Hey readers - here we are with another new chapter : )

We are really making our way through this episode now, which I have to say, I'm quite pleased about. Out of all of the earlier episodes of the Pokemon anime series, this is possibly my least favourite one. It's not so much that I think it's a bad episode, I just don't think it's as memorable as some as the others. I won't be overly disappointed when we get to the end of this one, put it that way ; )

Anyway, let's move on to the results from the last voting topic. This result is actually pretty unique in the fact that it both won and drew at the same time. We've never had a result like this in this story before. How this happened was that one Pokemon was voted for more than the others, whereas everyone else drew with just one vote apiece. As such, I am thrilled to announce that the outright winner of one of the special bonus evolution votes was... Vulpix! I have to admit, I'm not very surprised by this one. Ninetales is such a popular Pokemon that quite frankly I would have been astonished if no one had voted to evolve Vulpix. I personally am quite a huge Ninetales fan and have used one on my team quite regularly when I play through the games. I also think it is one of the best shiny Pokemon in the entire franchise. As for the second bonus evolution result, that ended in a tie, so we'll get into that more in the footnote : )

Beyond that however, I'd just like to say an ENORMOUS thank you to everyone that has reviewed, favourited, and followed this story. The support that has been shown to the story is amazing, and it means so much to me, so thank you : )

Please remember that Pokemon is not mine, only my OC's are : )

I hope you enjoy this chapter : )

The School of Hard Knocks - Part 3

Whilst Joe had been explaining the inner workings of Pokemon Tech to them, and Nolan and his friends had got more righteously angry with each word he spoke, what all of them failed to realise was that their entire exchange was being closely monitored. Looking down upon them from one of the highest reaching trees in the entire forest, three individual sets of binoculars were trained upon the group of youngsters, and the prying eyes behind them belonged to three people that the travelling quartet were unfortunately becoming far more acquainted with than any of them had ever wished to be. Or should that be, two people, and one Pokemon.

Jessie, James and Meowth.

It was Team Rocket that was spying on them, although for once, it wasn't the group of twerps that held their interest. It wasn't even the Pikachu that they were always so eager to steal away. No. It was the gigantic manor house that the traveling quartet was being escorted into. A manor house which sadly, brought back many terrible memories for one specific member of the criminal organisation. A forlorn sigh slipped past James' lips, as he looked upon the impressive building which he remembered much too clearly for his liking.

Hearing the audible expression of sadness, Jessie and Meowth both lowered their binoculars, and glanced over towards their teammate with an air of curiosity.

"Something wrong James?" Jessie asked, arching a perfect eyebrow at him.

"Yeah" Meowth nodded his furry little head in agreement, "What's got you as blue as your hair, eh, Jimmy?"

Another miserable sigh escaped James' lips as he sadly turned to look at them.

"It's that place..." the male criminal reluctantly explained, gesturing vaguely towards the impressive manor house off in the distance, "It... it brings back a lot of memories for me, and all of them are awful!"

Jessie and Meowth both glanced at each other, surprise written all over their faces.

"You mean you've been here before James?" Jessie deduced, looking curious as her colleague and friend let out an exhausted-sounding sigh, before he slowly and silently nodded his head again.

"Tell us what happened?" Meowth requested eagerly. James looked down at the Scratch Cat Pokemon with a dark frown on his face.

"I'd really rather not Meowth" the cyan haired man tried to evade the question, the judging by the look on his furry little face Meowth wasn't going to let it go so easily, "It's not the type of memory that I like to dwell on".

Just as he suspected though, the Norman Type Pokemon wouldn't let it drop.

"Ah! So dat means dat it's a tale of failure then!" the Scratch Cat Pokemon rubbed his paws together gleefully, a grin that was positively wicked appearing on his face. Those were always his favourite stories after all, "Well you can't just leave it dare, Meowth! You've got to tell us now!"

Jessie also looked interested to hear about James' history with this place. Realising that there was no way he was getting out of this with those two ganging up on him, James let out another miserable sigh, before he reluctantly began to explain everything.

"Pokemon Technical..." the male criminal nodded towards the building before them, "Is a school where the richest of the rich send their kids, purely for the bragging rights of having a child attending such a prestigious institution. My parents tried to send me there when I was just a boy..."

"Tried to? Jessie raised her eyebrows at him again. James sighed for what felt like the millionth time since this conversation had begun.

"I studied for the big test, so sure I would beat all the rest" James shook his head in dismay.

"And here's da part I think I'll like da best!" Meowth playfully chimed in. He had heard enough tales of woe in his time to know that this would be the most delicious part of the story after all. James looked rather melancholic for a moment, before he continued.

"I frolicked that night, for the future seemed bright..." James' tone and expression both became almost wistful for a moment, but it did last long, "But things weren't right..."

