Ash's Pokémon Journey

Chapter 126-130

Chapter 126

The Solaceon Ruins,

The Solaceon Contest

And Dawn's friend Leona

After the trouble with Spiritomb some things happened. First up Tomo's Bidoof evolved into Bibarel, second Ash ended up catching a Zangoose; it had been hurt against a fight with a wild Seviper and Ash caught it to take it to a pokemon center and Ash kept it in the end. Ash had been nervous with Zangoose and Chimchar because of Chimchar's fear of it, but Ash's Zangoose proved to Chimchar that it wasn't bad like the Zangoose back then. In the process Chimchar overcame his fear. The last thing that happened was Brock's Nosepass evolved into a pokemon called Probopass and Ash's Magneton evolved into a pokemon called Magnezone. Ash and Brock learnt Magneton and Nosepass could only evolve when levelling up at Mt Coronet, so they trained their pokemon there and evolved them. While also at Mt Coronet, Dawn captured a Clefairy; Clefairy was so adorable Dawn didn't want to miss the chance of catching one.

Now today was another training day for Ash and Dawn; they had arrived at Solaceon Town and Ash and Dawn were training for the pokemon contest. Dawn was practicing with Smoochum and Aipom; she wanted to use them in the contest this time. Right now she had Aipom use swift and the stars circled around. Then Aipom used focus punch to hit one star that sped towards the other stars like the shooting star. All the stars broke apart into yellow particles. "Wow Dawn you have been practicing good with Aipom" said Ash. "We've been practicing some other moves too," said Dawn "I'll show you". First Aipom used hidden power and broke them apart with ice punch; since the hidden power was green being grass type it broke into green particles and the ice punch added some white particles. Next Aipom bounced and spun around while doing water pulse; it was like a ballet with water. Last of all she had Aipom use double team and used fire punch which created fiery red particles. "Fantastic work" said Brock. Then Dawn had Piplup use bubblebeam and then Aipom punched the bubbles, making them turn into blue particles. "Hey that was the move double hit" said Ash. "Really?" asked Dawn. "Yes my Dodrio knows this move and my Aipom has just learnt it too" said Ash. He had his Aipom on him and Aipom showed his double hit move. "Since both Aipoms know double hit that means they will evolve to Ambipom" said Ash. "That's correct" said the voice.

The voice came from Kenny. "Long time no see Dee-Dee". "You too Kenny" said Dawn, not letting the nickname get to her. "Oh, not getting puffed up over Dee-Dee?" asked Kenny. Dawn explained that Tomo had a Plusle and Minun and she managed to get over her fear thanks to them. "That's surprising," said Kenny "I take it you're here to enter the pokemon contest?" "Yes and this time I'm ready for it" answered Dawn. Kenny noticed Dawn's Aipom and Dawn explained that it was Ash's but she traded it with her Buizel. "Hey Ash are you entering the contest too?" asked Kenny. "Yes I am" answered Ash. Kenny said it was too. "Hey Kenny want to have a battle with me?" asked Ash. "I would like to later Ash, but I was just on my way to see Dialga and Palkia" said Kenny. "Pardon?" said Ash. The gang couldn't believe what Kenny said.

Before the gang could find out what Kenny meant about seeing Dialga and Palkia. There was trouble lurking about. Three mysterious people, wearing grey uniforms, were standing outside some ruins. One of them had blue hair and the other two had green hair. These people were members of the evil team in Sinnoh called Team Galactic. Team Rocket was nearby and saw them. "It's Team Galactic," said James "Sinnoh's evil team". "Yes like what the boss showed us" said Jessie. "What shall we do?" asked Meowth. "We do what we did in Hoenn;" said Jessie "we find out about this Team Galactic and find a way to bring them down". James and Meowth agreed. The Galactic members went into the ruins and the blue haired member sent out a Bronzer and had it use flash to light the way. "Let's follow them boys" said Jessie. "Get out a pokemon Jess," said James "those three might give us trouble". Jessie sent out her Aipom and Vespiquen and James sent out his Roserade and Carnivine. Then they started to follow the Galactic members.

Meanwhile Kenny brought the gang to the ruins and showed them statues of Dialga and Palkia. "This is Solaceon Ruins," said Kenny "the ruins of a temple where people used to pay tribute to Dialga and Palkia". Now the gang knew what Kenny meant. "It's still feels a bit unfair to me that there are no statues of Giratina about" said Ash. "Yes but Gardenia did tell us that Giratina caused trouble because of its violence" said Brock. "Yeah" said Ash. Dawn noticed Unown writing on the statues and both of them read 'Friend when every life meets another life, something will be born'. "Hey that's what the ruins we saw with the champion Cynthia read before" said Tomo. "You're right" said Brock. "Wait, you met the champion Cynthia?" asked Kenny, in surprise. "My journey has been more adventurous and exciting than yours Kenny" boasted Dawn. "Hey Ash let's have a battle now" said Kenny. "Here?" asked Ash "Okay but we must be careful not to hit the statues by mistake". Kenny agreed. "Who will attack first?" asked Kenny. "We'll have my coin toss application help us on that" said Ash, getting his coin toss ready. "What, you have a coin toss application?" asked Kenny. "Yes and so does Dawn and Tomo," answered Ash "don't you?" Kenny admitted he didn't. Dawn felt like laughing because she had something Kenny didn't; she liked to tease him back. Ash picked heads and Kenny picked tails and Ash won so he got to attack first.

Ash sent out his Turtwig to battle and Kenny sent out a new pokemon, a Breloom. Ash knew that Breloom was part fighting type as well as grass so they had to be careful. "Turtwig start off with tackle" said Ash. Turtwig tackled Breloom hard before it could dodge. Breloom attacked next with mach punch and Turtwig got punched well. "Okay Turtwig let's use energy ball" said Ash. "Counter with your energy ball Breloom" he said. The two grass pokemon fired energy ball attacks and the attacks collided with each other. "So your Turtwig knows energy ball?" said Kenny. "Yes he has picked up some new moves thanks to my other grass pokemon" said Ash.

Meanwhile, the Galactic members walked deeper and deeper into the ruins with Team Rocket on their tail. The members came to a chamber and on the floor was an ancient drawing. The blue haired member ordered the green haired members to place some plates on the squares of the drawing. These plates were like the same plates that Ash had been collecting. The members had plates called the splash plate, the iron plate and the draco plate. Once the plates were in place the drawing lit up and so did the Unown letters on the wall. Team Rocket came out of their hiding. "All right who are you and what's going on here?!" demanded Jessie. "Allow me to introduce myself," said the blue haired member "I am Saturn a commander of Team Galactic. And I am here to make a start of Team Galactic's quest". A golden cube came out of the drawing and then the real Unown came from out of the walls. "Unown, the cube that you guard contains the power we need to change the world" said Saturn. He took the cube in his hand, but then the Unown got ready to attack to stop Saturn. "Bronzor confuse ray" said Saturn. Bronzor's confuse ray attack made all of the Unown confused and Team Galactic left the chamber. Because of their confusion the Unown became very angry and started to fire hidden power about. They all had different types of hidden power like water, fire, psychic, ghost, steel, rock, etc.

The Unown's hidden power attacks started to fire out of the ruins and Dawn noticed it. Suddenly the stairs she, Aipom, Smoochum and Piplup had been sitting on all this time began to move up; the stairs were also a doorway into the ruins. The boys noticed it and rushed to try and help. There was worse to come. Piplup and Smoochum lost their grips on the stairs and started to fall. Aipom tried to safe them but she lost her grip on the stairs too and all three pokemon fell into the ruins. Dawn jumped in to safe the pokemon. The boys saw this and they luckily got into the ruins before the door closed on them.

