Ash's Pokémon Journey

Chapter 56-60

Chapter 56

The Silver Conference

Today was finally the day of when the Silver Conference battles would start. The gang were in the pokemon center, and they were looking at a big chart which should what trainer will be facing who in the semi-finals. Ash was in group H and his two opponents were a girl, with reddish brown hair, and a boy with light brown hair. "Don't forget Ash," said Brock "you have to earn 3 or more points to win the round-robin tournaments". Ash hadn't forgotten that and he couldn't wait to start battling.

Once they gang were outside the pokemon center, they ran into one of Ash's opponents. It was the reddish brown haired girl, and her name was Macey from Mahogany Town. "I know you are my first opponent Ash," said Macey "and let me tell you; my fire pokemon and I will beat you in a flash". "So that means you are a fire pokemon trainer then?" asked Ash. "That's right" said Macey. Macey started talking about how she loved fire pokemon and how cool they were; just like how Misty does with water pokemon. Misty thought that Macey was annoying. "I'll see you in our battle Ash" said Macey, and she took off.

A few hours before it was Ash's time to battle Macey, the gang were in their room. Brock was using the computer to look up Macey. She was a fire pokemon trainer all right; she had a Vulpix, Quilava, Slugma, a Flareon and a Houndoom. And, to the gang's surprise, she had an Electabuzz. "She obviously uses Electabuzz to battle water type pokemon," said Misty "so what pokemon are you going to use Ash?" When Misty asked Ash about the pokemon he was going to use, Ash explained to the others that he was only going to use Pikachu and his Johto pokemon. "You see I only started with Pikachu and Lugia when we first arrived in Johto," said Ash "and as I only used Pikachu and my Johto pokemon in the gym battles. I know I used Scizor, who I caught as Scyther in Kanto, in the battle against Pryce and Dragonite in the battle against Clair, but since then I decided that I will only be using Pikachu and my Johto pokemon here in the Silver Conference". Tomo, Misty and Brock understood; sure Ash's Kanto pokemon and the pokemon he caught in the Orange Islands were strong, but it wouldn't be fair to all of his Johto pokemon after all the work they went through to help Ash get to the Silver Conference. So this was obviously their chance to show what they could do. "Will you be using Lugia and Celebi in the tournament too?" asked Tomo. "Yes I will, but not against Macey," said Ash "I've decided to use Feraligatr, Miltank and Larvitar for this". "Why Miltank?" asked Misty. "Let's just say that Miltank knows a move that will beat Macey's fire type pokemon" smiled Ash. Misty, Tomo and Brock could see from Ash's words that he had a trick up his sleeve, and they decided to wait to see what would happen in the match.

Later that day, it was time for Ash's match against Macey. It was held in stadium B. The referee explained that substitutes were allowed during the match; that was different with the Indigo league, because substituting pokemon cost the trainer a point. But this time the trainers wouldn't lose a point. Tomo, Misty and Brock were seating on the bench behind Ash.

Macey sent out her first pokemon; a Slugma. Ash thought this would happen and sent out Miltank to battle first. "Huh why is he using Miltank, instead of Feraligatr?" asked Misty. "Probably decided to use Feraligatr last just in case Macey will use Electabuzz next" said Brock. "Slugma use flamethrower on that Miltank" said Macey. "Use rollout to dodge Miltank" said Ash. Miltank start to roll when Slugma used flamethrower, and dodged it. Slugma blew flamethrower again, but Miltank just dodged it again thanks to rollout and then she tackled Slugma hard. "I recognize this strategy," said Misty "Whitney from the Goldenrod Gym did this move with her Miltank". "That's right," said Brock "so it's obvious Ash is using what he has learnt from Whitney". "Okay Slugma let's use double team" said Macey. Slugma made multiple copies of itself, and Miltank rolled into one of the copies and then she stopped rolling. "Okay Miltank let's use surf" said Ash. Miltank summoned a huge tidal wave and rode on it. The audience were surprised to see Miltank using surf. "Wow," said Misty "I've never seen a Miltank use surf before". "Me neither;" said Brock "it's obvious that's the move that Ash was telling us about". The surf attack crashed down on Slugma, destroying the copies, and then Slugma fainted. "Oh no Slugma!" shouted Macey. She didn't expect that something like this would happen.

Macy returned Slugma and sent out Electabuzz. "It seems our thoughts of Macey using Electabuzz in this battle were right Brock" said Misty. "You're right," said Brock "I just hope that Miltank will be able to battle against Electabuzz". "Okay Miltank let's use rollout" said Ash. Miltank started to roll towards Miltank. "Electabuzz use your dynamic punch" said Macey. Electabuzz's right hand glowed white, then Electabuzz ran up to Miltank and punched her really hard. The dynamic punch made Miltank stop rolling and it also made her confused. "Great now that Miltank is confused, use thunderbolt Electabuzz" said Macey. Electabuzz shocked Miltank and she was hurt. "Now use thunder punch Electabuzz". Electabuzz's fist glowed yellow and it punched Miltank, while electricity was surrounding its fist, and Miltank fainted. "That Electabuzz is strong" said Tomo. "You're right," said Brock "let's hope that Ash can win against it".

Ash returned Miltank and sent out Larvitar. "I hope Larvitar will be okay," said Misty "I mean Electabuzz knows a fighting type move, and Larvitar is weak against fighting type moves". "Yeah," said Brock "we'll just have to wait and see what happens". Macey knew that her Electabuzz wouldn't be able to do much against Larvitar, even if it knew a fighting type move, so she recalled it and sent out her third pokemon; Quilava. "So she decided to switch instead" said Brock. "Quilava would have the disadvantage too, because rock beats fire" said Misty. "True but Macey's a trainer that you shouldn't underestimate" said Brock. "Okay Quilava use flame wheel" said Macey. Quilava spun in the air, with its body engulfed in flames, and then it rolled towards Larvitar. "Okay Larvitar use sandstorm" said Ash. Larvitar made a sandstorm come out from his horn and Quilava stopped in its tracks from the sandstorm. "Now use stone edge". Larvitar's eyed glowed white, and then multiple white orbs surrounded Larvitar. The white orbs then turned into grey stones and then Larvitar fired them at Quilava. Quilava got hurt by the stones. "Quilava fight back with flamethrower" said Macey. Quilava's flamethrower hit Larvitar; Larvitar did get hurt but not much. "That flamethrower attack did well against Larvitar, even though Larvitar is a rock and ground type" said Misty. "It's obvious;" said Brock "Macey has trained all of her fire type pokemon well". "Okay Larvitar use dig" said Ash. Larvitar dug underground, and Quilava had no idea when Larvitar would pop up again. "Okay Larvitar come out and use stomp". Larvitar jumped out of the ground and then stomped on Quilava hard with both his feet. Quilava fainted from the attack. "Great job Larvitar!" cheered Ash. "Wow, that Larvitar is strong" said Misty. "Well Ranger Mason did tell us that Larvitar has practiced fighting all the time while it lived in the pokemon reserve" said Tomo. Misty and Brock agreed.

Macey returned Quilava and sent out Electabuzz again. "Okay Larvitar let's use stone edge again" said Ash. But before Larvitar can use stone edge, Macey ordered Electabuzz to use dynamic punch. Larvitar got punched well by Electabuzz and fainted. "Sorry Ash," said Macey "but we weren't going to fall for that again". "Now Ash has only one pokemon left, and that's Feraligatr" said Brock. "Feraligatr is a water type though," said Misty "and Electabuzz is an electric type, which beats water types". Tomo felt nervous for his brother.

Ash returned Larvitar and sent out Feraligatr. "This battle is going to be easy," said Macey, confidently, "use thunderbolt Electabuzz". "Use hydro pump Feraligatr" said Ash. Feraligatr's hydro pump and Electabuzz's thunderbolt attack collided with each other. "Use thunder punch Electabuzz" said Macey. "Counter it with ice punch" said Ash. Feraligatr's fist glowed light-blue white and then his ice punch attack collided with Electabuzz's thunder punch attack. "Okay Feraligatr use superpower" said Ash. Feraligatr grabbed Electabuzz and tossed it to the ground. Electabuzz was hurt, but it was still willing to fight. "Okay Feraligatr finish this off with dragon claw" said Ash. Feraligatr's claws turned blue, and then he ran over to Electabuzz and slashed it good. Electabuzz fainted from the dragon claw attack. "Electabuzz is unable to battle," said the referee "this match goes to Ash Ketchum".

So Ash won his first round-robin tournament; earning him three points and Macey none. Ash and Macey congratulated each other and shook hands. Misty, Brock and Tomo congratulated Ash too. "You were great big brother" said Tomo. "I agree," said Misty "especially your pokemon Miltank, Larvitar and Feraligatr". "Thanks" said Ash. "So Ash you only need to win your next round-robin battle and then you can qualify for the final battles. Ash couldn't wait for his next challenge.

Next day Macey was against her next opponent in the round-robin tournament. She had a surprise waiting for her after her battle with Ash yesterday; her Slugma evolved into Magcargo. Her opponent was a trainer from New Bark Town, named Vincent; he was also the opponent that Ash had to battle next. The gang was in the stadium seats and they were watching the match.

Right now Macey and Vincent were down to one pokemon each. Macey's Magcargo and Starmie had already been defeated and so had Vincent's Golduck and Quagsire. So now it was Macey's Quilava vs Vincent's Poliwhirl. Macey commanded her Quilava to use flamethrower on Poliwhirl. Vincent was about to command his Poliwhirl to use counter attack with water gun, but Quilava was quicker and struck Poliwhirl with flamethrower. Poliwhirl became so hurt from the flamethrower attack and fainted. So Macey was the winner and now earned three points. "Now that Macey has three points like you Ash," said Brock "you will have to beat or draw with Vincent to win". "Yes and I am going to win" said Ash.

When the gang went to the pokemon center, they encountered Vincent talking to Prof Elm on the phone. Prof Elm and Vincent were talking about Vincent's friends Jimmy and Marina, who were also from New Bark Town. Prof Elm explained that he gave Vincent his first pokemon, a Chikorita, when he started being a trainer, and he also said that it was now a Meganium. Ash said that he had a Meganium too, as well as a Typhlosion and Feraligatr. "Wow Ash, you seem to have some incredible pokemon," said Vincent "I look forward to our battle". "So do I Vincent" said Ash.

Ash told Prof Elm about their success of returning Larvitar to its mother at the pokemon reserve. It made Prof Elm happy to know that Larvitar was back with Tyranitar. "Vincent, Ash, I wish you luck in this tournament" said Prof Elm. Vincent and Ash thanked him and finished the phone call.

The gang started to look up on Vincent on the computer. Apart from having Meganium, Quagsire, Golduck and Poliwhirl, Vincent had a Azumarill and a Magneton. Ash had a think about this. "I've got it," he finally said "I'm going to use Flaffy, Typhlosion and Houndoom". "That's a good choice" said Misty. Brock and Tomo liked the idea too.

