Ash's Pokémon Journey

Chapter 111-115

Chapter 111

Training day,

The Strange Plate

And Poketechs

Today it was time for Ash and Dawn to start practicing for the Jubilife pokemon contest. Ash decided to use his female Aipom for this contest. Truth is his female Aipom really liked pokemon contests and when Ash had a think about what pokemon to use his female Aipom wanted to take part. "Hey Dawn before we start practicing," said Ash "what are the rules for the pokemon contests here in Sinnoh? I mean can you use a different pokemon in each round of the contests or do they have to be the same?" Ash didn't know what the contest rules in Sinnoh were yet. "At the pokemon contests you can use a different pokemon for the appeal round and battle round, and you are allowed to use the same pokemon for both rounds," answered Dawn "oh and there's another thing you need to know Ash. Here in the Sinnoh region coordinators dress up for the pokemon contests". "Do they?" asked Ash "oh then I'll have to sort out an outfit when we get to Jubilife City then".

"Hey Dawn before you start practicing you better see what moves your Piplup, Burmy and Ariados know," said Brock "once you see what moves your pokemon it's easier to start practicing then". So Dawn got out hr pokedex to check out her Piplup, Burmy and Ariados. Piplup knew pound, growl, bubble, water sport, peck, bide and bubblebeam. Burmy was female and she knew protect, bug bite, tackle, hidden power and string shot. Ariados was male and he knew bug bite, poison sting, string shot, scary face, leech life, night shade, shadow sneak, fury swipes, sludge bomb and psychic. "That's pretty good for your first three pokemon Dawn" said Brock. Dawn was happy with the results too.

Now it was time for practice. Ash's female Aipom knew scratch, tail whip, sand attack, tickle, fury swipes, swift, focus punch, bounce, water pulse, shadow claw, attract, double team and the egg move double slap. Ash's male Aipom knew the same moves too. "Okay Aipom ready to practice for your first pokemon contest?" Ash asked his pokemon. Aipom was more than ready.

As for Dawn she had decided to use Piplup for the appeal round and use Ariados for the battle round. Burmy felt a bit left out because she wasn't going to be in the contest. But Dawn promised her she could be in the next pokemon contest. Right now Dawn had a practice with Piplup. She decided for the appeal round Piplup should spin around using bubble beam; that would create a large ring of bubbles and a lot of sparkles when the bubbles burst. Unfortunately while trying it out Piplup got dizzy with spinning and the bubbles went out of control. Dawn and Piplup tried again, but Piplup got dizzy again and the bubbles went everywhere too. Things weren't going well for Dawn at the moment.

Ash who saw everything spoke up. "The best thing to do Dawn," he said "is to have Piplup practice spinning without getting dizzy first, and then start practicing the moves". "Ash is right Dawn," said Brock "remember figure skaters and dancers start practicing the spinning without getting dizzy first before practicing the tricks". "You're right" admitted Dawn. So Dawn decided to have Piplup practice his spinning. But poor Piplup ended up dizzy in the end; poor Piplup was having trouble on his first day of contest training.

Meanwhile Team Rocket was doing some planning of where to get great pokemon for Giovanni. "Okay so which pokemon should we collect first for the boss?" asked Meowth. "Personally we should gather up a flock of Starly" said James. "Starly?" said Jessie. James should the others a picture of Starly and its evolved forms Staravia and Staraptor. "Mmm I like the look of Staraptor" said Jessie. "Staraptor is one of the fiercest flying pokemon next to Fearow" said James. "Well let's make Starly our first capture" said Meowth. "Okay then," said James "I'll use my Roserade and Vileplume to lure out Starly and Jessie you use Weavile and Cloyster to knock them out with an ice type move". Jessie liked the idea and the trio went to go to work.

Back with the gang Dawn and Piplup were still having trouble with spinning without getting dizzy. "Oh dear," said Dawn "maybe Piplup and I should try something else for the pokemon contest". Piplup felt down because he was failing a lot. Just then Ash's Piplup started to speak. "What's up with your Piplup Ash?" asked Dawn. "My Piplup says that he will have a work out with your Piplup Dawn," said Ash "as my Piplup is a bit stronger than yours he will help out your Piplup a bit". Dawn's Piplup liked that idea and he wanted to do it. "But Ash since your Piplup is stronger than mine; it will be too rough for my Piplup" said Dawn, worriedly. "Dawn training with tougher pokemon helps a weak pokemon grow up," said Ash "and since Tomo's, Brock's and my pokemon are strong they'll be a good example for your pokemon". "Ash is right Dawn," said Brock "just like how journeying with us will make you stronger". Dawn still didn't feel sure about this, but Dawn's Piplup was eager to train, so she agreed. She asked Ash's Piplup not to go so hard on her Piplup and told her Piplup to do what Ash's Piplup tells him to do. The two Piplups went off to train together somewhere. Dawn was still uneasy about this but the boys told her that everything would be okay.

Back with Team Rocket, Jessie and James captured twenty Starly's. "You think twenty is enough?" asked Meowth. "We can't go over the top Meowth," said James "there are still plenty of other Sinnoh pokemon that we'll need to catch. So twenty Starly's will be enough for our first capture". Meowth got the point. "What pokemon shall we go for next?" asked Jessie. James looked out his pictures of Sinnoh region pokemon. "I say we go for Shinx," he said, showing the picture to the others, "it evolves into Luxio and then Luxray". "That's perfect," said Jessie "those tough cat pokemon will make Team Rocket look tough". "Then let's hunt for Shinx" said Jessie. The trio agreed.

By now Dawn's Piplup got a good work out with Ash's Piplup, having a swimming race in the pond, attacking rocks with bubble beam and pound, and Dawn's Piplup also practiced his spinning without getting dizzy. Thanks to the exercise Dawn's Piplup perfected the routine spinning while doing bubblebeam. "You were right Ash," said Dawn "having Piplup train with your Piplup did make him stronger and confident". "Told you Dawn," said Ash "my pokemon will be happy to train any pokemon you catch on this journey".

So with a successful day of training, Dawn felt ready now for her first pokemon contest.

One night Ash was having a strange dream. He was in some strange underground cave. It was dark and he couldn't see anything. Suddenly sixteen rectangular plates appeared in front of him and then they started to fly away together. Ash chased after them and suddenly he ended up in some strange ruined ruins. Suddenly the ruins and the sixteen began to glow, while Ash just looked on in surprise.

Suddenly Ash got woken up by a scream; it was Dawn screaming about her bed head. The boys ended up learning about Dawn's fussiness of how she looked especially with her hair. And they learnt of how she hated it when her hair was in a mess. Ash felt relieved he was born a boy in case he would have been fussy as a girl. Another thing the boys learnt about Dawn was that she always says 'no need to worry' when there's a problem or something like that.

Brock was sorting out breakfast with Ash and Tomo setting the table. Brock had a new pokemon on his team called a Croagunk; he captured it yesterday. Croagunk was a dark blue frog like, poison and fighting type, pokemon with black markings, white stripes across the tummy, orange cheeks and two orange fingers and it had yellow eyes.

Tomo looked at Croagunk on the pokedex; Croagunk, the toxic mouth pokemon. Its cheeks hold poison sacs. It tries to catch foes off guard to jab them with toxic fingers.

Croagunk was a bit of a creepy looking pokemon but this Croagunk liked Brock and it wanted to go with him, and that was how Brock captured him.

Dawn was soon tidied up and ready for breakfast. To fix up her hair she had her Piplup use bubble beam on it and her hair became neat and tidy and clean. She knew by now of how great a cook Brock was and she was looking forward to his food. "So what are we going to do today?" asked Dawn. "Well the training and getting ready for the contest has been done," said Ash "so all that's left to do now is get to Jubilife City". "And we are not far now from there so we can get there by today" said Brock. Dawn was happy to hear that.

Suddenly a Buneary came out of the bushes. "Hey a Buneary" said Dawn, happily, "now it's my chance to catch one at last". She explained to the others she failed to catch a Buneary last time but now she can catch one. Before Dawn could do anything the Buneary went up to Pikachu and snuggled up beside him. "What's Buneary doing?" asked Dawn. "It likes Pikachu," answered Brock "and seems to have a crush on him". That meant this Buneary was female. "Umm I'm sorry to upset Buneary but Pikachu already has a crush on another pokemon" said Ash. "Does he?" asked Dawn. Ash explained to Dawn about his girlfriend Anabel. "Anabel has a female Espeon and she's Pikachu's girlfriend". Buneary heard that, turned to Pikachu to ask if it was true, and when Pikachu told her it was she became upset. Ash quickly went over to Buneary and stroked her head. "Don't be sad Buneary," he said, kindly, "even though Pikachu already has a girlfriend he would be more than happy to have you as a friend". "Ash is right," said Dawn "so there's no need to worry Buneary". Buneary started to feel a bit better.

Suddenly something caught Ash's eye; there was something nearly buried in the ground next to a bush. Ash went over to see and after brushing off some dirt, he found a small red coloured rectangle plate, with a darker red outline. "What is that?" asked Tomo. "It looks like a plate, only rectangle shape" said Brock. "Hey I saw something like this in my dream last night" said Ash. He explained to the others about his dream of the sixteen plates and the ruins. "And this is one of the same plates I saw". "Do you think it means something?" asked Brock. "I don't know," said Ash "what I can say is we have a new mystery on our hands". It felt funny to Ash; he had only barely started the Sinnoh journey and he already had a mystery on his hands. He placed the plate into his back pack; he had a strange feeling that keeping the plate would help him solve the mystery later.

Just then Dawn turned to the Buneary, who was still around. "Buneary I'm going to catch you" she said. Buneary turned to position to fight and Dawn sent out her Piplup to battle it. "Piplup use bubble beam" she said. Piplup fired the bubbles towards Buneary, but Buneary dodged the bubbles with the move bounce. Piplup tried again, but Buneary just kept dodging the bubbles. "Wow that Buneary is fast" said Ash. "Okay Piplup use growl to slow it down" said Dawn, remembering something from Ash's Piplup. Piplup growled and Buneary was put off. "Now use peck". Piplup pecked Buneary good. Buneary wasn't defeated yet and she fought back with ice beam. "Quick dodge that Piplup" said Dawn. Luckily Piplup managed to get out of the way before the ice beam could hit him. Piplup then attacked with bubble beam and Buneary got hit this time by the bubbles. Then Piplup moved in with pound and Buneary got hurt some more. "Use the pokeball now Dawn" said Brock. Dawn quickly threw the pokeball at Buneary and she got sucked into the pokeball. A few seconds later Buneary was caught. "Alright, I caught my own Buneary!" cheered Dawn. Piplup cheered too.

Dawn was happy with her newest capture and looked at Buneary on the pokedex. Apart from knowing ice beam and bounce, Buneary knew pound, defense curl, quick attack, frustration, attract and headbutt. Dawn couldn't stop smiling for joy and Piplup felt more proud than ever. So now the gang could continue on to Jubilife City.

The gang had finally arrived at Jubilife City, where Ash and Dawn could participate in the pokemon contest. The contest was in three days so the gang could relax in the city today. But there was one thing that Dawn wanted to do first; she wanted to get an item called a poketch. A poketch was like a watch, but it was sort of like having a mini lap top on your wrist because of technology gadgets the poketch had. "That reminds me" said Ash. He rummaged through his back pack and took out an envelope. Inside the envelope was a voucher for a pre-ordered poketch. "My mum got this for me for my birthday and she said that this pre-ordered poketch will have special additions to it" said Ash. "I got one too from mum as well" said Tomo, and she showed the others his voucher. Dawn felt a bit jealous of that because she didn't have a voucher for a special poketch.

Unfortunately for them the shop that sold poketch's didn't have any. The shop keeper said that all of the poketch's were taking back to the company that created them. Dawn of course wasn't happy about this because she really wanted to get a poketch. "I know let's go to this company where the poketch's are made," said Ash "I'm sure the president there will tell us why they took back all the poketch's". Dawn agreed with that idea at once, and so once they headed off to the poketch company at once. Once they got there though the staff at receptionist desk said they weren't allowed to see the president.

