Ash's Pokémon Journey

Chapter 16-20

Farfetch'd, Togepi and Ivysaur

Ash and his friends were taking a break in the meadow. Ash was looking after his two Eevee eggs and Misty was looking after her egg. And Tomo was playing with Growlithe and Pikachu. "You know," said Brock "there is a rumour that pokemon called Farfetch'd lives here.

Ash got interest by that and looked up Farfetch'd: Farfetch'd the wild duck pokemon. By using the green onion that it holds like a sword, Farfetch'd can cut through a variety of objects.

"Ooh I would like to have one" said Tomo. He, Ash and Brock decided to fetch some water from the stream, leaving Misty alone.

Just then Misty heard a rustling from a bush. "Oh dear," she said worriedly "I hope it's not anything dangerous or a disgusting bug pokemon". What came out of the bush was a Farfetch'd. "Oh wow" said Misty and chased after it. While chasing after the Farfetch'd, she ran into a boy named Keith. "Sorry about that" said Misty. "It's okay," Keith said "no harm done". He gave Misty her backpack, which fell onto the ground, then set off.

Misty went back to where Ash, Tomo and Brock were waiting for her. "Where had you been?" asked Ash. Misty explained her encounter of a Farfetch'd. "You're lucky" said Tomo. He really wanted to catch his own Farfetch'd. Ash rubbed his head and reassured him that they'll find some more Farfetch'd. Brock gave Misty back her canteen of water; he had filled it up for her. But when Misty opened up her backpack, she found out that the backpack was filled with potatos. "Oh my gosh!" she shouted in alarm "my backpack must have gotten switched with the boy I ran into. And all of my pokemon were in there". "It's a good thing your egg wasn't in your backpack" said Brock. Misty had her egg in her arms all the time, when it happened. "I'm relieved by that" said Misty, holding her egg close to her heart.

The gang rang to a police station at once and told Officer Jenny what had happened. "Another one" said Jenny, and she pointed to a wanted poster. "I have been after the boy Keith and his Farfetch'd for a whole week now. Misty you are the sixth pokemon trainer that has had a backpack, full of pokeballs, stolen". "When I get my hands on that guy, he will be sorry" said Misty angrily.

Back in the woods, Keith and Farfetch'd were hiding out in a tent. "Well Farfetch'd my friend," said Keith "we have hit the jackpot". He had stolen six backpacks and all of them, including Misty's backpack, had six pokeballs. "Thirty six pokeballs in total, ha not bad for this week". He set up a campfire and some food for himself and Farfetch'd. What they didn't know was that Misty's Oddish released herself from the pokeball and went for help.

Meanwhile Officer Jenny and the gang were looking for Keith in the woods. Misty showed them where she had run into Keith. "He might not be far from here" said Brock. Misty was still a bit upset that her pokeballs were stolen. The six pokemon she had with her were her Staryu, Starmie, Seel, Oddish, Squirtle and Poliwag. Just then her Oddish came out of the bushes. "Oddish," said Misty and ran over to her "I'm glad that you are okay. Can you please show us where the theif, who stole you and the others, is?" Oddish nodded and led them deeper into the wood.

At that time Keith and Farfetch'd were getting ready to find another victim, to steal pokeballs from, when Officer Jenny and the gang surrounded him. "We've caught you at last" said Officer Jenny. "Give me back my pokeballs!" demanded Misty. Keith stood still. "Care to explain why you steal other people's pokemon, rather than catch pokemon yourself?" said Ash. Keith explained that his Farfetch'd was too weak for battling. "So stealing pokemon is the only choice I have" he said. Ash wasn't amused by that comment. "You've have to be the most pathetic trainer I have ever met" he said. "Yeah," said Brock "training and working hard with Farfetch'd will make it strong". Keith then admits that he has not trained Farfetch'd yet. That made the gang facepalm.

Just then Farfetch'd stepped forward, eager to battle. Ash stepped forward as well and sent out Dratini. Keith was amazed that Ash had a Dratini. "Use Slam" said Ash. Dratini slamed her tail into Farfetch'd, making it scream in pain. Farfetch'd began to fight back by using agility to dodge Dratini's continuing slam attacks. Then it hit Dratini multiple times with the move fury attack, by hitting Dratini with its leek. Keith looked at Farfetch'd battling style in surprise. "I never knew that Farfetch'd could battle like that and I never knew it could be that strong" he said.

Dratini began to get cross, from being hit my Farfetch'd's leek and roared. Then suddenly she began to glow and evolved into a Dragonair. Ash was amazed by the evolution was was just about to command Dragonair to attack again, but Misty stopped him. "I would like to deal with Keith, since it was my pokeballs that he stole" she said. She sent out Oddish to battle, as Oddish was the only pokemon she had. Farfetch'd taunt Oddish, which made her angry. Oddish shouted, then glowed and evolved into a Gloom. "Wow," said Ash "two evolutions in one day". "Use your stun spore Gloom" said Misty. Gloom squirted out a yellow powder from her bulb and her stun spore attack paralyzed Farfetch'd, making it unable to battle. Misty was happy with her win and hugged her Gloom.

Officer Jenny handcuffed Keith and brought him and Farfetch'd to the police station. At the police station, Brock gave Farfetch'd a paralyze heal to make it all better. "I hope you have learnt your lesson young man" Jenny said to Keith. "Yes I have," said Keith "after seeing Farfetch'd in action I've decided to stop stealing pokemon and catch my own instead". "I'm glad for that," said Jenny "but if you do steal again you will be put in jail this time". "I got it" said Keith. He apologized to Misty for taking her pokeballs then he left with Farfetch'd.

Misty was happy to have her pokeballs back and was happy about her Oddish evolving into Gloom. "I do hope that Keith doesn't steal again" said Misty. "If he does," said Ash "he'll be talking to my Dragonair". The gang were just about to leave when a Farfetch'd came out of the bushes. "Hey it's a wild Farfetch'd" said Brock. "I'm gonna catch it!" said Tomo "let's go Growlithe". Growlithe jumped forward, ready to attack. Tomo had been training his pokemon with Ash and knew exactly what to do. "Growlithe use flamethrower". Growlithe blew fire from his mouth and blew it towards the Farfetch'd. Farfetch'd dodged it. "Now use bite" said Tomo. Growlithe bit Farfetch'd. Farfetch'd got really hurt from that. "Now's your chance Tomo" said Ash. Tomo threw an empty pokeball and he caught the wild Farfetch'd. Tomo was happy to have his own Farfetch'd and he and the gang continued on their journey.

The gang were resting in a pokemon centre. Nurse Joy was looking after their pokemon and giving Ash's two eggs and Misty's egg a checkup. Ash was talking to Prof Oak on the phone. "Well Ash my boy," said Prof Oak "I can see that you are doing well on your journey". "Thanks professor," said Ash "how are all my pokemon doing?" "All of them are doing nicely," said Prof Oak "and I am impressed of the amount of pokemon you caught and I can see that you are doing well of training them. I must ask how your Eevee eggs are." "Well Professor," said Ash "Nurse Joy just told me that they might hatch today and she also said that Misty's egg might hatch today as well". "I take it that's why you have Espeon and Umbreon with you" said Prof Oak. "Of course," said Ash "besides they are the mothers of the Eevees that will hatch out of the eggs". "I agree," said Prof Oak "I must go now Ash I have paperwork to get through". He said goodbye to Ash and put down the phone.

After getting back their pokemon, the gang were now discussing about Misty's egg. "So what pokemon do you think you will get?" Brock asked Misty. "I don't know," said Misty "I do hope it will be a water pokemon, I do hope it will be happy and healthy". "I can't wait for my new Eevee's to be born" said Ash. "I must ask you Ash," said Brock "what will you evolve your two Eevees into?" Ash showed the gang two papers, that he printed off from the pokemon center's computer. The two papers showed two different Eevee evolutions. One was light-blue and dark-blue coloured and the other was tan coloured, with ears and a tail that looked like leaves. "These two are Glaceon, an ice pokemon, and Leafeon, a grass pokemon," explained Ash "you can only get them in Sinnoh, so when I do go to Sinnoh I will evolve them there". "I get it" said Brock. He, Misty and Tomo thought both of them looked cool.

The gang decided to go to a café for something to eat. Just then Team Rocket, disguised as egg sellers, came up to them. They were carrying a big basket full of fake pokemon eggs. Some of them nearly looked identical to Ash's eggs and Misty's egg. "Hello there," said Jessie "we're egg sellers and we were wondering if you were interested in buying our eggs". The gang politely refused and left. But that didn't stop Team Rocket with their plan of stealing the eggs. They threw the fake eggs at the gang. Ash, Misty, Tomo and Brock tried not to get hit by the fake eggs. What they didn't notice was Meowth was swipping their eggs. When the fake eggs stopped flying at them, Ash and Misty discovered that their eggs were gone. Ash saw Meowth carrying the eggs. "Give us back our eggs you flea bag!" he shouted. Meowth twitched his eyes and wanted to scratch Ash, but Jessie and James grabbed Meowth and they ran away. "They've got our eggs" said Misty. "Hey look," said Brock, pointing to the ground "they've left a trail of broken egg shells from the fake eggs. Let's follow it". The gang rang after Team Rocket at once.

They found Team Rocket hiding in a shack outside the park. Meowth was looking after the eggs. "It seems the eggs are okay" said Brock. "I suggest we charge in" said Ash, who was still angry about his eggs being stolen. "I agree" said Misty, who was also angry. Brock released his Rhyhorn and Rhyhorn tackled down the door. Team Rocket screamed at that sudden intrusion. "Drop those eggs Team Loosers!" shouted Ash. "Not a chance Twerp" said James. He released his Weezing to attack. Ash released Espeon and Umbreon from their pokeballs. "Those crooks have stolen your eggs" he said to them. Espeon and Umbreon were angry with that fact and attacked Team Rocket at once. Umbreon used dark pulse and Espeon used psybeam. Team Rocket became knocked out from the attacks. Ash and Misty grabbed the eggs. "They are okay" sighed Misty.

Just then Misty's egg started to glow and crack. The team ran out of the shack and into the park. Misty's egg hatched out into a pokemon they had never seen before. "Oh it's so cute" squealed Misty.