Next day it was time for Ash and Vincent's battle. Vincent picked out his Azumarill to battle first and Ash sent out Flaffy. Vincent commanded Azumarill to use water gun and Ash commanded Flaffy to use thunderbolt. The thunderbolt and water gun attacks collided and broke apart. Use iron tail Azumarill" said Vincent. Azumarill ran over to Flaffy, with its tail glowing white. "Use cotton spore Flaffy" said Ash. Flaffy released balls of fluffy cotton balls from her wool, and the cotton balls stuck to Azumarill. Azumarill was off guard because of the cotton balls. "Oh no Azumarill" said Vincent. "Okay now's our chance Flaffy," said Ash "use thunderbolt". Flaffy shocked Azumarill good with thunderbolt, and Azumarill fainted. "That was a clever way to use cotton spore" said Misty. "Yes, cotton spore not only decreases an opponents speed it also distracts the opponent" said Brock. "Ash is going to win this battle for sure" smiled Tomo.

Vincent recalled Azumarill and sent out his next pokemon, a Magneton. This Magneton was shiny; its body was a darker grey than normal. Ash recalled Flaffy and sent out Houndoom, as Houndoom was fire and Magneton was electric and steel. "Use flamethrower Houndoom" said Ash. Houndoom blew flamethrower at Magneton, but Magneton dodged it. "Use thunderbolt Magneton" said Vincent. Before Magneton could shock Houndoom, Houndoom got away with dig. "Come out and use fire fang Houndoom" said Ash. Houndoom came from out of the ground and bit down on Magneton, while flames were surrounding the mouth. Magneton got hurt by that and it got burnt too. "Magneton use thunder wave" said Vincent. Houndoom got hit by the thunder wave attack and became paralyzed. "Now use tri attack". Magneton formed a triangle from its body. There was an orb on each of the corners of the triangle; one was a fire orb, another was an ice orb and the last one an electric orb. Magneton flung the tri attack at Houndoom and Houndoom fainted from the attack. "Gosh, that Magneton is strong if it can beat Houndoom like that" said Misty. "Yeah, but Magneton is hurt too, and it's getting more hurt by its burn" said Brock.

Ash recalled Houndoom and sent out Typhlosion. He ordered Typhlosion to use flamethrower and Magneton got hit by it and fainted. Now Vincent had only one pokemon left and that was Meganium. The audience were excited about this, because it was a battle between two fully evolved Johto starter pokemon.

Vincent told Meganium to use vine whip, but Typhlosion managed to dodge the vine whip and strike Meganium with his flame wheel attack. "Okay Meganium use body slam" said Vincent. Meganium jumped up and was about to slam Typhlosion, but Typhlosion dodged it before it could hurt him. "Okay Meganium use sunny day" said Vincent. Meganium fire a white orb of light into the sky and the sun grew brighter. 'I know what Vincent is doing,' thought Ash 'Meganium is going to use solar beam next. I've seen this tactic before'. Ash was right; Vincent ordered his Meganium to use solar beam at once. Because of the sunny day move, Meganium didn't need to power up to use solar beam. "Quick Typhlosion use fire blast" said Ash. Typhlosion fired fire blast and Meganium fired solar beam. The fire blast and solar beam attacks collided like crazy and an explosion occurred. When the explosion gave away, everyone saw that both Typhlosion and Meganium had fainted.

As Ash had still one pokemon remaining, he was the winner and earned another three points. So since Ash had six, he was advancing to the final rounds, and Macey and Vincent couldn't as Macey had three points and Vincent had none. Macey and Vincent congratulated Ash and wished him luck in the final rounds.

That evening, after the round-robin tournaments were finished with, everyone was in the pokemon to look at the results for the first pokemon battles in the final rounds. There were now sixteen pokemon trainers left so the next battles were the Top 16. The gang saw that Harrison made it to the finals, and they saw that not only did Gary make it; he was also Ash's next opponent.

Gary couldn't wait to battle Ash, because he was confident that he would defeat Ash. "Don't underestimate me or my pokemon Gary," said Ash "because we have worked and trained very hard to come this far". "I have too, and my pokemon will beat yours Ash" said Gary. Gary took out something from his right trouser pocket; it was half of a broken pokeball. "We shall settle this old challenge of ours in our battle tomorrow" said Gary. "Very well" replied Ash.

That evening Ash showed the others his half of the broken pokeball. "What's the deal with you and Gary with that broken pokeball, Ash?" asked Misty. "Well it happened before Gary and I was old enough to become pokemon trainers" said Ash. Ash's story was when he and Gary were still nine years old; they were fishing at a stream. Ash hooked a Magikarp, but it got away. Gary asked Ash what attacks Magikarp knew; apparently Gary always liked to ask Ash questions about pokemon, because he always thought himself the only one in Pallet Town who knew everything about pokemon. Ash correctly said it was splash, tackle, flail and it could learn bounce too. Gary got mad because he hated the fact that Ash knew a lot about pokemon too. Ash and Gary flung their lines into the stream together, and they hooked up an old pokeball together. The two boys fought over the pokeball, pulling the rods back and forth. Then at last the pokeball snapped in half, being so old and rusty. Ash had declared it being a tie, but Gary refused; he was the type to never accept ties. He called it Ash's loss. After Ash finished his story, he explained that he kept his half as a good luck charm. "I'm looking forward to our battle," said Ash "I've wanted to battle Gary again ever since our last battle back in Pallet Town". Tomo, Misty and Brock knew that Ash would do just fine because of his training with his pokemon.

Next day there were no battles because it was a day off for the pokemon trainers. So Ash thought this was a good time to think about what pokemon he should use in his battle against Gary. On the computer he saw that Gary had quite a lot of pokemon, so it would be tricky with deciding who to use. But he had made a decision to use Celebi and Lugia in the battle. "Is it okay to use legendary pokemon at the tournament?" asked Misty. "Yes its fine," said Ash "I told Mr Goodshow about my legendary pokemon, and he said that it's not against the rules to use legendary pokemon. Besides he said that some trainers have used legendary pokemon in the pokemon leagues before". "Really? That's amazing" said Misty. "Aren't you going to use Mewtwo as well?" asked Tomo. "No I asked Mewtwo if he wanted to battle in the Silver Conference, but he doesn't;" said Ash "he prefers wandering free in the world and he'd rather fight by my side when we are against evil villains. And he said that battling here would probably attract Team Rocket again". "That makes sense," said Brock "I mean Giovanni would do anything to try and get Mewtwo back". "Yes" agreed Ash.

Later that day Ash and Gary had a surprise waiting for them; Prof Oak and Delia had turned up. Prof Oak and Delia wanted to watch Ash and Gary in the final battle rounds at the stadium, rather than on TV. Delia brought a camera with her to take pictures of the battle. Ash and Gary both got some confident words from Prof Oak and Delia, and then they continued to work on their battle strategy.

Next day it was time for the final battle rounds to start. Apart from the battles being a six-on six type, the battle rounds were fought on different fields; rock, ice, water or ice. It was like the preliminary rounds at the Indigo League. So far Harrison had defeat his opponent on the ice field, and now it was time for Ash and Gary's pokemon battle. It was held on a rock field. Prof Oak and Delia were watching in the stadium stands, Brock, Misty and Tomo were watching from behind Ash and Harrison was watching from the stands too. Gary's cheerleaders were also there and they were cheering for him.

Gary's first pokemon was Nidoqueen. Ash chose Girafarig. Ash had thought about what six pokemon to use and he was ready. "That Girafarig may be a psychic pokemon, but that doesn't mean we will lose" said Gary. He ordered his Nidoqueen to use rock smash on Girafarig. Ash ordered Girafarig to dodge Nidoqueen with agility, and Girafarig dodged Nidoqueen just in time. "All right Nidoqueen use mega punch" said Gary. Nidoqueen ran up to Girafarig, with her fists ready to punch Girafarig. "Use confusion to stop Nidoqueen, Girafarig" said Ash. Girafarig's eyes turned blue, and then Nidoqueen got surrounded by a blue light and was hoisted into the air. "Now use psybeam". Girafarig fired psybeam from her horns, straight at Nidoqueen. Being a poison type pokemon, Nidoqueen took great damage from the attack. "Now finish it with zen-headbutt". With the top of her head glowing blue, Girafarig charged at Nidoqueen and headbutted her. Nidoqueen got more hurt from that psychic type move and fainted.

Gary could see that Ash had indeed trained his pokemon well. Delia and Prof Oak were impressed with Girafarig. "Ash certainly has trained his new Johto pokemon well" said Prof Oak. "I agree" smiled Delia. Misty, Brock and Tomo were happy for Ash's first win. "Ash is doing well at the moment," said Brock "but Gary will fight back".

Gary sent out his next pokemon; Magmar. Ash asked Girafarig if she was okay to still battle, and she was. "Let's use psybeam Girafarig" said Ash. Girafarig fired psybeam towards Magmar, but Magmar fired flamethrower to counter the attack. The flamethrower broke through the psybeam attack and hit Girafarig. "Now use fire punch Magmar" said Gary. Magmar punched Girafarig well, while a flame was surrounding its fist. That took a lot out of Girafarig and she fainted.

Ash returned Girafarig and held up another pokeball. "Hey Gary," he said "I will now introduce you to one of my legendary pokemon". He released Lugia to battle Magmar. Gary and everyone in the audience gasped that Ash had a Lugia. Even the referee was amazed. "I can't wait to see Lugia in battle," said Prof Oak to Delia "Lugia has grown up so much ever since Ash caught him as a baby in the Orange Islands. And it also knows some powerful moves". "I can't wait to see this either" said Delia, who was taking pictures. Misty, Brock and Tomo couldn't wait to see Lugia battle either. "Gary better watch out," smiled Misty "because Lugia has become very strong". "You're right" said Brock. Tomo was so excited, he was fidgeting a lot and Pikachu and Growlithe had to calm him down.

Gary ordered his Magmar to use fire blast at Lugia, but Ash ordered Lugia to counter the attack with hydro pump. The hydro pump attack shot through the flamethrower and struck Magmar good. Magmar was sent back into the rocks by the hydro pump attack and it fainted. Gary was speechless with how strong Lugia was, and so was the audience. "Lugia really has grown up now" said Misty. Tomo and Brock agreed.

Gary returned Magmar and sent out Blastoise. "So Gary's starter pokemon, Squirtle is now a Blastoise" said Ash. Ash recalled Lugia. "Why did you return Lugia Ash?" asked Gary. "So that I can let my second legendary pokemon have a turn" answered Ash, with a smile. He sent out Celebi. Gary and the audience were surprised that Ash also had a Celebi. Gary had a lot of questions to ask Ash about his pokemon later. Celebi made sure not to speak, because Ash warned her that she might become a target to other trainers for having the ability to talk telepathic. So Celebi promised not to speak during the battle.