Suddenly a young boy with a Shinx by his side came up to the gang. "Good I'm glad you don't have those fake poketch's" he said. "What do you mean?" asked Ash. The boy explained that some clowns had been handing out fake poketch's in the city. "I know they are fakes because my daddy never makes cheap poketch's like that". The boy's name was Landis and his father was the company president of the poketch company. The president explained that because cheap fake imitations of poketch's were being given out, he had all his products brought back in until he sorted out the problem with the fake poketch's. "Hey sir," said Ash "my brother Tomo and I got these vouchers from our mum for a special pre-ordered poketch. What are these special poketch's?" "That Ash is our very special product," said the president "it is special because it has two special apps added that you wouldn't get from other poketch's". "You get a stop watch app and an alarm clock app" said Landis. Ash and Tomo felt lucky for getting something special as that.

Since the president had to sort out the problems with the fake poketch's the gang left the company. "So what shall we do to wait for the company to sort out the poketch's?" asked Tomo. "I need to contact Prof Rowan and tell him about my strange red plate we found in the forest" said Ash. "And I need to sort out if we are missing anything like medicines and such" said Brock. So the gang went to the pokemon center. Ash phoned Prof Rowan and showed him his red plate. "Hmm that's quite a strange item you have Ash" said Prof Rowan. "Do you have any idea what this plate is Professor?" asked Ash. Prof Rowan thought for a second. "I'm afraid I don't," he said, at last, "but I will look into it for you Ash". "Thanks Professor," said Ash "I'll phone you again it I find another plate". And the phone call ended. The plate felt more mysterious to Ash than ever.

Later that night the gang were getting ready for bed in the pokemon center, but then Pikachu noticed something outside. There was a long line of pokemon marching around outside. The gang saw it too and went outside at once. "Where are all these pokemon going?" asked Dawn. Ash looked at all the pokemon. "They've been hypnotized" said Ash. "You're kidding?" said Dawn. Suddenly Landis and his dad turned up; Landis's Shinx was missing. The president explained that the fake poketch's had some sort of microphone inside them and the strange thing was the sound of a Psyduck was playing through it. "And now Shinx has wondered off and we don't know where it is". Ash pointed to the line of pokemon. "If we follow these pokemon," he said "we may find Shinx and we may also find out what's going on around here". Everyone agreed to the idea.

What was going on really was this whole thing was a set up by Team Rocket. The trio had planted microphone chips inside their own made fake poketch's and they were getting help from a wild Psyduck. The Psyduck spoke through a microphone, while Team Rocket broadcasted with a radio tower; it was to hypnotize the pokemon whose trainers received the fake poketch's from them. The pokemon walked into a big storage shed that a trio prepared. "Okay Psyduck that's enough" said Meowth. He gave Psyduck a basket of fruit to say thank you and the Psyduck left.

Suddenly the gang and Landis and his dad turned up. The president tried to tell all the pokemon to go back to their trainers, but the pokemon were too much in a trance to listen. Just then the storage shed closed and Team Rocket revealed themselves. "Thanks to our fake poketch's we've caught a good haul" said Jessie. The gang were not happy with that. Ash, Tomo and Dawn were about to tell Pikachu, Piplup and Growlithe to attack, but Meowth used hard plastic cages to trap them. Meowth laughed. "These three are a good extra" he said. "Oh no you don't!" shouted Ash. He released Masquerain and ordered her to use ice beam. Masquerain froze Team Rocket and their balloon and the whole balloon was dragged down to the ground. Pikachu, Piplup and Growlithe were released from their cages and the shed opened up and all the pokemon were free; they had snapped out from their trance thanks to the crash. Landis was happy to get Shinx back.

Jessie and James were angry and they sent out Ursaring, Carnivine, Shiftry, Granbull, Weavile and Exploud to battle. Tomo sent out his Electabuzz and Magmar to help out and Dawn sent out her Ariados and Brock sent out his Nosepass. Together Pikachu, Masquerain, Growlithe, Magmar, Electabuzz, Piplup, Ariados and Nosepass defeated Ursaring, Carnivine, Shiftry, Granbull, Weavile and Exploud and to finish it off Pikachu used volt tackle to Team Rocket blast off again.

The president was grateful for the gang's help and he promised to get rid of all the fake poketch's at once. The day after that the real poketch's were back in the shop ready to sell. So Ash, Tomo and Dawn finally got their poketch's. Dawn had a pink one, which was for girls, and Ash and Tomo got blue ones, which was for boys. The trio looked to see what apps they had on their poketch's. Dawn had digital watch, which was to tell time, kitchen timer, which was like an actual kitchen timer, friendship checker, which could tell how high the bond between a human and pokemon were, dowsing machine, which could find hidden and lost items, berry searcher, which could locate where berry trees were, and a calendar to remember days and things. Ash and Tomo's poketch's had the same, and as well as having the special apps alarm clock and stop watch, they also had the apps memo pad, which was used to write down things you needed to remember, and a calculator to calculate things. Dawn was happy to get her own poketch and now she felt more than ready for the Jubilife contest.

And so with the mystery behind the fake poketch's solved, the gang could now concentrate on the Jubilife contest.

Chapter 112

Meeting Zoey,

And the Jubilife Contest

Today it was time for the gang to get ready for the Jubilife Contest, which was tomorrow. Dawn was trying on her contest outfit, which her mother had given her. She wore a pink dress, with a white collar, a red ribbon around the waist, with three small red ribbons on the collar and red shoes and Dawn also had her hair tied up. "How do I look?" she asked Brock and Tomo. The boys thought Dawn looked good in her dress. Johanna, who was on the video phone, told Dawn there was also a choker in the box the dress came in, but Dawn told her that she didn't see a choker in the box.

Just then a Glameow turned up holding a black choker, with a red ribbon, on its tail.

Tomo looked at the Glameow on his pokedex: Glameow, the catty pokemon. It hides its spiteful tendency of hooking its claws into the nose of its Trainer if it isn't fed.

Just then a girl with spikey red hair turned up; she was Glameow's trainer. "I saw your choker on the floor in the dressing room, and I realized it was yours by your dress" said the girl. Dawn thanked the girl and told her mum that she felt ready for the contest. "Now Dawn," said her mum, sternly, "the last thing you need to go is be absent minded. If you let yourself get distracted so easily, then you will not win any pokemon contests". "No need to worry mum," said Dawn "I've practiced a lot with my Piplup and Ariados so we will be fine". "It's when you say not to worry that gets me worried" Johanna reminded her. Dawn wanted to thank the girl again for finding her choker, but she had left. "Hang on where's Ash?" asked Dawn. "Right here" replied Ash.

Ash had come out of the dressing room, wearing a different outfit that made him look like a hunter, but without a bow and arrow. He wore a blue tunic, white trousers, brown boots, brown belt, a green hat with a white feather sticking out of it and green gloves. (This outfit is the prince outfit Ash wore in the episode air time) "Wow Ash you look great in that" said Dawn. "I phoned my mum and told her about that I needed to dress up for the pokemon contests here, and she made this outfit for me and then sent it over" said Ash. Johanna turned to Ash. "Ash I saw your contest appearances on TV with Dawn, so I look forward to see what contest moves you'll perform here in Sinnoh" she said. Then the phone call ended. "Come on Ash, let's do one more minute training" said Dawn. "Wait a moment Dawn," said Ash "you and I need to register for the contest first". "Oh no I forgot about that" said Dawn, in a panic. Ash face palmed; he had a feeling that Dawn hadn't registered yet. "It's a good thing that Brock, Tomo and I are travelling with you" he said.

The gang went up to the desk, where they had to register, and Ash and Dawn got themselves sorted at once. Once they received their Sinnoh contest passes, they were also presented with ribbon cases, a ball capsule, the rule book and an envelope. Ash got a blue-green ribbon case and Dawn got a pink one. Ash opened the envelope and saw some seals in it. "Hey Dawn what are these seals for?" he asked "we didn't get anything like this in Kanto and Hoenn". "These seals are to make a super appearance when you release your pokemon from the pokeball" said Dawn. She demonstrated it by placing her Piplup's pokeball in the capsule, next she placed a heart seal on the capsule, and then she threw the ball and lots of hearts appeared when Piplup came out of it. "Wow that's pretty cool" said Tomo. "Your right and there are all sorts of seals that do different things, and you only place one on each capsule" said Dawn. "I get it" said Ash, excitedly.

After sorting out the registering and getting out of the outfits, Ash and Dawn could now do one more practice for the pokemon contest. Dawn showed how much practice Piplup had done with his peck attack; with storing so much energy it could make his beak get bigger while it glowed. Ash's Aipom put on a performance by doing double team and then swift. The multiple Aipoms created a giant star in the sky thanks to the swift attacks. "Wow Ash your Aipom is certainly built for pokemon contests" said Dawn. "I agree she really loves them," said Ash "funny thing is though my other Aipom does like them a bit, but Aipom here really is into them". "Well pokemon do have different likings Ash" Brock reminded Ash.

That afternoon Ash and Tomo were alone on the training grounds. Tomo wanted to get some quick training done before it was time for the first Sinnoh gym. Tomo had his Bidoof out and Ash had his Starly. Bidoof was male and he knew tackle, growl, rollout, defense curl, headbutt and the egg move quick attack. Starly was also male and he knew tackle, growl, quick attack, wing attack, double team and the egg moves sand attack and feather dance. Tomo sent out his Snubbull. "Snubbull I need you to teach Bidoof the moves protect, double team, secret power, and hidden power" said Tomo. Snubbull knew those four moves and she was happy to teach Bidoof. Ash had his Swellow race with Starly to work on Starly's speed.

Just then the girl with the Glameow turned up. "You're Ash Ketchum right?" she asked Ash. "Yes and you are?" said Ash. "I'm Zoey I've seen you participate in contests on TV," said Zoey "but I must ask you. I've heard you participate in contests and gym battle right?". "That's right I do" answered Ash. Zoey frowned. "You should make up your mind on which you should really be doing" she said. Apparently Zoey was one of those people who were against those who did both gym battles and pokemon contests. Ash sighed. "There is nothing wrong with people taking part in contests and gyms," he said "I learned that there have been many people who take part in both gyms and contests, and there is no law against that. Besides the one who decides on what I should do is me and me alone". Zoey didn't take in any of that and left. "I can't believe it," said Tomo "no one has ever complained to you before about entering both contests and gyms and now somebody is". "Don't you worry Tomo," said Ash "Pikachu and I will show her what we learnt from our past gym battles". Pikachu agreed; Ash decided to use Pikachu for the battle round of the contest.

When the brothers got back to Dawn and Brock they told them about Zoey. Dawn couldn't believe that Zoey was against those who did both contests and gyms. "What are you going to do Ash?" she asked, worriedly. "I'll be showing her what someone who does gym battles can do in a pokemon contest" replied Ash. "Be careful Ash and don't let what Dawn said get to you" said Brock. "I won't" replied Ash.

That night Dawn couldn't sleep because of how nervous she was about her first contest. She got out of bed and went onto the balcony. She called out her Piplup and Ariados. "Sorry to disturb you two but I can't sleep," she said to them "the thought of tomorrows contest keeps going around in her head". She took out Johanna's old ribbon and showed it to Piplup and Ariados. The Sinnoh ribbons were just a big pin with two ribbons dangling from them. "This was the first ribbon my mum ever won. Piplup and Ariados I know you two will be great tomorrow". Piplup and Ariados were happy to hear those words.

Next day it was time for the Jubilife contest to begin. Ash was in his outfit and he was in the waiting room with Brock and Tomo. Brock and Tomo wanted to watch the preliminary rounds in the waiting room. "Where's Dawn?" asked Brock. "She's probably sorting that hair of hers out," said Ash "if she doesn't hurry she will be late for the preliminary round".

Dawn was in the dressing room and trying to sort out her hair. Just then Zoey turned up. She was wearing a cream coloured coat that had black and yellow striped cuffs and a yellow design on the front and was red on the inside, a pair of light green trousers and white shoes. Zoey was tomboyish. Dawn introduced herself to Zoey while Zoey fixed up her hair. "Since you have that first time vibe, I can tell this is your first contest" said Zoey. Dawn asked Zoey if she had entered any contests yet and won any ribbons. Zoey said she had entered three contests and won one ribbon and showed it to Dawn. Zoey had a yellow-gold ribbon case and her ribbon was pink with white outlines. "Well now it will be my turn to win" said Dawn. "Yeah well break a leg and I'll see you in the finals" said Zoey. With her hair fixed, Dawn was now ready for the contest.