At that time the Unown was staring at Team Rocket; they thought they stole the cube. "Let's run!" shouted Jessie, and Team Rocket did.

Team Galactic had left the ruins by a helicopter; happy with their successful find.

By now the boys had entered the ruins. Inside the ruins it was all red and stairs and tunnels were everywhere; the Unown had created illusions because of their confusion. "What is this?" asked Tomo. Ash stared at everything. "I bet that Unown live in these ruins and we are trapped in their illusions" said Ash. "I think you're right Ash" said Brock. Kenny didn't like this. "How can you not be scared in something like this?" he asked. "Because I have dealt with Unown before," answered Ash "besides we need to stay brave especially for our pokemon". Kenny knew Ash was right, especially since he had Prinplup and Breloom with him. "Okay everyone let's go and look for Dawn and get out of here" said Ash. The others agreed.

By now Dawn was checking to see if her pokemon were okay. Suddenly some Unown turned up. Dawn looked at them on the pokedex, and then the Unown started to attack. Aipom, Piplup and Smoochum quickly moved in with bubble beam, swift and powder snow to stop them. "Let's go" said Dawn. She grabbed Smoochum and she and her pokemon ran all the way up some never ending stairs. Some Unown turned up too, but Piplup, Smoochum and Aipom attacked with bubble beam, swift and powder snow again. The Unown got hit by the attacks and snapped out of their confusion. Because of that most of the illusion went away. "We must keep going" Dawn said to her pokemon.

Right now the boys were being attacked by the Unown. "The Unown are confused," said Ash "something must have happened to make them like this". He had Pikachu use thunderbolt and Turtwig use razor leaf. Breloom and Prinplup helped with energy ball and bubble beam. After the Unown got hit the illusion went away. "If we keep hitting them with attacks, they'll go back to normal and the illusion will go away" explained Ash. The others understood. "We better find Dawn and fast" said Kenny.

Meanwhile Dawn ran into Team Rocket after their pokemon struck the Unown with attacks and made some of the illusion go away. "Is this your doing?!" Dawn asked Team Rocket. "No it was someone else who caused this" answered Meowth. Before Team Rocket could explain, some more Unown turned up. "Alright Aipom use double hit" said Jessie. Dawn's Aipom used double hit too. Suddenly the two Aipoms started to glow and they evolved into bigger monkeys with two tails and bigger hands, bigger arms and bigger heads. "They are Ambipoms" said Dawn. The Ambipoms used swift on the Unown and made them leave. Dawn and Jessie were happy with their new Ambipoms.

Suddenly the boys turned up, but it seemed they were standing on the ceiling; this was more of the Unown's doing. It was then some more Unown turned up, but Piplup used bubble beam on them. "What's going on Unown?" Ash spoke up "I can tell that something happened that made you go crazy. So what happened?" The Unown started to speak. "What they saying Ash?" asked Kenny. "They're saying that somebody stole something that the Unown were guarding in these ruins" said Ash. "It was Team Galactic," James spoke up "they took a golden cube thing and then they made the Unown confused with confuse ray". "You better not be lying" said Dawn, who found this hard to believe. "Believe it or not twerpette, it really did happen" said Meowth. The Unown spoke up and said that it did happen. "We are not Team Galactic," Ash assured the Unown "and we would never take anything from you". The Unown stared at Ash and then they went away. "They believed me" sighed Ash happily. Suddenly Dawn and Team Rocket and their pokemon started to fall; they were the ones who were on the ceiling. James quickly got out his Chimecho and she used psychic to get them down safely. "Well done Chimecho" said James, rubbing her head happily.

It was then the door of the Solaceon ruins opened and everyone got out at once. "I'm glad to be out of there" said Dawn, who was happy it was all over. Team Rocket left at once. "When I see that Team Galactic jerks again I'll pound them" said Jessie, angrily. "Yeah we shall show no mercy next time" said Meowth. "Like we showed Team Aqua and Magma no mercy" said James.

Back with the gang and Kenny they couldn't stop admiring Dawn's new Ambipom.

Ash looked at it on the pokedex; Ambipom, the long tail pokemon. The evolved form of Aipom. Split into two, the tails are so adept at handling and doing things, It rarely uses its arms now.

"Wow, I'll work on getting my Aipom to evolve too" said Ash. "With my new Ambipom the Solaceon ribbon will be mine" said Dawn, confidently. "You know I remember Team Rocket talking about Team Galactic in those ruins" said Brock. "Yes then that means we'll probably meet them soon," said Ash "and if we do we better be prepared for them. Goodness knows how dangerous they are". The others agreed.

So despite of the bit of excitement that happened in the Solaceon ruins, the gang had the Solaceon contest to look forward to.

Next day Dawn was doing some more training for the pokemon contest tomorrow. Smoochum was moving some hearts with confusion and danced around with them. "That's great Smoochum," said Dawn "we'll do that in the appeal round. And Ambipom will do the battle round". "That's a great idea" said Brock.

Meanwhile Ash was talking to Prof Oak on the phone. "Well Ash I love meeting your knew Sinnoh region pokemon and so does Tracey and your other pokemon" said Prof Oak. Just then an Ambipom showed next to Prof Oak. It was Ash's; his Aipom had evolved yesterday sometime after the disturbance with Unown. "Listen Prof Oak," said Ash "do you remember Team Aqua and Magma from Hoenn?" "Yes I do" replied Prof Oak. Ash explained about Sinnoh having an evil team called Team Galactic. "I haven't met them yet but I found out yesterday that Team Rocket met them" said Ash. "Be careful Ash," said Prof Oak "I'm sure this team will be dangerous like the others were". Ash promised Prof Oak he will be. "Oh professor, I've had another mystery on my hands here". He showed the professor his mysterious plates. "I've been finding and collecting these plates on my journey, and I found a new one at Solaceon Ruins". He showed a pink plate. Prof Oak looked thoughtful. "That is very mysterious Ash," he said "I have never seen anything like those plates. You must be on your toes if this will mean something. You know very well how mysteries end to something". "That I do" said Ash, remembering his experiences. With all that happened with mysteries in the past, Ash felt that something would happen with the plates in the end.

Next day came the Solaceon contest. Marian did the usual introductions and showed off the Solaceon ribbon. The Solaceon ribbon was purple with white triangular patterns. While Brock and Tomo sat in the seats like normal along with Pikachu, Growlithe and Piplup, Ash, Dawn and Kenny waited in the waiting room for their turns. Ash was wearing blue trousers, a red shirt, a black, blue and yellow coat, a light blue scarf, red cuffs with yellow outlines, white gloves and black shoes and white socks. (This is his outfit from the episode party dancecapades) Dawn was wearing her dress the same way she did in the Jubilife contest. She still felt for sure she was going to win the contest this time.

The appeal rounds came and Kenny was up first. He sent out his Breloom with a line seal, which created a spiral of white lines. Breloom first released a spray of stun spore; next Breloom released an energy ball and then punched the attack with mach punch. It created beautiful sparkles combined with the stun spore. Ash and Dawn could see that Kenny had improved with his moves. "Don't let nerves get to you Dawn," said Ash "remember we all I improved our skills for this". Dawn knew Ash was right. In the seats Piplup was worried for Dawn, but Tomo reassured him that everything was going to be alright.