Jessie and Meowth both just waited patiently for the final member of Team Rocket to just spit it out.

"I got the lowest score in the history of the school!" the blue haired man suddenly burst into tears. He still felt as awful about his failure to get into the school as he did back when he was just a little kid. It was a feeling that ate away at his insides and never seemed to really go away.

Jessie couldn't help it when a snort of dark amusement escaped from her lips, but she quickly smothered it with a fake cough, so as not to hurt her friend's feelings. At least Meowth was able to be a little more sympathetic.

"You should look on the bright side" the Scratch Cat Pokemon told the miserable human male.

"What's the bright side?" James wanted to know, his lip wobbling as he tried to stem his tears. Meowth just shrugged his furry little shoulders up at him

"At least you were the top of the bottom!" the talking Pokemon pointed out to the human male criminal.

That was a good enough response for James.

In a move which thoroughly surprised both the Scratch Cat Pokemon and Jessie alike, James' tears instantly dried up, being replaced by a gigantic smile that lit up the man's entire face. And before Meowth even had a chance to protest, James had gathered him up into his arms and was cuddling him closely, nuzzling the Pokemon's cheek against his own.

"You're the tops, Meowth!" the blue haired man exclaimed in delight, whilst Meowth just stared incredulously at Jessie, who was trying not to laugh at the expression on his face and not having much luck, "Such a kind little Pokemon! Aw!"

"This guy is worse off than I thought" Meowth muttered to Jessie over James' cooing, "I liked it better when he was nasty!"

Jessie snorted again, thoroughly amused by the entire situation, before a more pensive expression flashed across her beautiful face as a thought suddenly came to her.

"You know..." the magenta haired female criminal said slowly, rubbing her chin in contemplation, "This does pose quite an... interesting opportunity..."

Hearing that remark, James stopped his petting of Meowth, and turned to his friend with an air of curiosity.

"It does?" James questioned, raising his eyebrows at the darkly amused expression on Jessie's face, "For what?"

The answer that Jessie gave him was really rather short and simple. It was so short in fact, that it only consisted of one singular word.

"Revenge".

After being escorted into Pokemon Tech by Joe, the quartet of travelling trainers and the timid student with whom they had made friends were almost immediately accosted, this time by a particularly severe-looking woman that served as the school's Office Receptionist. Without any pleasantries or preamble whatsoever, the stern-faced woman had all but demanded to know who Nolan and his friends were, and what they were doing there. They had been so taken aback by the lady's ill-hidden hostile attitude, that none of them were able to offer up a reply straight away. Joe had quickly stepped in, explaining that they had helped him whilst out in the forest - he was careful to leave out that it was bullies from this very academy that they had protected him from - and that as a thank you, he had offered to show them exactly what it was that it entailed to be a student here at Pokemon Tech. The woman had huffed, her eyes narrowed with distain behind her spectacles. She couldn't have made it more clear that she already disapproved of Nolan and his friends, and the golden haired by suspected he knew why.

It was because she knew that none of them would ever have enough money to be enrolled here.

Nolan just barely managed to keep his jaw firmly shut, not wanting to risk getting them all thrown out by losing his temper, and ripping the rude woman a new world. No matter how much the prejudicial snob might have deserved it.

So instead, the golden haired boy tried to keep his face as neutral as possible, whilst Joe attempted to sweet-talk the receptionist into allowing them access. It took a very long time, and the woman still seemed extremely reluctant, but unable to come up with a good enough reason to kick them out, she eventually stepped aside and permitted them access to the main building of the school. Pleased to get away from her, the four friends were quickly ushered along by Joe, before the particularly unpleasant woman had the chance to change her mind.

Evidently Joe had something that he was quite eager for them to see, because without stopping to examine any of the classrooms on the ground floor, the timid male student steered his new friends towards an elevator. Once they, along with their Pokemon, were all securely standing inside the lift, Joe pushed a button, and the group found themselves on the ascent. Within seconds, they had arrived at their apparent destination, and the lift doors slowly slid open.

And Nolan was immediately beyond impressed.

The classroom, if that was even the right word for it because it was the size of a lecture hall, was a state-of-the-art I.T. centre. Row upon row of huge computers filled the room, each more powerful and more technologically-advanced then any kind of machine that Nolan had clapped eyes on before. There had to be at least a million pokedollars' worth of equipment in this one facility alone. The golden haired boy could scarcely believe that this was just the first room of Pokemon Tech that he and his friends had been shown to. And as impolite as it would be to ask, Nolan couldn't help but wonder if the school had other commodities as expensive as this one. If so, the funding that this place must get from the Pokemon League had to be almost beyond all comprehension. It was, if Nolan had to narrow it down to just one word, amazing.