Ash took out the pokedex: Togepi, the spike ball pokemon. Happiness is stored in Togepi's shell, and it shares its happiness with kind-hearted people.

Then Ash's two eggs hatched into Eevees. "Ahh you're so cute" Ash said to them. The baby Eevees licked Ash's face in affection. He placed the baby Eevees in front of Espeon and Umbreon. "Here are your sons" he said. Espeon nuzzled her baby and Umbreon licked her baby. Ash and Misty smiled, happy that their eggs had hatched at last.

Just then Team Rocket turned up. "What do you want?" demanded Ash. "Simple twerp," said Jessie "we want your Togepi and Eevees. So hand them over". "Not a chance" said Misty. She sent out her Gloom and Gloom sent Team Rocket flying with solar beam. "Phew what a day" said Ash. "You can say that again" agreed Misty. It had been a long day for the gang.

Not long after Togepi and the two Eevees hatched from their eggs, Ash and his friends stopped by at a pokemon center. Right now Ash was getting worried about his Bulbasaur. Earlier on Ash had battled a trainer and his Rhydon andAsh's Bulbasaur won the fight. But after the fight Bulbasaur collapsed and his bulb was glowing blue. Now Nurse Joy was taking care of Bulbasaur. 'I hope my Bulbasaur is okay' thought Ash. Just then Nurse Joy came out of the room. "Is Bulbasaur okay?" asked Ash. "There is no need to worry," said Nurse Joy "Bulbasaur is just fine. I must tell you though your Bulbasaur is getting ready to evolve, that's why its bulb glowed blue. A bulbasaur's bulb glows before evolving into Ivysaur". Ash was surprised and happy by this news and thanked Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy then said to Ash that Bulbasaur would evolve at a special festival for Bulbasaur.

That night, when everyone was asleep, a long line of Bulbasaurs walked past the pokemon center. Ash's Bulbasaur, who was wide awake, got up and followed them. Pikachu saw Bulbasaur walking out of the center and woke up Ash. "What's wrong Pikachu?" asked Ash. He then noticed that Bulbasaur was gone. He woke up the others and told them that Bulbasaur was gone. When they looked outside, Brock noticed a trail of pollen. "If we follow this pollen," he said "we may find Bulbasaur".

The pollen led the group to the wood and some tree roots and vines were thrashing around like magic. They got through the vines and came upon a big garden, full of flowers. "Wow, how beautiful" said Misty. "This must be the great mysterious garden Nurse Joy told us about" said Brock. "Hey look at all the bulbasaurs" said Ash. There were hundereds of Bulbasaur everywhere. "They must all be here to evolve; I can't wait to see what happens".

Just then a big tree opened and a Venusaur appeared. It walked towards a big tree stump and climbed on top of it.

Ash opened his pokedex: Venusaur, the seed pokemon. The final evolved form of Bulbasaur. The flower on its back catches the sun's rays. The sunlight is then absorbed and used for energy.

The Bulbasaurs started to sing, and then the Venusaur started to sing. After the singing finished Venusaur bellowed and then the Bulbasaurs's bulbs started to glow. The gang watched in amazement as all the Bulbasurs started to evolve into Ivysaur one by one. Ash smiled as his Bulbasaur evolved into Ivysaur. "People have always disagreed whether Bulbasaur is a plant or animal," said Brock "and right now I think that maybe Bulbasaur are a symbol that all life on Earth is connected".

Soon the festival was over and the Venusaur and Ivysaur left to go back to wherever they came from. Ash ran over to his Ivysaur and gave him a hug. "You're amazing Ivysaur" he said. Ivysaur was happy and rubbed his head against Ash. Ash returned Ivysaur and stood up. "Come on guys," he said "it's now time to leave". The group agreed and left the mysterious garden to continue the journey.

Princess Day, Todd and the test

Today Ash and his friends were at a city, but Ash was not having a good time. Today was Misty's favourite day of the year; Princess Day. Princess Day was a day for girls, with shopping sales and discounts. Ash, Brock and Tomo were feeling depressed; they had to carry all of Misty's shopping bags. Misty went on a real shopping spree; she brought clothes and shoes, hair clips, necklaces and bracelets, soft toys of water pokemon and new swim suits.

Right now they were at a café. Misty enjoyed eating anything sweet like cream cakes and ice cream. Ash, Brock and Tomo had something to eat as well; they needed more energy for the day. "Big brother I don't like this" complained Tomo. "I know Tomo," said Ash, rubbing Tomo's hair, "I don't like it either. But it's only for today so try to be patient".

Jessie was having a good time on Princess Day too. She had brought a ton of beautiful clothes and make up. She even brought a lot of food and jewelry. Poor James and Meowth had a hard time carrying the bags. As they were taking a breather in the park, Jessie spotted a pink pokemon. "Hey what's that?" she asked. "That's a Lickitung," said James, looking at it in a pokemon book, "it says here that its long tounge can leave its opponents paralyzed". Hearing that gave Jessie a good idea. "I'm going to catch it," she said "it may become useful to us". She chucked one of her pokeballs at the Lickitung and caught it with no trouble at all.

Back with the gang, Misty was checking out another clothes store. Then suddenly an announcement was heard. The announcement was about the Queen of the princess festival contest. And the grand prize was a pokemon princess doll set. Of course Misty and Jessie entered the contest. Soon there was a long line of beautiful girls, wearing Kimonos, on stage. Misty and Jessie were on stage too, wearing beautiful kimonos. The announcer showed off the prize. The pokemon princess doll set was beautiful. It held ten pokemon wearing kimonos. 'I'm going to win that doll set' thought Misty and Jessie together. The announcer then said that the contest wasn't just a beauty contest, but a pokemon battle contest. "You will need four pokemon to battle".

Misty went to Brock and Ash and begged them to borrow some of their pokemon. Ash was a bit reluctant at first, but after seeing Misty's pleading look, he agreed to. Brock agreed as well. So Misty's team was Pikachu, Ivysaur, Vulpix and Starmie. "So I take it that you want the pokemon princess doll set, right?" said Ash. "Yes I do," said Misty "the truth is while I was growing up my sisters got their own doll sets and all I ever got was their hand-me-downs. By the time I got them they were all broken and shabby. So now I will be getting a pokemon princess doll set of my very own". Ash, Tomo and Brock felt sorry for Misty and wished her luck. Misty placed Brock in charge of looking after Togepi.

Thanks to the pokemon she borrowed from Ash and Brock, Misty defeated her opponents one by one, until at last she was now in the finals. Her last opponent was Jessie. Jessie had never received her own princess dolls either as a child. So this was also her chance to obtain her own pokemon princess doll set. Jessie's team was Arbok, Weezing and Meowth. Pikachu defeated those three one by one. Jessie felt like giving up, but Meowth reminded her of Lickitung. "Oh yeah," Jessie said "I nearly forgot. Go Lickitung". Misty was amazed that Jessie had a new pokemon.

Ash looked at Lickitung on his pokedex: Lickitung, the licking pokemon. Its tongue, twice its body's length, moves around freely to catch prey. Its licks cause a tingling sensation.

"This maybe trouble for Misty" said Ash. And it was too. Lickitung's lick attack defeated Pikachu, Ivysaur and Vulpix. Misty grew frustrated and released her Starmie. Before Lickitung could hit Starmie with its lick attack, Misty had her Starmie use protect, which blocked Lickitung's toungue. Misty had trained her Starmie with Ash's Espeon, so Starmie had learned some psychic attacks as well as protect. "Hit it with hydro pump Starmie" commanded Misty. The hydro pump blasted Lickitung into Team Rocket and sent them blasting off again.

Misty was squealing for joy that she had won the contest and the pokemon princess dolls. She thanked Ash and Brock for their pokemon and collected her prize. Then she sent her new clothes, toys, accessories and her new doll set to Cerulean Gym. "I can't wait to see my sister's faces when they see my new pokemon princess doll set," Misty smirked "this will make them jealous". So everyone was happy in the end. Misty had won her own pokemon princess doll set and Ash, Brock and Tomo were relieved that Princess Day was finally finished.

A week after Princess Day the gang were now in a forest. Ash was training his Squirtle, Golduck and Gyarados. He knew that the Cinnabar Gym used fire type, and he had decided to use Squirtle, Golduck and Gyarados. "Your water pokemon look great Ash" said Misty. "Thanks Misty," said Ash "hey I know. Let's have a battle between our Squirtles". "Good idea" said Misty. So Misty and Ash had a mock battle with their Squirtles. In the process both Ash's and Misty's Squirtle learnt aqua tail and bubble beam. Just then Ash's Squirtle evolved into a Wartortle.

"Cool" said Ash and took out the pokedex: Wartortle, the turtle pokemon. The evolved form of Squirtle. Its furry tail is very popular as a symbol of long life.

After the mock battle the gang were tucking into Brock's rice ball. Just then Pikachu heard a rustling from the bushes. "Is something there?" said Ash "hey who's there?" There was no reply, but a lot of rustling from the bushes. Ash had his Wartortle soak the bush with water gun. When the water gun hit the bush, a teenager jumped out from the bush. "What are you trying to do?" shouted the boy "drown me?" "Well that was your fault for spying on us," said Ash "what were you doing anyway?" "Trying to take pictures of your pokemon," said the boy, revealing his camera, "I'm Todd a pokemon photographer". "That's impressive," said Ash "but it would be better if you ask us to take pictures, instead of spying on us". "Ahh but I like taking pictures while hiding," said Todd "it makes my photos exciting that way". Ash sweat dropped.

Todd and the gang had pancakes for a snack. Apart from bragging about of being a great photographer, Todd showed off all the pictures he ever took. "Wow these are very good pictures" said Ash. "Yeah," said Todd "but this one is my best shot yet". He showed them a photo of Aerodactyl. "Isn't that your Aerodactyl big brother?" asked Tomo. "Yes it is" said Ash. Todd was shocked by that and asked for an explanation. Ash explained about the incident at Grampa Canyon. "Wow you're lucky" said Todd.