Gary ordered Blastoise to attack Celebi with hydro pump, but Celebi easily dodged it while flying. "Keep using hydro pump Blastoise" said Gary. Celebi was now finding it a b it hard to dodge all the hydro pump attacks. Ash knew that Celebi would be in trouble at this rate. "Use leaf storm Celebi" said Ash. Celebi glowed green and then she released a cyclone of leaves towards Blastoise. "Quick use withdraw Blastoise" said Gary. Blastoise went into its shell to defend itself against the leaf storm attack. But Blastoise still got hurt by the powerful leaf storm attack. "Celebi sure is strong isn't she?" said Misty. "I'll say, even after being stuck in the GS ball for twenty years" said Brock. Gary ordered Blastoise to use rapid spin on Celebi, but before Blastoise could do that Ash ordered Celebi to use energy ball. The energy ball struck Blastoise and it fainted. So Ash was down to three wins and Gary one. Gary was impressed of how strong Ash had gotten.

Since Ash had defeated three of Gary's pokemon, it was now time for a five minute break. "You're doing great Ash" said Tomo. "Yeah, if you keep this up you'll end up beating Gary for sure" said Brock. Prof Oak and Delia liked how the battle was going so far. Prof Oak said to Delia that even though Gary won't admit it, he considers Ash one of his important friends. "I think Ash does too" replied Delia.

After the five minute break was up, it was time to get back to the battle. Gary sent out Arcanine to battle next. Ash sent out Feraligatr to battle Arcanine. Gary told his Arcanine to use extreme speed and Arcanine tackled Feraligatr hard. "Fight back with dragon claw Feraligatr" said Ash. Feraligatr tried to scratch Arcanine with dragon claw, and Arcanine tried to bite Feraligatr. "Use aqua tail Feraligatr" said Ash. Feraligatr struck Arcanine with his tail, while water was streaming in swirls around his tail. Gary ordered Arcanine to use fire blast and Ash ordered Feraligatr to use hydro pump. The fire blast and hydro pump collided like crazy and then Arcanine got hit by hydro pump and Feraligatr got hit by fire blast. The two pokemon panted from the attacks and then fainted. Now Ash had four pokemon left and Gary only had two.

Gary sent out Scizor next and Ash sent out Furret. Gary smirked. "That little ferret doesn't stand a chance against Scizor" he said. He ordered Scizor to use metal claw but Ash had Furret use dig to escape. Scizor looked around to try and figure out where Furret might be. "Now Furret use flamethrower" said Ash. Furret jumped from out of the ground and used flamethrower on Scizor. Gary was surprised that Furret knew flamethrower. "Just thought I'd let you know Gary, my Furret knows a lot of other types of moves apart from normal type moves" said Ash. Gary could see that Ash had indeed worked hard throughout his journey in Johto with his pokemon. Scizor was hurt from the flamethrower but it was still willing to fight. "Use bullet punch Scizor" said Gary. Scizor's claws glowed red and then it repeatedly punched Furret. "Now Scizor, use your metal claw". "Quick, counter it with iron tail" said Ash. Furret and Scizor were clashing at each other with their iron tail and metal claw attacks. "This battle is intense" said Misty. "Yeah, seeing those two going at each other like this is like watching two humans fight each other" said Brock. Pikachu, Tomo and Growlithe were nervous for Ash. "Now Scizor, flash cannon" said Gary. "Use ice beam Furret" said Ash. The flash cannon and ice beam attacks went at each other like crazy, and then an explosion happened. Ash and Gary braced themselves to see if their pokemon were okay. When the bang was over, everyone saw that both Scizor and Furret had fainted. "Gosh I didn't expect that" said Misty. "That's a scary thing about battles, you can never tell what would happen during a battle" said Brock. Tomo and Misty agreed.

Ash and Gary returned Furret and Scizor and sent out their pokemon for this final battle. Gary sent out Golem and Ash sent out Steelix. Gary ordered Golem to attack with focus punch, but Steelix managed to fight back with iron tail. Then Ash ordered Steelix to use ice fang. Steelix bit down on Golem, with his mouth glowing icy blue, and Golem started to get covered with ice. "Wow, it's amazing seeing a Steelix use ice fang" said Misty. "Steelix also knows fire fang and thunder fang" said Tomo. Brock admitted that his Steelix knew the three moves too because he and Ash practiced with their Steelix's together. Golem was in trouble because of the ice on its body, and then Ash ordered Steelix to use flash cannon. Golem got hit by the flash cannon attack and fainted.

So Ash won his match against Gary and the audience cheered for Ash. Ash collapsed onto his knees onto the ground; he couldn't believe that he had actually beaten Gary. Tomo, Misty and Brock congratulated Ash for his victory. So Gary had earned Top 16 place in the Silver Conference. Of course after the battle Ash was questioned about his Lugia and Celebi. He explained to the reporters that he found them and saved their lives from evil men, and that the pokemon joined him after he saved them. Ash didn't dare tell the real truth about their capture or where he got them, because telling the real truth may cause trouble for Shamouti Island in the Orange Islands and for the forest in Arborville with troublemakers.

That night Ash and Gary had a talk with each other by the lake. Ash told Gary about how he really got Lugia and Celebi, and he also told him about his Mewtwo, Latias and her unborn Latios. Gary was amazed by Ash's stories and promised that he would never tell anyone about Ash's capture of his legendary pokemon; he understood how important it was for evil people like poachers, and Team Rocket to never ever find out about where legendary pokemon were and about trainers obtaining them in their processions. Gary handed his half of the broken pokeball to Ash. Gary finally admitted that their fishing competition two years ago was indeed a tie. "I wish you luck in your next battle Ash" said Gary. "Thanks' Gary" smiled Ash. He and Gary shook hands with each other; this meant that Ash and Gary were friends again.

Next day it was time for the Top 8 round battles. Ash was having his battle now and his opponent was Harrison, and their battle was on the grass field. Ash was excited to fight against Harrison; he was eager to have a battle against his Blaziken. Gary was standing in the stands to watch Ash's match against Harrison. Last night Ash and the gang had looked up on Harrison and Ash had learnt about what type of pokemon Blaziken was. So Ash was ready for this match.

Harrison sent out his Kecleon first. Ash remembered what a Kecleon was; being a normal type and that it had the ability to blend in with its surroundings. Ash sent out Pikachu first and told him to be careful because this would be tricky. As soon as the match started Kecleon blended in with the grass. Ash saw that Kecleon had blended in with the grass, but he remembered something else about Kecleon. He remembered that a Kecleon cannot hide their red stripes when they blend in with their surroundings. "Pikachu look for the red stripe, because that would be Kecleon's stripe" said Ash. Pikachu understood Ash's words and kept an eye out for Kecleon's stripe. Harrison found that Ash knew all about Kecleon, so he ordered Kecleon to hide into the long grass. This was a clever strategy because Ash and Pikachu couldn't see Kecleon at all. "Pikachu try to listen out for Kecleon" said Ash. Pikachu used his ears to hear Kecleon running through the long grass. Pikachu was about to dash at Kecleon but Harrison ordered Kecleon to use lick attack. Poor Pikachu got licked by Kecleon's tongue. "Now use psybeam Kecleon" said Harrison. Kecleon fired psybeam at Pikachu, but Pikachu managed to dodge it just in time. "Go into the long grass Pikachu" said Ash. Pikachu did he was told and became hidden from sight. Harrison told his Kecleon to use its tongue to cut the grass. Kecleon cut the long grass good, but then its tongue stopped; Pikachu had grabbed Kecleon's tongue. Ash ordered Pikachu to use thunderbolt and Pikachu shocked Kecleon well. Kecleon fainted on the spot, earning Ash his first win.

Harrison returned Kecleon and sent out his next pokemon; Sneasel. Ash kept Pikachu out to battle and ordered him to use focus punch. Harrison ordered Sneasel to use metal claw. Sneasel was quicker than Pikachu and Pikachu got slashed by the metal claw attack and fainted. Ash remembered how strong and fast Sneasel was from when Harrison caught Sneasel at the Ho-Oh shrine. But he had the pokemon which could defeat it; he sent out Tyrogue. "Will Tyrogue be okay with Sneasel?" asked Misty "I mean I know it's a fighting type, but still". "Well Tyrogue may be small, but he is strong," said Brock "Ash has trained with Tyrogue lots of times before and has had battles with him too". "You're right" said Misty. Ash ordered Tyrogue to use double team to confuse Sneasel. Sneasel was confused with the multiple copies of Tyrogue, but Harrison told it to attack the copies with metal claw. As Sneasel was about to strike, the real Tyrogue grabbed onto Sneasel's right arm. "Great Tyrogue, do it now" said Ash. Tyrogue slammed Sneasel onto the ground multiple times, while still holding onto its arm. "Gosh Tyrogue really has become a strong fighter" said Misty. "Tyrogue practiced that from Primeape" explained Tomo. Tyrogue stopped slamming Sneasel and then knocked it out with dizzy punch.

Harrison could see that Ash was indeed a strong trainer, even Gary was impressed. Harrison returned Sneasel and sent out Hypno next. Ash knew that Tyrogue was at a disadvantage, but Tyrogue insisted of battling Hypno. Ash ordered Tyrogue to use dizzy punch. But Harrison ordered Hypno to use psychic and Tyrogue got hit by the psychic attack and fainted.

Ash sent out Murkrow next. "Murkrow's a good choice," said Brock "because psychic moves are useless against dark type because it doesn't do anything, like electric moves with ground types". "Hypno is in trouble now" said Tomo. Tomo was right; Hypno got knocked out at once by Murkrow's dark pulse and sucker punch attacks.

So Harrison had three pokemon left, while Ash had four. Now it was time for the five minute break. "Apart from Gary, Harrison is one of the toughest trainers I have ever faced here" said Ash. "Wait till Harrison uses Blaziken," said Brock "I mean sure you found out all about it last night Ash, but Blaziken may still be tough to beat". "Yeah, but I have the right pokemon for it" smiled Ash.

After the break time, Harrison sent out Steelix to battle next. Ash sent out Typhlosion to battle Steelix; he decided to save Murkrow for later on. Harrison ordered Steelix to use rock throw on Typhlosion, but Typhlosion dodged the rocks thanks to his flame wheel attack. "Use flamethrower Typhlosion" said Ash. Harrison ordered Steelix to use dig to escape, and Steelix managed to dig into the ground to escape the flamethrower attack. Typhlosion braced himself for when Steelix would come out of the ground. Just then Steelix came out of the ground to get ready to tackle Typhlosion. "Quick Typhlosion use flamethrower" said Ash. Typhlosion blew flamethrower at Steelix again, and this time it didn't miss. Steelix got hurt by the flamethrower attack, and then Typhlosion finished Steelix off with focus punch. 'Four down, two to go' thought Ash.