"Whoa..." the golden haired boy breathed, looking around at the impressive bank of computers in awe, "It's almost like a research lab, but bigger. Much bigger, and with more computers in it".

"Pokemon Tech has one of the best I.T. facilities in the entire Kanto region" Joe puffed out his chest proudly, unable to help but brag just a little bit, "This is just one of the many resources that the school offers its students, to aid them in their studies to become the strongest and best Pokemon Trainers that they can be".

If he wasn't so mesmerized by all the machinery around him, Nolan might have laughed at how much his new friend sounded like a salesman giving his pitch.

"Yes, yes, it's all very impressive" Misty waved her hand impatiently, eager to get back to the main point of them coming here to the school in the first place, "But what I want to know is where is that little witch who is the one that's running the bullying gang around here? I have a few choice words for her, after all!"

Joe swallowed nervously as he glanced over at the obviously still fuming Misty.

"I'm not sure if that's something you really want to do Misty" the timid boy tried to caution her, flinching under the sharp look she immediately gave him, "It's never a good idea to get on Giselle's bad side, trust me".

"Giselle?" Brock was the one to ask the obvious question.

"That's the girl who's picture I showed you guys" Joe explained, glancing around the room anxiously to make sure that they weren't being listened in on. Once satisfied that they were alone, the boy continued, "She's the most popular student here at Pokemon Tech, and so that's how she gets away with bullying some of the other kids. She's also the best in the Beginners Class that I'm in. This room is her favourite place to study".

Once again, Joe worriedly cast his eyes about the room. The last thing he needed was for Giselle to hear him practically bad-mouthing her, and making his life a living hell because of it.

Nolan and Misty also looked around for the girl, but for a very different reason. They still wanted to give her a piece of their minds after all. Sadly, the female bully wasn't there to receive their harsh words though, which was a shame.

"Giselle always practices here by herself" the timid male student went on to explain, once satisfied that the subject of their conversation was nowhere in hearing range, "Even if you beat her in a fight, it won't matter to her. At Pokemon Tech, it's your skill as a Pokemon trainer that counts more than winning in any one battle".

A mockery of a smile worked its way on to Nolan's face.

"Well I'm glad to hear that she has a thick skin when it comes to being defeated then" the golden haired boy smirked smugly, "Because I intend on teaching her why it's wrong to bully people, by knocking her down a peg or two in a battle. And considering that I have two badges under my belt, I think I'll be able to manage that just fine!"

Rather than be impressed or moved by the golden haired boy's passionate words, Joe just looked at him doubtfully.

"But Giselle is the top beginner here at the Tech" the timid student explained, and when noticing that Nolan was completely unfazed by that statement, he quickly elaborated, "That's better than even having three badges. Even though I'm at the bottom of my class, I'm still more powerful than someone with two badges".

This time Nolan honestly couldn't help it. He threw back his head and laughed.

"T-That's a good one!" the golden haired boy managed to gasp out, breathless with laughter, "No offense Joe, but you didn't look all that powerful when me and Ash had to step in and defend you, whilst you were kneeling on the ground at those bullies' feet like some kind of snivelling wimp".

Joe flushed the colour of a tomato at that particularly blunt remark.

"I... well, I..." the student floundered for something, anything, which he could retort with, but he came up completely empty. Deep down, he knew that Nolan was right. He must have looked utterly pathetic back there. It would be hard for anyone to take him seriously after seeing such a spectacle. Nolan seemed to take pity on him, and offered him a small sympathetic smile, but that somehow made it feel even worse.

"You really believe that what this Giselle girl is doing is helping your education?" the golden haired boy challenged.

This time, Joe felt a rush of indignation course through him, and he stood up a little straighter as he replied.

"It does help!" the young male student insisted. Sure, the methods were extremely, sometimes borderline abusive, but he was still learning from them, "I've learnt a whole lot from those other guys, jerks though they may be!"

Nolan's smile widened, almost as if that had been the answer he was hoping for.

"Then why don't you prove it?" the golden haired boy suggested with a raised eyebrow. Joe gave him a slightly sceptical look.

"How?" he asked carefully.

"Battle me" was Nolan's simple reply. At Joe's incredulous expression, the golden haired boy just smiled and shrugged his shoulders, "Prove to me that being cooped up in a classroom with a bunch of bullies is helping you to be a better trainer than being on a proper journey could. If you win, I'll back off and leave things be. But if I win, you take me to this Giselle girl, so I can challenge the way she's running things around here. Deal?"

Joe just stared up at him, stunned by the bargain that Nolan was trying to strike with him.

"I... why do you care so much?" the timid student eventually asked, without agreeing to anything, "I mean, you're not even a student here, so it literally doesn't affect you in any way at all. So why do you care if people are being bullied here or not?"

Nolan took a moment to carefully consider his reply.