After Kenny came some other coordinators and then it was Ash's turn. He released his Turtwig with a flower seal, which released a shower of yellow flower petals. Turtwig started off with dig; this caused a surprise to the audience and judges because they knew that Turtwig can't really learn dig. Turtwig created 10 holes and dived down one of them. Then Turtwig released multiple attacks of energy ball from the holes and then he came out of the holes and threw one more energy ball attack. The energy ball attacks exploded into fireworks. (The move that May did with Eevee at the terracotta contest, but with shadow ball) The audience loved Ash's appeal.

Next up was Dawn's turn and she sent out her Smoochum with a heart seal, which released a big pink heart. Smoochum started off by releasing a light powder snow attack. Then Smoochum did the sweet kiss and confusion combo while dancing, like how she practiced. At first it seemed nice but then the hearts started to cover up Smoochum. "Oh-oh Dawn is making one of the mistakes of an appeal round" Ash said to Kenny. "Yeah and that's having the pokemon hide away too much" agreed Kenny, who knew about errors in a contest. In the seats Brock and Tomo thought that this was a little much too because they knew about errors in contests too.

After the appeal rounds was over everyone waited for the results. Dawn was telling Smoochum that she was great in the appeal round and they would have passed this one. Ash wasn't so sure about that because of Dawn's error. Brock and Tomo, who came to the waiting room, thought so too. The results came up and to Dawn's horror she didn't make it to the second round, but Ash and Kenny did. "What happened?" asked Dawn, sadly. Smoochum and Piplup were disappointed. Ash had the 'I thought so' look on his face.

At Twinleaf Town Johanna, who saw everything on TV, felt sorry for Dawn. She understood what it's like to lose contests because she had been there herself. And now Dawn was going through those times.

The boys didn't know what to say to Dawn, especially since this was her second time of losing the appeal round. Suddenly Dawn said congratulations to both Ash and Kenny. "We are sorry for your loss Dawn" said Brock. "Hey no need to worry," said Dawn "I just had a bit of less than great day out there that's all. Come on Ash and Kenny you need to get ready for the battle round". Despite Dawn was putting on a smile, Ash wasn't buying it; Dawn's aura was helping Ash see right through her and Dawn was sad and crushed because of her second loss. But he didn't know what to do.

The battle rounds went smoothly and Ash and Kenny ended up facing each other in the finals. Kenny's Prinplup was facing Ash's Vigoroth and Ash and Kenny had already lost half points each. Kenny ordered Prinplup to use drill peck but Vigoroth used counter and the drill peck move back fired. Kenny ordered Prinplup to use bubble beam, but Vigoroth used mimic to counter the bubble beam attack with his bubble beam attack. It was bad for Kenny, because he was losing more points than Ash. Soon the time was up and the result was that Ash won and he got the Solaceon ribbon.

Ash was happy with his third contest win, but he was worried for Dawn. That evening Kenny got ready to leave. "I'll be sure to beat you in the next pokemon contest Ash," he said "and you too Dawn". "I don't think I'll be in the next one" sighed Dawn, who was down on her loss. "Listen Dawn," said Kenny "no matter what I am not going to let you give up on pokemon contests, especially not after I beat you in them". "Come on Kenny," said Dawn "I'll be in another pokemon contest soon". Kenny wasn't convinced, but he didn't push it. So he said good bye to the gang and left, but he was still worried about Dawn; he saw how down she was.

That night Dawn was sorry for herself and upset over her loss. She looked at the old ribbon her mum gave her. "Oh mum I lost again," she said sadly, "but how come? I don't know what I am going to do". She cried herself to sleep.

The next day Ash, Brock and Tomo had just finished getting ready to leave, but Dawn still wasn't up. "I'm worried Brock," said Ash "because she lost the appeal round twice, Dawn felt crushed as well as upset; her aura told me". "Yes it can hurt when you go on a losing streak like this;" said Brock "question is what should we do?" "Leave this to me" said a voice. It was Zoey. "I take you saw the contest on TV?" asked Ash "and I take it you noticed Dawn's error too?" "Absolutely Ash and I liked your appeal" answered Zoey. "Dawn is crushed by this and we don't know what to do" said Ash. "Don't worry Ash, I will sort this out" said Zoey.

Zoey entered the room that Dawn was sleeping in and she pulled the blanket off her. "Get up," said Zoey "and let's have a battle". Dawn was confused and surprised seeing Zoey. "You can partner with Smoochum, and I want to battle based on what you did yesterday". Dawn was still confused but agreed.

So Dawn and Zoey got ready to battle. Dawn sent out Smoochum and Zoey sent out Glameow. Dawn had Smoochum use the sweet kiss and confusion combo they did yesterday. "I bet that Zoey is going to show Dawn her error in this battle" said Ash. "I believe you're right Ash" said Brock. Smoochum was now covered by the hearts like yesterday. "This is a nice move Dawn," said Zoey "but where's Smoochum? In the middle of that Smoochum disappeared. You must remember that your pokemon are the main attraction. You spent so much time polishing your moves you forgot to really show what the moves are made off". Dawn started to understand her error. Zoey ordered Glameow to use iron tail and the iron tail broke the hearts apart. Then Glameow used shock wave on Smoochum. Dawn ran over to see if Smoochum was okay and she was.

Zoey walked over to Dawn. "Dawn do you know why I decided not to enter the Solaceon contest after the Hearthome contest?" she asked. Dawn didn't know why. "Everyone gets upset when they lose Dawn," said Zoey "when you don't think clearly, it's easy to forget what's important. That's why after a loss I take some time off to recharge so I will be ready for the next challenge". "I understand that," spoke Ash "I mean I have lost pokemon battles and other things before, and taking some time off to think through things helps me decide on what to do to win a next challenge". "My point exactly Ash" said Zoey, happy that Ash understood. So the idea was to have Dawn take some time off from pokemon contests for a bit to find her feet, and Ash decided to not think about contests either since he had three ribbons already and to give Dawn some space.

So after another pokemon contest gone through, the gang left Solaceon Town to get to Veilstone City for Ash and Tomo's next badge.

Dawn didn't know what to do with herself after losing the appeal round a second time. Because of that she had started to lose her confidence as a pokemon coordinator, and she didn't know what she should practice with her pokemon. Because of what Zoey told her about not to forget her pokemon are the main attraction; Dawn was at a complete loss.

Ash noticed that Dawn was suffering a lack of confidence because of her two losses. He had a talk with Brock. "What can we do Brock?" he asked "Dawn is starting to believe that she shouldn't continue with contests anymore". "Well Ash," said Brock "with something like this, we need something or someone that could help Dawn stand on her feet again". "Yes but what would help get Dawn start to stand up again?" asked Ash. Despite the boys wanted to cheer Dawn up, they didn't know how.

But then there was something that did make Dawn cheer up a bit. The gang had come to a hot spring and Dawn explained that another childhood friend of hers lived there. Her name was Leona and Dawn was happy to see her. Leona told Dawn that she had been watching her and Ash in the pokemon contests on TV. Dawn explained that because of her two losses in a row she was taking a break from contests. "Ah well no need to worry Dawn" said Leona. Hearing Leona saying 'no need to worry' made the boys wonder if all of Dawn's old friends knew her line. Dawn asked Leona if she and the boys could get into a hot spring. Leona said they could but on one condition.