Harrison returned Steelix and sent out Houndoom to battle. "Are you okay to keep battling Typhlosion?" asked Ash. Typhlosion said he was. Ash ordered Typhlosion to use focus punch; as Houndoom was dark type as well as fire, a fighting type move would give it damage. But Harrison ordered Houndoom to use counter. Typhlosion's focus punch bounced off Houndoom and hit him. Typhlosion was in a lot of pain from that. "Houndoom use headbutt" said Harrison. Houndoom head-butted hard, and then Typhlosion fainted.

Ash sent out his Hitmontop to battle next and ordered him to use double team. Houndoom had no ides which one was the real Hitmontop. "Okay Hitmontop, rolling kick" said Ash. Hitmontop kicked Houndoom good. "Use flamethrower Houndoom" said Harrison. Houndoom blew flamethrower at Hitmontop, but Hitmontop got into his spinning top mode and easily dodged the flamethrower attack. "Use bite Houndoom" said Harrison. Houndoom went to bite down on Hitmontop, but Hitmontop used counter and Houndoom's attack back fired. "Sorry Harrison," Ash called out "but my Hitmontop knows counter as well". He then ordered Hitmontop to use brick break, and Houndoom fainted from the attack.

So now Harrison was down to his last pokemon, while Ash still had three. "Ash you are the toughest opponent I have ever faced," said Harrison "but now it's time for you to face Blaziken". Blaziken came out of the pokeball. Ash smiled because he had been waiting to face Blaziken. "Use aerial ace Hitmontop" he said. Hitmontop charged towards Blaziken, white streaks surrounded his body. "Counter the attack with quick attack Blaziken" said Harrison. Blaziken and Hitmontop charged into each other, and Hitmontop got more injured than Blaziken. "Flamethrower Blaziken" said Harrison. Blaziken blew flamethrower at Hitmontop and Hitmontop hot hit by it and fainted on the spot. "Gosh that Blaziken sure is strong" said Misty. "Yeah it's tougher than we thought" said Brock. Tomo also thought that Blaziken was a cool pokemon.

Ash returned Hitmontop and sent out Murkrow again. Murkrow did do quite well against Blaziken, especially with her flying type moves; aerial ace, drill peck and wing attack. They made Blaziken weaker by the second, but Blaziken managed to finish her off with fire punch attack. So now Ash had only one pokemon to use. This made Tomo, Misty and Brock a bit nervous; they wandered if Ash could beat Blaziken.

Ash held up his last pokemon. "Harrison I kept our deal from last night" he said and he sent out Lugia. The crowd cheered; they wanted to see Lugia again. "What did Ash mean by deal?" asked Misty. Tomo explained that yesterday afternoon, while he and Ash were at the pokemon center; Harrison had a talk with Ash. "Harrison asked Ash that he wanted to battle Lugia, so Ash agreed to use Lugia in their battle today". "Oh I see" said Misty.

Blaziken blew flamethrower at Lugia, but Lugia countered it with hydro pump. "Use blaze kick Blaziken" said Harrison. Blaziken got ready to kick Lugia, with flame streaming out of its feat. Ash knew about blaze kick because his Hitmonlee knew it too. "Blow Blaziken back with gust" said Ash. Lugia flapped his wings hard and Blaziken lost its concentration on using blaze kick. 'That Lugia is amazing' thought Harrison. "Use flamethrower again Blaziken" said Harrison. "Use safe guard and then aeroblast Lugia" said Ash. Lugia defended himself from the flamethrower attack with safeguard, and then he fired aeroblast at Blaziken. As aeroblast was a flying type move; Blaziken took a lot of damage, being a fighting type. Blaziken panted a lot after the attack and fainted. Ash was the winner of the match.

So Harrison lost the battle and earned himself Top 8 in the Silver Conference. He congratulated Ash and thanked him for letting him have the chance of battling Lugia. "You defiantly are a strong pokemon trainer Ash" said Harrison. "Thanks Harrison" smiled Ash. That evening Prof Oak and Delia said it was time for them to go back to Pallet Town. Prof Oak didn't want to leave Tracey alone anymore with all the work at the lab, and Delia didn't want to leave Mr Mime, Persian and Victreebel alone at home anymore. So Ash and the gang said goodbye to Prof Oak and Delia, and then went back to the pokemon center so that Ash could rest up for his match tomorrow.

Next day it was the Top 4 battles of the Silver Conference. Ash was battling on the ice field and his opponent was a trainer called Jon Dickson. Right now Ash and Jon were down to only one pokemon each. Ash was using Meganium and Jon was using his Rhyhorn. Meganium was doing well against Rhyhorn as she was a grass type and Rhyhorn was a ground type. But Rhyhorn defeated Meganium by using horn drill. So Ash lost and earned himself Top 4 place in the Silver Conference.

That evening Ash and the gang had a talk with Harrison. Ash asked Harrison what the Hoenn region was like because he was going to visit that region after this. First off Harrison told Ash about Prof Birch, the pokemon professor in Littleroot Town. Apparently Prof Birch loved all sorts of pokemon and he loved to study nonstop about them, even going to see them in different places. "It was Prof Birch who told me to take a journey here in the Johto region, and I'm glad I did," said Harrison "I had a great time out here in the Johto region, seeing new places and pokemon". "Same with us," said Ash "we've enjoyed our journey here too". "Yeah" said Tomo, Misty and Brock together. Tomo showed his Wynaut to Harrison, and Harrison was amazed that Tomo had a pokemon, that could be found in the Hoenn region. "You'll like the Hoenn region," he said "because it has lots and lots of cool new pokemon". Ash and Tomo defiantly agreed that they would go to the Hoenn region. Later they met up with Gary. Gary explained after meeting a lot of different pokemon and seeing their evolutions, he had decided to become a pokemon researcher. So he wasn't going to participate in anymore pokemon leagues. "I think you will be great as a pokemon researcher Gary," said Ash "especially since you know so much about pokemon". "Thanks Ash" smiled Gary, and then he and everyone else went back to the pokemon center for the night.

Next day it was the semi-final and the final battle rounds, and now Jon Dickson was in the final rounds against his final opponent. Jon was using Rapidash and his opponent was using Rhydon. Despite the type disadvantage, Rapidash knocked out Rhydon with its horn, gaining Jon the victory. So Jon Dickson was the winner of the Silver Conference.

After all the battles were over, it was now time for the closing ceremony of the Silver Conference. Jon Dickson earned the first place trophy, which was a golden trophy with a golden pokeball on top. His opponent in the final earned the second place medal, which was a silver medal with a picture of a silver pokeball. Last of all the trainer who earned third place received a bronze medal, with a picture of a bronze pokeball. Ash, Harrison, Gary and all the other trainers, who didn't win, earned a pokemon league badge. The badge looked like the badge from the indigo league, but it was coloured red and gold (dedicated to Ho-Oh) and it was in a red and yellow coloured cloth. All the participants of the Silver Conference got one more round of claps and cheers and then the Silver Conference finally came to an end, and the flame of Ho-Oh on the stadium went out.

When it was all over, it was defiantly time for Gary, Harrison and the gang to leave the Johto Region. Gary said that he was going to travel through Mt Silver some more, before heading back to Pallet Town. Harrison said that he was now going to travel through the Kanto region to participate in the Indigo League. Ash and the gang said that they were going to travel to Viridian City, and then head to Pallet Town. So they all wished each other luck with their goals, said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

So now the gang's journey in the Johto region was finally over now.

Chapter 57

Separation and Back to Pallet Town

After the Silver Conference was finished with, the gang left the Johto region and returned to the Kanto region. Right now they were at Viridian City. "You can definitely see that we are back in Kanto again" said Ash. "Yes and soon we will be back in Pallet Town again" said Tomo. "Shame that our journey in the Johto region is over" said Misty. "Yeah, but we had some cool new adventures there," said Ash "we got to visit new places, saw a lot of different people, saw some cool new pokemon, and we captured a lot of new Johto pokemon for ourselves". Tomo, Misty and Brock agreed with Ash's words.

The gang stopped at the pokemon center. The Nurse Joy was a new Nurse Joy; she replaced the Nurse that Ash and Misty met at the start of the journey in Kanto. Nurse Joy told Misty that her sisters wanted her to call them. Misty felt that this might be some bad news if her sisters wanted her and she contacted them. Daisy took the call and she told Misty that she placed third in a beauty pageant, and her prize was tickets for a trip for around the world. Daisy was going to travel the world with Lily and Violet, and they left the gym duties to Misty. "I figured you wouldn't want to come, so take care of the gym okay" said Daisy, then she hang up.

Misty was not happy with what just happened. "Those three always do this," she said, crossly, "they leave the gym alone when they decided to take off somewhere and leave me to take care of the gym and house". "What are you going to do Misty?" asked Tomo. Misty sighed. "Well honestly, I can't leave the gym alone while my sisters are on their holiday," said Misty "and if I do then it may end up shut down, since the rules say that the gym leader must never leave the gym alone for long". "That's true actually," said Brock "so then does that mean you'll be going back to Cerulean City?" "Yes" said Misty. Misty felt a bit unhappy with this; she wanted to still travel with the gang. "That's a shame," said Ash "I mean we all had fun traveling together through the Kanto, Orange and Johto regions". "It's true we did," smiled Misty "but as a sensational sister, it's my responsibility now to take over as leader of the gym". "You'll do great as a gym leader" said Tomo. "I agree," said Ash "I mean you have gotten stronger as a water pokemon trainer during the journey". "Yeah, there's no doubt that you will be a great gym leader Misty" said Brock. Misty felt better; she had good friends in Ash, Tomo and Brock.

Suddenly three girl trainers ran into the pokemon center, with their pokemon in their arms. "Please help us Nurse Joy" they pleaded. "What do you supposed happened?" asked Misty. "Maybe they challenged the gym" said Ash. The gang found out that the girls hadn't battled the gym; they had been battling three trainers who call themselves the invincible pokemon brothers. "Those trainers are cheaters though" said one of the girls. "That's right," said another "when we did a one on one pokemon battle, the boys sent out more pokemon and then just defeat our pokemon before we had the chance to fight back". "They are also thieves," said the third girl "they took our purses after we lost". The gang got cross. "Those three shouldn't be pokemon trainers, if they are going to cheat like that in battles" said Brock. "Yeah, especially since their thieves" said Tomo. "I agree," said Ash "we should pay those three a visit and teach them a lesson". "Lets" agreed Misty. The gang got out of the pokemon center to find the invincible pokemon brothers.

The invincible pokemon brothers were in the park, waiting for their next victims to show up. They were brothers and their names were Kim, Kai and Kail. Kim was the shortest, Kai was the fattest and Kail was the tallest. Kai was counting the money that they had taken so far. "Ha we have done well here" he said. "You're right," said Kail "and this is much easier than the way other people get their money". "We'll steal some money from one more sucker, and then we better get out of this city before Officer Jenny comes" said Kim. "No you won't" said a voice. The gang had turned up. "You three crooks won't be stealing anything anymore" said Misty. "Oh, seems we have new victims already," said Kim. "Hand over your money and we shall go easy on you" said Kai. "Not a chance" said Ash. "All right then," said Kail "then you will have to fight us; the invincible pokemon brothers". "We accept" said Tomo.