After finishing lunch, the gang continued on their way. Todd was with them too; he wanted to take pictures of their pokemon. What they didn't know was that they were heading for trouble. Team Rocket was on their tail and had set up a pitful trap for them. Todd and the gang fell into the pitful trap. Team Rocket laughed. "What do you three want?" demanded Ash. "We want Todd's pokemon" said Jessie. Meowth explained that he had seen an article about Todd. "It even says that you have captured hundreds of pokemon, so we want all your pokemon". "That's right," said Jessie "so hand them over". "But I don't own any pokemon," said Todd "I do capture pokemon but only on my camera". "What?!" exclaimed Jessie. Meowth still had the article with him. James took a good look at it. "He's right," he said "it says that Todd is a photographer and captures pokemon on film". "I must have missed that bit" said Meowth sheepishly. Jessie whacked Meowth on the head because of his stupidity. "Oh matter," she said "we'll just grab the twerp's pokemon instead". Ash wasn't going to let that happen; he called out his Dragonair. "Dragonair blast Team Rocket away with twister" he said. Dragonair's twister sent them leaving in a hurry.

Todd was amazed by Ash's Dragonair and begged him to let him take a picture. Ash accepted that. Todd took a beautiful photograph of Dragonair. And last of all he took a photo of himself with the gang.

The gang were enjoying a relaxation in a park. Todd wanted to stay with them a bit more to see more of their pokemon. Ash was training his Pikachu, Cubone, Ninetails, Venonat, Doduo and Arbok. Todd and Tomo were watching. "Hey Ash," said Todd "I think you should take the Pokemon League Admissions Exam". "What's that?" asked Ash. "It's an exam you take," explained Todd "if you pass it you will be admitted into the pokemon league". Ash wasn't so sure about that; he liked travelling and collecting the gym badges. But he thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to check it out. "Okay I'll try".

They went to the building where the exam was taking place. Ash walked in and signed himself in. After filling out papers he was ready. The instructor said that he had to leave his pokeballs on the counter. So Ash did and left Pikachu in Tomo's care. He saw Nurse Joy in the building. Nurse Joy explained that she wanted to become a pokemon master. Team Rocket was in the building too; they decided that they could enter the pokemon league and become champions.

Soon the exams had begun. The first test was about a person's knowledge of pokemon. They had to answer true or false. Ash found this easy because he had studied about pokemon and travelling with pokemon had helped him so much as well. The next test was tricky. It was about a person's ability to recognize pokemon. That wasn't easy because there were some pokemon that you couldn't recognize that well. Jessie got in a rampage and called the test a joke. The head instructor expelled her immediately. James felt sorry for Jessie and declared that he would try hard for her too.

After the test was finished the scoreboards came up. Ash managed to get to the high score board. "I thought that the visual portion of the test was impossible" he said. James got the lowest score and hung his head in shame.

The last part of the test was pokemon battles. They had to battle the head instructor with three pokemon. There were belts, that held three pokemon and you weren't allowed to see what pokemon you received until the battle. Ash and James picked up their belts and got ready.

James went up against the head instructor before Ash. The first pokemon James sent out was a Pikachu and the the head instructor sent out Graveler. James had Pikachu use thunderbolt on Graveler. Of course that didn't work because electric types don't work on rock and ground types. James became frustrated and sent out his last two pokemon; an Ivysaur and a Charizard. The head instructor got angry at James's cheating and expelled him.

Ash was up next. His first pokemon was Weezing and the head instructor's was Flareon. The instructor had Flareon use flamethrower, but Ash told Weezing to dodge the attack. Ash came up with an idea. "Smog attack" he said to Weezing. The smog exploded after being hit by the flamethrower and threw Flareon backwards. "Now use your smokescreen" commanded Ash. Weezing covered the field and itself in smokescreen. Flareon couldn't see Weezing at all. "Now use tackle". Weezing tackled Flareon, knocking it out. 'One down, two to go' Ash thought.

The gang were impressed with Ash's tactics. "Ash is amazing when he battles with pokemon" said Todd. "I agree with that," said Misty "even though we have been together for a while, he still surprises me". Tomo was cheering for his elder brother. Brock comments that Ash battled with Weezing a lot better than James ever did. Team Rocket was watching from a background and was taking notes of Ash's battle style.

Ash's next pokemon was Arbok and the head instructor's was Jolteon. Ash remembered his own Arbok and Jolteon and knew exactly what to do. The instructor told Jolteon to use agility. "Quick," said Ash to Arbok "stop it with glare". Jolteon became paralyzed and couldn't move. "Now use poison sting" said Ash. As Jolteon couldn't move, it got hit by Arbok's poison sting. "Now use headbutt". Arbok headbutted Jolteon and knocked it out.

The head instructor was impressed with Ash's battling techniques and sen out his last pokemon; a Vaporeon. Ash last pokemon was Meowth. Ash was surprised; he had ended up having the same three pokemon that Team Rocket had. "Okay use screech" Ash commanded Meowth. Meowth screeched really loud; so loud that it made Vaporeon hold its ears in pain. "Now use pay day" Meowth's charm glowed and a flurry of gold coins hit Vaporeon. While Vaporeon was distracted by the coins, Ash commanded Meowth to use scratch. Meowth scratched Vaporeons face really hard and maked it faint. Ash had won and passed the test.

Jessie and James were impressed by the Meowth. "Hey I'm better than that Meowth" said Meowth, feeling insulted. "But you don't know screech or pay day" argued Jessie. Meowth hung his head in defeat and shame. "It's true," he said, miserably, "I only know scratch, fury swipes and bite". "Come now," said Jessie "it's time for payback".

The head instructor returned Vaporeon and congratulated Ash for his winning. He was just about to give an announcement to those who had passed the test, when a thunderbolt flew at him. The thunderbolt was from the Pikachu that James had borrowed for the exam. "Since we failed the test," said Jessie "we'll take revenge by swiping all the pokemon here". They ordered Pikachu, Ivysaur and Charizard to attack, but the head instructor ordered them to attack Team Rocket, and they did. "I take it it's because even though they are used for the exams," said Ash "you are their real trainer, correct?" "That is correct" said the instructor. Ash ordered Arbok, Weezing and Meowth to attack Team Rocket and then the head instructor ordered Ivysaur to send Team Rocket off with solar beam.

After Team Rocket left, the head instructor handed out badges to those who past the test. "With this badge," he said "you can now participate into the pokemon league". When Ash got his he spoke to the head instructor. "I really prefer traveling and collecting gym badges from gyms," he said "but is it okayif I kept mine as a memento". The head instructor agreed.

After saying goodbye to the head instructor, everyone left the building. And As and thegang were on their way to Cinnabar Island again.

Cinnabar Gym and the Misty Mermaid

After catching a ferry, the gang were finally at Cinnabar Island. Todd wasn't with them anymore; he took a path for the mountains to find more pokemon to photograph. "It says that Cinnabar Island is a tourist attraction," said Brock "there is a hot springs there". "Really?" asked Misty, excitedly, "can we take a hot spring?" Ash saw no problem with that. "I want to take a break as well, before heading off to the gym" he said. "And here," said Brock "I can get my fossils restored" said Brock. He remembered Prof Oak telling him that there was a pokemon lab on Cinnabar Island that restored pokemon fossils.

When they docked on Cinnabar Island, they headed for the pokemon center right away. Ash had his pokemon checked out; he wanted to make sure his pokemon were ready for the gym. Tomo was with him; he liked staying by his brother's side. Misty went to book for a hot spring and Brock headed to the pokemon lab. "Okay," said Ash "let's ask where the gym is". Just then a hippie came up to Ash. "You looking for the gym?" he asked. "Yes do you know where it is?" said Ash. "The gym leader Blaine built his gym in a firey place where firefighters would never win" said the hippie. Then he left. "What did that man mean?" Tomo asked Ash. "What that man said was a riddle," said Ash "but I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that one. We'll ask the others later".

The gang met up again at the hot springs and soon they were relaxing in the baths. "This was a great idea Misty" said Ash. "I thought we could use a nice relaxation after all that we've been through" said Misty. Pikachu and Togepi were enjoying it too. Tomo's Growlithe wasn't in the hot spring. As it was a fire type it didn't want to get wet, so Tomo placed him in Nurse Joy's care. "Hey Brock," said Ash "did you give your fossils to the pokemon lab?" "Yes I did," said Brock "and the professor said that I will be getting Kabuto and Omanyte tomorrow". "We can collect them after the gym battle" said Ash. He then told the others about the hippie and the riddle. "That would be a volcano" said Misty. "Misty's right," said Brock "a volcano's lava is something that a firefighter would never be able to put out, no matter how much water is used." "I know the gym leader uses fire types," said Ash "but isn't that a bit over the top for a gym?" "Well I must say I wouldn't put up a gym in a volcano," said Brock "but sometimes gym leaders like to make their gyms look suitable for what ever type of pokemon they use. Like my gym is full of rocks and boulders because we use rock pokemon". "That's right," said Misty "remember my gym is like an aquariam because it's a water pokemon gym". Ash had to agree with that; Erika, the grass gym leader, had her gym look like a greenhouse. Lt Surge had his gym look electrical because of his electric pokemon. And Sabrina's gym had psychics as assistants, as her gym used psychic pokemon. After finishing with the hot springs, the gang found a room at an inn and fell asleep there.

The next day, the gang went to find the Cinnabar Gym. The volcano was located at the far back of Cinnabar Island. When they arrived at the volcano, they didn't see anything. "That's odd," said Brock "we are at the volcano, but I don't see any gym buildings". "You don't suppose that the gyms inside the volcano do you?" asked Misty. "Only one way to find that out" replied Ash. There was a cave at the base of the volcano and the gang was just about to check it out, when the hippie Ash saw yesterday came out of the cave. "I see that you solved my riddle," said the hippie "but before you can battle Blaine you must answer this riddle first. What can keep your head dry in the rain, but you can also where it if you already lost it? "Oh great, another riddle" Ash groaned. "A wig," said Misty "a wig can keep your head dry in the rain, but you can also wear it if you already lost your hair". "You're a smart young lady" smiled the hippie. He took off his wig. "I am Blaine the gym leader of Cinnabar Gym". Ash stepped forward. "I'm Ash from Pallet Town," he said "and I wish to battle you for the badge". "Follow me" said Blaine.