"Because I've met bullies before" the golden haired boy eventually said in a low tone, one which almost sounded rather pained, although he was doing a good job of masking that, "And because no matter how many times you try to reassure yourself that it will get better, deep down you know it never will. Not whilst those people are allowed to get away with it. The only way to make the bullying stop is to stand up to them, and if there's something that I can do to help others with that, then I want to do it. That's why it matters to me so much".

By the end of his little speech, all four of the others were staring at Nolan.

Misty and Brock both looked surprised by the words that the boy had just spoken, but Ash knew better. He knew Nolan better. He knew the golden haired boy's history, as well as the real reason he hated Gary Oak so much. It went further than just a bitter rivalry when it came to Pokemon training. Much further...

But the raven haired boy was quick to force those thoughts away.

It wasn't his place to go spreading Nolan's history about. He would keep his brother-in-all-but-blood's secrets for him. But Nolan spoke from the heart, and that was a good enough reason for Ash and the others to all fully support him in his endeavour to change the ways things were being run around here. Nolan was trying to stop other people from suffering at the hands of bullies, because that's just the type of person he was. And really, who could argue against him for that?

Joe just looked at the golden haired boy with wide eyes.

The timid male student couldn't help but admire the other boy's spirit. Whilst he doubted that it was be as easy as Nolan seemed to think it would be to eradicate the bullying problem here at Pokemon Tech, Joe couldn't fault the guy for wanting to try at least. If nothing else, he was very brave. Braver than Joe himself would ever likely be. And it was because of Nolan's strength of character that the Pokemon Tech student found a particular string of words leaving his mouth, before he had even consciously thought of them.

"Okay Nolan" the rather timid boy smiled and nodded his head, accepting the traveling trainer's reasons and taking them at face value, "I accept your challenge".

Nolan beamed at him.

"Great!" the blonde haired boy's face split into a wide smile, eager to not only try and win so he could challenge the way that things were being run around here, but also to show off his skills as a trainer to the boy that thought he was doing better simply by being in a classroom, "Where should we have our match?"

He didn't want to waste any time in getting started after all.

"Pokemon Tech has several facilities dedicated purely to the battling aspect when it comes to raising a Pokemon" Joe explained as he guided his new friends back towards the elevator that they had only recently emerged out of, "We have all kinds of battlefields here, ranging from your standard field to all different types of environmental fields. We can have our battle on one of the standard ones".

Nolan grinned and nodded his understanding and agreement. Giving the golden haired boy a warm smile of his own, Joe then pushed one of the buttons on the elevator's panel of controls.

A moment later, they were off and away.

Not five minutes later, Nolan was taking his place on the battlefield.

The golden haired boy had to admit that he was rather surprised by just how basic the room that Joe had guided them to was. Considering how impressive, almost overwhelmingly so at times, the rest of the institute had been so far, Nolan had been expecting something a little grander. He was able to quickly deduce the reasons behind the decision to make this particular room more low-key than everywhere else in the school though. It must get expensive if the school board had to keep replacing nice things that were likely to get damaged into close proximity to a Pokemon battle. And whilst they were probably very rich snobs themselves, that didn't mean they were stupid. As such, the room was very simple, with clean white tiles covering the floor, and a smart paint job on the walls in the same colour. It was almost clinical in nature, and despite how simple it was in design, it was also kept in pristine condition. In addition, the outline of a battlefield has been marked out using distinctive black markers on the floor, no doubt to contrast against the dazzling white surface. Beyond that, there really wasn't much to look at in this room, but that was okay. Nolan wasn't here too observe the Institute after all.

He was here to win a Pokemon battle.

Nolan had to admit that he was quite excited about the prospect of battling against a student of the Pokemon Technical Institute. He knew that it wasn't really about his personal development as a trainer this time, and more to hopefully change how things were operating in the student body around here instead. Still, battling someone who learned about Pokemon in this kind of environment would be vastly different to any other trainer he had faced before on his journey so far. It was bound to be an experience if nothing else.

The golden haired boy quickly pushed those thoughts out of his mind though as Joe took his position on the battlefield opposite him. They would only serve to distract him after all.

"Last chance to back out, Nolan!" the timid male student called out to his opponent in a rare show of boldness, one which Nolan wouldn't have thought him capable of, "There's no way that you'll be able to win against someone like me!"

Nolan couldn't help but smile at the other boy's lightly teasing tone. Perhaps Joe had more confidence than he had originally given him credit for. Still, he'd never been one to back down from a challenge, and that wasn't about to change now.

"It's a very kind offer Joe, but no thanks" the golden haired boy retorted, his tone playfully sarcastic, but his icy blue eyes burned with a fierce determination, "I'm happy to take my chances, so what rules do you want to battle by?"

Joe couldn't help but shake his head.