Leona's condition was she wanted to have a tag team battle with Dawn. The thing was Leona planned to travel around Sinnoh and battle gyms; she also thought having a tag team battle would cheer up Dawn. Dawn agreed, especially since she hadn't done anything exciting with Leona for a long time. Ash and Tomo were chosen to become Dawn and Leona's opponents and Brock was chosen to be the referee.

Leona had three Swinubs and sent out one of them and Dawn sent out her Piplup. Ash sent out his Hippopotas and Tomo sent out his Shellos. Swinub started off by trying to tackle Hippopotas and Piplup tried to peck Shellos. Hippopotas and Shellos dodged the attacks and began to fight back. Hippopotas used mud slap on Swinub and Shellos used water pulse on Piplup. "Wow Dawn your friends are good at this" said Leona. "Ash and Tomo have been trainers for nearly five years now, so they know a lot about pokemon battling" explained Dawn. Piplup and Swinub fought back with bubble beam and ice shard.

This battle made Dawn remember something from her kindergarten days. At kindergarten there was a boy who was a bully; he liked bossing the other kids around and he always claimed the playground as his own. Dawn and Leona had enough of him and together they took him down and left him crying.

Leona moved in next telling her Swinub to use blizzard, but Hippopotas protected himself and Shellos with protect. Then Shellos moved in with water pulse and it hit Swinub. Hippopotas attacked Piplup with tackle next. Dawn was getting worried, but Leona reminded her there was no need to worry. Dawn perked up again and told Piplup to use whirlpool and Leona told Swinub to use blizzard again. Both Hippopotas and Shellos got hit by the attacks; things were not looking good for them. "Now for the final attack Dawn" said Leona. "Right" said Dawn. This was a trip down memory lane for Dawn, remembering the time she and Leona defeated that bully together. Piplup and Swinub charged at Hippopotas and Shellos with peck and tackle. Hippopotas and Shellos got hit hard and they fainted, making Dawn and Leona the winners.

Dawn cheered with happiness and hugged Piplup. "We won!" she shouted. Piplup was happy for the win too. Ash and Tomo returned their pokemon. "Dawn looks happy now" said Tomo. "This battle was definitely something that Dawn needed to perk her up, especially with a childhood friend" said Ash. Even Brock agreed.

After the battle was over Leona and the gang took a dip in the hot springs and they loved it. So Dawn was happy to have met up with Leona again and her spirit perked up again. Only question was what to do about her next pokemon contest?

Chapter 127

Cassidy and Butch in Sinnoh,

Meeting Reggie

And Dawn's First Gym Battle

Today the gang had come to a desert; they needed to cross it to get to Veilstone City. Because of all the sand Ash called the desert a great place to train Hippopotas and his new pokemon Gligar. A few days ago the gang had come to a city which had trouble with a swarm of Gligar and their leader Gliscor, the evolved form of Gligar. The swarm had got blown into the city because of a storm and the swarm kept on nicking fruit from shops. But the gang helped Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy get the swarm back to the forest. In the midst of that excitement Ash caught a Gligar and Paul, who also visited the city, captured the Gliscor; he found it worthy to be on his team.

Ash sent out his Hippopotas and Gligar. "Okay you two," he said "we are going to train at this desert today". Hippopotas liked that because he liked sand. Gligar was happy too; it was a female and she liked Ash a lot. "Before we do start training I have something special for you two" said Ash. He took out two TM's from his ruck sack. "Hey I've seen those in shops," said Dawn "but they are expensive". "No need to worry Dawn I saved up a lot to get some TM's" said Ash. "Which ones have you got?" asked Brock. Ash had the TM for water pulse and sandstorm. Hippopotas could learn all two moves and Gligar could learn sandstorm. Ash returned the pokemon to their pokeballs, placed the TM's one by one on their pokeballs and then released them. "Okay now let's see your moves" said Ash.

Hippopotas had learnt new moves ever since Ash caught him; he learnt roar, protect, double team, hidden power, mud slap and strength as well as now knowing water pulse and sandstorm. As for Gligar; she knew poison sting, sand attack, harden, quick attack, steel wing, x-scissor and the egg moves metal claw and cross poison as well as sand storm. "Okay see those rocks in the sand?" said Ash "strike them with your metal claw Gligar and Hippopotas use strength". Hippopotas and Gligar got to work at once. Gligar was the type pf pokemon who wanted to please her trainer and earn his attention and approval. It wasn't long before Gligar started to smash up rocks with metal claw and Hippopotas started to tackle rocks around. "Wow Brock," said Dawn "Ash's Hippopotas has gotten stronger and Gligar sure isn't backing down even though it's new". "Well Gligar loves Ash," said Brock "so she's determined to gain Ash's approval". Dawn thought that was amusing.

Suddenly where was a rumbling noise coming from under the sand. "What's going on?" asked Dawn, worriedly. Before her question could be answered, some big hippo like pokemon came out of the sand. "They're Hippowdon" said Brock.

Dawn looked at Hippowdon on her pokedex: Hippowdon, the heavyweight pokemon. The evolved form of Hippopotas. It brandishes its gaping mouth in a display of fearsome strength. It raises vast quantities of sand while attacking.

"They probably live here in the desert" suggested Brock.

Suddenly a giant robot came towards the Hippowdons and hit them with rockets. "What the hell?!" shouted Ash. Just then, to the gang's surprise, Cassidy and Butch came out of the robot. "Oh great it's you two!" shouted Ash. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the brats" said Cassidy. "Haven't seen you in a while" said Butch. Dawn asked Brock who they were as she had never met them before. Brock explained to Dawn that Cassidy and Butch were other members of Team Rocket. Cassidy looked at the Hippowdons and declared they would be right for the boss. "You're not taking these pokemon anywhere!" shouted Ash. He ordered Pikachu, Hippopotas and Gligar to get ready to fight. Cassidy and Butch sent out all their pokemon to battle and they had new pokemon; Cassidy had a Charizard and Butch had an Aggron. "Let's help Ash" said Brock. Dawn and Tomo agreed since Team Rocket had too many pokemon for Ash to defeat himself. But before anyone did anything the Hippowdons attacked the robot with stone edge and then they used dig to get away. "Grr the Hippowdons got away," growled Cassidy "come on Butch let's get after them". Butch turned to the gang. "You brats better not get in our way again; we will show no mercy next time" he said. He and Cassidy returned their pokemon and left in their robot. "They're gone" said Ash. "Where'd they go?" said Tomo.

Cassidy and Butch were away in their robot. "I can't believe we actually ran into the brats here" said Cassidy "Well what would you expect they get anywhere" said Butch. Suddenly a phone in the robot went off. It was from Dr Namba and he asked them if they found the Hippowdon. He wanted a Hippowdon to research its sand; what for though was a mystery. Cassidy explained that they found the Hippowdons and were chasing them now. "Do not fail me!" shouted Dr Namba, and the phone call ended. "I really don't understand that old man sometimes," said Cassidy "I mean what's so special about a Hippowdon's sand?" "Ah when that guy has something on his mind, who knows what he's thinking" said Butch. The duo just continued with searching for the Hippowdon again.