Blaine led the gang through a tunnel, and then they arrived at the gym's battlefield. "Phew it's hot" said Ash. The battlefield was inside the volcano and everyone could see lava flowing around. "Do excuse me," said Brock "but wouldn't gym battles make this volcano erupt?" "No need to worry," said Blaine "I make sure that this volcano never erupts. Well Ash it's time to battle and this will be a three pokemon battle". "I got it" said Ash.

So the gym battle began. Blaine's first pokemon was Ninetails. Ash sent out Golduck. "Ninetails use flamethrower" commanded Blaine. Ninetails launched a powerful flamethrower towards Golduck. "Douse the flames with hydro pump" said Ash. Golduck's hydro pump turned Ninetail's flamethrower into steam. "Use fire spin" said Blaine. Ninetails flipped and launched a powerful fire spin against Golduck. Golduck got hit by the flames. "You okay Golduck?" asked Ash. Golduck nodded, implying he was all right. "Okay use use hydro pump". Ninetails got hit by Golduck's hydro pump. "Now finish off with scratch". Golduck charged at Ninetails and scratched its face. Ninetails screeched in pain and fainted. Blaine returned Ninetails. "I must say Ash I'm impressed by your battling techniques," he said "but I am not finished yet". His next pokemon was Rhydon. Ash returned Golduck and sent out Vaporeon. "Use aurora beam" said Ash. Vaporeon's multicolored beam headed for Rhydon. "Dodge and use tackle" said Blaine. Rhydon dodged to the side and charged into Vaporeon, making her cry in pain. "That Rhydon is fast," said Ash "we need to slow it down". Then he got an idea. "Use ice beam on the battle field". Vaporeon's ice beam turned the battlefield into an ice rink. Rhydon started to panic; it didn't like the ice and as the ice was slippery it had trouble trying to stand its ground. "Now use aurora beam one more time". This time Vaporeon's aurora beam did hit Rhydon and it fainted. Blaine recalled Rhydon. "I have to say Ash you are one impressive trainer," he said "but now I introduce you to my no. 1 pokemon". Blaine's last pokemon was a pokemon that looked like it was made entirely out of flames.

"That's a Magmar" said Ash and opened his pokedex: Magmar, the spitfire pokemon. Its body is like a furnace, making Magmar a living inferno. It has been discovered only near active volcanoes.

Ash returned Vaporeon and sent out Gyarados. "Since you've introduced me to your strongest fire pokemon," Ash said to Blaine "I thought I introduce you to my strongest water pokemon". "Fine with me" chuckled Blaine. He was enjoying this match more than Ash. "Magmar use flamethrower". Magmar shot a flamethrower towards Gyarados. "Hit that flamethrower with aqua tail" said Ash. Gyarados shot a stream of spiralling water around its tail and whipped the flamethrower away with it. "Fire blast" commanded Blaine. "Hydro pump" said Ash. When the fire blast and hydro pump collided with each other, steam flew everywhere. "Use rain dance" said Ash. Gyarados fired a light blue orb from its mouth and rain clouds appeared, making it rain. Magmar didn't like the rain. "Now use hydro pump". Thanks to rain dance, Gyarados' hydro pump became stronger and not only did it make Magmar feel pain, it made it faint. Ash was the winner.

Blaine returned Magmar and walked over to Ash, who was rubbing Gyarados' head. "I have to say Ash," he said "of all the trainers I battled in the past, you are the best. You gave me the best gym battle I've ever had in years". "I thought this was a great battle as well" smiled Ash. "I have one more riddle for you," said Blaine "What's hot, but doesn't burn anybody?" "Is it the Volcano Badge?" Ash guessed. "Bingo!" Blaine chuckled, and handed Ash the Volcano Badge. The Volcano Badge was in the shape of a flame.

After bidding farewell to Blaine, the gang was waiting for a boat to leave Cinnabar Island. Brock got his Kabuto and Omanyte from the pokemon lab and he was very happy to have two new rock type pokemon. "Now I just need one more badge" said Ash, looking at his seven badges. He had kept them pinned inside his vest. "Where are you going to get the last badge from?" Tomo asked Ash. "I can get it in Viridian City" Ash answered. So the gang's next destination was Viridian City.

The gang were on the way to Viridian City, so Ash could get his eighth badge. Ash was polishing his seven gym badges, Tomo was playing with Pikachu and Growlithe and Brock was drinking from his water bottle. Misty was checking out her six pokemon, to see if they were all right. But Seel was looking a bit unhappy. "Hey something's wrong with Seel" said Misty, worriedly. Brock examined Seel. "I think Seel wants to swim in something bigger than a fountain" he said. "But we aren't anywhere near any oceans and lakes" said Misty. Then she had an idea. "We can take Seel to Ceruleam Gym". "That's a good idea," said Ash "after all your gym does have an enormous swimming pool". "I'll contact my sisters and let them know that I'm coming home" said Misty. So the gang headed out to Cerulean City, before heading out for Viridian City.

Misty was happy to see the Cerulean Gym again when they got there. "It looks like my sisters have been taking good care of it" said Misty. Just then Tomo saw a poster on a billboard. "Look at that" he said. The poster was a picture of a mermaid with water pokemon surrounding her. "Looks like my sisters are putting on another one of their shows" said Misty. Ash took a good look at the mermaid. "Do excuse me Misty," he said "but doesn't she look a bit like you?" Misty looked at the maermaid. "I think you're right Ash" she said. When they entered the gym, Misty's sisters were happy to see Misty. "Thank goodness you're here" said Daisy. "We thought you would never get here" said Lily. "You made it here just in time" said Violet. Misty was puzzled by this; they had never welcomed her home like this before. The sisters greeted Ash, Brock and Tomo as well.

Misty went straight to the pool and took out Seel. "There you go Seel," she said "enjoy a swim in there". Two more Seel popped out of the water and greeted Misty's Seel. Misty saw all the other water pokemon were doing okay. She saw her Tentacruel swimming around with the two Tentacool she had captured, her Gyarados with three Magikarp, Cloyster with four Shellder, Seadra with Horsea, Vaporeon, Golduck with Psyduck, Seaking with three Goldeen, Kingler with two Krabbys, two Slowpokes and Lapras. To her surprise she saw three Poliwags with two Poliwhirls and two Poliwraths. "Some of the Poliwags I caught evolved" she smiled.

Just then her sisters came in. "Come on Misty," said Daisy "we need to get ready". "Ready for what?" said Misty. "Our water show of course" said Lily. "I see," said Misty "so what am I doing? And who's playing the mermaid?" "You are Misty" said Daisy, Lily and Violet all together. Misty gasped. "What?" In the lobby Daisy explained everything. "The truth is," she said "our water shows aren't as popular as they used to be". "That's right," said Lily "the stadium has been nearly empty for a while". "So we decided to do something new," said Violet "we decided to do our shows underwater". "And before you called us," said Daisy "we decided to make you the star of our show". "What? But I'm not a water ballerina," said Misty "and I can't believe you did this without my permission". "Sorry Misty," said Lily "but we had already advertised you and the tickets are already selling out". "And the people will be disappointed if you don't do it," said Violet "not to mention our first performance is tomorrow". Misty sighed; she didn't want to do this, but she knew that she couldn't refuse. "Fine, I'll do it" she sighed. "Then let the rehearsals begin" cheered Daisy.

The under water show was called 'The Magical Mermaid'. The story was that the mermaid was happily swimming with her water pokemon. Then two evil pirates grab her and demand she give them all her water pokemon. Then a handsome prince comes to save the day and he and the mermaid all in love and they lived happily ever after with the water pokemon. Misty was the mermaid, Violet and Lily played the evil pirates and Daisy was the handsome prince. The four sisters took the rest of the whole day getting everything ready for tomorrow. They rehearsed the whole show and got all the costumes and props ready.

The next day was the day of the performance. A big crowd of people had turned up to watch the show. Daisy, Lily and Violet were happy; this crowd was the biggest crowd they had ever seen. Ash, Brock and Tomo had seats too and Brock was looking after Togepi. Soon it was time for the show to begin. Daisy, who was taking the tickets, had pre-recorded her voice for the narration. Then Cerulean Gym's enormous pool rose up from the floor to nearly all the way up to the ceiling; that way the audience could see what was happening underwater. The audience gasped at the clever effect. And then the show lights dimmed; it was now the start of the show.

"Once upon a time" said Daisy's pre-recorded voice "there was a beautiful, peaceful lagoon that was home to all sorts of water pokemon". A show light showed some of Cerulean Gym's pokemon. There was Misty's Seel, Horsea, three Magikarp, Seaking and three Goldeen, Staryu, Starmie, Squirtle, two Tentacool, a Slowpoke, a Krabby and three Shellder. The others were all in their pokeballs. "These water pokemon were the best friends of the Magical Mermaid". A light shone on Misty, who was standing on a diving board. She jumped into the board and began dancing with Seel and the other water pokemon. The audience loved the performance so far. "All day long, the Magical Mermaid would play with the water pokemon, until late at night". Misty fell asleep inside a fake clam, while the water pokemon slept outside the clam. In the clam was a mouthpiece that could help Misty breathe and talk underwater.

Everything was going great so far, but trouble was occurring. Team Rocket had arrived and they were not only planning to steal the show, but steal all the water pokemon. They tied and gagged Violet and Lily up and hid them in a locker. Then they dressed themselves up in pirate costumes and got ready for their cue.

"The Magical Mermaid and her water pokemon friends lived a peaceful happy life" said Daisy's pre-recorded voice. "But one day two nasty pirates arrived to kidnap all the water pokemon". This was Lily's and Violet's cue, but Team Rocket appeared on the diving board instead. Brock and Ash saw them. "We need to stop them Brock" said Ash. Ash told Tomo, Pikachu, Growlithe and Togepi to stay in the seats and then he and Brock ran to the stage to help. Jessie and James jumped into the pool and flung a net over some of the water pokemon. The Tentacools, the three Goldeens, Krabby and two Shellders were caught in the net. "These water pokemon are now ours" said Jessie. "Oh no you don't!" shouted Misty. She grabbed the net to try and free the water pokemon, but Jessie and James were not giving the water pokemon up without a fight. The audience were clapping and cheering loudly; they thought all of this was part of the show. Meowth, who didn't like getting wet, stayed in the balloon that they brought through the roof of the gym.