"Well... don't say that I didn't warn you" the timid male student shrugged when he realised that Nolan was serious, and that there was no way that the blonde traveling trainer was going back down, "As for the rules, an all-or-nothing, one-on-one battle is good for me if it is for you".

"Perfect" the golden haired boy nodded in agreement.

"I guess if that's decided then we should both call out our Pokemon" Joe saw no point in beating about the Bush, and quickly got down to business, "As the challenger, you can go first!"

Nolan saw the offer for what it really was.

Joe only wanted Nolan to reveal his chosen Pokemon first in order to determine which of his own would be the best suited to fight against it. It was a common enough tactic deployed by many trainers after all. Joe was clearly testing him, there was no doubt about it. Still, willing to rise to the challenge, Nolan graciously accepted the other boy's 'offer', and reached down towards his belt. After a moment of deliberation, he made his choice, and plucked off one of the pokeballs that hung there.

"Okay Iris!" Nolan exclaimed as he tossed the red and white sphere containing his Bug Type Pokemon friend high into the air, "I choose you".

In a flash of crimson that cast an eerie red glow across the entire room, the capsule device snapped open. In a ball of light, Iris materialized onto the battlefield on the ground in front of Nolan. The small Venonat looked around herself with a curious gleam in her large scarlet coloured eyes.

"Veno! Nat!" the Insect Pokemon chirped up at her trainer in greeting. Nolan just smiled back at her in response.

Across the room from them on his own side of the battlefield, Joe's eyes lit up with recognition as they focused in on the Pokemon that Nolan had selected to be his combatant. A large grin grew across of the usually timid student's face. He already knew exactly which Pokemon of his own would be perfect for this battle.

"Wow! A Venonat! Nice choice!" the young student in the smart suit decided to pay his opponents a compliment, before he immediately followed it up with, "Too bad that as a Bug Type Pokemon it won't have a chance against my Flying Type! Alright Spearow! Let's go!"

And with a great sweeping flourish, Joe instantly withdrew a pokeball of his own from the pocket of his trousers, before he tossed it into the air in one swift, fluid motion. Across the field from the young male student, Nolan tracked the pokeball's arch through the air with his icy blue eyes, but when the red and white capsule device snapped open to reveal the creature held within, those same eyes immediately flashed with what could only be described as outright fear.

"Spearow!" Joe's Pokemon shrieked menacingly.

It took every ounce of self-restraint that Nolan possessed not to take a step backwards in panic.

The golden haired boy couldn't quite prevent his facial features from twisting into a look of intense alarm, regardless of how quickly he managed to cover that up. Nolan just couldn't help it though. Because what Joe probably didn't realise, nor any of Nolan's friends come to that, was that this battle had just become infinitely more complicated.

The Pokemon that he was up against... was a Spearow.

Now Nolan wasn't the type of person or Pokemon trainer to usually allow one bad experience with a species to colour his entire view of it, but when it came to Spearow, it became a very different story. Regardless of how unfair the golden haired boy knew it was to judge a book by its cover, Nolan couldn't help but feel tense and on edge when faced with this particular Flying Type Pokemon. He had actually been rather lucky on his journey so far, in that none of the trainers that he had battled against had used a Spearow against him and his team. Nolan hadn't even seen one of the species since that initial day right back at the start, and he would have been very happy to keep it that way. The events that had taken place in the Pallet Woods on the first day on his journey still weighed heavily on Nolan's mind after all, and whilst he certainly wasn't afraid of Spearow to the point where he wanted to run away screaming from it, because of that terrible experience, he would most likely always be wary around them. It was highly unlikely that he'd ever be able to have one on his own team, and that was putting it mildly. Needless to say, this had become an even greater challenge than it had been already.

A challenge... but not impossible.

Because the plain and simple truth of the matter was that Nolan was not about to allow any silly nerves he might be feeling to get in his way of winning this match. If he was ever going to become the very best Pokemon Master in the world, then he needed to conquer any anxieties, and allow nothing to get in his way. He was also including type disadvantages in that, because whilst he knew that Iris might have a difficult time in this battle, he wasn't giving up hope on her just yet. His Bug Type Pokemon was much stronger than she looked, and Nolan knew from past experience, that she could overcome anything.

He just needed to have faith.

So forcing aside any qualms he felt about seeing a Spearow again after all this time, and reminding himself that this was hardly the same situation, Nolan tried to pull himself together. The golden haired boy just kept reminding himself that there was only one of the Flying Type Pokemon species this time around, and that this was a controlled battle, in which it could immediately be put back in its pokeball should anything go wrong. It was enough of a reassurance for Nolan to be able to focus.

It was just as well too, because opposite him, Joe was ready to begin the battle.

