Hello, everyone, and welcome to the next chapter of "A Long Distance Ship"! In the last chapter, May caught her first Pokemon, and Ash was introduced to the Rustboro City gym leader, Roxanne. And now Ash is ready to take on the gym leader to potentially earn his (twenty) first badge. Will he do it? Well, let's find out in this chapter!

ashketchum497
To: misskwaterflower049
Subject: Vs. Roxanne

Hey Misty, I won my first Hoenn League Gym badge! Roxanne was a tough trainer after what I saw her Geodude do yesterday, but I think that I did pretty good for myself, especially since Pikachu mastered Iron Tail during the gym badge! And I even got a recording of the match! (Roxanne says she wanted to record it for studying with her class, and agreed to give me a copy to give to you.) I cannot tell you how hectic the battle was, so check it out for yourself!

Ash

PS: Pikachu found your comment on James' Victreebel devolving funny. Everyone knows evolution is one way.

misskwaterflower049
To: ashketchum497
Subject: Vs. Roxanne

Hey there, Ash. I just watched your battle against Roxanne, and let's just say… It was a complete mess. First of all, it was smart of you to use Treecko against her Geodude, EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT HE DOESN'T KNOW ANY GRASS-TYPE MOVES! Did you forget why you only brought Pikachu with you to the Hoenn region in the first place? So you can train new Pokémon alongside him! And with you focusing all of your time on having Pikachu master Iron Tail, it seems like you forgot to address the weaknesses of Taillow and Treecko! So that leaves you down 0-1 with one Pokémon left, a Pokémon that struggles against Rock Pokémon, and his only option for dealing with Rock-types is an unreliable move that you mastered DURING the battle. I consider it luck that you even managed to sweep Roxanne with Pikachu, having not seen that much luck from you since the Indigo League (which only carried you so far). In fact, you really overused Pikachu in gym challenges, with you using him in 14 straight gym challenges, counting your loss to Whitney and the interrupted gym battle against Clair. I bet you cannot even win a gym badge without using Pikachu, Ash.

Misty

PS: I wasn't trying to be mean to you in this email, Ash. I was just addressing that you still had a lot to learn with your new Pokémon and you cannot use Pikachu for every tough challenge in Hoenn. I am happy that you earned your first Hoenn badge, and good luck on the next one.

And that is it for this chapter of "A Long Distance Ship". And for the first time since chapter 3, we got a review who was not named Ian! A user by the name of TheSoundDefense has gave a comment, praising me for the idea and hoping to see more of what makes Pokeshipping Pokeshipping. I will be sure to do so! Anyways, he and StormCloud6 have decided to follow the story, leaving us just one away from another milestone! Who will be #30 to add Ash and Misty's conversations to the list? We will just have to wait and see... Anyways, if you want me to give you a shoutout, remember to favorite, follow, and or review the story! They all show me that you care and want me to continue! I will see you all next time, and have a good week, everyone!

Oh, and congratulations to the Chiefs for winning their third Super Bowl!