By now the contest had begun. The presenter for the pokemon contests in Sinnoh was a woman named Marian. Marian was a cousin of Vivian and Lillian, which was why she nearly looked like them but without a mole. The judges were Raoul Contesta and Mr Suziko and Jubilife City's Nurse Joy; just like Hoenn and Kanto. Marian showed off the Jubilife Ribbon; it was aqua blue with white outlines. In the waiting room Dawn turned up. "There you are, you're late Dawn" said Ash. "I know I had trouble with my hair" said Dawn. "Figures" said Tomo.

Then the preliminary round started. Zoey was first and she called out a Misdreavus. Her catch phrase for contests was 'curtain' and the seal on Misdreavus's capsule ball was a smoke seal, so Misdreavus appeared in a puff of purple-grey smoke. Misdreavus did double team, while still surrounded by the smoke, and created a spooky shadow silhouette in the smoke. "Wow that brings out the spookiness of Misdreavus since it's a ghost type pokemon" said Ash, who was impressed. "Zoey is good at being a coordinator" agreed Brock. Then Misdreavus used confuse ray, which broke the smoke apart and revealed Misdreavus, and then it used shock wave and showed how strong its electric move was. To finish Zoey posed and Misdreavus landed on top of her hand. Dawn didn't take her eyes off for a second.

After Zoey there was a Rapidash, a Beautifly, a Scyther, a Buizel, a Bidoof and a Weepinbell. "Now here's a coordinator who everyone has seen in contests from the Hoenn region and Kanto region," said Marian "and he became runner up in the Kanto Grand Festival give it up for Ash Ketchum". The crowd cheered loudly once Ash got on the stage; they had seen him in his past contests and grand festivals on TV. Ash sent out his female Aipom. He had a star seal on his capsule ball so Aipom was surrounded in multi-coloured stars. Aipom started off with swift and the stars broke the stars from the seal, creating hundreds of yellow particles. Next she did double team to created multiple copies of herself and used focus punch to destroy her copies. To finish she spun around like she was dancing and balanced on her tail to pose. "Wow Ash is good at this," said Dawn "no wonder he became runner up at the Kanto Grand Festival". "Just relax Dawn and have a good time out there" said Brock.

Next up was Dawn's turn and she sent out Piplup. Her catch phrase was 'spotlight' and her capsule ball had a bubble seal, so Piplup came out with a lot of bubbles. Dawn told Piplup to use bubblebeam, and Piplup's bubbles pushed the seal's bubbles into the air. The Piplup used peck, making his beak grow big, to peck all the bubbles very quickly and created white particles after all the bubbles burst. To finish Dawn curtsied and Piplup puffed with pride. Johanna, who was watching on TV back at Twinleaf Town, thought it wasn't bad but it was still a little stiff to her. So Dawn still had much work to do.

Soon the preliminary round was over and Dawn collapsed on the floor. She had been nervous all that time. Ash offered his hand to help her get back up. "Come on Dawn," he said "it's too soon to be relieved. We still need to get through the battle rounds". Just then the final results of who will proceed to the battle round came up on the screen. Only eight coordinators could go through to the battle rounds and Zoey, Dawn and Ash were three of them. Then the cards of the coordinators shuffled around and the result was Ash had to battle Zoey first. Zoey and Ash turned to each other. "I'll be showing you the difference between a contest battle and a gym battle" she said sternly to Ash, and she left. Dawn didn't like how coldly she treated Ash just because he did both gyms and contests. "Ash?" she said, worriedly. "Don't worry Dawn," said Ash "I learnt a lot of tricks from gym battles in the past, and Pikachu and I will be showing Zoey what we've learnt". "Pikachu" agreed Pikachu. Then Ash and Pikachu left for the stage.

Soon it was time for the battle round, and Ash and Zoey took their battle positions. Brock, Tomo and Dawn watched from the audience seats. The time for the battle match was five minutes. And instead of having a points loosing line like back in the Hoenn and Kanto contests, the board had a points losing circle under the pictures of the coordinators. The Sinnoh contests were different from the Kanto and Hoenn contests.

Ash called out Pikachu; since Pikachu didn't want to be placed in his pokeball he just came out normally without the seal. It was okay to do that. Zoey sent out her Glameow, which had a part seal and lots of pink confetti came out. "Let's go Pikachu" said Ash. Pikachu ran over to Glameow to attack, and Zoey told her Glameow to stay still. Ash recognized this because he has seen this before; this meant Glameow was waiting for Pikachu to attack so it could move in next. "Pikachu use dig" he said. Pikachu dove into the ground. "Stand your ground Glameow" said Zoey. Glameow stood its ground waiting for Pikachu. "Now Pikachu" said Ash. Pikachu jumped out of the ground and shocked Glameow with thunderbolt. "Haa Ash is showing Zoey a thing or two" smiled Tomo. "Glameow move in with fury swipes" said Zoey. Ash smirked. "Pikachu let Glameow hit you" he said. Pikachu stood still,

smirking. "What is Ash doing?" asked Dawn. She was surprised with Ash telling Pikachu to just sit there. "This is one of Ash's tricks" said Brock. Glameow did scratch Pikachu, but then Glameow got shocked with static electricity and became paralyzed. "What was that?" gasped Dawn. "That was Pikachu's ability Static," explained Brock "you see when you make physical contact with a pokemon with static you become paralyzed. Ash was using that for Zoey's disadvantage". Ash called out to Zoey, telling her this was something he learned from battling in the past. Zoey was surprised with what was going on; Ash was doing this battle as if he was in a gym battle, and he was taking an advantage over her. "Glameow uses shadow claw" she said. Glameow moved in with shadow claw, but Pikachu used agility to dodge. "Now Pikachu time for volt tackle" said Ash. Glameow tried to dodge but it was too paralyzed to move, so poor Glameow got hit by the volt tackle attack. Glameow was really hurt by then. Suddenly time was up and the board showed that Ash was the winner of the first gym battle. Zoey stared at Ash; she felt she underestimated him.

Dawn was up next with her Ariados, and Ariados defeated her opponent's Bidoof. Everyone liked Dawn's shiny Ariados. Next a coordinator with a Buizel defeated her opponent's Beautifly. Then a coordinator with Weepinbell defeated her opponent's Rhydon.

Next up it was time for Ash to battle Dawn in the semi-final. "Dawn isn't going to have it easy with battling Ash" said Tomo. "You're right," agreed Brock "the best thing we can do is see what Dawn can do". Ash called out Pikachu the normal way. Dawn called out her Ariados; the capsule ball had a line seal and Ariados was surrounded by white lines. "Ariados use string shot" said Dawn. "Jump Pikachu" said Ash. Pikachu used his tail like a spring board to dodge the string shot move. "Now flash". Pikachu flashed, creating a very bright light and the light made Ariados close his eyes. "I recognize that springy tail trick anywhere" said Tomo. "So do I" said Brock. They remembered seeing Ash use that tactic with Pikachu in the past. "Quick Ariados use psychic" said Dawn. Ariados used psychic to hold Pikachu in the air. "Pikachu use signal beam" said Ash. Pikachu fired a signal beam from his mouth and the beam hit Ariados; since it was a bug type move it didn't do much to Ariados, but it was enough to get out of Ariados's psychic. "Come on Ariados let's use string shot" said Dawn. Ariados fired a string shot, and this time Pikachu got wrapped up by it. "Alright, now Ariados use sludge bomb". Ariados fired a sludge bomb attack and since Pikachu was trapped by the string shot, he got hit by the attack. "Pikachu use thunderbolt to set yourself free" said Ash. Pikachu managed to use thunderbolt on himself and the web came off, and then Pikachu fired thunderbolt on Ariados and Ariados was shocked good. "Now iron tail Pikachu". Pikachu whacked Ariados good with the iron tail attack. Suddenly time was up and Ash had more points than Dawn, making him the winner.

After losing the battle Dawn talked to her mum on the phone; Dawn was trying to act brave and strong, but really she was a cry-baby. "Don't cry Dawn," said Johanna, a bit sternly, "and you don't need to call me every time you lose and win a contest. You talk to your pokemon and your friends Ash, Tomo and Brock for that, especially Ash. As you have seen Ash is much more experienced as a coordinator than you are, so you can defiantly talk to him with contests about your mistakes and your plans. Now go and watch Ash battle in the final round". Dawn said goodbye to Johanna and finished the phone call.

By now the coordinator with the Weepinbell had defeated the coordinator with the Buizel, and now she was against Ash. Since she was using a grass type pokemon, she thought defeating Pikachu would be easy. But she underestimated Pikachu and with the moves signal beam, mega punch and mega kick, Weepinbell was defeated. So Ash was the winner of the Jubilife Contest.

Ash was presented with the Jubilife Ribbon. "I had a feeling you would compete in the contests here in Sinnoh Ash," said Mr Contesta "and I look forward to see more of your skills here too". Ash smiled and was happy to receive his first Sinnoh ribbon. Just then Zoey stepped forward. "After seeing how you won this contest with your battling skills," she said "I realize I was wrong about you, who does gym battles, not knowing the difference with contest battles". "It's as I said Zoey, I learnt a lot of tactics and tricks in gym battles and other pokemon battles I've been in, in the past". "People can learn from contests and battling," spoke up Mr Contesta "to get to the top you have learn everything there is about contests and battling especially if you are doing bother contests and gym battles". Zoey realized her mistake and took out her hand to congratulate Ash and apologize to him. Ash accepted her hand. "I'm glad you understand" he said. Zoey was now a new rival for both Ash and Dawn in the contests.

After the contest was over Zoey said goodbye to the gang and walked off for her next destination, while the gang planned to continue on for Oreburgh City for Ash's and Tomo's first gym battle.

Chapter 113

Paul's Gym Battle,

Tomo's Gym battle and

Fossils

Things happened after the gang left Jubilife City. First Ash had his Swellow train his Starly and Tomo's Natu. In the midst of that Starly evolved into Staravia and Natu evolved into Xatu. Second Brock's Bonsly evolved into Sudowoodo after it learnt the move mimic. The gang ended up learning that some pokemon evolve after learning a special move. For example; a Yanma could evolve into Yanmega after learning ancient power, a Bonsly could evolve into Sudowoodo after learning mimic, a Lickitung could evolve into Lickilicky after learning rollout and an Aipom could evolve into Ambipom after learning double hit. Last of all Brock caught a Nuzleaf that became fast friends with Sudowoodo.

Now the gang had made it to Oreburgh City where Ash and Tomo can earn their first gym badge. Oreburgh City was like a factorial town because it had a big coal mine called Oreburgh Mine, and the big chimneys were to help control the air in the mine and out. "Tomo this is where our quest of collecting gym badges begins" said Ash. "Ash is it alright if I battle the gym leader first?" asked Tomo. He wanted to go first because of his excitement with his first gym battle. Ash agreed to let Tomo battle first. "You ready for this Tomo?" asked Brock. "I'm ready as I ever will be and so are my pokemon" answered Tomo. The gang made it to the gym; the outside of the gym was like a huge stone cave. "This is impressive" said Gym. "Hmm from the look of the design of this gym I would think that this gym probably uses rock pokemon" said Ash. "I think you may be right Ash" agreed Brock.

Suddenly Paul came out from the building. "You defeated the gym leader already?" asked Ash. Paul replied he hadn't because the gym leader wasn't around at the moment. Just then a man with long green hair came out. His name was Ian and he was the gym leader's assistant. "Excuse me Ian, but does the gym leader here use rock type pokemon?" asked Ash. "Yes he does" replied Ian. This made Paul a bit surprised; he didn't have a water pokemon on his team. "I'll wait at the pokemon center until the gym leader gets back" said Paul, and he left. His plan was to capture a water pokemon before challenging the gym leader.