"Since you're at such an obvious disadvantage Nolan, I'll let you have the first move" Joe offered chivalrously, and when Nolan arched a surprised eyebrow at him, the young male student elaborated, "I suggest you make it count, because your Venonat probably won't get many more in after it".

Upon hearing that remark, the golden haired boy couldn't help but allow a small scoff to slip his lips. His opponent sure was brimming with confidence, and that would be his downfall. Nolan would make sure of it.

"I think you'll be the one to regret that, Joe!" Nolan's smile became rather smug, as he quickly turned to the fluffy purple creature that was his own combatant, and called out his first command, "Okay Iris! Let's start this off as we mean to go on! Use your Psybeam attack!"

And just like that, the battle got underway.

"VVVVVEEEEENNNNNOOOOO!"

With a shrill noise that could only be interpreted as a war-cry, Iris immediately charged forwards to bravely meet her opponent head on, regardless of the staggering type disadvantage she was already at. Everybody else in the room looked on eagerly as the Insect Pokemon's big red eyes began to glow with all the colours of the rainbow. Seconds later, Iris unleashed the powerful Psychic Type attack in the direction of her enemy.

Joe couldn't have looked more calm even if he was lying on a deck chair at the beach.

"Dodge that Spearow" the young boy in the suit ordered in a remarkably casual tone of voice. For one brief second, Nolan felt slightly annoyed that Joe didn't seem to be taking him and Iris seriously. It was only when the opposing Pokemon moved however, did the golden haired boy understand why the other boy was so relax.

Spearow, to put it mildly, was fast.

With a single swoop of its small but powerful wings, the brown Flying Type Pokemon took off into the air, flying up as high as the room's ceiling would allow. It moved so quickly that Iris's Psybeam attack had no chance of striking it in time. As such, the beam of psychic energy sailed harmless past its target, before it quickly fizzled out.

"Spear! Spearow!" the little feathered creature cawed out what could only have been a taunt, judging by Iris' annoyed expression. Nolan clenched his jaw in dismay.

"That Spearow's fast..." the golden haired boy muttered under his breath to himself.

An anxious frown was working its way onto Nolan's face at this latest revelation. This could pose a serious problem to Iris' chance of victory. After all, how was she supposed to win at a type disadvantage, whilst also being at a speed one as well?

"Nice dodge Spearow!" Joe praised his own Pokemon, pulling Nolan out of his musings and back to the present, "Now strike back with your Quick Attack!"

Nolan grimaced. Having seen Quick Attack in action from a Pokemon of similar size and stature in the form of Welkin, he knew that Iris probably wouldn't be dodging that attack.

He was proved right less than ten seconds later.

"VENO!" Iris squealed in pain as Spearow slammed into her, knocking her off her feet and sending her flying. She landed in a crumpled heap on the ground a few feet away from where she'd started.

"Iris! Are you okay?!" Nolan gasped, his tone heavy with concern.

"Nat... Venonat" Iris managed to groan out a response to her trainer. She slowly clambered back to her feet, glowering darkly at Joe's Spearow, who was circling overhead with a smug look on its face.

"Alright!" the golden haired boy cheered, pleased that the Insect Pokemon was still willing to fight, "Now let's give Spearow a taste of an attack it can't dodge! Use Screech!"

Iris smirked, and wasted no time in following through with her trainer's instruction.

"VVVVVVVEEEEEEENNNNNNNOOOOOOO!"

Nolan, Joe, and all of the other humans in the room, as well as Meadow and Pikachu, all instantly had to cover their ears for fear of suffering a burst eardrum. Iris, at her beloved human's command, had opened her mouth and was unleashing an unearthly racket, one so intense that the glass panes of the windows were rattling in their frames. The effect was also amplified as the sound reverberated off the cold tiles that made up the floor. But thankfully for the golden haired trainer and his Bug Type Pokemon, the effort was not in vain.

"Spearow!" Joe's Spearow let out an agonised wail of pain as Iris' sound-based attack assaulted his ears and practically echoed through his brain. Unable to stand it for very long, the small Flying Type Pokemon was forced to land and cover the sides of its head with its wings in an attempt to block out the horrible noise.

"GREAT JOB IRIS!" Nolan had to bellow to be heard over the awful cacophony, his own fingers planted firmly in his ears, "NOW QUICK! WHILST SPEAROW'S DISTRACTED! GET IN CLOSE AND USE POISON POWDER!"

For a brief moment, Nolan couldn't be sure that the Insect Pokemon had heard his latest instruction. The echoing screeches were making it pretty difficult to hear anything else after all. Thankfully however, the fluffy purple Pokemon did hear her human's command, and wasted no time in hesitating to follow it. Running as fast as her stubby little feet would allow her to, Iris hurried across the battlefield to the spot where Spearow had landed, and was still currently clutching at its head in pain.

