorita is unable to battle! Magcargo is the winner!"

"Amazing! Flint didn't even give his opponent the chance to fight back! He and Magcargo won so easily!" Ginger said.

"Great work, Magcargo." Flint said as he was pleased with Magcargo. Flint was glad he won, but he still isn't getting excited about his win. Whatever is going on with Flint and it's got him acting pretty serious. It's not like Flint and that might not be a good thing. Hopefully, Davis and the others will be able to figure out what's going on with him so they can help him.

The Junior Battle Masters Tournament has entered its second round, where the battles are going to get better and more intense. What will happen from here? Who else will be advanicing to win it all? Stay tuned.

To Be Continued...