Ash explained to Ian that he and Tomo wished to challenge the Oreburgh Gym. Since Paul asked for a gym battle first the brothers had to wait for their turn, which they didn't mind. Ian gave both Ash and Tomo a lavender-blue coloured gym badge case that had a pokeball design on the lid, each. Ian explained that the gym leader, whose name was Roark, was working at the Oreburgh Mine. "I heard that it's famous for its coal there" said Brock. "Not only does Roark dig for coal, he also digs for treasure" said Ian. The gang were curious about this and decided to visit the Oreburgh Mine to see Roark themselves.

At the Oreburgh Mine it was very busy; lots of miners were digging and there were lots of fighting type pokemon helping out with carrying the heavy stuff. Ash asked some miners if Roark was around. They were just about to answer but then two miners came out of a mine, pushing a big cart that had a giant stone in it. A man, wearing a red helmet, came out of the mine and the miners said that was Roark the foreman of the Oreburgh Mine. Roark was smiling at the stone; this stone was really a fossil of an ancient pokemon. The gang walked up to Roark and Ash introduced himself to him. "My brother Tomo and I wish to challenge you to a gym battle, and there is another challenger who wishes to challenge you" he said. After hearing he had three challengers, Roark decided to go back to his gym at once.

Once Roark and the gang returned to the gym, Paul came back too ready to face Roark. Dawn had never seen a gym battle as well as never been inside a gym, so she asked if she could watch the battle. Roark agreed to let the gang watch, and by surprise Paul didn't mind either. To Ash this meant not only will he learn what Roark's pokemon are, he could also learn of how Paul and his pokemon fight in gym battles.

The battle field of the Oreburgh Gym had rocks on it, just like the Pewter Gym. The gang sat down on the seats to watch, and Paul and Roark took their positions on the battle field. Ian was the referee and explained this battle was a three on three pokemon battle. Dawn felt a bit excited as this was her first time of watching a pokemon gym battle. "Be sure you pay attention to this Dawn," Brock advised her "there will be a lot of things for you to learn from this gym battle, more than you think".

The battle now started and Roark sent out a Geodude to battle. Dawn looked at Geodude on her pokedex. Then Paul sent out an Azumaril and Dawn looked at that too on her pokedex. This Azumaril was what Paul captured for the gym battle. "Since it's a water type pokemon, Geodude is at a big disadvantage" said Dawn. "Yes normally," said Brock "but gym leaders train their pokemon in a way to beat their opponents which have advantages over them. Watch and you'll see what I mean Dawn". Paul started by telling his Azumarill to use hydro pump. Roark told his Geodude to use hidden power, which turned out to be grass type, and it knocked back Azumarill's hydro pump attack and then the hidden power hit Azumarill. Next Roark told his Geodude to use rollout. Paul tried to get his Azumarill to use water gun, but Geodude was too fast for Azumarill to use water gun. Azumarill got tackled twice by rollout and fainted, given Roark the first win. Paul was not happy with this and returned Azumarill. "Good for nothing" he said, angrily. Ash heard that and was not happy with it.

Dawn was surprised that Geodude defeated Azumarill. "It's as I said to you Dawn," said Brock "Roark has trained his pokemon to try and defeat opponents who can beat rock type pokemon. But I am surprised with how Geodude easily defeated Azumarill". "I know why," said Ash "that Azumarill was only just captured by Paul and it wasn't trained for this yet". He had used his psychic power to find that out in Paul's mind. Dawn, Tomo and Brock were surprised with what Ash said and didn't like where this was going.

Paul sent out his Elekid next. Roark was surprised with this since electric type pokemon are useless against rock and ground pokemon like Geodude. Paul ordered his Elekid to use brick break. Roark told his Geodude to use rollout again, but Elekid easily defeated Geodude with brick break. So Paul won this round.

Dawn was surprised by this. "You see Dawn you can overcome any disadvantages by using the right move" said Brock. "That's right Dawn," said Ash "and pokemon can learn any moves that can defeat a pokemon which has the advantage over them. Pikachu here learnt signal beam that can defeat a grass type pokemon and iron tail that can defeat rock type pokemon". Dawn found she still had much to learn.

Roark sent out an Onix next and Dawn scanned it. "This Onix is strong;" said Brock "since I raised an Onix myself, I can tell this Onix has gone through some serious tough battles". Paul ordered Elekid to use brick break again, but Onix dodge it and moved in with slam. "Protect" Paul ordered Elekid. Elekid used protect to protect itself from Onix's slam attack. But then Onix used double edge next, and since Elekid's barrier was gone, Elekid got hit by it. Roark's Onix had the ability rock head, which prevents recoil damage from moves like double edge, so Onix received no damage from using double edge. Next Roark told Onix to use stealth rock. "That is bad," said Ash "when a pokemon uses stealth rock, the next pokemon which Paul will call out to battle will receive damage because of the rocks". "You're right Ash," said Brock "Roark is making things tricky for Paul". Ash and Tomo paid close attention to this battle; this was something that they will be going through when they battle Roark. Onix used slam on Elekid, but then Onix became paralyzed. "Hey wasn't that static?" said Dawn, who remembered Pikachu doing it at the Jubilife Contest. "Correct Dawn, that Elekid has the ability static too" said Brock. Paul commanded his Elekid to use brick break and Roark commanded his Onix to use double edge. Despite being paralyzed, Onix was still able to move and the pokemon collided with each other. Elekid was getting exhausted by the minute and Paul was getting angrier. He recalled Elekid. "Hey doesn't Paul care that his next pokemon will get hurt because of stealth rock?" asked Tomo. "Paul doesn't care about anything" replied Ash.

Paul's next pokemon was Chimchar. Because of stealth rock, Chimchar received some damage. Paul ordered Chimchar to use dig and Chimchar went underground. "Try to sense Chimchar's movements Onix" said Roark. Just then Chimchar came out and tackled Onix. "Wow Chimchar tackled Onix even though its bigger than Chimchar" said Dawn. "Pokemon that use dig can tackle any pokemon no matter how heavy it is," said Ash "I've had Pikachu use dig on Onix, Rhydon and other heavy pokemon before, and dig always works". Brock also pointed out that the move dig is super effective on Onix because it's a ground type move. Roark ordered Onix to use double edge, but Chimchar dodged using dig, Then Chimchar came out of the ground and tackled Onix. Onix couldn't take anymore and fainted. So Roark now had one more pokemon while Paul still had two.

Roark sent out his final pokemon. This pokemon was a grey and blue dinosaur type pokemon, with spikes on the back of its head.

Ash looked at the pokemon on the pokedex: Cranidos, the head butt pokemon. A lifelong jungle dweller from 100 million years ago, it would snap obstructing trees with headbutts.

"Hey Brock is Cranidos a fossil pokemon?" asked Ash. "It is," said Brock "and this Cranidos looks like a real fighter".

Paul told Chimchar to use dig but Cranidos sensed Chimchar's movements, and when Chimchar came out of the ground Cranidos hit it hard with headbutt. Paul ordered Chimchar to use bullet seed, but Cranidos dodged the attack and hit Chimchar hard with zen headbutt. "Oh man that Cranidos is strong" said Tomo. The others agreed. Poor Chimchar kept on getting headbutted by Cranidos. Ash felt at this rate Chimchar was going to get defeated for sure. Suddenly Chimchar began to glow orange-red. "It's blaze" said Ash. Brock explained to Dawn that blaze was an ability that most fire type pokemon had and it powered up fire type moves when the pokemon was weakened. Paul commanded Chimchar to use flame wheel while Roark ordered Cranidos to use zen headbutt. Thanks to blaze, Chimchar's flame wheel was stronger than normal and it hit Cranidos hard on the legs. Chimchar used flame wheel again and Cranidos was hit again. Paul then ordered Chimchar to use dig and Roark ordered Cranidos to use headbutt. After coming out from the ground, Chimchar was hit by Cranidos's headbutt and fainted. So Paul only had one more pokemon to use and returned Chimchar. "I'll deal with you later" he said, angrily.

Paul sent out Elekid to battle again, who received damage from stealth rock once it came out of the pokeball. Roark ordered Cranidos to use flamethrower, but Elekid dodged it and struck Cranidos on the leg with brick break. After that hit Cranidos became paralyzed thanks to static, but Cranidos had the ability mold breaker which prevents other abilities from taking effect on Cranidos. So Cranidos was no longer paralyzed. Roark ordered Cranidos to use zen headbutt, but Cranidos had so much pain on the legs thanks to brick break and Chimchar's flame wheel, it couldn't attack properly. Elekid then struck Cranidos hard with brick break again. "I think Cranidos is going to lose this battle since its legs are preventing it from battling right" said Tomo. "This must be why Paul was relying on Chimchar to activate blaze," said Brock "it was to weaken Cranidos first before relying on Elekid to finish this off". "This means Paul relies on his pokemon's abilities too much as well as relying on their strongest moves" said Ash. Roark commanded Cranidos to use zen headbutt and Paul commanded Elekid to use brick break. The two pokemon collided with each other with their attacks and fell back. Both Elekid and Cranidos were exhausted by this time, but Cranidos was more exhausted and fainted. Paull was the winner of this gym battle.

Paul returned Elekid, not showing any emotions for his win or his pokemon. Roark presented him the gym badge called the Coal Badge. It was brown with grey outlines and it was shaped as a boulder and pokeball combined. Paul accepted the badge and started to leave. Ash started at Paul; he didn't like how Paul battled one bit.

After the gym battle between Paul and Roark, the gang came to the pokemon center so that Ash and Tomo could decide on which pokemon to use. Roark and Paul were there to getting their pokemon healed. Unfortunately Paul gave his Azumarill away to a little boy; he was not happy with the result Azumarill gave at the gym and didn't want to keep it. Ash, of course, was not happy with that but didn't say anything. Then Paul left to head for the next gym.

Tomo and Ash had a good think on what pokemon to use. "So have you two decided yet?" Dawn asked the two brothers. "Yes I'm going with Pelipper, Croconaw and Metang" said Tomo. "I've decided with Piplup, Masquerain and Riolu" said Ash. Riolu wanted to battle and despite being young he was already independent.

Soon it was time for Tomo to face Roark. The rules were the same with it being a 3 on 3 pokemon battle. "Will Tomo be okay with this considering what when Roark battled Paul?" asked Dawn. "Dawn, Tomo has battled lots of different trainers during out journeys," said Ash "he is ready for this". "Ash is right" said Brock.

Roark sent out his Geodude first and then Tomo sent out his Pelipper. Brock pointed out to Dawn that even though Pelipper was a water type, it was also a flying type. So Geodude's rock type moves could do serious damage to Pelipper. Roar told Geodude to use hidden power, but Pelipper dodged it and used water gun that hit Geodude. Dawn could see that Tomo did know what he was doing. "Geodude rock throw" said Roark. Geodude started to throw rocks towards Pelipper. "Cut through that with steel wing" said Tomo. Pelipper broke the rocks with steel wing and then struck Geodude with steel wing. Geodude couldn't take any more after that and fainted, giving Tomo the first win. "You see now Dawn?" said Ash "even though this is Tomo's first gym battle, he knows what to do because of all he's learnt during our pokemon journeys". Dawn did understand now.

Roark returned Geodude and sent out Onix next. "Pelipper use water gun again" said Tomo. As Pelipper fired a water gun attack, Onix used screech. Not only did it stop the water gun attack, it also put Pelipper off because of the noise. "Now Onix double edge" said Roark. Onix tackled Pelipper hard with double edge. Pelipper was hurt but he was still able to fight on. "Pelipper use roost" said Tomo. Pelipper recovered thanks to roost. "What move did Pelipper use?" asked Dawn. "Roost is a move that recovers a pokemon's energy like the move recover" said Brock. "Okay Pelipper use hydro pump" said Tomo. Pelipper fired a hydro pump attack but Onix dodged it and slammed Pelipper with its tail. Pelipper fainted after that, so it was down 2 to 2.

Tomo returned Pelipper and sent out Poliwrath. "What a pokemon" said Dawn, looking at it on her pokedex. There was clearly a lot of pokemon that Dawn hadn't seen before. "Onix use slam" said Roark. Dodge and use hydro pump Poliwrath" said Tomo. Poliwrath avoided being hit by Onix and then fired hydro pump at Onix. Onix got hit by the water attack and fainted. "Wow out in one hit" said Dawn. Brock explained that Tomo has had Poliwrath ever since it was a Poliwag, and Tomo has trained all of his pokemon well like Ash has. "The more you train your pokemon Dawn, the stronger they become" said Ash.