"Just then a handsome prince came to save the day" said Daisy's pre-recorded voice. Daisy, who was now in her costume, was about to enter, when Ash and Brock ran past her. "Stay here Daisy," said Brock "it's dangerous". Ash and Brock grabbed two mouthpeices and jumped into the pool. Daisy was confused about this, but she found Lily and Violet in the locker and realised that something was wrong.

Ash and Brock swam towards Misty. "We are here to help you" said Ash. Misty was happy to see Ash and Brock and turned to Team Rocket. "If you think that you are going to take my water pokemon, you are so wrong," she said. "Squirtle, Starmie, Seaking and Seel I need your assistance". Squirtle, Starmie, Seaking and Seel got ready to fight. "Go Arbok" said Jessie. Arbok was ready to fight. The interesting thing was that Arbok could breathe underwater; even though it wasn't a water pokemon. James sent out Weezing, but Weezing couldn't breathe underwater like Arbok, so James returned it at once. Arbok had to fight alone. "Seel use headbutt," said Misty. Seel butted Arbok with its horn. "Starmie and Squirtle use tackle and Seaking use horn attack". The pokemon hit Arbok with their attacks one by one. Jessie got frustrated and told Arbok to use poison sting. That was trouble because Arbok's poison sting would spread all around the pool and hit everyone.

But then Slowpoke stopped Arbok with disable. "Thanks Slowpoke," said Misty "now Seel use aurura beam and Squirte use water gun". Seel fired a rainbow coloured beam at Arbok and Squirtle fired a stream of water at Arbok. A Shellder, that hadn't got caught in the net, swam up to Slowpoke and clamped onto its tail. When Shellder did that, Slowwpoke started to evolve. It grew into a bigger version of itself, with a bigger tail. And then Seel and Squirtle started to evolve too and in a few seconds Seel had evolved into a bigger version of itself and Squirtle evolved into Wartortle. "Wow," gasped Misty "not only did Squirtle evolve into Wartortle, but Slowpoke evolved into Slowbro and Seel evolved into Dewgong". "That's amazing" said Ash. The audience went wild over the three evolutions. Even Misty's sisters went crazy.

Tomo had Ash's pokedex with him and looked at Dewgong and Slowbro on it: Slowbro, the hermit crab pokemon. The evolved form of Slowpoke. Though usually dim witted, it seems to become inspired if the Shellder on its tail bites down. Dewgong, the sea lion pokemon. The evolved form of Seel. Its streamlined body has low resistance, and it swims around cold oceans at a speed of eight knots.

"Time to grab those pokemon," said Jessie "let's go Arbok". "Quick Dewgong use ice beam" said Misty. Dewgong fired a stram of ice towards Arbok and Jessie and James, freezing them all in a block of ice in the process. "Now for the grand finale," said Misty "Slowbro blast them away with psychic". Slowbro's eyes glowed blue and sent the frozen Team Rocket and Meowth blasting away with their balloon.

The audience clapped and cheered at the performance. Ash, Misty and Brock climbed onto a big rock that was in the pool and waved at the audience. "I hope that you enjoyed the show" shouted Misty.

Ash, Brock and Misty met up with Daisy, Violet and Lily backstage. Tomo was there too. "Wow Misty," said Daisy "thanks to you, our shows are now popular again". "Yes and they're sold out for the next six months" said Lily. "And since you are leaving Misty, Lily and I will take turns playing the mermaid" said Violet. "Hey Misty," said Daisy "would you mind leaving Dewgong here?" "Huh?" said Misty. "I think you should leave Dewgong here," said Brock "I mean its happy being in the pool with the others". "Oh very well" said Misty and handed Dewgong's pokeball to Daisy. "And leave Wartortle and Starmie here too," said Lily "those two will be a big hit in our shows". So Misty gave Starmie and Wartortle to Violet as well and took some new pokemon with her. So Misty's six pokemon were now Staryu, two Poliwags, Togepi, Psyduck and Goldeen.

With bidding farewell to Daisy, Violet and Lily, Misty and the gang left Cerulean City for Viridian City.

Viridian Gym and back to Pallet Town

The gang had just arrived at Viridian and Ash was looking forward to battling Viridian Gym. "I can't believe that I only need one more badge to enter the indigo league" said Ash. He was staring at his seven badges. "You sure seem excited Ash" said Misty. "Of course I am Misty," said Ash "I have always wanted to take part in the indigo league ever since I first saw it on TV as a little kid". Misty smiled. "It is nice to dream" she admitted.

They arrived at Viridian Gym. The gym was a light brown building and looked like a Roman temple. Ash was just about to head for the doors, when his rival Gary turned up. "Hi Ash" Gary said in his cocky voice. "Gary, what are you doing here?" said Ash. "I'm here for a gym battle," said Gary "what are you here for?" "I'm here to get my eigth badge" said Ash and showed Gary his seven badges. Gary smirked and showed Ash his ten badges. "I'm battling this gym first" he said and entered the gym. Ash wanted to enter the gym too, but the guards at the door said that they would only take one challenger at a time; Ash had to wait for Gary to come out for his turn. Ash sighed. "I think I'll stop by the pokemon center for a while then".

They went to the pokemon center. The Nurse Joy was happy to see Ash and Misty again. Ash was planning to use Wartortle, Ivysaur and Kangaskhan for the gym battle, so he had Nurse Joy check them out. He was now having tea in the pokemon center café with the others. "I just realized that it has been nearly a whole year, since we left Viridian City" Misty said to Ash. "Your right," said Ash "and it will be my eleventh birthday in a couple of weeks too. Wow we have been travelling for so long, I've lost track a bit of how many days have flown by". Brock laughed. "That's normal, because it's easy to ignore the fact that time flies by so quickly when you're enjoying your good life". Just then Ash felt a psychic wave in the air. "What's wrong big brother?" asked Tomo. "I don't know," said Ash "but I'm sensing psychic powers about in this city". "Is it a psychic pokemon?" asked Brock. "I'm not sure," replied Ash "I mean it feels like a psychic pokemon, but it feels stronger though". The gang were all puzzled by this.

Half an hour later, the gang decided to head over to the gym again. When they got there, the guards were no longer there and the gym sign said 'closed'. "Something's not right," said Brock "we need to get into the gym at once". Good news was, the gym doors were not locked. The gang barged through the doors, ran through the corriders, until at last they found the battle arena. To their horror they saw Gary and his two pokemon Nidoking and Arcanine unconscious on the floor. Ash ran over to Gary to see if he was all right. "Gary what happened?" he asked. Gary woke up and explained. "The gym leader used a pokemon that I have never seen before," said Gary weakily "and it was so strong that my pokemon never stood a chance". Ash focused his mind on the area. 'The psychic waves came from here' he thought.

Just then they heard laughter. "Who's there?" said Misty. Team Rocket appeared. "What are you doing here?" said Ash. "Our boss had something to do," said Jessie "so while his dealing with his business, we are the gym leaders at the moment". 'Then this means Viridian Gym is under the control of Team Rocket' thought Ash. "If you want this badge," said Jessie, holding the Earth Badge in her left hand, "you will have to battle me first". "I accept the battle" said Ash.

Just before the battle began, James made two platforms appear on the battlefield. "The trainers will stand on these platforms" he explained. Ash stood on the green platform and Jessie stood on the red platform. Jessie threw three pokeballs. A Machamp, a Kingler and a Rhydon popped out. Giovanni had given them to Jessie. Ash tossed out Wartortle, Ivysaur and Kangaskhan. Gary was amazed by Ash's pokemon, especially Kangaskhan. It was now time for the gym battle.

The first match was between Machamp and Wartortle. Jessie had Machamp attack Wartortle with karate chop. When Wartortle got hit by that, Ash got shocked by the platform. "What happened?" gasped Misty. Team Rocket laughed. "I had the platform rigged so that the Trainer feels all the pain his Pokémon feels". Ash got cross, after hearing that. "You dirty snooks!" he shouted. Tomo, Misty and Brock were cross too and even Gary thought that this was dirty. "Wartortle blast that Machamp with water gun" said Ash. Wartortle blasted a strong stream of water at Machamp and made it feel pain. Jessie then got shocked by her platfom. "Hey why did you have my platform do the same thing?" she yelled at James. "I couldn't get just one platform to do that" said James. Jessie gritted her teeth and sent out Kingler to fight. Ash had Ivysaur to attack Kingler with razor leaf and of course Kingler was no match for that. Jessie became shocked again. Meowth had a trick with him though; he held a remote control that could cause any platform to explode. He was about to press a button, but Tomo intervered. Tomo had ordered his Growlthe to attack Meowth. Meowth became too scared to fight Growlithe back; after all he was a cat and Growlithe was a dog. Jessie became frustrated. She sent out Arbok and Weezing from their pokeballs. "Hey you can't use new pokemon," shouted Misty "that's against the rules". "I'm the gym leader," said Jessie "so I make the rules". Ash sent out Pikachu and had all his four pokemon attack Jessie's five pokemon. Machamp, Kingler, Rhydon, Arbok and Weezing were both defeated, leaving Jessie shocked for the third time". Ash had won.

Tomo, Misty and Brock cheered for Ash. Even Gary thought that Ash was an impressive trainer. James and Meowth asked Jessie if she was all right. But of course Jessie was bad tempered, because she had lost. "Hey Jessie," said Ash "I won so I would like the Earth Badge please". Jessie refused to give it to him. Just then Tomo pulled out the remote control; he had Growlithe steal it from Meowth. Tomo pressed a red button. Meowth then revealed that the button Tomo pressed would make the red platform explode, and it did. Team Rocket blasted away, with Arbok and Weezing. Machamp, Kingler and Rhydon ran away into a back room of the gym. Jessie dropped the Earth Badge and Ash caught it. "Finally my eighth badge" smiled Ash.