Meanwhile the gang had got over their surprise. "So those two are other members of Team Rocket?" Dawn asked. "Giovanni has hundreds of people working for him," answered Ash, who remembered them "I wonder what they are doing here in Sinnoh anyway?" "I don't know but we need to find the Hippowdons before Cassidy and Butch do," said Brock "who knows what they will do to them". "Yes but how shall we find them?" asked Tomo "the Hippowdons dug into the sand and this desert is full of it". "Gligar can help us with this;" said Brock "Gligar can use her soundwaves to help us find the Hippowdons". "Good idea, Gligar can you try to locate the Hippowdons for us please?" said Ash. Gligar was eager to please Ash and she took off into the sky and used her sound waves to try and locate the Hippowdons. "I hope Gligar can find them" said Dawn. After Dawn said that, Gligar started crying out in excitement. "You found them Gligar?" asked Ash. Gligar nodded yes. "That's great, thank you" said Ash. Gligar was happy to have done a good job and she flew into Ash to hug him. This was her way for affection to him. Ash got Gligar off him and everyone ran off to find the Hippowdons.

Luckily the gang did find the Hippowdons and they were happy to see they were okay. But then Cassidy and Butch came again in their robot. "Let's stop them!" shouted Ash. He called out his Zangoose, Staravia and Chimchar to help Pikachu, Gligar and Hippopotas. Dawn sent out Piplup, Wormadam, Ariados, Pachirisu, Clefairy and Drifloon to help. Brock called out his Sudowoodo, Probopass, Croagunk, Happiny and Nuzleaf. Tomo sent out Electivire, Chimchar, Shellos, Growlithe, Sceptile and Tauros to battle. "Everyone protect the Hippowdons!" shouted Dawn. Cassidy and Butch noticed the pokemon and sent out all of their pokemon to fight back. "The pokemon can distract the brats while we get the Hippowdons" suggested Butch. "Great idea" said Cassidy. The battle was on.

While the pokemon were fighting, Cassidy and Butch proceeded of capturing the Hippowdons with their robot. They fired rockets at them to weaken them first. Ash's Hippopotas noticed this and he ran towards the robot to stop it. "Look Cass," said Butch "that Hippopotas is coming towards us". Cassidy smirked. "That puny thing couldn't do any harm to us," she chuckled "we are lot stronger than it". As soon as Hippopotas got close to the robot, Cassidy used the robot's arm to knock it away. The gang noticed what was happening and Ash became worried for Hippopotas. Hippopotas was shaken from that, but he wasn't willing to give up and let Team Rocket take the Hippowdons. "Ha give up you little pipsqueak," laughed Butch "you don't stand a chance against our robot". Despite Hippopotas was small, he wouldn't let Butch's words make him quit. Hippopotas roared and then he glowed and evolved into Hippowdon. Cassidy and Butch were in trouble now. Hippowdon charged towards the robot and tackled it really hard. "Look at Hippowdon go," said Brock "we must help him at once". The others agreed and they commanded their pokemon to attack. Together they all defeated Team Rocket's Raticate, Houndour, Sableye, Tentacruel, Granbull Charizard, Primeape, Hitmontop, Mightyena, Cloyster, Shuckle and Aggron. Ash's Hippowdon and the wild Hippowdons, who saw everything, charged at the robot together. Cassidy and Butch were in trouble now. "Hippowdon use your hyper beam attack" said Ash, who just found out on the pokedex that his Hippowdon knew hyper beam now. Ash's Hippowdon got ready to use hyper beam and so did the wild Hippowdons. Cassidy and Butch tried to get away with their pokemon, but it was too late. The hyper beams attack hit the robot and sent Team Rocket and their pokemon flying.

The gang was happy that Cassidy and Butch were gone. The wild Hippowdons were grateful to the gang for helping them. "What a day," said Ash "and I hope we don't see Cassidy and Butch again". "Me too" said Brock. To the gang having Jessie, James and Meowth around was bad enough. So with the trouble over, the gang spent some more time watching the wild Hippowdons before they could leave.

All the while, Cassidy and Butch decided to just find a Hippopotas so Dr. Namba could just evolve it for the research; that was more of an easy solution than getting a Hippowdon. Then get back to Kanto at once.

Today the gang had finally made it to Veilstone City and they looked at it from a hill. "What a beautiful city" said Dawn, admiring the view. "And here is where badge number three is" said Tomo. "After the gym I can get my third frontier plaque because the next battle facility is outside Veilstone City" said Ash. "Well this is certainly to be fun isn't it?" said Brock.

Suddenly something blue flew straight in front of the gang. "What was that?!" gasped Dawn. "That was an aura sphere attack" said Ash. Ash's Lucario, who was with the gang, wanted to know where that came from and took off. "Let's follow Lucario, hurry" said Ash.

Following Lucario led the gang to a big field, and there was a girl having a fight with a Lucario. Lucario was firing aura spheres and the girl as deflecting them with her feet. "That Lucario must belong to that girl and they're training each other," said Brock "we saw trainers fight with their own pokemon, especially fighting type, to train before". Ash watched the Lucario. "That Lucario feels cross and upset" he said. "Why would it be cross and upset?" asked Tomo.

Before Tomo's question could be answered, a thunderbolt nearly hit the gang. It was from an Electabuzz. Piplup was cross with the Electabuzz and charged at it. Electabuzz knocked Piplup back and into Pikachu. That made both of them mad, but before they did anything Ash's Lucario  

grabbed them to make them stop. "Enough you two!" Ash said, angrily, at Pikachu and Piplup. Pikachu and Piplup apologized. The girl and her Lucario noticed the gang and asked them what was going on. "Don't worry miss," said Ash "this Electabuzz was about to give us trouble but we have stopped it".

Just then a young man came up. "I thought you were up to something Electabuzz" he said. Electabuzz did its best to look innocent. "Hang on a minute," said Ash "that's Paul's Electabuzz". "Oh do you know Paul?" asked the man. "Yes he's become a rival of mine, but not a friendly one" said Ash. "Sorry, my brother is always like that with rivals" said the man. The man introduced himself as Reggie and Paul was his younger brother. Reggie was also a pokemon breeder and Paul always left his pokemon with him to look after and train. The gang introduced themselves and Ash and Tomo explained they were here to battle the gym. "Well how about that," said Reggie "you've got two challengers today Maylene". Reggie explained the girl was Maylene, the gym leader of the Veilstone gym. As Maylene had a Lucario, it was clear she used fighting type pokemon. Hearing made Ash and Tomo say to her they wanted to battle for the gym badge. "I'm sorry, but can you go to another gym?" said Maylene. Her Lucario got cross when she said that and he was about to fire another aura sphere, but Ash's Lucario stopped it from doing so. "What do you mean go to another gym?" asked Ash "Tomo and I want to battle you".

Maylene was just about to answer, but three men with black belts turned up. They were Maylene's gym assistances and her students. "I'm not going back to the gym!" argued Maylene. "Stop," said one of them "that is unacceptable. A gym leader does not act in this manner in front of other trainers". Ash was confused and he asked Reggie what was going on. Reggie explained that Maylene was a tough battler and she became the gym leader just six months ago. Maylene tried to tell them that she didn't want to become a gym leader anymore, but of course her Lucario didn't accept this. Reggie stepped forward and asked her if it was because what Paul said to her. "Paul was here and he battled Maylene?" asked Ash.

Reggie explained the whole story. The story was Paul did battle Maylene for the gym badge. Her gym specializes in fighting type pokemon. By this time Paul had evolved his Murkrow into a Honchkrow and he had captured a Magmar. That of course was to replace Chimchar after he abandoned it. Because Honchkrow was a flying type pokemon it easily defeated two of Maylene's fighting type pokemon. Then Magmar easily defeated Lucario because Lucario was part steel type as well as fighting.