Roark was now down to his last pokemon, Cranidos. "Poliwrath use submission" said Tomo. Poliwrath rolled towards Cranidos to do submission. "Zen headbutt Cranidos" said Roark. "Since zen headbutt is a psychic type move, it will be bad for Poliwrath as its part water and fighting because psychic beats fighting" said Ash. The two pokemon collided with each other and fell back. "Use zen headbutt Cranidos" said Roark. Cranidos headbutted Poliwrath very hard before Poliwrath had the chance to do anything. "Use bubblebeam Poliwrath" said Tomo. Poliwrath fired a lot of bubbles, but Cranidos dodged them and headbutted Poliwrath with zen headbutt again. This time Poliwrath couldn't take anymore after that and fainted. So Tomo was down to one final pokemon as well. "That Cranidos really is something" said Ash. He was thinking that he wanted to have a Cranidos as well.

Tomo returned his Poliwrath and sent out his Croconaw. Roark had seen now that Tomo had just been using water type pokemon this whole time. He ordered Cranidos to use zen headbutt. "Scary face Croconaw" said Tomo. Croconaw's eyes glowed red and made a really scary, angry looking face. Cranidos got scared by that and stopped using zen headbutt. Dawn got scared by it too. "I'd hate to get on Croconaw's bad side" she said. Tomo commanded Croconaw to use hydro pump and Cranidos got hit by it. "Now use aqua tail" said Tomo. Croconaw struck Cranidos with aqua tail and Cranidos fainted. So Tomo was the winner of the gym battle.

Tomo was happy with his victory. "That was good for your first gym battle Tomo, very good" said Ash. "It was fun, I must admit" said Tomo. Roark gave Tomo the Coal Badge and Tomo placed it in his badge case. Roark turned to Ash. "I know you want to challenge me too Ash," he said "but can we do it tomorrow. My pokemon need resting and I need to sort work out at the Oreburgh Museum and Oreburgh Mine". "I can wait," said Ash "could we come visit the Oreburgh Mine and Museum please?" The others wanted to visit the museum and mine too. Roark agreed, so Ash's battle with Roark was tomorrow.

Next day the gang visited the Oreburgh Museum with Roark. At the Oreburgh Museum there was an exhibition of a giant slab of coal, old tools and helmets miners used in the old days and also an exhibition of fossils. To the gang's surprise they learnt that the museum resurrects fossil pokemon from fossils with three special machines called the fossil-reviving machines, and keeps the pokemon after reviving them from the fossils. "It's been a while since we were near fossils right Brock and Tomo?" said Ash. "You're right," said Brock "we haven't seen fossils ever since out journey in the Hoenn region". "Oh you kids have seen fossils before?" asked a man. This man was the director of the museum Dr. Kenzo. "Truth is I have an Aerodactyl, Kabutops, Omastar, Armaldo and Cradily" said Ash. "I have a Kabuto, Omanyte, Anorith and Lileep" said Tomo. "And I have a Kabutops, Omastar, Anorith and Lileep" said Brock. Roark and Dr. Kenzo were surprised to hear that. Dawn already knew because the boys told her earlier. "Well you kids should come to the mine with me," said Roark "I can show you some more fossils there". Ash, Tomo and Brock accepted the offer, but Dawn wanted to go to the pokemon center. "Okay we'll see you back at the pokemon center after we've finished visiting the mine" said Brock. So the boys went with Roark to the mine, and Dawn went off to the pokemon center.

In the museum there was trouble lurking about. Six men, who were thieves, who were plotting to steal the fossils and steal one of the fossil reviving machine. "All set boys?" said one of the men, who was the leader. "We are ready boss" said a second one. "Good" said the boss. He pointed to four of the men and told them to get ready to take the fossil reviving machine. Then he told the last guy to grab the fossils, while he was going to create a distraction. "Let's go". The men went their separate ways for work.

Meanwhile Dawn just arrived at the pokemon center. The TV in the center showed a broadcast with Marian and she said there was a pokemon contest in a place called Floaroma Town. Dawn decided at once that there was where she will get her first contest ribbon.

Back with Ash, Brock and Tomo they were walking near the Oreburgh Mine. "Doesn't this remind you of Grampa Canyon?" asked Ash. "Yes but that place didn't have any coal" said Brock. "I wonder if we'll find any fossils here" said Tomo. Just then Roark walked up to the gang. "I take it you kids like fossils too?" he asked. "Yes," answered Ash "I especially like looking at Helix, dome, old amber, root and claw fossils" said Ash. Roark smiled. "Then you will like looking at the skull and armor fossils too" he said. He explained that his Cranidos came from a skull fossil and he also explained that pokemon called Shieldon came from an armor fossil.

Ash looked at Shieldon on his pokedex: Shieldon, the shield pokemon. It habitually polishes its face by rubbing it against tree trunks. It is weak to attacks from behind.

Roark then talked about on how much he loved fossils like a maniac. The three boys just looked fed up.

Back at the museum the staff were in a panic; the six thieves had succeeded on stealing a fossil-revive machine and some fossils. The thieves were laughing of their victory outside the city. What they did was use some Rhydons to take the machine from underground, while the boss had used his Persian to pretend to create mischief in the museum as a distraction. "I can't believe how easy that was," said one of the men "I mean the security there is terrible". "With this machine and these fossil pokemon it will be easier for us to steal more" said another. The boss asked the man who stole the fossils to get ready to place them in the machine. "Hey boss," said the man "the machine shows that a fossil is being revived now". The boss looked at the computer screen on the machine and saw the man was right. "It says this fossil is that of an Aerodactyl" he said, amusingly. The other men were amazed to hear that. The boss sent out a Gyarados to get ready to fight the Aerodactyl. At that moment the machine was ready and out came an Aerodactyl. The boss ordered Gyarados to use hydro pump and the Aerodactyl was hit by the attack. Then the boss threw a pokeball at the Aerodactyl and caught it. "Nice one boss!" cheered one of the men. The boss then came up with an idea; he decided to have his Aerodactyl attack Oreburgh City and blackmail the city to pay him millions of pokedollars. The other men liked that idea and so they went back to the city. They left the machine and fossils behind to pick them up later.

At the pokemon center Dawn was talking to Piplup, Buneary, Ariados and Burmy, telling them about the upcoming contest in Floaroma Town. "Okay Piplup, Buneary and Burmy I've come up with a move we can use in pokemon contests, so let's get to work on learning it". Suddenly there was a screech in the air; it was from Aerodactyl. Aerodactyl fired hyper beam everywhere. Everyone ran away in panic and headed for shelter at once.

Meanwhile Officer Jenny was at the museum when she got the message of the museum being robbed. The staff found out on their security cameras of Aerodactyl running wild in the city. "That Aerodactyl must have been the fossil we were reviving in our stolen machine," said Dr Kenzo "we must get to Oreburgh Mine and tell Roark at once". Officer Jenny spread a message to all of Oreburgh City at once about Aerodactyl. In the pokemon center Dawn heard the message and became worried about the others.

At the Oreburgh Mine Roark just got word about the Aerodactyl. Ash decided to get his Aerodactyl at once from Prof Oak's lab for help. Officer Jenny, some police, and Dr Kenzo arrived at the mine at once. "What happened?" asked Roark. Before Roark's question was answered Aerodactyl turned up and so did the thieves. "It's you six!" shouted Officer Jenny, who knew the thieves, "I should have guessed you were the cause of all this!" The boss chuckled. "I don't want to cause any trouble here," he said "all you have to do is give me and my men a lot of money and then we will be on our way with the fossil-revived machine and fossils". "Where's the machine and fossils you stole?!" demanded Dr Kenzo. "In the forest safe and sound," replied the boss "now are you going to hand me the money or not?" "You won't be getting anything!" shouted Ash, and he released his Aerodactyl. The thieves were surprised to see that and decided they could take it for themselves. "Giga impact Aerodactyl" said the boss. "You use giga impact too Aerodactyl" said Ash. The Aerodactyls tackled each other. Ash's Aerodactyl was much stronger than this newly revived Aerodactyl and was thrown back easily. "Now iron head Aerodactyl" said Ash. Aerodactyl headbutted the other Aerodactyl and the other Aerodactyl was defeated by that steel type move.

The thieves couldn't believe of their defeat and were about to release more pokemon. But Roark beat them by having his Cranidos use zen headbutt on the thieves. The thieves were knocked out and the police arrested them at once. Roark grabbed Aerodactyl's pokeball and returned it. Dr Kenzo got it and promised that Aerodactyl will be taken cared for at the museum. Officer Jenny said she will retrieve the machine and fossils from the forest and return them to the lab. Roark thanked Ash for his help. "Your Aerodactyl is something Ash" he said.

Just then Dawn turned up; she had been worried all this time. The boys told her that everything was alright now and Aerodactyl was now safe in better hands. Suddenly Cranidos glowed and evolved into a bigger version of itself. "Cranidos evolved into Rampardos" said Roark.

Ash looked at Rampardos on the pokedex: Rampardos, the head butt pokemon. The evolved form of Cranidos. Its skull is as hard as iron. It is a brute that tears down jungle trees while catching prey.

With Cranidos now an Rampardos, Ash knew that he was going to have a bigger challenge when he faces Roark.

Now with the disturbance sorted out and the thieves arrested, nothing could prevent Ash now from having his gym battle with Roark.

Chapter 114

Ash's Gym Battle,

The Sinnoh Underground

And the Shiny Chimchar

At last it was Ash's turn to face Roark for the Coal Badge. Yesterday Ash had some training done with Riolu, Piplup and Masquerain. Dawn also showed Ash, Tomo and Brock her special move the spin. She demonstrated with her Piplup and what happens is Piplup jumps and spins and thanks to the spin he gains speed to dodge an attack. Ash liked that and practiced that with Dawn and his pokemon because he found it very helpful. So today Ash was ready. Ash and Roark were in their places on the battlefield. Pikachu and Riolu stayed next to Ash, and Dawn, Tomo and Brock sat in the seats. Dawn was dressed in a pink cheering outfit with

some pink pom-poms to cheer for Ash; she was the type of girl who would cheer her friends on. Piplup, Buneary and Burmy were holding pom-poms to cheer too.

Roark sent out his Onix first and Ash sent out his Masquerain. "Masquerain use bubble beam" said Ash. "Use screech Onix" said Roark. As Masquerain blew a lot of bubbles, Onix used screech to break the bubbles apart. "Move with agility and then into steel wing Masquerain" said Ash. Thanks to the speed of agility, Masquerain wasn't put off by screech and then she struck Onix with steel wing. "Nice" said Dawn, who was impressed. Roark was impressed too. Onix tried to slam Masquerain, but Masquerain was too fast for Onix to hit her. "Now Masquerain use hydro pump" said Ash. Masquerain blasted hydro pump and Onix got hit by it, receiving a lot of damage. "That hydro pump was amazing" said Dawn. "Hydro pump is one of the strongest water type moves" said Brock. Piplup was amazed by the hydro pump attack and hoped to learn it one day. Even though Onix was hurt by the hydro pump attack it could still continue to fight. "As you can see Ash I train my pokemon during my free time" said Roark. Ash could see that, seeing how strong Onix was. "Onix double edge". "Steel wing Masquerain" said Ash. Onix and Masquerain collided with each other with their attacks. Masquerain got tackled hard but wasn't beaten yet. As for Onix it got struck hard by Masquerain's steel wing attack and fainted, giving Ash the first win.

"Wow Ash is good at this" said Dawn. "It as we said to you before Dawn," said Brock "Ash has battled gyms 28 times so de does know what to expect with gym leaders and their pokemon". Seeing this made Dawn understand that Ash was good with gym battles. Roark returned Onix and sent out Geodude next. Ash returned Masquerain and sent out Riolu next. "Why did Ash return Masquerain?" asked Dawn. "It's so Masquerain can rest a bit after battling Onix," said Brock "it's not good for pokemon to keep on battling if their tired from battling a strong opponent". Dawn saw that Brock was right and didn't question anymore.