So the gang ended up having a pokemon battle with the brothers. Ash challenged Kim, Misty challenged Kai and Brock challenged Kail. Tomo stayed at the side to look after Togepi. Kim had a Hitmonchan, Kai and a Hitmontop and Kail had a Hitmonlee. Ash sent out Pikachu, Misty sent out Politoed and Brock sent out his Forretress. Pikachu, Politoed and Forretress easily defeated the three fighting type pokemon, but the brother's didn't give up. They sent out a Tentacruel each and told them to attack the gang with hydro pump. But then a safeguard attack blocked the hydro pump attacks; it was Tomo's Wynaut. "We were warned about what big cheaters you three were," said Ash "so we became prepared for it". Pikachu used thunderbolt to shock the three Tentacruel and the brothers, and then Politoed used ice beam to freeze the brothers and their pokemon. "That should keep them still for a moment until we get Officer Jenny" said Misty. But the gang didn't need to; Officer Jenny had gotten word from the three girls in the pokemon center and she just arrived on her motor bike. "Thanks for keeping the brothers here," she said to the gang "my cousin in Neon Town had a lot of trouble from these guys and now we will be relieved that they had been caught now". She and her men arrested the brothers and their pokemon and they picked up the purses and wallets to give them back to their owners. So now the brothers would be in prison for a long time.

That evening the gang were getting ready to leave Viridian City. Misty had her bike with her; she had left it at the Viridian City pokemon center ever since she started travelling with Ash. Then Brock had important news to tell the overs. "I got an email from my parents asking me to come home too," he said "they wanted to discuss something very important to me". "Is something wrong?" asked Ash. "They didn't say," said Brock "so if would be best if I went back home to Pewter City to see if everything is okay". "I see," said Ash "so I guess this is the time for us to be separated with each other". "Yeah, but we do have millions of memories of each other" said Brock. "Yeah especially about what had happened on our journeys through Kanto, the Orange Islands and Johto" said Misty. "And even if we're apart, we will always been friends" said Ash. "Totally" said Brock. Ash and Tomo were wished loads of luck on their journey in Hoenn, Misty was given lots of luck on being the gym leader of Cerulean Gym, and Brock was asked to say hi to his family from the others. Then with a lot of handshakes and hugs, Misty, Togepi and Brock left Ash, Pikachu, Tomo and Growlithe for their homes. Tomo started to cry with missing Brock and Misty already, but Ash comforted him. "Don't worry Tomo," he said "we can speak to them on the phone whenever we want". Tomo knew that Ash was right.

As soon as Misty, Tomo and Brock were out of sight, Ash, Pikachu, Tomo and Growlithe continued on their way back to Pallet Town.

The Ketchum brothers were welcomed homed at once by Delia, Prof Oak and Tracey once they got back to Pallet Town. Delia had prepared a welcome home meal for her sons and everyone was tucking in to it. "You did very well in that Silver Conference Ash" said Prof Oak. "Yeah and I especially liked watching the battles that Lugia and Celebi were in," said Tracey "it was cool watching legendary pokemon battle". "I figured that it wouldn't have been fair if Lugia and Celebi didn't have the chance to fight in the Silver Conference" said Ash. "You're right about that Ash," said Prof Oak "every pokemon do deserve a chance to battle alongside their trainers, otherwise they'd feel neglected and left out". Ash agreed. "So Ash, are you going to travel to another region?" asked Delia. Ash and Tomo explained about their plan of going to the Hoenn region next. "I've heard of the Hoenn region," said Prof Oak "Prof Birch from there is a friend of mine and he talks to me about it and the pokemon all the time". "Funny thing is though Ash and Tomo already have Hoenn region pokemon" said Tracey. Tracey was right; Tomo had Wynaut and Ash had Latias and Latios. "Speaking of pokemon," said Delia "I have two new pokemon I would like you to meet Ash and Tomo".

Delia's two new pokemon was a Ledyba and a Marill. "Wow, when did you get these two pokemon mum?" asked Tomo. Delia explained that, a few days ago, she found Ledyba enjoying the nectar from her flowers and Marill was playing with her garden hat. "I found them so adorable that I had to catch them for myself". Her sons understood.

After finishing the meal, Ash and Tomo decided to go and visit all of their pokemon in Prof Oak's ranch. "I must say Ash there is one pokemon who is very anxious to see you again" said Prof Oak. "Latias right?" asked Ash "Is she and her Latios egg okay?" "Yes they are fine;" said Prof Oak "and the Latios egg will hatch any day now". Ash decided that he would wait till the egg hatched before heading to the Hoenn region, because he was going to take them with him to Hoenn, and Tomo agreed with the idea. All of Ash's and Tomo's pokemon were happy to see Ash and Tomo. The brothers released their other pokemon from their pokeballs and ended up with two surprises; Ash's Flaffy was now an Ampharos and Tomo's Sunkern was now a Sunflora. Tracey explained that Flaffy evolved sometime after Ash's battle with Macey and Tomo's Sunkern wanted to evolve into a Sunflora the other day. "I had a sunstone in my office, so I evolved Sunkern with it, if that's okay with you Tomo" said Prof Oak. "Of course" smiled Tomo. He didn't mind because he was happy with his new Sunflora.

Just then Ash was hugged by what looked like Bianca from Alto mare, but of course it was really Latias in her disguised form. "I still find it amazing that Latias has the ability to change her form" said Tracey. "Hey Latias you been doing okay?" said Ash. Latias nodded yes. Her egg was being looked after in the lab and it looked healthy too. "I can't wait to see Latios hatch," said Ash "although I find it sad that he will grow up without his father around". Ash was thinking about Latios, who gave his life to save Alto Mare. Prof Oak and Tracey heard the story and also thought it was a shame that Latios wasn't here. "There's no doubt though," said Prof Oak "this baby Latios will definitely grow up to be as strong as his father". "And I will make sure of that," said Ash "besides I did promise Lorenzo and Bianca that I would".

At that moment Prof Oak got a phone call. It was Delia on the phone; she wanted Ash to come home because there was a delivery at home for him. "I wonder what the delivery is" said Ash. When he and Tomo went back to their house, the delivery was a pokemon egg for Ash and it was from Sabrina of Saffron City. The egg was white and green. "Wow now I have another pokemon egg," said Ash "I better thank Sabrina at once". So he phoned Sabrina and thanked her. Sabrina explained that the pokemon in the egg was a psychic pokemon, but she didn't tell him what it was. "You have indeed become strong as a psychic user Ash," she said "and I can tell that you will become even stronger in the future". "Thanks Sabrina" said Ash, and he finished the call.

As soon as the phone was put down, there was a phone call from Tracey. "Get to the lab quickly Ash, your Latios egg is about to hatch" said Tracey. "Okay I'll be right there" said Ash. Ash, Tomo and Delia quickly made their way to the lab to watch the Latios egg hatch. Latias, in her real form, was in the lab and was watching her egg glow. "Don't you worry Latias," said Tracey "it will be okay now". Ash, Tomo and Delia were just in time as the egg glowed very bright. Everyone watched as the egg transformed into a baby Latios. "In all my years, this is the first time I've seen a baby legendary pokemon hatch out of an egg" said Prof Oak. Latias nuzzled her baby and introduced him to Ash. Ash slowly and calmly held out his hand to Latios to pet it. Latios liked Ash's petting and accepted Ash at once. "It's obvious Ash," said Prof Oak "this Latios will now see you as its adopted dad". "I will never be able to replace his real dad," said Ash "but I will take good care of Latias and Latios". "We should phone Lorenzo and Bianca and tell them that the egg had hatched" said Tomo. "Good idea," said Ash "after all it was them who entrusted Latias and Latios to me". So they phoned Lorenzo and told him that the baby Latios had hatched safely. Lorenzo was relieved and said he would tell the good news to Bianca. "You take care of Latias and her son Ash" said Lorenzo. "Don't worry I will" replied Ash.

After phoning Lorenzo, Ash used his empty dive ball, what he got from Lorenzo, to catch Latios and then sent him out again. "Latias, Latios there is something and you two and I are going to do now" he said. He got out his psychic journal and showed them some pages, which explained about a psychic user having a psychic bond with their psychic pokemon. "This way you two will be able to communicate with me through our minds" said Ash. "I've seen this," said Tracey "you explained about this to me when you did it with Lugia, before you went to Johto". "That's right," said Ash "I have a psychic bond with Espeon, Lugia, Girafarig, Mewtwo and Celebi. So now I will have it with Latias and Latios and when the psychic pokemon from my egg hatches, I will have a psychic bond with it too". Ash then placed his hands on the faces of Latias and Latios and closed his eyes to concentrate on his psychic powers. Latias and Latios did the same thing too. Then Ash and the eon pokemon glowed blue and then a few minutes later, it died down. "It's done," said Ash "I can now communicate with Latias and Latios through telepathy". They did a test to see if it worked and it did.

Just then there was a knock on the lab door. "I wonder who that could be" said Prof Oak. Tracey went to see who it was, but what he saw was a shock. A pink cat pokemon and a multi coloured butterfly was lying in front of the door and they were hurt. Tracey picked up the two pokemon and showed them to the professor. "Oh my we better treat them at once" said Prof Oak. Thanks to Prof Oak and his equipment, the two pokemon were heling well. The cat pokemon was a Skitty and the butterfly was a Beautifly. "These are pokemon that you find usually in Hoenn," said Prof Oak "I'm surprised to see them here. But they will be okay now". Delia was commenting of how cute the pokemon were and she decided to have them for herself. "I love cat pokemon and the Beautifly will like my garden" she said. So it was agreed that Delia would become their owner. Ash passed his moon ball and love ball to her. As Skitty evolved with a moonstone, the moon ball would work on Skitty. And the love ball would suit Beautifly since Delia likes it so much. So as soon as Skitty and Beautifly were better Delia used the moon and love balls to catch them.

"What a day we've had," said Tomo "we've seen a baby pokemon hatch, I got an egg from Sabrina and mum got two new pokemon". "Yeah but in two more days' time Tomo," said Ash "you and I will head off for Hoenn and we will have more fun days then". "I can't wait" smiled Tomo. Neither could Ash, Pikachu and Growlithe.

So the Johto Journey was finished, but a new Journey was going to begin soon for the Ketchum brothers.