By the time that the Flying Type Pokemon had realised that the cacophony had ended, it was already too late.

"Ven... Nooooo!" Iris trilled as she rustled her entire body - making her long purple fur stand up on end in the process - as she scattered beautiful violet coloured spores that sparkled in the bright fluorescent lights of the institute's battle facility.

Across the field from the two Pokemon and from Nolan, Joe could only look on with a look of abject horror on his face.

"No! Spearow!" the timid male student cried out in panic, but deep down, he already knew that it was too late, "Don't breath that in!"

Too late.

Spearow, having only just opened its eyes which it had scrunched shut in pain whilst suffering through Iris' Screech attack, realised far too late just how close its opponent had managed to get in its moment of distraction. And due to the extreme proximity that they now had, the Flying Type Pokemon simply had no way of dodging in time. As a result, it instantly swallowed huge mouthfuls of the toxic purple dust that Iris had just shrouded it in.

The effect was instantaneous.

"Spearow! Row! Spearow!" the feathered creature squawked in disgust, utterly repulsed by the taste of the spores that it had just ingested. But quite frankly, the vile taste on its tongue was the least of its problems. For almost immediately, a dark purple stripe had appeared across Spearow's face, directly beneath its calculating sharp eyes. Every single trainer in the room knew what that meant. It meant that the Flying Type Pokemon had just successfully been poisoned.

It was Nolan's turn to look smug now.

"No! Spearow!" Joe couldn't believe what he was witnessing. Despite the fact that it defied all logic and odds, Nolan was actually managing to turn the tables on him, and was helping his disadvantaged Pokemon pull ahead of Joe's own, "Spearow! That poison has pretty much put you on a timer now, so we'll have to end this quickly if we want to win! So hit Venonat with your Fury Attack!"

Angered by the way that Iris had managed to get the drop on it, Spearow was only two happy to follow through with the order.

"SPEAROW!" once again putting its impressive speed to good use, the enraged Flying Type Pokemon lunged across the battlefield towards its enemy, it's lethal-looking talons outstretched and eager to exact a little payback for the pain that Iris had just inflicted on it. The pain it could still feel as the poison crept through its the veins...

Nolan opened his mouth, intending to order that Iris try and dodge that attack if she could, but sadly, he never got the chance to utter so much as a single syllable before Spearow was upon his beloved Bug Type Pokemon. Before the boy's horrified bright blue eyes, Spearow began tearing and ripping at poor Iris with its short but strong beak, and its powerful talons.

"VENO!" the Insect Pokemon shrieked in pain, trying her best to block the onslaught of frenzied attacks, but unfortunately not being very successful.

"Yeah!" Joe cheered gleefully from his position opposite Nolan on the battlefield, his expression revealing that he clearly thought he had this match in the bag, "That's the way to do it Spearow! You've almost got it!

But Nolan wasn't about to give in quite so easily.

"Not so fast!" the golden haired boy retorted, before he quickly turned his attention back to Iris, who was still trying in vain to shield herself against the frenzy of well-placed attacks that Spearow was still raining down on her, "Iris Quick! Use Leech Life on Spearow, and recover some of your energy!"

Looking thoroughly beaten up by this point, but unwilling to back down whilst there was still breath left in her body, Iris quickly followed through with the latest order that she had received.

"Veno!" the fluffy purple Pokemon cried out as, with a considerable amount of effort on her part, Iris was able to produce a small orb of pure white energy, directly between the two antenna on her head. Spearow blinked, obviously caught off guard by the sudden flash of light, but was too slow to react to what Iris was about to do, "VENONAT!"

With another loud shriek to show that she clearly meant business, Iris willed the orb of light into a more longer and narrower form. And once the light had changed into the shape of a fully formed needle the bug type Pokemon quickly jabbed it towards her opponent.

Once again, the effect was practically immediate.

"SPEAROW!" another squawk of unimaginable pain was torn from the Flying Type Pokemon's beak as Iris jabbed it straight in the chest with the light needle. But that was only the beginning of the energy-draining attack.

In much the same fashion that Meadow's Leech Seed attack worked, Iris' Leech Life followed a similar concept. Nolan watched with a small grin forming across his face as Spearow soon began to glow with a sickly greyish light, as its energy was rapidly sucked out of it, before it passed through the needle, and back into Iris. The energy was quickly replenishing her own energy stores, and healing some of the damage that she had taken from the Fury Attack. In practically no time at all, the fluffy purple Pokemon was feeling fighting fit again.

"Veno!" Iris squeaked happily once the Leech Life attack finally ended.

"Oh Spearow!" Joe was beyond horrified by this point, a feeling which was only amplified when his Pokemon suddenly began to glow again, this time with an ominous purple light. The Pokemon Tech student grimaced, realising that it meant that Spearow had just taken some more damage from the Poison Powder attack it had taken earlier, "Are you okay to keep going?!"