Ash and the gang left Viridian Gym. "I wonder why Team Rocket owns a gym" said Ash. "I don't know," said Misty "but knowing crooks like them, my guess it's for something bad". The three boys agreed with that. "Hey I wonder if we will ever see that mysterious pokemon that Gary saw" said Brock. "To be honest with you," said Ash "I have a feeling inside me telling me that we will see that pokemon". "Where's the indigo league gonna be held big brother?" asked Tomo. "Well," said Ash "I do know that it will be held at a place called Indigo Plateau, but I don't know where that is. I will have to ask Prof Oak for that". "Then I suggest we go to Pallet Town" said Brock. "I agree with that," said Ash "besides it would be nice to be home again and see my mum too". So the gang headed for Pallet Town.

When Ash arrived at Pallet Town, his mum was outside the house waiting for him. Before leaving Viridian City, Ash had phoned Delia to let her know that he was coming home. Delia pulled Ash into a hug. "I'm so glad you're home Ash" she said happily. "It's nice to be home" said Ash, returning his mum's hug. He introduced Misty and Brock to her. "I'm glad to finally meet you two," said Delia "and I thank you for taking care of Ash for me". "My pleasure" said Brock. "We had a fun time traveling with Ash" said Misty. When Delia saw Tomo, she gave him a hug too. "Nice to see you too Tomo" she said. After all the cheerful greeting, Delia and the gang went into the house. Ash saw Persian and Victreebel and greeted them. "I'm glad to see that you two have been doing well" he said. Persian purred and Victreebel sang. "Those two have been great company to me, ever since you sent them to me Ash" said Delia. Just then a pink, white and blue pokemon entered the living room. "Oh and this is my newest addition, Mr Mime, who I like to call Mimey".

Ash checked Mr Mime on the pokedex; Mr Mime, the barrier pokemon. By rapidly moving its fingers, Mr. Mime can stop air molecules to create an invisible wall.

"Wow mun," said Ash "when did you get that?" "I got Mimey a couple of days ago," said Delia "I was coming home shopping, when I noticed a hurt wild Mr Mime lying out on the path. I took it home at once and helped it become healthy again. Once it was fit enough to leave, it didn't want to leave. So I kept it as my third pokemon". "I see" smiled Ash.

Later that evening Delia made a huge meal for the gang. "I figured you four might be hungry, so dig in" she said. She also made some pokemon food for Togepi, Pikachu and Growlithe. "I've been looking forward to your cooking for a long time" said Ash. He had always loved his mum's cooking. Tomo, Misty and Brock were enjoying the meal too. "So Ash, what are you planning to no now?" asked Delia. "Well I need to ask Prof Oak where Indigo Plateau is," said Ash "and since I have a few more months until the indigo league, I'll use the time left to train". "What are you going to do for training?" asked Brock. "Well I've decided to train my pokemon in different habitants," said Ash "you know like train my water pokemon in the ocean and train my bug pokemon in the forest and all that". "Yeah, I like that idea" said Misty. Tomo asked Ash if he could watch him train. Ash agreed to that. "If you are going to do that," said Delia "I suggest you all get a good nights sleep tonight, to recharge your energy".

That night Ash was tucked up in bed with Pikachu, Tomo and Growlithe. "We are going to be very busy for the next few months," he said to them "so we are going to need all the rest we can get tonight". Pikachu squeaked at that. "I can't wait to see you fighting in the indigo league big brother" said Tomo. "And I can't wait to participate in it" said Ash. And soon they were all asleep.

The next day, after having a nice breakfast, the gang walked over to Prof Oak's lab. "Wow, so that's the lab?" said Misty. "Yep," said Ash "and this is where I started my journey. It's also where I met and got Pikachu". Pikachu squeaked at that; he remembered that day too. Ash walked up to the door and ding donged on the door bell. "Who is it?" said a voice. "Hi professor it's me Ash" said Ash. Prof Oak opened the door. "Ah Ash it is good to see you," he said "and you too Tomo, Misty and Brock. Come on in". Tomo, Misty and Brock were amazed about how big Prof Oak's lab was. Prof Oak brought them into his living room for a chat. Gary was in there too. "Hey Gary" said Ash. "Well hi there Ash," said Gary "what are you doing here?" "Here for information about Indigo Plateau" said Ash. "So am I" said Gary. "Before I answer any questions," said Prof Oak "I have something to speek to you about Ash and Gary". Ash and Gary looked at him in confusion.

Gary and the gang sat down on the living room's couches and Prof Oak stayed standing up. "Gary and Ash," he said "as you know that it has nearly been a whole year that you two started your journey. And I must say both of you have made Pallet Town proud and have also become Pallet Town's two top trainers". "Wow, thanks Grandpa" said Gary. "Hang on a minute," said Ash "what about the other two trainers that left on the same day as Gary and me?" "Ah well Ash," said Prof Oak "those two are still travelling, but they will not be joining you at the indigo league. The truth is their battling skills do not compare to you two, so they haven't exactly succeeded as trainers". Ash and Gary looked at each other in amazement. "Now I wish to check some things out with you two". Prof Oak had a computer in his living room and switched it on. "First I want your pokedex's" he said to Gary and Ash. Ash and Gary handed them over. "Now according to the research," said Prof Oak "Ash you have seen over one hundred different pokemon, while Gary has seen only sixty pokemon". Ash was amazed by that, but it was true that he had seen all sorts of pokemon on his journey. "Next up is that Gary has ten badges and Ash has eight badges, said Prof Oak "and last of all Gary has caught more than two hundred pokemon and Ash has caught forty three pokemon. Which I say is very impressive". Ash was amazed by the amount of pokemon Gary had caught, but he didn't care; he didn't believe that catching pokemon like crazy was important. "Now that is all settled," said Prof Oak, giving Ash and Gary back the pokedex's "the last thing to say is about the pokemon league at Indigo Plateau". "Where is Indigo Plateau, professor?" asked Ash. Prof Oak showed them where it was on a map on the computer screen. "To get to Indigo Plateau you need to turn west from Viridian City first," Prof Oak explained "that will be route 22, then you go to route 23 and that is now you get to Indigo Plateau". Ash and Gary thanked Prof Oak and then Gary left. He decided to head home for a rest.

Ash and the gang walked into the Oak Corral, where all the pokemon, that trainers caught, were. Ash released his pokemon from their pokeballs; Ivysaur, Pidgeotto, Flareon, Vaporeon and Cubone. Then he called out for his other pokemon and soon Ash was surrounded by his forty three pokemon. "Okay everyone," Ash said to all of his pokemon "we are entering the pokemon league in two months time. During these two months we are going to train and make ourselves strong for the pokemon league. Everyone understand?" His pokemon roared in agreement.

While Ash was talking to his pokemon, Tomo was playing with his pokemon; Growlithe, Pikachu, Tauros, Nidoran couple, Poliwag, Venonat, Cubone, Kabuto, Omanyte and Farfetch'd. Tomo was feeling very cheerful; he had travelled with Ash, caught some new pokemon friends and learnt how to do pokemon battles. But one thing worried him; what would he do after Ash finished hs journey?

When the gang went back to Ash's house, a big surprise waited for them. Ranger Jenny was there, talking to Delia. "Ranger Jeny," gasped Ash "what are you doing here?" "I am here to discuss about Tomo" she said. Ash began to get worried; he had grown very fond of Tomo and saw him like a little brother. 'Does this mean Tomo and I will now be separated from each other?' he thought. Both he, Tomo, Misty and Brock got nervous about what Ranger Jenny was going to say next. Ranger Jenny took out some papers. "These are adoption papers" she said. Delia spoke next. "Ranger Jenny told me everything about Tomo's dead parents," she said "and we came to an agreement". "I have heard that Tomo has been happy with you Ash," said Ranger Jenny "and I had decided that Tomo should stay with you permanently". "Which means that Tomo will now be part of our family Ash" said Delia. Ash and Tomo were shocked by this. "Then this means that you and I will be real brothers now Tomo" said Ash. Tomo jumped into his brothers arms and then ran to Delia; his new mum. So it was now arranged; Tomo was now Tomo Ketchum. Ranger Jenny left Pallet Town, happily knowing that Tomo would now grow up with a real family beside him at last.

For the next two months, Ash trained with his pokemon. He trained his water pokemon Wartortle, Golduck, Vaporeon, Gyarados and Krabby in the ocean at Seafoam Islands. He also trained his Dragonair there as well. For his rock and ground pokemon, Sandslash, Rhydon, Kabutops, Omastar and Aerodactyl, Ash trained in the mountains. He also trained Clefable, Wigglytuff, Primeape, Kangaskhan, Charizard, Flareon, Ninetails, Rapidash, Cubone, Nidorino, Nidorina and Tauros there as well. Butterfree, Beedrill, Parasect, Venonat, Scyther and Pinsir were trained in the forest. And last of all, Ash trained Pikachu, Raichu, Ivysaur, Doduo, Pidgeotto, Fearow, Gengar, Muk, Arbok, Magnemite, Espeon, Umbreon and Jolteon in the meadows. His last two Eevees were too young for training, so Ash decided to wait till they had grown up a bit more. Tomo, Misty and Brock had been watching Ash train all the time, and were very impressed with Ash. "I think Ash is ready for this" said Brock. "So do I" agreed Misty.

Thanks to all the training, Ash's pokemon were all ready for the indigo league. In the process some of Ash's pokemon evolved. Pidgeotto evolved into Pidgeot, Krabby into Kingler, Venonat into Venomoth, Doduo into Dodrio, Magnemite into Magneton and Cubone into Marowak. Ash also evolved his Nidorina and Nidorino into Nidoqueen and Nidoking by using his moon stone.

Apart from training Ash and the gang celebrated Ash's eleventh birthday. They had a party for Ash, with plenty of food and a big birthday cake. Ash also got presents; new clothes, pokemon toys and accessories, a new backpack and a book of legendary pokemon from Prof Oak. "It's funny," Ash said "I left Pallet Town as a ten year old, and now I'm back as an eleven year old". Everyone giggled at that.