"It was totally out of sync with Lucario and my other pokemon," finished Maylene "it wasn't even like a gym battle against a gym leader. I can hardly blame the challenger of what he said to me". "What did Paul say?" asked Ash. He felt that Paul must have said something very mean to her and he was right. Paul said Maylene was the weakest gym leader he had ever met and the badge was light weight like she was. Those words of course made Maylene upset and her spirits crushed. Dawn felt sorry for Maylene and understood how she felt because of her two contest losses. Reggie tried to apologize to Maylene for what Paul said, but Maylene believed she was weak and started to run off. Her Lucario wanted to follow, but Maylene shouted at it to stay away.

"What should we do Ash?" asked Tomo. It was clear as crystal that Maylene wasn't going to accept his or Ash's challenge. "We stay here;" said Ash "I want to battle Maylene and I'm not going anywhere till I get my gym badge from her". "Yeah me neither" agreed Tomo. Maylene's Lucario was happy to hear that; it wanted Maylene to battle them. Reggie wanted to go and console Maylene, but Dawn stopped him. "Let me talk to Maylene" she said. As Dawn understood what Maylene was going through, she felt it was better she spoke to Maylene. Dawn asked Maylene's Lucario to lead the way and off they went. Ash's Lucario decided to follow too.

Dawn and the two Lucarios came to a stream where Maylene was meditating. "What do you want?" Maylene asked Dawn, when she saw her. Dawn sat down next to Maylene. "I understand how you are feeling because I feel the same with myself too," said Dawn "you see I lost the first round of pokemon contests two times in a row, so I'm taking a break now. Even though I tell everyone I need recharging I feel that I'm not cut out for contests. Ash has won three contest ribbons already and I'm way behind him now". "Ash is doing pokemon contests too?" asked Maylene. "Yes and he is a very good coordinator too; a whole lot better than I am" answered Dawn. Maylene sighed. "To tell the truth when I start to consider that winning or losing in a gym battle can change a challenger's life it kind of scares me. I can't seem to concentrate like I used to". Maylene's Lucario was about to get angry again, but Ash's Lucario stopped it. 'Listen to what she has to say' he said in his language. Ash had taught him to be patient and to listen what others have to say more. Maylene's Lucario backed off. "I can't continue to be a gym leader like this," continued Maylene "not after what Reggie's younger brother said to me". "Ignore what Paul said," said Dawn "he's just a rude guy to says rude things to anyone; he's always rude to Ash too, but Ash doesn't let him get him down and neither should you". "Gym battles used to be fun whether I won or lost," said Maylene "but now I don't feel like that anymore". "I know that fact;" said Dawn "after losing twice I don't know what to do anymore. And I also feel I'm dragging Ash, Tomo and Brock into my problems". "I feel I'm just causing trouble for Lucario and my students" said Maylene.

It was then Ash's Lucario used metal claw to slice a rock in half. "Hey what are you doing Lucario?" asked Dawn. Lucario turned to Maylene's Lucario and beckoned it to come at him. "I think that Lucario wants my Lucario to battle it" said Maylene. "You can tell that's Ash's Lucario;" chuckled Dawn "it has a real fighting spirit like Ash does". Maylene's Lucario fired an aura sphere, but Ash's Lucario countered it with his own. Then he moved in with blaze kick. "Wow it knows blaze kick?" asked Maylene. It was clear that her Lucario didn't. Maylene's Lucario dodged before Ash's Lucario could kick it. Then the two Lucarios pushed each other back with force palm. Ash's Lucario was happy to be fighting a tough opponent, and Maylene's Lucario was happy to be having a battle even if it wasn't a gym battle. "It's obvious your Lucario wants to battle," said Dawn "but it's clear from its anger that it wants to fight alongside you". Maylene was still uneasy about that.

Suddenly Dawn had an idea. "I know you and I can have a battle Maylene?" she said. Dawn suggested that since her and Maylene had loss their confidence because of what they went through; Dawn thought the battle could help them both raise their spirits. At first Maylene wasn't sure, but her Lucario was very keen on the idea so Maylene agreed to.

Back with the others; the boys were talking to Reggie in his house. Ash had his Chimchar out of his pokeball. Reggie recognized it at once and remembered it was Paul's before. Ash explained to Reggie about Paul abandoning Chimchar. "I take it you've seen Paul's intense training and battles Ash?" asked Reggie. "We have seen everything" replied Ash. He couldn't believe that Reggie and Paul were brothers; Reggie was a lot nice than Paul was. "With what Paul said to Maylene it's no wonder she feels down and doesn't want to battle us;" said Ash "any gym leader would feel that if somebody called them weak. Mind you Misty, Lt Surge, Janine and Chuck wouldn't get upset; they would beat the rude person up, especially Misty". "I agree with that one" said Brock. Tomo agreed too. "I heard from Paul that you've battled the gyms and leagues in Kanto, Johto and Hoenn Ash" said Reggie. "That's right and now I'm doing it in Sinnoh" said Ash. "Hey Ash," said Reggie "you can have a battle with me. I know I'm no substitute for the gym, but I would like to see how Paul's rival fights". Ash agreed and suggested on a three on three pokemon battle, like he did with Paul when they first battled.

Brock noticed a line of picture frames on the mantelpiece, with badges in them. They were Reggie's; Reggie used to be a trainer in the past, battling gym leaders and collecting badges.

Just as Ash and Reggie were going to battle, Dawn, Maylene and the two Lucarios turned up. Ash's Lucario went to join Ash's side. Brock and Tomo watched on the sides with Dawn and Maylene.

Reggie sent out a Bibarel to battle first and Ash sent out his Turtwig to battle. Turtwig started off by using bullet seed, but Bibarel dodged and used secret power. Because they were battling on grass, Turtwig fell asleep when Bibarel hit him with secret power. "Oh no Turtwig wake up" said Ash. Bibarel attacked Turtwig with take down, while he was asleep, and then Turtwig woke up. Reggie was surprised that Turtwig woke up already and ordered Bibarel to use super fang. Turtwig dodged it and then used razor leaf. As Bibarel was part water type, razor leaf was super effective on it. Ash then ordered Turtwig to use energy ball. Bibarel tried to attack with ice beam, but Turtwig dodged the ice type attack and proceeded to use energy ball. The attack scored another super effective move and Bibarel was defeated, making Ash the winner of the first match.

Maylene was impressed with Ash's Turtwig. Dawn explained to her that Ash had been a trainer for five years now and was a strong trainer too. She also explained that Ash had other grass pokemon that had taught Turtwig a few new things. Maylene thought that was nice.

Reggie returned Bibarel and sent out a Swalot next. Knowing Swalot was a poison type pokemon, Ash returned Turtwig and sent out his Zangoose to battle. Zangoose started off with slash and Swalot got hit by it. "Swalot use stockpile" said Reggie. Swalot took a big gulp of air and made its body larger. "We need to watch out with this move Zangoose" said Ash. "I bet Swalot is going to use spit up next" said Tomo. "You know that move?" asked Maylene. "Yep some of my pokemon know stockpile, spit up and swallow" answered Tomo. Ash ordered Zangoose to use crush claw next. Swalot got hit by it but could still fight on and it used stock pile again. Before Ash could give Zangoose another command, Swalot used spit up and Zangoose got hit by the beam of light. Zangoose was hurt but he could still continue to battle. Ash ordered him to use crush claw, but Swalot used sludge bomb and Zangoose got hit by it and fainted. Reggie was the winner of the second round, so he and Ash were down to one pokemon each.