Chapter 58

Before Hoenn

Ash and Tomo decided to stay at Pallet Town for two days to talk about their adventures in Johto and to sort everything out before they went to Hoenn. Ash placed his Johto badges and special badge from the Silver Conference onto the shelf where his other badges and trophies were. Delia said that she was going to buy a cabinet for his badges and trophies since Ash would be earning more in the future. Ash then placed his treasures in his room; the two parts of the GS ball, the glass medal he won from the Alto Mare race, his evolution stones and his items for powering up pokemon moves. Ash and Tomo also had dragon fangs; Clair gave one each to the gang before they left Blackthorn City. Tomo placed his items in his room as well. Tomo had his own bedroom now; Delia had a spare room changed into a bedroom just for Tomo, sometime after Tomo became part of the family. Ash kept his locket with the rainbow wing with him just in case he would need to contact Ho-Oh while he was in Johto. He also kept the silver locket with him; he feared it might end up stolen while he was gone.

During the stay, Ash explained to Prof Oak about his plan off just going to Hoenn with Pikachu, Latias, Latios and the egg. Tomo decided to go with Growlithe, Wynaut, Elekid and Magby. "Are you going to do gym battles as well Tomo?" asked Prof Oak. "I was thinking about doing that," said Tomo "but no I'm not. I prefer just watching Ash compete in the gym battles. Truth is I don't know what I want to become at the moment". "Oh never mind," said Ash "you'll find out what you want to be soon, I know you will". Tomo trusted Ash's words.

After two days it was time for Ash and Tomo to leave Kanto for the Hoenn region. Ash had contacted Mewtwo and told him where he was going. Mewtwo was traveling to the Hoenn region now at the moment, so he understood. Prof Oak gave Ash and Tomo new pokedex's; these pokedex's contained all the information about the pokemon that lived in the Hoenn region. Delia had given her son's new back packs and new clothes to wear. Ash was wearing a red hat, with a black mark on it, a blue hoodie, with a black and orange t-shirt underneath, blue jeans, black and green fingerless gloves, and black and blue sneakers. (The same hoenn outfit he wore in the anime). Tomo was wearing blue jeans, an orange t-shirt, a blue hoodie and black and green trainers. He was also wearing a black headband and black fingerless gloves. Delia gave her sons two ferry tickets for the ferry that would take them to Hoenn. "You two be careful and have fun on your journey" said Delia. "And catch a lot of Hoenn pokemon" said Prof Oak.

So the two brothers said goodbye to Delia, Prof Oak and Tracey, and together with Pikachu and Growlithe, they set off for a new adventure in Hoenn.

Chapter 59

When Brock went home,

When Misty when home and

Team Rocket's successes

After bidding farewell to Ash, Tomo and Misty, Brock was on his way back to Pewter City. While he was looking through the forest he heard some roaring noises. "That sounded like a Tyranitar" he said. He remembered what a Tyranitar's roar sounded like, because of the mother Tyranitar he and the gang met before, and he rushed to see what was going on. What he saw was a Tyranitar, but he also saw his dad, Flint, with it. "Hey dad" said Brock. Flint saw Brock and said hello to him as well. "Is this Tyranitar yours dad?" asked Brock. "Yes and she's a real fighter," said Flint "and there's no doubt her five Larvitars will become real fighters too when they evolved". "You mean this Tyranitar is a mother Tyranitar?" asked Brock.

Flint explained that a few months ago he was training in the mountains with his Onix and Golem. But then he heard some crying. "It sounded like some pokemon were crying and I went to see what was going on. But when I did I saw something terrible; I saw Tyranitar with a bleeding leg and the crying was from her five baby Larvitars. I called Nurse Joy at once and thanks to her Tyranitar was safe and healed and the Larvitars were okay too". "I take it you decided to catch Tyranitar after she healed?" asked Brock. "Yes and her Larvitars as well," said Flint "Forrest, Salvadore, Yolanda, Tommy and Cindy became friends with the Larvitars and they wanted to keep them. So I captured both Tyranitar and the five Larvitars, so that Tyranitar and the Larvitars wouldn't have to leave each other". "I understand," said Brock "so how is everybody?" "We are doing great," said Flint and your brothers and sisters love the new pokemon you had been capturing on your journeys. Oh and your new rock pokemon Rhyhorn, Rhydon, Kabuto, Omanyte, seven Shuckle, Magcargo and Corsola had been a hit in the gym. The trainers love battling against them". "I'm happy to hear that" said Brock.

When Flint and Brock arrived at the house, Brock was welcomed home by his siblings at once; they had missed him. His mum, Lola, greeted him too. "Hey mum, how you feeling?" asked Brock. Lola had a weak health and she was on medication. "Don't you worry Brock," said Lola "your two Chanseys have been a big help to me around the house. Although there is something about one of the Chanseys you should know". A Blissey came out of the kitchen as well as a Chansey; one of Brock's Chansey had evolved. Brock was amazed with having his own Blissey, but there was another surprise in the house. Lola had a Miltank with her. She explained that she needed to drink moomoo milk every day for her health. "Nurse Joy called a friend of hers from Johto and asked her to catch a Miltank for me, so the kids and I can have moomoo milk every day and we don't need to buy it from the shops everyday". Brock understood and was happy to have Miltank as part of the family.

Brock's siblings introduced Brock to their new Larvitars and Lola explained that they played with Growlithe and Ninetails all the time. Forrest also introduced Brock to his new Geodude that Flint gave him on his eleventh birthday. Brock was relieved that everything had been okay while he was gone. Brock's other pokemon were in the Pewter Gym; he had Steelix, Graveller, Crobat, Forretress, Stantler and Weepinbell on him. There had been a little change to the gym; the inside of the gym, where the battle field was had been painted a grey stone colour. "When you told us about your Onix being a Steelix, we decided to add a little grey to the gym," said Flint "what do you think?" "I like it," said Brock "besides you do get grey coloured rocks apart from the usual brown yellow rocks". There was a surprise for Brock when he saw his pokemon; his Diglett was now a Dugtrio and his Omanyte and Kabuto were now Omastar and Kabutops. "Wow, are there any more surprises for me to know about?" asked Brock. "No there isn't" chuckled Flint.

That evening, while the family were having dinner, Brock told his whole family about all of his adventures through Kanto and Johto, with his friends Ash, Tomo and Misty, and about staying with a professor in the Orange Islands. "You've certainly been through a lot on your journey son" said Flint. "I have," replied Brock "and I learnt a lot of new things too". "We are glad that you have enjoyed your journeys," said Lola "and we are also sorry that you weren't able to go on a journey when you were ten, because you had to help me take care of the house and your siblings". This was true; as Brock's family was a big one and that his parents had been suffering from illnesses, he couldn't start going on pokemon journeys as a ten year old. He had to stay home and help his mum with all the housework and looking after his brothers and sisters. "That's okay mum," said Brock "as long as you and dad get better, I would do anything to help out with the family". Flint and Lola were happy to have a good son like Brock.

That night, after Brock's siblings went to bed, Flint and Lola were talking to Brock in the living room. Flint and Lola had emailed Brock, before he left Ash, Tomo and Misty, to come home and wanted to talk to him about something important. Brock was worried; he hoped that nothing else was wrong with his parents as they had already suffered a lot. "Brock there is something that your mother and I wish to discuss with you" said Flint. "Is something wrong?" asked Brock. "Well dear," said Lola "do you remember when your father had to have a surgery on his heart before you started traveling?" "Yes, I do," said Brock "is your heart bad again dad?" "Well it's not as bad as it was before," said Flint "but when I visited a doctor a few days ago, he said that I needed to step down from being the gym leader of Pewter Gym. My heart is not as strong as it used to be and I need to rest my heart more, and as you know that being a gym leader won't help". "So do you want me to be the gym leader again dad?" asked Brock. "No Brock," said Lola "as we know that your dream is to become a pokemon doctor, your father and I decided to have Forrest become the new Pewter Gym leader". "That's right," said Flint "because he loves the Pewter Gym and all rock pokemon as much as I do. And he has become quite the pokemon trainer. So what do you think Brock?" "I call it a great idea," said Brock "and I'm sure that Forrest would be happy with being the new gym leader".

Brock was right; when he, Flint and Lola told Forrest the next day about their decision of him being the gym leader, Forrest beamed. "I will do whatever I can to be a great gym leader for the Pewter Gym" said Forrest. "And we will help you Forrest" said Salvador. The other siblings offered to help out too. So it was arranged, Forrest wold become the new Pewter Gym leader. Brock, Flint and Lola agreed that the gym would be in good hands with Forrest.

Suddenly where was a sort of stampede coming from outside. "What's going on?" said Brock. "I don't know," said Flint "but we better see". Brock, Flint and Forrest went to see what the noise was and Lola and the rest of the siblings stayed in the house.

A grey and silver pokemon that looked like a dinosaur was rampaging in the area, close to the gym. "What pokemon is that?" asked Forrest. "That's an Aggron," said Flint "a rock and steel type pokemon. You usually see these in the Hoenn region; it's surprisingly that there is one here though". "Yeah, but we should deal with it before it causes damage" said Brock. He sent out Graveller, while Flint sent out Tyranitar and Forrest sent out Geodude. Brock ordered Graveller to use dynamic punch, Flint ordered Tyranitar to use hyper beam and Forrest ordered Geodude to use rock smash. After being hit by focus punch, hyper beam and rock smash, the Aggron was defeated. "We better catch it before it wakes up" said Forrest. "Yes and I have the perfect ball for it" said Brock. He took out his heavy ball and used it to capture Aggron. Aggron was caught in a few seconds. "Now Aggron won't be causing any more trouble" smiled Brock, picking up the ball of his new pokemon.

Next day after everything was clear, Brock got ready to set off to Hoenn; he wanted to travel with Ash and Tomo again. He told his family of his plan, and his family agreed. Brock decided to just take Forretress and Aggron with him to Hoenn and leave all his other pokemon behind. Lola gave Brock new clothes to wear on his journey, and a new back pack. (The same clothes he wore in the anime in Hoenn). Then Brock said good bye to his family and set off for Hoenn to meet up with Ash and Tomo again.

After bidding farewell to Ash, Tomo and Brock, Misty was cycling her bike to Cerulean City to take over as gym leader to the Cerulean Gym. "It will be nice being home again and seeing all of my water pokemon again" she said to Togepi, who was riding in the basket of the bike. Togepi agreed. When she arrived to Cerulean City, she heard on the news on a TV screen that the pokemon inspection agency was inspecting all the pokemon gyms in Kanto. The pokemon inspection agency was a group of people who inspected pokemon gyms one a month to check on the gyms. If the gyms were fine and the gym leaders were doing their jobs right, then the gyms would stay open. But if the gyms were not good and the gym leaders weren't doing their jobs properly then the gyms would be shut down. Misty was worried; if she didn't get to Cerulean Gym soon the agency might shut it down for having no leader around. So she cycled as fast as she could all the way to the gym.