There was one important thing that Ash had to do and that was showing his mum his psychic powers. When Delia saw that, she was surprised, but wasn't in shock. "I think I know why you have these powers" she said. She took out an old book from her bookshelf, opened it up and revealed a page to Ash. The page was a picture of a beautiful woman with long black hair. "This is our ancestor Celeste," Delia said "and she was a psychic and a very powerful one too. She got married to a man from our family. So you inherited your powers from her Ash". Ash was amazed that he did have a psychic relative down his line. He told Misty, Brock and Tomo about her as well. "This explains why you have psychic powers" said Brock. Ash was still amazed by this; but it didn't faze him one bit.

Now it was finally time for the gang to head for Indigo Plateau. "Indigo league, here I come" said Ash. And he and the gang headed out for Indigo Plateau.

The Indigo League

The gang were nearly at Indigo Plateau. "So Ash," said Misty "how far do you think you'll get in the indigo leage?" "Well I would like to win it," said Ash "but I do know that trying to win the league isn't easy. So I just hope I can at least make it through the preliminary rounds". "You'll be great big brother" said Tomo. Ash smiled and rubbed Tomo's head in gratitude.

Just then they approached a large fanfare and people with flags. "What's going on?" asked Ash. "They must be waiting for the torch bearer" said Misty. "Torch bearer?" said Ash "oh wait that's someone who runs to the indigo league stadium, with a flaming torch, and lights up a huge flame that burns during the entire pokémon league competition, correct?" "That is correct Ash," said Brock "and the flame is supposed to be a form of inspiration for the competitors. They also say that the flame is supposed to be of a Moltres".

Ash looked at Moltres on his pokedex: Moltres, the flame pokemon. It is known as the legendary bird of fire and it is said that its appearance indicates the coming of spring.

"What an amazing pokemon," said Ash "oh I wish that I could be the torch bearer". "Excuse me young man," said a voice "but did you say what you want to be a torch bearer?"

The gang turned round and saw an old man in a car. "Who are you?" Ash asked the old man. An Officer Jenny spoke up. "This is the Honorable Charles Goodshow, President of the Pokémon League Torch Committee". Ash and the gang greeted Mr Goodshow. Ash walked up to Mr Goodshow and told him that he would like to be a torch bearer. Mr Goodshaw smiled. "And you shall too," he said "you have the spirit kid. And if your friends want to join, they may". "Well guys," said Ash "what do you say?" "I want to run with the torch too" said Tomo. "I would like that as well" said Misty. "It's a once in a life time opprtunity" said Brock.

So Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock got to run with the torch. First Ash had a run, with Pikachu. Then it was Tomo, with Growlithe, then Misty, with Togepi on her shoulder, and then Brock, with Vulpix. Until at last, they reached the stadium. Brock handed the torch to Mr Goodshaw, who invites the gang to come to the opening ceremony of the pokemon league that was tomorrow.

That evening, Ash and the gang were at the pokemon center. Ash had his pokemon checked and registered himself for the pokemon league. A lot of pokemon trainers were there too, even Gary. Poor Nurse Joy was kept very busy. That night while everyone was still asleep, Ash was still awake. He was thinking about everything that he had done on his journey; catching pokemon, collecting all eight badges and been to all sorts of places. And now he was facing the indigo league tournament. "This has been such a journey for me" he whispered to himself. Then he tried to get some sleep.

The next day, everyone had gathered to the pokemon stadium; it was almost time for the opening ceromony of the indigo league. The stadium seats were full of people and trainers, who had gotten eight badges, were waiting for the tournament to begin. A runner was just about to place the flame on the cauldron. But then the flame got snatched out of her hand. It was James from Team Rocket. Team Rocket wanted the flame of Moltres, to sell it for money. Ash was cross. "Must Team Rocket have to spoil everything?" he said. He had come a long way to get to the pokemon league and now Team Rocket was trying to ruin it.

Team Rocket had a big machine, which held a cauldron. Jessie lit the flame onto a cauldron and the flame turned into a bigger flame. "With this flame," said Meowth "not only will we be rich, but unstoppable". Ash had Pikachu use thunderbolt on the machine, but it didn't work. "At this rate," said Ash "Team Rocket will destroy the stadium and take away the flame". Team Rocket aimed their machine at Ash. "Let's teach the twerp a lesson" said Meowth. "Yes, let's" said Jessie. They fired the flame at Ash and Pikachu.

Ash and Pikachu braced themselves against the flame. But they didn't end up burnt to a crisp. "That's funny;" said Ash "why isn't this fire burning us". Suddenly he heard a screech and saw a shape of a bird in the flames. "It's Moltress!" gasped Ash. And it was too. Moltress revealed itself to everyone, including Team Rocket. Team Rocket wanted to capture it, but before they did Moltress destroyed their machine and sent them blasting off. Then Moltress flew to the stadiums cauldron and lit the flame.

Everyone was amazed by what had happened and was also happy that the tournament would now happen. Mr Goodshaw gave a welcoming speech and declared the pokemon league open. Ash was staring at the flame and thanked Moltress for helping him. Now the pokemon league had now begun.

Ash and Pikachu was waiting for his first indigo league battle to begin, in a waiting room. After the opening ceromonies, Ash found out that he had to pass through four preliminary battles on four unique battlefields (Grass, Water, Ice, and Rock) to qualify for battling inside Indigo Stadium. His first battle was going to be on the water field. "Since this field is a water field, I will use Gyarados, Dragonair and Raichu" said Ash. "That's a good idea," said Misty "those three are a good choice". The screen in the pokemon center, where participants find out who their opponents are, showed that Ash was against a trainer named Mandi, who was a bit of a magician. "This guy is going to lose" smiled Ash.

Ash's battle with Mandi wasn't until the afternoon, so Ash got ready for the battle. He phoned Prof Oak and asked him for his Gyarados, Dragonair and Raichu. Ash switched Wartortle, Pidgeotto and Sandslash for them. "I wish you luck Ash, especially since this is your first time in a pokemon league" said Prof Oak. "Thanks professor" said Ash. Delia was at the lab too and she wished Ash lots of luck too, and she also said that she will be watching him on TV all the way.

Ash felt ready after getting Gyarados, Dragonair and Raichu from the lab. He found out that Gary had win his first battle on the ice field, but Ash just concentrated for his first battle. Later they on they met Mandi, but Mandi was a cocky, arrogant trainer and Ash didn't like him at all. "I look forward to beating you in our battle Ash" Mandi smirked. 'If that guy thinks that he is going to win, then he is wrong' thought Ash.

Soon it was time for Ash to battle on the water field. "Ready Ash?" asked Misty. "As ready as I will ever be," replied Ash "let's go". Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock entered the arena together. Ash took his place on the battle field and Tomo, Misty and Brock took a seat behind Ash. The battle field was a water field all right; it was a big pool, with platforms. The judge explained the rules about each trainer using three pokemon and such. H also explained about the rules of pokemon battle loses; if the trainer recalled a pokemon, or the pokemon was knocked out, or the pokemon fell asleep or refused the battle, those four things counted as loses. Delia and Prof Oak were watching the battle on TV and all the other residents of Pallet Town were watching too. The residents knew that Ash and Gary were participating in the Indigo League, so they wanted to watch both of them. Then the battle began.

Mandi sent out his first pokemon; Exeggutor. Ash knew that Exeggutor was a grass and psychic type, so he sent out Dragonair to battle. "Okay Exeggutor use egg bomb" said Mandi. Exeggutor fired multiple egg shaped balls towards Dragonair. "Quick Dragonair, use protect" said Ash. Dragonair quickly protected herself from the egg bomb attack with a shield. "Okay time for us to counter attack, use flamethrower". Dragonair blew flamethrower at Exeggutor and Exeggutor got hurt. Mandi didn't expect this. "Quick Exeggutor use hypnosis" he said. Before Exeggutor could use hypnosis, Ash commanded Dragonair to attack with extreme speed. Dragonair tackled Exeggutor very hard and Exeggutor fainted. Mandi's next pokemon was a Seadra. Ash returned Dragonair and sent out Gyarados. Seadra was a dragon type pokemon as well as a water type; so Dragonair would have been at a disadvantage with Seadra's dragon type moves. "That's a good idea of Ash's," said Misty "Dragonair would have had a lot of trouble with Seadra". "Yes, Ash knows exactly what he's doing out there" said Brock. "Of course he does," said Tomo "big brother has trained and practiced hard for this". Misty and Brock knew that Tomo was right. "Use dragon rage Gyarados" said Ash. Gyarados fired dragon rage at Seadra, but Mandi ordered Seadra to use agility to dodge it. "Keep on using agility Seadra" said Mandi. Seadra kept on swimming around the pool so that Gyarados couldn't hit it. Ash had seen this tactic before with water pokemon and knew what to do. "Gyarados whirlpool" he said. Gyarados swam all-round the pool and created a whirlpool. Seadra got caught in the whirlpool and couldn't escape from it. "Oh no!" gasped Mandi. He had been underestimating Ash all this time and now he knew of Ash's abilities as a trainer. "Now use dragon pulse" said Ash. Gyarados fired dragon pulse at Seadra and Seadra got hit and fainted. Now Mandi had only one pokemon left, while Ash still had two. Mandi sent out his final pokemon; a Golbat. Ash returned Gyarados and sent out Raichu. Since Ash recalled Gyarados and sent out a new pokemon; he was now done to one pokemon, and he would lose the match if Raichu was defeated. "You think Ash will be okay?" asked Misty, nervously, "he'll be fine, besides as Golbat is a flying type; it will easily be defeated by Raichu's electric attacks". Mandi ordered his Golbat to use double team, but Ash told Raichu to use swift, and Riachu's swift attack got rid of the copies and hit the real Golbat. "Okay Raichu, let's use thunder" said Ash. Raichu fired a thunder attack at Golbat, which really shocked Golbat, and then Golbat fainted. "Golbat is unable to battle," said the referee "Raichu is the winner. And as Ash Ketchum has defeated all of Mandi's pokemon, this match goes to Ash". So Ash won his first preliminary round. He hugged Raichu. "We did it Raichu!" he cheered. Raichu was happy with the victory.

Misty, Brock and Tomo congratulated Ash for his victory. "You were great big brother" said Tomo, hugging Ash. "Yeah," said Brock "for your first battle, you did great out there". "And you knew exactly what to do out there" said Misty. "Well I did tell that I was ready for this," said Ash. Tomo, Brock and Misty nodded with agreement.