Ash started off by telling Riolu to use aura sphere, but Geodude dodged it and started to use roll out. "Dodge Geodude Riolu" said Ash. Riolu jumped and flipped to avoid Geodude. "Now bullet punch". Riolu's fists glowed blue and he multiply punched Geodude. Brock pointed out that bullet punch was a steel type move and Geodude would get a lot of damage from that. Geodude grabbed Riolu and use seismic toss. "You okay Riolu?" asked Ash. 'I'm fine papa' said Riolu. "Okay then use aura sphere" said Ash. Riolu fired an aura sphere attack and Geodude got hit by it. Geodude couldn't take anymore after that and fainted, giving Ash the second win.

"A second win" said Dawn. "That Riolu of Ash's is something, even if he is still young" said Brock. "Well done Riolu" said Ash. 'Thank you papa' said Riolu. Roark returned his Geodude. "Ash you are quite the challenger, but don't forget about my third pokemon" he said. "I haven't forgotten about your Rampardos Roark" said Ash. Roark sent out his Rampardos. Ash returned Riolu and sent out Masquerain again to battle. "I thought Ash would use his Piplup now" said Dawn. "He'll be using Piplup later," said Brock "you see Dawn Masquerain still has some energy left to battle. And when it comes to battles you sometimes have to use pokemon that still have energy left before using a pokemon that has lots of energy. That way you won't be in that much of a pinch when you're down to the opponent's final pokemon". "Oh" said Dawn; she was learning a lot of things already, despite the gang only being at the first gym.

Ash started off by telling Masquerain to use hydro pump. "Dodge and use head smash Rampardos" said Roark. Rampardos dodged the hydro pump attack and then charged into Masquerain with its head. As head smash was a rock type move, Masquerain took a lot of damage as she was both bug and flying type. That attack was too much for her and she fainted. So Roark won this round, leaving Ash with two pokemon left.

"Wow that Rampardos is strong" said Dawn, in surprise. "It's a lot stronger than it was as a Cranidos," agreed Brock "that's evolution for you". Tomo thought Rampardos was really amazing. Ash returned Masquerain and turned to Riolu. "Are you okay with fighting again Riolu?" he asked. 'I am papa' said Riolu. So Riolu was sent out next.

Ash ordered Riolu to use aura sphere, but Rampardos dodged it and got ready to use zen headbutt. "Quick dodge that with quick attack" said Ash. Thanks to quick attack, Riolu was able to dodge before Rampardos could headbutt him. "Aura sphere again Riolu" said Ash. Riolu fired aura sphere again and this time Rampardos got hit by it, but it didn't do as much damage. Rampardos was stronger than Riolu and Riolu was still a bit young. Rampardos then moved with zen headbutt and Riolu got hit by it and fainted. So Ash only had one pokemon left.

Ash ran over to Riolu. "Are you alright Riolu?" he asked, picking up Riolu. 'Sorry Papa, I lost' said Riolu. "It's alright," said Ash "you did very well for your first gym battle. Now you rest". Ash walked back to his side and placed Riolu next to Pikachu and Pikachu comforted Riolu to see if he was okay. Then Ash sent out his Piplup to battle now. "I hope Piplup will be able to defeat that Rampardos, since it easily defeated Masquerain and Riolu" said Dawn, worriedly. Tomo and Brock felt a little bit worried too because of how strong Roark's Rampardos was.

Roark started by telling Rampardos to use headbutt. "Rain dance Piplup" said Ash. Piplup chirped loudly, summoned some dark grey clouds and made it rain. The rain put Rampardos off a bit. "That's one good thing about rain dance," said Brock "not only does it power up water type moves, it also puts off rock, ground and fire type pokemon from fighting as they hate water". Piplup then moved in with bubble beam and Rampardos got hit by the bubbles. Thanks to rain dance the bubble beam move was stronger than normal. Rampardos did get hit well but it could still fight. "Rampardos use zen headbutt" said Roark. Rampardos charged towards Piplup to use zen headbutt, but Piplup used the spinning move Dawn showed Ash and his pokemon to dodge being hit by Rampardos. "Our special training with my new spinning move paid off" said Dawn, happily. Roark was impressed with that move. Piplup then attacked attack again with bubble beam and Rampardos got hit by the bubbles. "Now move in with steel wing Piplup" said Ash. Piplup struck Rampardos with steel wing; this made Roark surprised because he had seen a Piplup using steel wing. After taking a hit from that steel type move Rampardos couldn't take anymore and fainted. So Ash was the winner of the gym battle.

"Wow Ash did it" said Dawn. "See Dawn, it's like we said," said Tomo "Ash knows how to handle gym battles because of all the gym battles he's been in the past". Dawn understood that Tomo and Brock were right about Ash. Roark returned his Rampardos and walked up to Ash. "Ash you and your pokemon gave me an exciting battle" he said, and he handed Ash his Coal Badge. Ash and Tomo were happy to get their first gym battles. "Now come with me to the Oreburgh Museum kids, I have something for all of you" he said. The gang were curious to know what Roark had in store for them.

At the Oreburgh Museum Dr Kenzo was waiting for Roark and the gang. "Kids for helping us at the Oreburgh Mine with Aerodactyl and those thieves," said Roark "we wish to present to you these gifts. You see we found a haul of skull and armor fossils and we've restored them to Cranidos and Shieldon. And we wish to let you have Cranidos and Shieldon". The gang couldn't believe this. "Are you sure about this?" asked Ash. "Yes" answered Roark. Dr Kenzo agreed too. Ash, Brock and Tomo were happy with this and they accepted by taking a Cranidos and Shieldon each. "What about you Dawn, do you want Cranidos and Shieldon?" said Roark. Dawn shook her head. "Thank you Roark but Cranidos and Shieldon are not my type of pokemon" said Dawn. Truth is she thought that Cranidos and Shieldon were a bit too rough for her. "Then maybe you will like this then Dawn" said Dr Kenzo. He walked out in the back for a minute and then came back again with a pokemon egg. "Hey that's a Smoochum egg," said Tomo "I know because my Jynx hatched out of the same egg when she was a Smoochum". Dawn was amazed to see a pokemon egg. "It was left here at the museum a couple of days ago and no one has come to claim it," said Dr Kenzo "and I thought maybe you can have it". Dawn couldn't believe her ears that she was getting a pokemon egg. She looked at Smoochum on her pokedex and thought it was very cute indeed. "I'll take it," said Dawn, cheerfully, "Smoochum will be perfect for contests". So Dawn got a Smoochum egg while the boys got a Cranidos and Shieldon each.

After that the gang said goodbye to Roark and Dr Kenzo and left Oreburgh City for Floaroma Town. So Ash and Tomo had one badge down and just another seven to get.

After leaving Oreburgh City, the gang came across two white and light blue squirrel type pokemon. These two pokemon were called Pachirisu and they were electric type pokemon. Dawn and Tomo liked the Pachirisu, especially Dawn because they looked very adorable, and decided to catch them.

While the gang was busy with Pachirisu, Team Rocket was in an underground mine. "So James why are in this underground mine?" asked Jessie. "Because Jessie, this is the Sinnoh Underground Mine," answered James "here in Sinnoh there are underground mines everywhere. And in these mines you can find treasures like shards, spheres, evolution stones, and they say you might be able to find fossils". "I get it," said Meowth "so if we dig here we can find lots of treasure ourselves". "Exactly," said James "so let's start digging to find ourselves some treasure and earn lots of money". Jessie and Meowth liked that idea. "Hang on though," said Meowth "shouldn't we have some sacks so not to mix up all our goods". "Meowth is right," said Jessie "after all we don't know what we are going to dig up". Jessie had some spare big sacks with her. Then she and James call out their Ursaring, Breloom, Weavile, Wobbuffet, and Exploud out. Ursaring was to carry a sack for spheres, Exploud for shards, Weavile for stones, Breloom for fossils and Wobbuffet for anything else. "Okay everyone let's start treasure hunting" said James. He, Jessie and Meowth started to dig with pick axes at once.

Back with the gang Tomo and Dawn had captured the Pachirisus, but these two were mischievous and Dawn's Pachirisu liked going around shocking her and Piplup. Tomo's Pachirisu liked running around like crazy but wasn't a maniac of shocking everyone. "What are we supposed to do Tomo?" asked Dawn. She wasn't happy with Pachirisu's behavior. "Not to worry Dawn, my Electabuzz can teach them a lesson or two" said Tomo, getting out a pokeball. "Electabuzz?" said Dawn. "This Dawn is one of the things you do to discipline pokemon" said Brock. Ash, Tomo and Brock explained to Dawn that sometimes pokemon act disobedient to their new trainers because their new. "The way to solve this is you have teach them whose boss and have one of your older and bigger pokemon to obey rules and do as they're told" said Brock. "It's like how you deal with very small children; you know to discipline them to get them to behave and teach them to obey rules and your orders" said Ash. "I know about that, my mum always put her foot down to make me or other kids to do as we were told" said Dawn. "Exactly and putting your foot down is how you can make Pachirisu to start behaving," said Ash "I've had to put my foot down on some disobedient pokemon before, especially the pokemon I hatched out from eggs". "And My Electabuzz is the way to help because Pachirisu's electric attacks won't harm him and he's bigger than Pachirisu" said Tomo. Understand what she had to do now, Dawn told Tomo to go ahead and send out Electabuzz.

Back with Team Rocket, the trio was still digging. So far they had found lots and lots of shards and spheres. Suddenly James dug up a fossil. "Hey a fossil" said James. He and Jessie and Meowth couldn't help grinning for joy. James had a quick look in a notebook of his. "According to my book this is an armor fossil, and this fossil is from a pokemon called Shieldon" he said. "Fantastic, let's get more" said meowth, and the trio went back to digging again.

Back with the gang Electabuzz had succeeded on making the two Pachirisus behave. Because he was bigger and stronger, the Pachirisus had become scared of him and dared not get him angry, especially after he showed how powerful his electricity was. Then Dawn and Tomo stepped forward. "Now Pachirisu," said Dawn, a bit sternly, "you can't just go around shocking everyone, we could get seriously hurt by your electricity and you must listen to what people tell you or you will be getting into trouble with Electabuzz here". Her Pachirisu flinched from hearing that and promised to listen in future. Tomo's Pachirisu promised to listen too. "See Dawn," said Ash "you just sometimes have to discipline pokemon like you do with kids". Dawn could see that Ash and Brock were right again.

Now with the problem with Dawn and Tomo's new captured Pachirisus now over, the gang could continue their journey.

Back with Team Rocket, Jessie, James and Meowth had stopped digging in the Sinnoh Underground and came out with their findings. "That was a lot of work, but it was worth it" said Meowth. "Yeah and we have fully loaded sacks with treasures" said Jessie. Ursaring had a big sack full of spheres, Exploud a sack full of shards, Weavile a sack full of evolutionary stones; fire, water, leaf, thunder, moon, sun and ever stones, Breloom a sack full of fossils; helix, dome, old amber, root, claw, skull and armor fossils, and Wobbuffet had a sack full of rare bones, star pieces, heart scales and smooth, heat, icy and damp rocks. "This big bag of fossils can make up for our failure of sending fossils to the boss from Hoenn" said Meowth. "You're right," said James "oh and get this. I got in touch with somebody at the headquarters about the fossils that Butch and Cassidy sent, and he told me that they didn't give him any root or claw fossils". "You're kidding?" said Jessie, in surprise. Meowth laughed. "With this we can beat those two a notch" he said. Jessie and James agreed. "I'll send for some Delibirds from headquarters to pick up our fossils at once" said James. "Okay and I'll take Meowth and our pokemon to sell off our treasures" said Jessie. "Then let's have a big feast to celebrate" finished Meowth. Jessie, James and their pokemon looked forward to that.

So Jessie and James and Meowth had a great day in the Sinnoh Underground, finding treasures and fossils.

One day the gang was taking a break. Tomo was spending time with his Growlithe, Bidoof, Shieldon, Cranidos and Pachirisu. His other pokemon were back at Prof Oak's lab and Tomo only had five pokemon on him because he wanted to save the sixth slot for a new pokemon. Tomo was happy with his new Sinnoh pokemon just like Ash, Dawn and Brock were. But there was pokemon that Tomo was hoping to catch; he wanted to have a Chimchar. After seeing Paul's Chimchar for the first time, he hoped he would get one himself.