When Misty entered the gym there was a surprise waiting for her; Rudy and Mahri was there waiting for her. "Rudy, Mahri hello" she said. "Misty" said Mahri, hugging her. "Hi Misty," said Rudy, giving her a hug as well, "we got your message that you were returning to the gym, so we decided to pay you a visit". "I'm happy to hear that," said Misty "but what about your gym? I hear the pokemon inspection agency is making their rounds". "Oh the gyms in the Orange Islands have already been inspected and everything is well," said Rudy "and there aren't any challengers yet for a moment, so we are free to visit you for today". Misty was happy to see her boyfriend and Mahri again.

Just then a Nurse Joy, in normal clothing, had arrived at the gym. "Hello there," she said "are you Misty? I hear that you are the gym leader of Cerulean Gym". "Yes that's me Nurse Joy," said Misty "what can I do for you?" "Well I would like to look around your gym and see all of the pokemon you have here if you please" said Nurse Joy. "Of course," said Misty "and you join us too Rudy and Mahri". Misty explained to Nurse Joy that Rudy was her boyfriend and that he and his sister had come to visit her and Nurse Joy didn't mind the extra company.

Misty showed Nurse Joy, Rudy and Mahri some of the water pokemon that were swimming around in the pool, and the rest of the pokemon that were in their pokeballs. Misty was happy to see all her water pokemon again and the pokemon were happy to see her too. Then she showed them the battle arena. "Your gym is absolutely magnificent Misty," said Nurse Joy "and all of your pokemon look in tip top shape and very happy". "Thank you Nurse Joy," said Misty "but you wouldn't believe how I ended up adopting most of the water pokemon". "Really, what happened?" asked Nurse Joy. Misty explained how she adopted Tentacruel, Cloyster, Seadra, Vaporeon and Lapras after their abusive trainer, Damien, was arrested, and about how she adopted Octillery, five Remoraid, Lanturn, five Chinchou, Mantine, five Mantyke and Kingdra after some poachers caught them to sell them for money. "Goodness me," said Nurse Joy "it's a good thing that you have them now, after what they went through with". "I agree" said Misty.

Mahri was playing with Misty's Bellosom. "Why do you have a grass pokemon Misty?" asked Mahri. Misty explained how she got Bellosom as an Oddish during the journey in Kanto and the times when it evolved into Gloom and then into Bellosom. "Bellosom may not be a water type," said Misty "but I like her just the same". Nurse Joy, Rudy and Mahri understood.

Just then the phone rang. "I wonder who that could be" said Misty. She picked up the phone to answer it, and Officer Jenny was on the other line. "Oh Misty I'm glad you're there," she said "I need your help". "What is it Officer Jenny?" asked Misty. "There is ten Carvanha in the stream that's near here," said Officer Jenny "and they are causing problems to those who go near the lake. I need your help of dealing with them". "Okay, I'll be right there" said Misty, and she put the phone down. Nurse Joy, Rudy and Mahri offered to come along and help too and Misty agreed. Misty grabbed Wartortle's pokeball and Croconaw's lure ball from the rack of pokeballs.

They all ran to the lake where Officer Jenny was and the ten Carvanhas was staring at them angrily. Carvanha were blue, red and yellow piranha type pokemon. "We must be careful," said Rudy "Carvanha are the savage type pokemon". Misty noticed that two of the Carvanha were bigger than the other eight Carvanhas. "I reckon those two are the leaders of the Carvanha," she said "so if we battle them and catch them, the other Carvanha might leave". Misty got out Wartortle and Croconaw to battle Carvanha. As soon as the Carvanha saw Wartortle and Croconaw, they began to attack. "Wartortle use skull bash, and you use slash Croconaw" said Misty. Wartortle skull bashed the Carvanha hard and Croconaw gave the Carvanha a good slashing. The smaller eight Carvanhas fainted but the two bigger Carvanhas were not knocked out yet. "Those two Carvanha are tough, so be careful Wartortle and Croconaw" said Misty.

Suddenly the two bigger Carvanhas started to glow. They evolved into shark type pokemon. "They're Sharpedo now" said Rudy. The Sharpedos charged into Wartortle and Croconaw with aqua jet and then used night slash on them. "Are you okay Wartortle, Croconaw?" asked Misty. Wartortle and Croconaw were okay and they were not going to let the Sharpedos beat them. Just then Wartortle and Croconaw started to glow and they evolved into Blastoise and Feraligatr. Misty beamed from the evolutions. "Okay Blastoise, Feraligatr use hydro pump" she said. Blastoise and Feraligatr blasted the Sharpedos with hydro pump and they fainted. Misty tossed two pokeballs at the Sharpedos and caught them. The Carvanhas saw what happened and they wanted to be captured with their leaders too. "This makes sense," said Rudy "some wild pokemon feel lost without their leaders around". So Misty caught them as well; as long as they didn't cause trouble in the gym.

Officer Jenny was grateful for Misty's help and thanked her. Nurse Joy was impressed with how Misty handled the Carvanhas and Sharpedos. "Well Misty I have to say this," she said "you have proven to be a fine gym leader, and the Cerulean Gym has passed inspection". She revealed herself to be a pokemon inspection agent. Misty was surprised with that and was relieved that Cerulean Gym had passed the inspection. After that Agent Joy left Cerulean City to check out the other pokemon gyms in Kanto.

So all was okay in the end and Misty was now the official gym leader of Cerulean Gym. "I know that you will be a great gym leader Misty" smiled Rudy. "Thank you Rudy" smiled Misty. Just then he got a phone call from his gym and one of his attendants said that challengers were starting to collect the Orange League badges again. "Sorry Misty, but Mahri and I have to get back to our gym now" said Rudy. "Oh that's okay, I understand," said Misty "and you two are welcome to come back here to visit anytime". So Rudy and Mahri left Cerulean City to head back to the Trovita Gym in the Orange Islands. "Well Togepi," said Misty "it's time to start taking care of the gym". Togepi agreed. So Misty's new life as a gym leader had begun.

Jessie, James and Meowth were still in Johto and they were waiting for a boat to take them to Hoenn. "Man we did well while here in Johto" said Jessie. "Yeah, we ended up catching a lot of pokemon for the boss" said Meowth. "And we got ourselves new pokemon too" said James. "You're right," said Jessie "I'm happy with my Wobbuffet, Granbull and of course my newest pokemon Sneasel". "And I'm happy with my Jumpluff, Chinchou and my newest pokemon Teddiursa" said James. "I know, let's go over of what we've done here in Johto," said Meowth "I mean the boat isn't coming for the next thirty minutes". "Good idea," said Jessie "so what do we start with?" "I know the swarms of pokemon we caught over the next few weeks after the twerps stopped us from stealing the Dunsparce" said James. "Okay let's start with that" said Jessie. Meowth agreed.

(Start of Flashback 1)

It happened after Team Rocket failed to steal the town's Dunsparce. "Uh those Dunsparce would have made us a fortune," said Jessie "and now we won't be able to get them again". "Actually we can" said James. James was on the computer. "I'm looking up the pokemon swarms that happen here in Johto". "I've heard of pokemon swarms," said Meowth "it's when a lot of pokemon of the same species visit an area once a week". "Exactly," said James "and I've found out about what and where and when all the swarms are". "Does it say about Dunsparce?" asked Jessie. "Yep, the next swarm of Dunsparce is in another five weeks' time and it will be around here again," said James "and there are other pokemon swarms before then". There was a swarm with Yanma, Marill, Snubbull, Quilfish and Remoraid. "Great we can go after them, until it's the Dunsparce week," said Meowth "but what about equipment?" "Don't worry," said James "I called the boss and asked him to send us empty pokeballs and they should be here soon". The pokeballs arrived the next day and Jessie, James and Meowth got to work on gathering the swarms of pokemon.

(End of Flashback 1)

"We were successful of gathering the pokemon swarms Yanma, Marill, Snubbull, Quilfish, Remoraid and Dunsparce thanks to our pokemon" said Jessie. "Yes especially my Gloom's and Victreebel's sleep powder attacks" said James. "And we got a good payment from the boss for that" said Meowth. "But our biggest payment was from all the water pokemon we fished in the Whirl Islands" said Jessie. "Your right," said James "and that was when I got my Chinchou too". "Another success of ours is when we ended up gathering a lot of pokemon that were living in the forests outside the area where Tyson was having trouble with that Red Gyarados" said Meowth. "Oh yeah" said Jessie.

(Start of Flashback 2)

It was after Jessie, James and Meowth decided to leave the area after they decided not to help out with the red Gyarados. They had come to a forest that was miles away from Mahogany Town "Okay now according to this book of mine, there is said to be lots of different wild pokemon living here" said James. Good thing that we have a whole sack full of empty pokeballs for this then" said Meowth. "Okay so how shall we gather them as this place is so big?" asked Jessie. "Leave it to me" smiled James. He released a Vileplume and a Jumpluff from their pokeballs. "When did Gloom and Skiploom evolve?" asked Meowth. "Sometime after we caught all the water pokemon for the boss," said James "Gloom saw a leaf stone in a shop and she wanted to evolve so I bought the stone and evolved Gloom into Vileplume. As for Skiploom well we were battling a trainer and Skiploom evolved into Jumpluff in the process". "That's cool so now what?" said Jessie. James ordered his two grass pokemon to use sweet scent in the area, and then some pokemon kept turning up. There was Aipom, Caterpie, Weedle, Ledyba, Spinarak, Heracross, Pidgey, Hoothoot, Natu, Pichu, Pineco and Murkrow. "Wow sweet scent is such a cool move, as it has the ability to make pokemon come to the pokemon who's using it" said Meowth. "You're right" smiled James. He petted Vileplume and Jumpluff for doing a good job. Then he, Jessie and Meowth caught them all.

(End of Flashback 2)

"That was a brilliant plan of ours, but our best haul was all of those fighting pokemon we found in an abandoned warehouse" said Jessie. "Yes I remember that" said Meowth.

(Start of Flashback 3)

Jessie, James and Meowth had arrived in Silver Town at that time. They were having some time off and having a meal at the café. Just then they heard some people talking about a warehouse outside Silver Town that had been abandoned for months. "I hear that a gang of fighting type pokemon lives in there now" said a man. "I've heard that too," said another man "and I've also heard that a Sneasel and Teddiursa live there too". Jessie, James and Meowth were interested in that, so they finished their meal, paid the bill and left the café to check out the abandoned warehouse. "If you two don't mind, I am going to catch the Teddiursa for myself," said James "I've always wanted a Teddiursa". "Okay, but I want the Sneasel" said Jessie. Once they entered the warehouse, they got surrounded by the fighting pokemon at once. There was a Mankey, a Primeape, a Machop, a Machoke, a Machamp, a Tyrogue, a Hitmonlee, a Hitmonchan and a Hitmontop. Jessie and James released all of their pokemon at once and Arbok, Cloyster, Wobbuffet, Granbull, Weezing, Vileplume, Jumpluff, Chinchou and Victreebel managed to defeat all of them and Jessie and James caught them in the pokeballs. After capturing them they saw Sneasel and Teddiursa in a corner of the warehouse and they were hurt. "We better get them to the pokemon center" said Jessie. James and Meowth agreed.