Next day, Ash was now battling in his second preliminary rounds. He was battling a trainer named Jeramiah and it was on the rock field. So far Ash had defeated Jeramiah's Electrode and Fearow, thanks to Tauros and Rhydon. But Rhydon had been knocked out by Jeramiah's Nidorino. So now Ash was down to his last pokemon and he called out Marowak to battle. Jeramiah ordered Nidorino to attack Marowak with horn drill, but Marowak easily clubbed Nidorino hard with his bone. Ash then ordered Marowak to attack Nidorino with bonemerang. Nidorino got hit by Marowak's bone three times and then fainted. So Ash won his second preliminary round.

"I find it amazing of how Marowak has become so strong," said Misty, after the match was over, "I mean when we first met him, he was only a baby Cubone". "Yeah but baby pokemon do grow up quick with the right training" said Brock.

The next day it was Ash's third preliminary round match on the ice field. He was up against a trainer named Pete. At the moment they each had one lose; Ash had defeated Pete's Dewgong with Magneton, but then Magneton got defeated by Cloyster. Then Ash released his Kingler to fight Cloyster. "Crabhammer Kingler" said Ash. "Withdraw Cloyster" said Pete. Cloyster clamped back into its shell, and Kingler started to whack Cloyster with crabhammer. "Switch from crabhammer to rock smash Kingler" said Ash. Kingler used rock smash on Cloyster. As rock smash was a fighting type move, poor Cloyster couldn't handle it, being an ice type as well as water type, and Cloyster fainted. Pete returned Cloyster and sent out his last pokemon; an Arcanine. Ash thought this would be an easy match, as Arcanine was fire and Kingler was water. But Pete proved him wrong; Arcanine defeated Kingler with a dragon rage attack. Ash sent out his last pokemon; Golduck. "Golduck use hydro pump" said Ash. Golduck fired a powerful hydro pump attack, but Pete had Arcanine fight back the hydro pump attack with fire blast. Arcanine kept on firing fire blast around the ice field, and all the ice melted. Only a small bit of ice, where Arcanine was standing was left. Ash smirked; as Golduck was water, it was a good time to attack. He told Golduck to swim up to Arcanine and use hydro pump again. Golduck swam up to Arcanine and used hydro pump again. This time Arcanine got hit and then fainted. And Ash won his third round.

Next day, it was the day of the fourth round matches. Before it was Ash's time to battle, Ash and the gang watched Gary in his fourth preliminary battle on the rock field. He was battling a girl named Melissa and both she and Gary were down to their last pokemon. Gary's Nidoking was putting up a good fight against Melissa's Golem, but Golem defeated Nidoking with seismic toss. So Gary had lost in the preliminary rounds and had earned Top 32 in the Indigo League.

Gary was a bit disappointed with himself, but it didn't make him want to give up of being a trainer. "I'm surprised with Gary's loss," Ash said to Pikachu "I would have thought that Gary would have made it at least four rounds". He started to feel a bit nervous now, but with Pikachu, Tomo, Misty and Brock cheering him on Ash started to perk up again.

Later on was Ash's fourth preliminary round battle. He was up against a trainer named Jeanette. Ash sent out Ivysaur to battle first, and Jeanette sent out Beedrill. "Beedrill fight that Ivysaur with your twineedle" said Jeanette. Beedrill flew over to Ivysaur and tried to stab him with the twineedle attack. Ivysaur managed to keep on dodging, but this Beedrill was as speedy as him. Ash had to do something quick, before that Beedrill could hurt Ivysaur. "Ivysaur use leech seed" said Ash. A seed sprouted out from Ivysaur's bud and Beedrill got trapped by the leech seed, and its energy was being sucked. "Now tackle it" said Ash. Ivysaur tackled Beedrill hard and then it fainted. Jeanette returned Beedrill and sent out Scyther next. Ash asked Ivysaur if he was still okay to battle, and Ivysaur was. Scyther flew over to Ivysaur and tried to hurt it with slash attack. "Ivysaur try to use razor leaf against" said Ash. Ivysaur tossed out razor leaf to Scyther, but Scyther slashed the leaves with its blades. "Now use double team Scyther" said Jeanette. Scyther multiplied itself to make Ivysaur confused. "Okay Ivysaur hit all of those Scyther copies with vine whip" said Ash. Ivysaur whacked all the copies of Scyther and whacked the real Scyther too. Scyther got such a blow from Ivysaur's vine whip, it fainted. Jeanette's last pokemon was a Bellsprout. Ash was surprised but it didn't make him lose concentration. He ordered Ivysaur to tackle it, but Bellsprout easily dodged it. Ivysaur tried again, but Bellsprout easily dodged it again. Ivysaur tried a third time, but Bellsprout grabbed Ivysaur and slammed him onto the ground multiple times until he fainted. Bellsprout was like a ninja warrior; it was obvious that it had been trained really well. The same thing happened when Ash sent out Flareon next. Bellsprout easily dodged Flareon's flamethrower attacks, and then it slammed Flareon hard until he fainted. Ash couldn't believe how strong that Bellsprout was. He then sent out his Muk to battle. "Sludge bomb Muk" said Ash. Muk fired globs of brown sludge towards Bellsprout, but Bellsprout easily dodged that attack as well. "Slam that Muk" said Jeanette. Bellsprout tried to slam Muk, but it had no effect on Muk's sludgy body. "Body slam Muk" said Ash. Muk body slammed Bellsprout good. Bellsprout tried to fight Muk off it, but Bellsprout fainted.

So Ash had passed all four Preliminary rounds and he could battle in the Indigo Stadium.

After finishing off the Preliminary rounds, Ash, his friends and family were having dinner at a restaurant. "I have to say Ash," said Misty "you did great during the preliminary rounds". "You were awesome big brother" said Tomo. "Yeah," said Ash "and its all thanks to my pokemon". "You and your pokemon have come a very long way Ash," said Prof Oak "not only have you and your pokemon become strong, but your bond has too". I am very proud of my boy" said Delia. "Too bad that Gary didn't make it passed the preliminary rounds" said Brock. "Yes," sighed Prof Oak "but the thing is with Gary is that, he is a good trainer but he got over confident, and that's why he lost in the fourth preliminary battle. So Ash my boy Pallet Town is now giving cheers to you only". Ash smiled; he felt more proud than ever.

After dinner, Ash and the gang met up with a trainer named Ritchie. Ritchie nearly looked like Ash, only with with different hair and eye color. Ritchie also had a Pikachu, nicknamed Sparky. Ash also found that Ritchie had a Butterfree and Charmander. "It's if like Ritchie and I are twins" chuckled Ash; after all he has a Butterfree and he caught Charizard as a Charmander.

The next day, Ash was getting ready for his fifth battle. Believe it or not his opponent turned out to be Ritchie. At first both Ash and Ritchie felt uncomfortable with battling each other, since they had become friends as well as rivals. But they agreed and promised with each other to make it the best match ever.

First Ritchie sent out his Butterfree, nicknamed Happy, to battle. Ash had his Flareon out. Ritchie had Happy use sleep powder, but Flareon blew it away with flamethrower. Then Ash had Flareon use fire fang on Happy. Happy got hurt from Flareon's firey teeth, and ended up with a burn too. And with a powerful quick attack, Flareon defeated Happy. Ritchie called out his Charmander, nicknamed Zippo, to battle. Zippo and Flareon put up a good fight with each other with slash and quick attack, despite being fire vs fire, but Flareon got defeated by Zippo's slash attack. Ash sent out Wartortle, who easily defeated Zippo with his water gun attacks. Last of all Ritchie sent out Sparky. Wartortle did the best he could, but Sparky defeated him easily with his thunder bolt attacks. To make the last battle fun, Ash sent out his Pikachu to battle. Ritchie was a bit surprised, but understood what Ash was doing. Pikachu and Sparky had a real fight between them; firing electric attacks at each other and charging at each other with quick attack and so on. But in the end Ash's Pikachu managed to knock out Sparky with a combo of iron tail and thunderbolt, meaning Ash had won.

After the battle Ritchie gave his pokemon a rest in the pokemon center. Ash was there too, giving his pokemon a rest. "That Ash was the best battle ever" said Ritchie. Ash agreed on that. "I wish you the best of luck with the other matches" said Ritchie.

Ash was now against a girl named Assunta. Since he was now in the finals; Ash would now battle six-on six battles. They were now down to their final pokemon, Pikachu and Ivysaur. Assunta turned out to be quite a challenger for Ash. Ash had defeated her Rhydon, Tentacool, Venomoth, Parasect and Primeape, thanks to his Vaporeon, Fearow, Arbok, Clefable and Pinsir. Ash's Pikachu did quite well against Assunta's Ivysaur. But Assunta's Ivysaur defeated Pikachu with its vine whip attack. So Ash lost this match.

Ash did feel a bit disappointed about loosing the match. But then again he earned Top 8 in the league, way higher than Gary's position. So Ash didn't feel so down. He was now with the others at the cabin. "You feeling all right Ash?" asked Misty. She had been a bit worried about Ash, ever since he lost his match against Assunta. "I'm okay," said Ash "I did hope of course that I would win this tournament. But then being in Top 8 isn't that bad and there are other leagues that I can try out". "Absolutely" Misty agreed.

After the final battle of the indigo league it was now time for the closing ceromony. All the trainers that participated marched into the stadium and received a lot of applausing from the crowds. Ash, Ritchie and the other trainers who didn't win received a pokemon league badge. The badge was shaped a bit like a wing, in a green and cream colored cloth, and it was an ice blue colored badge. And the trainers who came in 3rd, 2nd and 1st place were placed on the winner's box and received a trophy and medals. Then there was fireworks going off in the night sky and the Moltress flame were extinguished until the next year's competition. Then everyone began going home.

Before going home, Ash bid farewell to Ritchie and then took one last look at the stadium. He thought about the time he entered the stadium, seeing the Moltress flame and running with it, the battles he fought in, meeting his new friend Ritchie and earning the pokemon league badge. Now it was time for Ash and the gang to head back to Pallet Town.

Ash's first journey through the Kanto region may have ended, but a new journey was about to begin.