Suddenly there was a noise of somebody yelling 'You worthless, ugly thing!" "What was that?" said Dawn. "That sounded like somebody is abusing somebody or something," said Ash "I recognize that sort of yelling because I've heard it before". The gang ran over to where the noise was from, and there they saw a punk man ordering a Golem kick a Chimchar a lot of times. "Hey you!" shouted Ash "what do you think you're doing!" The man saw the kids and he and his Golem ran off. "What in the world was that?!" gasped Dawn, who didn't like what she saw. "That Dawn was your first time of seeing somebody who physically abuses pokemon" said Ash. Tomo ran over to the Chimchar. This Chimchar was shiny; instead of being a red-orange colour, it was a red-pink colour. "Is there a pokemon center around here?" asked Tomo. Brock checked his map, and good news was there was a pokemon center nearby. "Let's hurry" said Tomo, picking up Chimchar.

The gang ran to the pokemon center and gave Chimchar to Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy was horrified when she saw the Chimchar's bruises, and the gang told her about the punk man and his Golem. "I've heard about that man, he has no respect for pokemon whatsoever, not even his own" said Nurse Joy. Brock offered to call Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy agreed. So while Brock and Nurse Joy were busy, Ash, Tomo and Dawn waited to Chimchar to recover. "I have heard about people abusing pokemon," said Dawn "but I've never seen them abuse pokemon like that with my own eyes before". "Get used to it now Dawn," said Ash "we have seen people abuse pokemon hundreds of times and we may see more people doing it here in Sinnoh too". Dawn hoped she wouldn't.

It wasn't long till Officer Jenny got Brock's call and she arrested the punk man at once. His Golem was taken away from him and released into the wild to start a better life. The man was to never have anything to do with pokemon ever again because of his abuse. As for Chimchar, it got well again a few days later thanks to Nurse Joy. Tomo stepped forward and asked if he could have Chimchar and Nurse Joy agreed. Ash, Brock and Dawn also agreed that Chimchar would be perfect for Tomo.

So Tomo was happy to have a Chimchar of his own and Chimchar was happy to have a caring person for a trainer.

Chapter 115

Meeting Hunter J,

The Unofficial Pokemon Contest

And Poffins

Ash, Tomo and Brock were enjoying their new pokemon journey in the Sinnoh Region, and Dawn was enjoying her first pokemon journey. They liked seeing new pokemon, going to new places and meeting new people. There was still much to learn for Dawn, but the boys were there to help her out.

One day the gang came across a house, with a big beautiful garden full of flowers. Suddenly a Salamence flew above them towards the house and somebody was riding it. At the house was a woman named Melodi and her Gardevoir and they took care of the flowers together. Suddenly Salamence landed in front of them. Salamence's owner was a woman, with silver hair, and was dressed like an agent. The woman sent out an Ariados and trapped Melodi with its string shot attack. Melodi told her Gardevoir to get away. Gardevoir used teleport to make it-self invisible, but the woman had special goggles that could help her locate where Gardevoir was. Once the woman found Gardevoir, she fired a golden beam from a cannon thing on her left arm and the beam turned Gardevoir into a golden stone statue. Then the woman talked through a speaker and some sort of car appeared, which was driven by some men who worked for her. Out of the car came a floating case, which picked up Gardevoir, placed glass over it for protection and went back into the car. Then the woman and her pokemon began to leave.

Ash was not happy with what he saw and neither were the others. While Dawn, Brock and Tomo helped Melodi, Ash went after the car to get Gardevoir back. He ran down the hill, with Pikachu and Riolu on his shoulders, until he got to where the car was heading. "Pikachu, Riolu use thunderbolt and aura sphere to stop that car" he said. Pikachu and Riolu used their attacks and the car stopped in its tracks, undamaged. Just then the woman and her pokemon turned up. "Give back Gardevoir to its trainer!" demanded Ash. The woman took no notice and stared at Pikachu and Riolu. "That Pikachu and Riolu will fetch a nice price" she said. Ash gasped. "You're a pokemon hunter aren't you?!" he shouted "one that goes stealing pokemon and selling them for money right!" The woman smirked. "You're clever for a kid" she said. She tossed a pokeball and let out a big violet pokemon that looked like a giant scorpion.

Ash looked at the pokemon on his pokedex: Drapion, the ogre scorpion pokemon. It takes pride in its strength. Even though it can tear foes apart, it finishes them off with powerful poison.

"I'd like to see more of your pokemon's moves" said the woman. Ash knew the woman really wanted to see how strong Pikachu and Riolu were, but she seemed too dangerous to disobey. He ordered Pikachu to use swift and Riolu to use quick attack, and Drapion got hit by the attacks. The woman was impressed and decided to take them. She used her cannon to turn Pikachu and Riolu into gold statues and had her minions take them away in cases and into the car. "Give back my Pikachu and Riolu!" demanded Ash. The woman had her Ariados use string shot and Ash got tied up by the web, and then the woman and her pokemon flew away, leaving Ash very angry.

Team Rocket, who was close by, saw everything. "Did you see that?" asked James. "She reminds me of the Iron Masked Marauder" said Jessie. "Do you think she would be good for Team Rocket?" asked Meowth. "Are you kidding Meowth?" asked James "if we had her working for the boss, she would make us agents look bad with those gadgets of hers. Why, she would probably make the boss look weak". Meowth and Jessie saw the point. "So now what?" asked Jessie. "I suggest we get away from here, before she sees us, otherwise she may try to come after our pokemon" said James. Jessie and Meowth agreed and went to get back to their balloon to get away.

Meanwhile Dawn, Tomo, Brock and Melodi caught up with Ash and saw him trapped in the web. "What happened, Ash?" asked Brock. "That woman took Pikachu and Riolu, and she's a pokemon hunter who steals pokemon and sells them for money" said Ash. The others gasped when they heard that. Growlithe set Ash free from the string shot with flame wheel.

At that time, Team Rocket was about to board the balloon but then the woman came up to them. "What do you want?" said Jessie, rudely. "Just here to see if you have any good pokemon" said the woman. "Go away lady," said Meowth "we're not handing any pokemon to you". The woman was surprised that Meowth could speak. "A talking Meowth will fetch an excellent price on the market" she said, getting her cannon ready. "Oh no you don't!" shouted Jessie. She and James sent out Exploud and Ursaring and ordered them both to use hyper beam. The woman's Salamence used hyper beam too; this Salamence proved to be a very, very strong pokemon because it's hyper beam attack shot right through Exploud's and Ursaring's hyper beam attacks and defeated them at once. Then the woman tied up Jessie, James and their pokemon with Ariados's string shot and then she captured Meowth. "Hey give back Meowth!" shouted Jessie, angrily.

Melodi and the gang wanted to run after them, but the woman had an aircraft waiting for her and she left with it. Suddenly Officer Jenny arrived on her motorbike. "I missed her again" she said. She turned to the gang and asked them if the woman took any of their pokemon. "She took my Pikachu and Riolu, and Melodi's Gardevoir," said Ash "Officer Jenny who is that pokemon hunter?" Officer Jenny explained the woman's name was Hunter J, and she was the most dangerous and evil person in the whole pokemon world. She was so evil, she would hurt or even kill those that would get in her way, and she shows no emotion whatsoever when it came to stealing and selling pokemon on the black market. The police in all of Sinnoh had been after her for a very, very long time. Ash was pissed from hearing that; of all the bad people he has ever met in the past, she was the worst. "We have to get Pikachu and Riolu back," he said, angrily, "I am not letting that witch sell them or Gardevoir". "We do need to go after her to rescue the pokemon," said Officer Jenny "but her identity is a real mystery. And after she steals pokemon she disappears in that aircraft of hers". "That means we can't chase her," said Brock "if only we can predict where J's next movement is". "We can, well actually my Espeon can" said Ash. He had his Espeon with him and released her. Then he held Hunter J's wanted posted for Espeon to see. "We need to find out where this woman is heading before she steals someone else's pokemon Espeon". Espeon looked at the poster and then closed her eyes to predict where Hunter J was going. With the jewel on her forehead, Espeon found out where Hunter J was going, and revealed in a telepathic message to everyone where she was going. The vision showed a water mill and finished. "Thank you Espeon," said Ash "Officer Jenny do you know where that water mill is?" "Yes it's right at the forest edge" answered Officer Jenny. Officer Jenny quickly contacted the police and told them of Hunter J's next destination.

Meanwhile, in J's flying ship Meowth, Pikachu and Riolu were still frozen in the cases and had been placed in a chamber along with Gardevoir. It was then a minion of Hunter J's came into the chamber to photograph the pokemon. He walked to Meowth's case and pushed a switch down a bit and Meowth's face became unfrozen; apparently the cases were built to release pokemon from their frozen states by pushing the switch down, but if you pushed the switch up again, before they are fully unfrozen, they'll go back to being frozen again. "Hey where am I?" said Meowth. The minion showed a camera to Meowth. "Say cheese" he said. "No one tells me what to do punk" said Meowth. "A talking Meowth like you will certainly fetch a big price for us on the market" said the minion. Meowth snorted. "Even if your boss was paid a million pokedollars, I still won't work for the person you'll sell me to" he said. The minion then froze Meowth again and left. Meowth, Pikachu and Riolu were scared by all this and hoped someone will come and help them soon.

At that time Officer Jenny and the gang arrived at the water mill, where Hunter J was going. She was already there and she was stealing an Absol from its owner. "The police haven't arrived yet" said Officer Jenny. Ash couldn't wait and ran ahead. "Give back Pikachu and Riolu right now J!" he shouted. Officer Jenny joined Ash and told J she was under arrest. J ordered her Salamence to use hyper beam and Officer Jenny ordered her Arcanine to use flamethrower. But as Salamence was so strong, the hyper beam went through the flamethrower and threw Ash, Officer Jenny and Arcanine back. J was then able to fly away with Salamence, while one of her men drove away with Absol in a vehicle.

Ash wasn't going to let it get away this time and hitched a ride from underneath it. To his surprise Jessie and James were there; they were going to get Meowth back. Dawn, Brock and Tomo tried to get the vehicle to stop but it flew over them and went back to the ship. Brock saw Ash and Team Rocket holding onto the vehicle and he told everyone else. "We have to go after them" said Dawn. "We will," said Officer Jenny "let's go".

At that time Ash, Jessie and James were on J's ship thanks to their hitch hiking. "What a ship" said James. "Not bad compared to our boss's ship" said Jessie. "You two better get out your pokemon," said Ash "once J knows we are here she'll send our men after us". Jessie and James understood that Ash was right and they released Exploud, Weavile, Ursaring and Roserade for protection. Ash released his Espeon, Marowak and Noctowl to help him find Pikachu and Riolu. "Spilt up" said Ash. Ash went with this pokemon, James with his and Jessie with hers.

As J's ship was a big ship it was hard to guess where everything was. James came up to a door, but when he opened it a lot of J's men were behind the door. "Roserade use stun spore" said James. Roserade released a stun spore attack and all the men became paralyzed. "Close call" said James and he quickly closed the door again. At that time Jessie had run into some men too, but she had her Weavile freeze them with blizzard.

Meanwhile Ash was heading for the chamber where the pokemon were kept; Noctowl's eyes found the pokemon behind the door of the chamber and he told Ash at once. But then J's Drapion came out and grabbed Ash. Marowak quickly jumped in and hit Drapion very hard on the head with bone club. That made Drapion drop Ash. Due to being a poison and dark type pokemon, Drapion's weakness was ground type moves. J came out; she had found out about the intruders on from her security cameras. "You are very brave to have followed me here," said J "and your pokemon aren't bad either. Maybe I should add them to my catalogue". "Don't even think about that you witch!" shouted Ash. Marowak attacked Drapion with boomerang, Noctowl air slash and Espeon hidden power, which was steel type. Like Salamence and Ariados, J's Drapion was very strong too, but Ash's pokemon managed to hurt it because they were strong too. J was impressed but thought it wasn't enough to bring her down.