(End of Flashback 3)

"It's a good thing they healed well at the pokemon center," said Jessie "I mean that was unfair for the fighting pokemon to beat the hell out of Sneasel and Teddiursa like crazy". "Pokemon that live in packs or gangs do that though," said Meowth "I lived in a pack of Meowth with a Persian one time and I used to watch Persian and the other meowth scratch the outside pokemon like crazy all the time too". "Yeah, but the good news is that they are out pokemon now," said James "and the fighting pokemon are putting their muscles to good use at Team Rocket's headquarters". "Yeah the Team Rockets Delibirds delivered them safely to the boss" said Meowth.

At that moment the boat for Hoenn turned up. "Well boys," said Jessie "it's time to head over to the Hoenn region". "Yeah, we can catch a lot of Hoenn pokemon for the boss" said Meowth. "And we can capture some Hoenn pokemon for ourselves too" said James. So they got onto the boat and looked forward to travelling to Hoenn.

Chapter 60

Start of Hoenn and May

Ash, Tomo, Pikachu and Growlithe were on the ship to the Hoenn region. "I can't wait till we start our journey in Hoenn Ash" said Tomo. "Neither can I Tomo," said Ash "it will be great seeing all the Hoenn pokemon and travelling to new places. And there's no doubt that our journey through the Hoenn region will be great like it was in Kanto the Orange Islands and Johto". "Do you think that we will also meet any of the legendary pokemon in Hoenn too?" asked Tomo. "Actually Tomo I do," replied Ash "after all we have run into legendary pokemon before". Tomo agreed.

By the afternoon hit, the ship docked and Ash and Tomo took their first step into the Hoenn region. "Where do we go first?" Tomo asked Ash. "We need to go and see Prof Birch in Littleroot Town," said Ash "and we are in Littleroot town now. Oh but first". He took out two compact-disc-shaped devices from his rucksack. "These are pokenavs; Prof Oak gave these to me before we left. There's one for you and one for me, and these display maps of the Hoenn region, and we mustn't lose them either". "Got it" said Tomo. "So the one thing we need to know is how to get ourselves to Prof Birch's lab" said Ash. "I'll get you two boys there" said a voice.

The voice belonged to a brown haired, chubby looking, man. "Hey wait, aren't you Prof Birch?" asked Ash "Prof Oak showed me a photo of you when I was at Pallet Town". "That's right, I am Prof Birch," said Prof Birch "and you two must be Ash and Tomo Ketchum. Prof Oak told me about you two and that you were going to go on a journey here in Hoenn". "That's right, and to tell you the truth we can't wait to start our journey here in Hoenn" said Ash. "I understand" laughed Prof Birch. Ash and Tomo got into Prof Birch's car and they were on the way to Prof Birch's lab. "Hey professor," said Ash "Prof Oak told us that you give out starter pokemon to beginning trainers". "That's true I do," said Prof Birch "as the matter of fact I'm giving out starter pokemon to a new trainer today". Tomo asked Prof Birch if they could see the starter pokemon and Prof Birch agreed.

They were soon at Prof Birch's lab and Prof Birch introduced Ash and Tomo to his assistant Joshua. "The three starter pokemon are all ready for when May arrives today professor" said Joshua. Prof Birch explained that May was the new trainer to pick up a starter pokemon today. Then he released the three starter pokemon from the pokeballs to show Ash and Tomo. The first pokemon was a green and red pokemon, with a big tail, and it looked like a lizard. It was a Treecko and a grass type pokemon. The next pokemon was an orange and yellow pokemon ad it looked like a chick. It was a Torchic and a fire type pokemon. The last pokemon was a blue and orange pokemon, with a fin on its head and a big tail, and it looked like an amphibious fish. It was a Mudkip and a water type pokemon. Both Ash and Tomo thought they were all very cool pokemon. Prof Birch could see that Ash and Tomo liked pokemon very much.

Seeing the hoenn starter pokemon reminded Ash and Tomo about the starter pokemon in Kanto and Johto and they told Prof Birch all about how they got their starter pokemon. "Prof Oak and Prof Elm told me about that," said Prof Birch "I find it surprising that you manage to catch all the starter pokemon of Kanto and Johto Ash". "I found it surprising myself professor," said Ash "but I wish to find and catch all three starter pokemon here in Hoenn too". "And I wish to have one too" said Tomo. "I'm sure you boys can do that" said Prof Birch. Ash also admitted to Prof Birch that he and Tomo already had hoenn region pokemon on them. Tomo released Wynaut from his friend ball and Ash released Latias and Latios from their dive balls. Prof Birch was really shocked when he saw Latias and Latios and couldn't stop getting over excited. Latias and Latios became scared of Prof Birch and they turned invisible. "What happened?" asked Prof Birch. Ash explained that invisibility was Latias and Latios ability and that they were nervous around strangers. "It's okay Latias and Latios," said Ash "Prof Birch didn't mean to frighten you like that". Latios and Latias reappeared and Ash returned them to their dive balls. Prof Birch admitted that Ash was an incredible trainer to have legendary pokemon on his team.

It was at that moment that everyone heard a loud scream. "What was that?" asked Ash. "I reckon is that someone has run into the pack of Poochyena" said Prof Elm. He explained that a pack of Poochyena lived around the area outside Littleroot Town and they always caused trouble for anyone who trespassed in their territory. "We better go and help that person out right away". He grabbed the three pokeballs and rushed out of his lab. Ash and Tomo followed him to help out.

Ash, Tomo and Prof Birch ran into the forest of route 101 and there was a brunette haired girl being surrounded by a pack of Poochyena. Poochyena were black and grey dog type pokemon. "Hold on May, I'll help you" called out Prof Birch. He was about to toss out a pokemon from a pokeball but then a Poochyena tackled Prof Birch, making him drop the pokeballs. Ash and Tomo grabbed a pokeball each and sent out a pokemon from them. Ash had sent out Mudkip and Tomo had sent out Treecko. "Mudkip use water gun on the Poochyena, and Pikachu you help out too with thunderbolt" said Ash. "Use pound Treecko," said Tomo "and you use flamethrower Growlithe". Pikachu, Mudkip, Growlithe and Treecko did as they were told and the Poochyena ran away, except two. Ash and Tomo decided that they would catch them, so Ash ordered Pikachu to use thunderbolt again and Tomo ordered Growlithe to use flamethrower again. The two remaining Poochyena fainted from the attacks and the Ketchum brothers caught them with empty pokeballs. "Our first Hoenn region capture" said Tomo.

After the trouble with Poochyena was dealt with, everyone went back to Prof Birch's lab. Ash and Tomo introduced themselves to May and May thanked them for helping her. "Well May, it's time for you to pick your starter pokemon" said Prof Birch. May had a look at Treecko, Mudkip and Torchic and decided on having Torchic as her starter pokemon. Prof Birch handed her a pokedex and five empty pokeballs. "Ash, Tomo, you two may take Mudkip and Treecko if you wish" said Prof Birch. "Huh?" said Ash "but don't you need them for other trainers who are going to start their journey". "We aren't going to have any more starting trainers here for the next two months," said Prof Birch "and those two will be bored waiting that long. Besides you two did a great job with them against the Poochyena, so I think that Mudkip and Treecko will be happy with you two". The two brothers agreed with Prof Birch's offer at once; Ash chose Mudkip and Tomo chose Treecko. Prof Birch knew that Mudkip and Treecko would be happy with Ash and Tomo, like Torchic would be happy with May.

After that Ash and Tomo decided it was time to leave. Prof Birch told them that they would need to go to Oldale Town for Ash to register for collecting gym badges. So Ash and Tomo said goodbye to Prof Birch and May and left the lab to start their pokemon journey in Hoenn.

Ash and Tomo were on their way to Oldale Town, where Ash could register to start collecting gym badges. "We'll need to buy food for ourselves as well as other things," Ash said to Tomo "remember Brock is not here to cook for us, so we'll be doing the cooking on our journey". "I understand;" said Tomo "and it's a good thing that our ruck sacks are a little bigger than our old ones. We can carry more stuff in them".

Just then May ran up to them. "Hey May, what are you doing here?" asked Ash. "Well I was wondering if I could travel with you two," said May "the truth is I don't really know much about pokemon, but you two do. So would you mind if you did travel with you?" The brothers agreed. "It will be nice to have company on our journey" said Ash. May explained that she wasn't really interested into becoming a pokemon trainer, because she didn't like pokemon that much and she just wanted to travel. "You'll change your mind about being a pokemon trainer later on," said Ash "I've experienced many things during my pokemon journeys for the last two and a half years, and I've enjoyed my journeys very much". "Same thing with me," said Tomo "and you will enjoy this journey too May". May wasn't sure but she decided to believe in Ash and Tomo.

At that moment May saw something in the grass; it was an Azuril. Azuril was the pre-evolved form of Marill. "That pokemon is so cute, I want it" said May. Problem was she didn't know what to do; she had no idea how capturing pokemon worked. Ash stepped in to help and he asked May to get one of her empty pokeballs ready. Then he ordered Pikachu to use thunderbolt on Azuril and Azuril fainted from the attack. "You see you have to weaken pokemon first with your pokemon's attack, before you capture them," explained Ash "then it will be easy to catch them in a pokeball". May understood at once, and then she captured the Azuril with her pokeball. "My first pokemon capture," she smiled "thank you Ash". She was very grateful for Ash's help. Ash also explained that he used Pikachu because electric types beat water types like Azuril. "Your Torchic wouldn't have been able to stand Azuril's water attacks, because fire attacks are weak against water attacks and water pokemon beats fire type pokemon". May realised that she really did have a lot to learn about pokemon, but Ash and Tomo offered to help her learn.

Soon they were at Oldale Town and they were now resting in the pokemon center. Ash explained to May that a pokemon center was a place where pokemon and humans could relax, and that Nurse Joy takes care of weak and sick pokemon. While the gang was having dinner, May had a lot of questions for Ash and Tomo. "You two said that you have been on a pokemon journey for two and a half years right?" she asked. "That's right," said Ash "I started my pokemon journey when I was ten years old and now I am thirteen years old. Together with Tomo and our old friends Misty, Brock we travelled in Kanto and Johto. And with our other old friend Tracey, Misty, Tomo and I travelled in the Orange Islands together". "Wow you two certainly have been a lot together" said May. Ash admitted to May that he and the others had been through a lot of trouble during their journeys because of what some bad people, like Team Rocket and poachers and burglars, had done. "So let us warn you May, you must always be careful when out on a journey. You can never be careful with what will happen later on". May understood Ash's words at once.

After spending the night and having breakfast at the pokemon center, it was time to leave. Ash opened up his pokenav to see where they had to go. "It says that Petalburg City is on the way from here," he said "so we shall head over there first". "Got it" said Tomo. May said got it too, but not as enthusiastic as Tomo. So the journey was now beginning for Ash, Tomo and May.