Reggie returned Swalot and sent out a Staraptor next.

Ash looked at Starpator on his pokedex: Starpator, the predator pokemon. The evolved form of Staravia. It has a savage nature. It will courageously challenge foes that are much larger.

Ash sent out Pikachu to battle Staraptor. Pikachu started off with thunderbolt, but Staraptor dodged it and used brave bird. Pikachu tried to dodge it, but Staraptor hit him good with brave bird. "What a move" said Dawn. Brock explained about brave bird being a very strong flying type move, but he also told her that whoever used it took damage too. Reggie ordered Staraptor to use steel wing next. "Use your tail Pikachu" said Ash. Pikachu used his tail like a spring board to jump high and dodge Staraptor's attack. "Now Pikachu volt tackle" said Ash. While still in the air, Pikachu charged with volt tackle. Staraptor tried to counter attack with wing attack, but Pikachu knocked Staraptor out. So Ash was the winner of the battle.

Maylene was impressed by Ash's battling style; she didn't her eyes off not even for a minute. Reggie returned Staraptor. "I can't remember the last time I ever had an exciting battle like this thank you" he said to Ash. "No, thank you for this battle Reggie" said Ash. He was happy that Reggie didn't battle anything like Paul. Reggie turned to Maylene. "So Maylene," he said "would you like to battle Ash now?" Before Maylene could answer, Dawn stood up and announced she was going to battle Maylene first.

That surprised the gang; especially since this was the first time Dawn was going to try out at a gym.

So instead of Ash and Tomo getting ready to battle Maylene, it was Dawn getting ready to battle her. Maylene had asked for the gym battle to happen tomorrow so she could get herself ready too. She had decided to use Piplup, Drifloon and Ambipom. Her pokemon were doing some training right now.

Piplup was going through his moves. Over the months he had learnt fury attack, brine, ice beam, rain dance, protect, head-butt and aerial ace. So he had grown ever since the journey began. Ambipom was ready to go because she had a lot of battling experience because of her time with Ash. Drifloon was training with Tomo's Drifloon; they had trained together ever since Tomo and Dawn caught them. They both knew the moves constrict, minimize, astonish, gust, payback, focus energy, stock pile, spit up, swallow, shadow ball, psychic, silver wind and air cutter.

Ash and Tomo were sorting out which pokemon to use too. Ash had decided to use Staravia, Buizel and Lucario. Lucario wanted to battle Maylene's Lucario and Ash agreed to let him. Tomo decided on using Farfetch'd, Pidgeotto and Xatu. Ash had his Swellow with them to give them flying exercises. "I have to say Ash your Swellow looks magnificent," said Reggie "in fact all of them do". "Well our older pokemon help our new pokemon train at Prof Oak's lab" explained Ash. "Say Ash," said Reggie "because of my Staraptor's brave bird move. Are you interested of having Staravia learning that move?" "Staravia already knows that move;" said Ash "my Swellow knows that move and taught it to Staravia". "My Pidgeotto knows it too" said Tomo. Ash asked his Swellow and Staravia and Tomo's Pidgeotto to show their brave bird attacks and the three pokemon performed them perfectly. Reggie was impressed. "You guys have magnificent pokemon" he said; he really was different than Paul.

Dawn saw it too and told her pokemon they needed to get their spirits up too. Reggie noticed Dawn with her pokemon. "What's the story with Dawn?" he asked the boys "she doesn't seem the type to me to do gym battles as well as contests". "You're right she isn't;" said Brock "but I think she's doing this to help Maylene regain her confidence". "I also reckon she's doing it because Maylene is feeling down the same way Dawn is now" said Ash. He explained to Reggie about Dawn's contest losses. "Oh I see," said Reggie "well then let's up this gym battle between Dawn and Maylene will help both of them get their confidence back".

At the time Maylene and Lucario were meditating in the gym. The Veilstone Gym was one of those ancient Japanese houses with lots of corridors and doors that slide and there were three big buildings. One building was the gym, another building was the training area and the last was storage area. The three students from earlier were watching her; they were anxious about her gym battle tomorrow. Maylene promised Lucario and the students she would fight seriously in the gym battle between her and Dawn tomorrow. The students were happy to hear that and so was Lucario. Maylene asked one of the students, whose name was Connally, to be her referee for the match and he agreed.

That night before the gang went to bed, Dawn was thinking about her gym battle tomorrow. As this was to be her first, she was starting to feel the first time jitters. "How do you feel about tomorrow Dawn?" asked Ash. "Well I am starting to feel the nerves" answered Dawn. "I understand because I got a bit of the nerves when I first started challenging gyms," said Ash "and even now my heart ponds when I'm about to have a gym battle". "My heart has started to pound too ever since I started doing the gyms" said Tomo. Brock explained to the others that even gym leaders feel nervous then they start being a gym leader. "Were you nervous when you first became the Pewter gym leader Brock?" asked Ash. "Oh yes," said Brock "a gym leader's big priority is to bring out the very best in their pokemon. When I first started I feared that I wouldn't even be half as good as my father was when he was the gym leader. But I got to meet and battle lots of different trainers and I learnt that even great gym leaders get shaped up by the challengers through all the gym battles". "Well then," said Ash "let's hope that the battle tomorrow will bring Maylene's level up a bit". The others hoped so too.

The next day the gang made it to the Veilstone Gym. Dawn shouted out she was ready to challenge the leader and they entered the gym. Connally and Maylene were there waiting for them and Reggie was also there to watch the match. Dawn took her place on the battle field and the boys sat on the side with Reggie. Connally explained the gym battle was a 3 on 3 pokemon battle. Maylene sent out a Meditite to battle first.

Dawn looked at it on her pokedex: Meditite, the meditate pokemon. It always trains deep in mountains. It levitates when it heightens its spiritual power through meditation.

"Now let's see what Dawn will choose" said Reggie. But when they looked at her, she was feeling jittery again. 'Oh wow,' thought Dawn 'this feels so different than when I'm watching Ash and Tomo on the sides. I don't know if I can really do this'. Ash stood up. "Dawn you show Maylene what you can do," he said "and Maylene show us your strength as a gym leader". Hearing what Ash said gave Dawn back her confidence for this and sent out Drifloon first. Reggie pointed out that Meditite's fighting type moves won't do anything on Drifloon as it's a ghost type pokemon, so Drifloon was a good choice for Dawn.

Dawn started the battle by telling Drifloon shadow ball. "Detect" Maylene said to Meditite. Meditite's eyes glowed green and it easily dodged the shadow ball attack. Detect was a move that help users dodge the opponent's attacks. Maylene knew her Meditite's fighting type moves wouldn't work so she ordered Meditite to use confusion. When she told it to do that she moved her arms about and so did Meditite. Reggie explained Maylene mirrors her pokemon's moves as she is a warrior herself, and it makes her-self feel stronger. She also becomes one with her pokemon when they battle. Meditite moved Drifloon up and down and sideways with confusion. "Don't give up Drifloon, use gust" said Dawn. Drifloon sent out a gust attack from its body and Meditite was blown back. "Good move but we aren't done yet, use thunder punch" said Maylene. Meditite jumped in and punched Drifloon with thunder punch. "That's not good," said Ash "Drifloon is weak to electric types attack. Maylene must have had Meditite learn thunder punch to fight flying type moves". "Yes she used that against Paul too even though his Honchkrow defeated it quickly," said Reggie "and it also knows fire and ice punch too". The boys knew that could be trouble for Dawn. "Don't give up Drifloon, use air cutter" said Dawn. Drifloon released an air cutter attack, but Meditite used detect and Meditite dodged the attack. Maylene ordered Meditite to use thunder punch again and Drifloon got hit by it before he could even do anything. Drifloon couldn't take anymore after that electric type move and fainted. So Maylene was the winner of the first battle round.