Suddenly a smokescreen appeared and covered the area; it was from James's Weezing. Jessie and James had turned up. "Come with me," said Ash "Noctowl found where the pokemon are". Ash and the duo ran to the chamber where the pokemon were. Ash pressed the switches on the cases down and released Pikachu, Riolu, Gardevoir and Absol. Jessie pressed the switch on Meowth's case down to get him out. Suddenly some of J's men came into the chamber and one of them sent out a Golbat to attack. "Steel wing" he said. Ash had Pikachu fight back with volt tackle, which knocked out Golbat at once. Then Ash ordered Pikachu to use thunderbolt; this was to distract the men so that Ash and the others could escape. The men dodged the thunderbolt but it hit a wall and created a big hole. Ash returned Espeon and Marowak and told Noctowl to go and get Officer Jenny. Jessie and James quickly returned their pokemon too.

In the control room of the ship, where J was now, a controller was warning J about damage at a hanger numbered 3. J was not happy with that and told the controller to separate hanger number 3 from the ship. She also decided to get a new Gardevoir and Absol. The controller did tell her about the men in hanger number 3, but she didn't care. She was the ruthless type of woman who didn't care about her own employees. When the hanger was despatched from the ship, the men realized that Hunter J was abandoning them and they were not happy with that.

By that time Noctowl had led Officer Jenny and the others to where he left Ash. Officer Jenny saw the falling hanger and everyone became worried. In the hanger Ash turned to Melodi's Gardevoir. "Quick Gardevoir use teleport to get us out of here before we crash" he said. Gardevoir did as it was told and teleported everyone out of the hanger and onto the ground safely, while the hanger crashed and exploded onto the ground. The gang were happy to see that Ash, Pikachu and Riolu were okay, and Melodi was happy to get Gardevoir back. While Team Rocket made their quick getaway, Officer Jenny arrested the men and promised to send Absol back to its owner. At that time Hunter J and the rest of the men left the area with the aircraft.

After that Team Rocket was thinking about Hunter J. "I'm going to make that witch pay for turning me into a statue" said Meowth. "Yeah and no one steals our pokemon" said James. "We have already made an enemy here in Sinnoh," said Jessie "so let's toughen ourselves and our pokemon up so we can defeat that wrench next time". James and Meowth agreed.

Meanwhile the gang couldn't stop thinking about Hunter J either. "I can't believe that people like that Hunter J exists" said Dawn. "She is worse than the boss of Team Rocket Giovanni," said Ash, angrily, "selling pokemon on the black market like that". "But Officer Jenny will catch her one of these days" said Brock. "I hope you're right Brock," said Ash "people like Hunter J have no right to roam around free in the world". The others agreed and hoped that Hunter J will be arrested soon. Despite only just started a new journey; the gang had already met the most dangerous person in all of Sinnoh.

That evening Ash contacted Mewtwo and warned him about Hunter J and told him everything about how evil she was. Mewtwo vowed to never let her find him or capture him, and to keep an eye out for her. And Ash vowed he would not let J get away with things the next time he saw her.

One day Ash was going to do some training with his two Aipoms, and he had his Hitmonchan with him too. "Okay Aipoms," he said "you two are going to learn thunder punch, fire punch and ice punch from Hitmonchan today". Hitmonchan demonstrated the three punches and the Aipoms became eager to learn them. Riolu, who could learn thunder and ice punch, wanted to learn the punches and Ash agreed. It was then Brock asked if his Croagunk to take part too because it could learn ice and thunder punch too. So Hitmonchan had a lot of students to teach.

While Hitmonchan's teaching was going on, Dawn noticed a mini poster talking about an unofficial pokemon contest at a pokemon festival in a village not far from where they were. Instead of getting a ribbon, the winner of the contest got a year supply of fruit. Dawn decided to enter with Pachirisu because it hasn't had a chance to shine yet. She showed it to Ash. "Want to take part too Ash?" she asked. Ash had a look at it. His female Aipom jumped onto Ash's shoulder. "What's up Aipom, do you want to participate in this?" asked Ash. Aipom nodded yes. "You really like contests don't you Aipom?" asked Dawn. Aipom jumped onto Dawn's shoulder. "That's a yes" said Brock. Ash started at Dawn and Aipom. 'Those two look great together' he thought.

Soon the gang came to the village where the festival was, with lots of stalls set up. Ash and Dawn signed up for the contest at once. Since there was time before the contest, the gang had some quick fun with the game stalls. Then it was time for the contest. Nurse Joy and the village chief were to be the judges. The chief showed off lots of bunches of bananas that were the prize for the winner. Then Nurse Joy pronounced the contest to begin.

Dawn, who was dressed in her contest dress, was up first. She sent out Pachirisu with a heart seal. Unfortunately since this a first contest for Pachirisu, it was nervous. "Calm down Pachirisu, and you will be fine," said Dawn "now use sweet kiss". Pachirisu blew a sweet kiss attack and the villagers fell in love with it. The Pachirisu used spark, which created flower shaped sparks. To finish it off Pachirisu tried to use discharge, but it ended up shocking the audience by accident. Pachirisu had a lot of electrical training to do.

Over coordinators were up after Dawn, but they were real amateurs and the pokemon didn't shine at all during their performances. Last up was Ash; he was wearing his normal clothes. He sent out Aipom with a party seal. They started off with swift and then Aipom used focus punch to break the stars into particles. Then Ash told Aipom to use double team and swift. The Aipom copies joined together in a circle and when she used swift it created a big circle of stars. The audience loved it.

After the appeal round, only two people could make it into the battle round and Ash and Dawn were the two. Dawn sent out Pachirisu with a heart seal and Ash sent out Aipom with a party seal. "Okay Pachirisu use spark" said Dawn. "Dodge that with bounce Aipom" said Ash. Aipom jumped to dodge Pachirisu's spark attack and then hit it with her legs. "Double team Aipom" said Ash. Aipom formed a line with copies of herself, while Pachirisu just looked helpless. "Use discharge on all the Aipoms Pachirisu" said Dawn. Pachirisu fired a discharge attack, but the Aipoms used swift to counter the attack. The swift attack turned into a shower of stars and Dawn was losing more and more points while Ash still had all his points. "Now focus punch Aipom" said Ash. Aipom punched Pachirisu very hard, and then Pachirisu fainted.

So Ash became the winner of the pokemon contest and was given the fruit as a prize. As there was way too much fruit for the gang to carry, they decided to share it with everyone. So everyone at the festival tucked into the fruit and them pokemon had some too and they thanked Ash for sharing the fruit. Today had been a fun day for the gang and thanks to Hitmonchan; Ash's Aipoms learned fire, ice and thunder punch, and Riolu and Croagunk learnt ice and thunder punch.

Today the gang had made it to Floaroma Town, where the next pokemon contest was. The town was beautiful with flowers and trees everywhere. Dawn loved it. An old woman who lived in the town told the town that many, many years ago Floaroma Town was a barren wasteland and nothing seemed to grow. It made the people very in despair. But one day a beautiful woman magically made all the flowers and trees grow and Floaroma Town became beautiful as it was today. The gang loved that story, especially Dawn.

Suddenly Dawn noticed a poster that said a poffin cooking class. "Poffin?" said Ash "is that a treat or something?" Dawn explained that poffins were bun like treats made from berries for pokemon. They kept pokemon healthy and made them look and feel great. "Oh that's like the pokeblock treats back from Hoenn" said Ash. "I've helped my mum make poffins for her pokemon, so I'm an expert" said Dawn. She asked the boys if they could go to the poffin class and they agreed to go; it would be good to learn how to make new treats for their pokemon.

The poffin cooking class was held at a house where hundreds of flowers and berries were growing. The garden was looked after by a Roserade and a Lotad. Once the gang showed up at the house, Ash noticed Roserade. Just then his Budew came out of her pokeball and went over to Roserade. Roserade started talking to Budew at once. "That was really quick of Budew making friends with that Roserade" said Dawn. "That's because Budew's final evolved form is Roserade and she wants to evolve into that in the future" said Ash.

Just then a green haired woman came out; she was the owner of Roserade and Lotad. "Welcome," she said "my name is Forsythia. If you come with me we'll start on the poffin cooking class". Forsythia led the gang to a kitchen, where the cooking class took place. There were cooking pots and poffin making molds all set out and ready for use. The first step was to place berries, all washed and cut up, in a pot of cold water. Then you turn up the heat while stirring nonstop. "Stirring gives the poffins their flavor" said Forsythia.

So the gang got to work on making their poffins. Tomo decided to watch because he wasn't good at cooking yet. Dawn placed a time on the kitchen timer on her poketch. She explained that poffin batter will burn if you keep it on the heat too long, and won't cook right if the batter isn't on long enough. Ash took great care with stirring his batter because this was his first time, while Dawn made the poffins easily like an expert. When the batter was perfectly stirred the batter went into the batter molds and left to set and cool.

Soon Ash, Brock and Dawn's poffins were made and they came out perfect. Ash released his Budew, Shinx, Piplup, Staravia and Pikachu and Riolu joined to try his poffins. Growlithe joined in too and they all liked the poffins. "You did very well there Ash" said Forsythia. Ash smiled. Brock sent out his Nosepass, Bonsly, Croagunk and Nuzleaf and his pokemon liked his poffins too. Last of all Dawn gave her Poffins to Piplup, Ariados, Burmy, Buneary and Pachirisu to try. Piplup, Burmy, Pachirisu and Buneary didn't like her Poffins but Ariados did.

"I don't get it," said Dawn, while washing dishes, "I did the recipe, mum taught me of her poffins for her pokemon, correctly. But only Ariados liked it". "Well it seems you're not an expert of making poffins yet" said Ash; he knew she was boasting earlier. "Pokemon have different tastes for different flavors they like, like Pikachu likes sweet, Riolu likes bitter and Growlithe likes spicy. You need to check with your pokemon to see what flavors they like". Dawn frowned in anger and embarrassment, not happy that Ash outsmarted her again.

After the class was over Forsythia made tea and cake for the gang. Ash's Budew continued talking to Roserade. "I'm glad to see that Roserade is making another friend," said Forsythia "it's only calm with me and Lotad". Forsythia explained that Roserade has been timid ever since it was a Budew. One day she met it that the pokemon center and asked if it wanted to come and live with her; because it was so shy it never made friends with the other pokemon. Budew accepted at once, even though it and Forsythia had just met. Budew became with Forsythia because of her flower garden and berry orchid. Soon it evolved to Roselia and soon into Roserade and it became a big help to her garden and orchid.

"I must ask Ash, will you be evolving to Budew to Roserade?" asked Forsythia. "Yes she wants to become one in the future" said Ash. "Well then you can have these" said Forsythia. She got out three evolutionary stones; one was a shiny stone, which was a very light yellow colour, a purple stone called a dusk stone and a blue-green stone called a dawn stone. "Ash this shiny stone evolves a Roselia into a Roserade, and also evolves a Togetic into a Togekiss," said Forsythia, "this dusk stone will evolve a Murkrow into Honchkrow and a Misdreavus to Mismagius, and this Dawn stone will evolve a male Kirlia into a Gallade and a female Snorunt into a Froslass".

Ash was amazed with what these new evolutionary stones could do and looked at the pokemon Forsythia just said on the pokedex; Togekiss, the jubilee pokemon. The evolved form of Togetic. It shares many blessings with people who respect one another's rights and avoid needless strife. Honchkrow, the big boss pokemon. The evolved form of Murkrow. If one utters a deep cry, many Murkrow gather quickly. For this, it is called "Summoner of Night." Mismagius, the magical pokemon. The evolved form of Misdreavus. It chants incantations. While they usually torment targets, some chants bring happiness. Gallade, the blade pokemon. The evolved form of Kirlia. When protecting someone, it extends its elbows as if they were swords and fights savagely. Froslass, the snow land pokemon. The evolved form of Snorunt. It freezes prey by blowing its -58 degree F breath. It is said to then secretly display its prey.

"Wow," said Brock, who was awestruck, "are you going to evolve Togetic, Murkrow and Misdreavus Ash?" "I will later, but I haven't asked them if they want to evolve yet" said Ash. Forsythia told Ash he could keep the stones because she had plenty of evolutionary stones. So Ash was happy to have more stones to his stone collection.

Later that day Dawn tried again with making poffins for her pokemon, and this time she made the right recipe for her pokemon because she now knew what flavours her pokemon liked. So everyone was happy because they knew how to make poffins.