The boy's panicked words were enough to get his Pokemon to raise its head weakly.

"Row!" Spearow crowed, trying to offer some reassurance to its trainer, but it was obvious to everyone watching that it wouldn't be long until the Flying Type Pokemon could no longer continue.

"Well, if you can keep going, then let's go out on our own terms!" Joe cried out, knowing that the battle was probably unsalvageable at this point, but unwilling to go down without a fight, "It's time we try out your strongest attack! Spearow! Use Steel Wing!"

Nolan's jaw drop wide open in sheer amazement.

Out of every possible move that he would have expected Joe to pull out of his sleeve, the golden haired boy probably wouldn't have guessed Steel Wing in half a million years. It was a notoriously difficult to move for Flying Type Pokemon to master after all. So despite the fact that Joe seemed to be losing this particular battle, it still spoke volumes regarding his skill as a trainer that he had managed to teach his Pokemon that move.

The blonde haired boy watched with astonished eyes as, using the last of its dwindling strength to do so, Spearow managed to drag itself back up into the air, before it dive-bombed towards the spot where Iris stood. As the Flying Type Pokemon closed in on its target, its wings began to shine with a silvery, almost metallic, bright flash of light.

"Dodge it!" Nolan yelled, but he knew it was no good.

CLANG!

With a noise that was eerily reminiscent of metal striking metal, Spearow slammed into poor Iris with all the force of a ten-tonne truck going at sixty miles an hour. The little Bug Type Pokemon screamed in what must have been excruciating agony as she was launched flying across the battlefield at a breakneck pace. Nolan could only behind in utter horror as his beloved Pokemon collapsed to the ground in a messy heap.

"No! Iris!" the golden haired boy yelled out, deeply concerned about the welfare of his Pokemon friend, "Are you okay! Can you get up? Iris?!"

By some miracle, Iris could.

With what could only be described as an unimaginable amount of effort, the small Bug Type Pokemon somehow managed to find the strength within herself, and all but dragged herself back to her feet. Nolan couldn't help but cheer her on proudly.

"That's the spirit Iris!" the boy praised, and despite how exhausted she felt in that moment, Iris couldn't help but beam back up at him, "I'm so proud of you!"

A displeased scowl flashed across Joe's face at those words.

"Hey! You haven't won yet!" the usual timid student protested, before quickly turning his attention back to his own Pokemon, "Spearow! Quick! Use your... huh?"

But Joe had been wrong before. Nolan and Iris had won. The student just hadn't realised it up until then.

For right at that moment, and without kind of warning whatsoever, Spearow suddenly glowed with another bright flash of violet coloured light. The only difference was that this time, the feathered Flying Type Pokemon would not be recovering from it. With a feeble moan that would stir the sympathies of even the hardest of hearts, the last of Spearow's strength finally deserted it, and that was when the inevitable happened.

Spearow crumpled to the ground. It did not get back up.

Nolan and Iris... had won.

And that's another chapter done : )

I'm actually quite pleased with how this one turned out, despite the fact that I debated back and forth for a while on whether or not to replace Misty's battle with Joe. As I've said before, I feel like Misty got very little attention in the early days of the anime and I didn't want to detract away from any of those instances when she did, but at the same time, I really wanted to incorporate Nolan a lot more into this episode. I have something in mind for Misty for this episode next time though, so hopefully the episode will turn out alright. I also like the fact that I got to showcase another one of Nolan's fears in this chapter. I like it when OCs are shown to have genuine phobias of things, and I think it's only natural that after what happened to him and Ash at the beginning of their journey together, Nolan would have developed a intense fear of Spearow. I don't think he'd normally let a bad experience put him off an entire species, but in that case he almost died, so I don't think him being afraid of them from now on is too unrealistic for his character. Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter : )

Now let's move on to more exciting news. As I mentioned in the note above, we've established that there's only one evolution left now in the Orange Islands Nuzlocke, and it's down to you guys to try and break this latest tie. So your options for the second bonus evolution vote are: - Goldeen, Lickitung, Voltorb and Poliwag. The vote for Poliwag was originally to double evolve her all the way into her final form, but obviously that isn't an option anymore. You guys can still chose to evolve her into a Poliwhirl though. And because I'm very eager to move on to the Secret Bonus Voting Topic I mentioned a few chapters ago, what I'll do if the results are a tie again is use an online generator to randomly select one of the narrowed-down list of Pokemon. Hopefully it won't come down to that, but that's my backup plan to get things moving again ; )

And on that note, I think that's just about everything from me for this time, so thank you so much for reading this chapter and my story in general. I hope you are enjoying it all so far, and please consider leaving a review because I'd love to hear your comments and feedback : )

Until the next time, keep on reading : )