Dawn returned Drifloon and sent out Ambipom next. She ordered her to use swift and the stars hit Meditite at once. "Meditite drain punch" said Maylene. Meditite moved in to use drain punch, but Ambipom blocked it with one of her big hands. Then she hit Meditite hard with double hit, causing it to faint and making Dawn the winner of this round.

Maylene returned Meditite. "You approach a battle like a contest" she said to Dawn. "You're right and I'm having a lot of fun doing it" said Dawn. Maylene turned to her Lucario. "You ready to go?" she asked it. Lucario was ready and it walked onto the battle field at once. "Lucario looks different than it was yesterday" said Tomo. "The bond between those two is strong," said Reggie "Lucario must be sensing the confidence building up in Maylene". 'Father I sense that she does have her battling spirit back' said Lucario. 'I do too Lucario,' said Ash 'pay close attention to how her Lucario battles'. 'Yes father' said Lucario.

Dawn started off by telling Ambipom to use aerial ace, but Lucario used bone rush to block her attack. Then Lucario hit her hard with the big bone. Poor Ambipom got thrown back and fainted.

So Dawn was down to her final pokemon while Maylene still had two. "Wow," said Tomo "Maylene's Lucario is strong alright". "When Maylene and Lucario work together perfectly in sync, they can be hard to beat," said Reggie "Dawn has definitely reawakened Maylene's passion for battling and lit up her fighting spirit". Ash also felt that Dawn's fighting spirit was lighting up too. Dawn sent out Piplup.

Piplup started off with bubble beam, but Lucario dodged it and used aura sphere. Piplup did get hit by the aura sphere attack, be we wasn't beaten yet. Piplup used whirl pool next and Lucario became trapped by the whirl pool. "Alright Piplup, time to use peck" said Dawn. Piplup jumped onto the whirlpool and slid down it, ready to peck Lucario. "Lucario metal claw" said Maylene. Lucario broke the whirl pool attack with metal claw. "Dawn and Maylene are looking pretty good out there" said Brock. Reggie was impressed with how this battle was going, especially with Dawn using contest skills. Dawn ordered Piplup to use bubble beam, but Lucario dodged it and hit Piplup with force palm. Piplup was hit, but he wasn't down yet. Maylene ordered Lucario to use aura sphere, but Piplup used aerial ace to charge through the aura sphere and hit Lucario. This made Dawn wonder if she and Piplup could win this battle. Maylene was having fun and feeling good from this battle. Reggie was wondering if Paul would still have beaten Maylene, if she was in the condition she was in now when they battled. Maylene ordered Lucario to use aura sphere again and Dawn ordered Piplup to use bubble beam. The aura sphere and bubble beam created a little smokescreen and Piplup charged into the smoke to use peck. But Lucario had dodged thanks to the help of smokescreen and it hit Piplup hard with force palm. Poor Piplup couldn't take any more and fainted. So Maylene was the winner of the match.

Connally cried tears of happiness for Maylene's victory. Lucario thanked her Lucario for all its hard work. Dawn went over to Piplup to see if he was okay. Ash walked over to Dawn. "That was very good for your first gym battle Dawn" said Ash. Brock and Tomo agreed. "I have to admit it was fun even though I lost" said Dawn. Ash could feel that Dawn had regained her fighting spirit and confidence from this match. Maylene walked over to Dawn. "I can't thank you enough Dawn," she said "I forgot all about my fears and winning or losing. And I realised of how much fun it was". "Wait till you battle Ash and Tomo," said Dawn "they'll make it more exciting than our battle, especially Ash". "That's right," said Maylene "so who will I battle first?" "It's Tomo," said Ash "it's his turn to battle a gym leader first and then it's me". Maylene understood.

Thanks to Dawn having a battle with her, Maylene agreed to continue being the Veilstone Gym leader, now that her confidence and fighting ability was back, and she couldn't wait to battle Ash and Tomo.

Chapter 128

Tomo's gym battle 3

And Ash's gym battle 3

So with Maylene getting her confidence back thanks to Dawn she was ready to battle Tomo and Ash. Tomo was up first and Ash was sitting at the sides with Pikachu, Growlithe, Lucario, Dawn and Brock. Dawn was in her cheerleading outfit to cheer for Tomo and Maylene. She had Piplup, Buneary, Pachirisu, Ambipom, Smoochum and Clefairy with her and they were dressed in cheerleading outfits and held pom-poms too. The rules for the gym battle was the same as yesterday's battle; a three on three pokemon battle.

Maylene sent out a Machoke to battle first. Tomo sent out his Xatu to battle first. "As Xatu is part psychic as well as flying, it has an advantage over fighting type" said Ash. "Let's see what Maylene will do with this" said Brock. Tomo started off by telling Xatu to use peck, but Machoke used brick break to defend itself against Xatu's peck attack. (Maylene still copies her pokemon's movements when they do moves) "Xatu use psychic on Machoke" said Tomo. Xatu's eyes glowed blue and then she lifted Machoke into the air and dropped Machoke onto the ground again. "Oh no Machoke" said Maylene. Machoke was still all right to battle. "Good Machoke, now use seismic toss". Before Machoke could grab onto Xatu to use seismic toss, Tomo ordered Xatu to use quick attack to get away. "Now Xatu show Machoke your drill peck attack" said Tomo. Xatu pecked Machoke really hard with her beak and Machoke fainted, giving Tomo the first win.

Maylene returned Machoke and thanked it. "Well I have to say Tomo you are a pretty good challenger" she said. Tomo smiled with pride. Maylene sent out Meditite next. "Tomo better watch out for that Meditite" said Dawn, remembering her challenge with Meditite. "Xatu is part psychic type too, so Meditite's psychic moves won't do that much," said Brock "but then again its thunder punch will do a lot".

Tomo started off by telling Xatu to use aerial ace, but Meditite used detect to dodge it. Then Meditite used meditate to power up its attack power. "Careful Tomo," said Ash "remember meditate increase a pokemon's attack power". "I haven't forgotten big brother" said Tomo. Ash and Tomo remembered seeing the move meditate before in Hoenn when they saw Grace's Medicham use it. Tomo ordered Xatu to use drill peck. "Now Meditite use thunder punch" said Maylene. Meditite punched Xatu hard with thunder punch. Thanks to the move meditate; Meditite's thunder punch was stronger than normal. "Xatu are you okay?" asked Tomo. Unfortunately Xatu fainted from the electric type move, giving Maylene the win this time.

"Oh man with Meditite knowing thunder punch, Tomo is going to have trouble since he is just using flying type pokemon in this battle" said Dawn. "No need to worry Dawn," said Ash "Tomo and I have had our flying type pokemon practice with fighting against electric type pokemon".

Tomo returned Xatu and sent out Farfetch'd next. "Farfetch'd use sword dance" he said. Farfetch'd used sword dance to power up his attacks. "Hey doesn't sword dance power up a pokemon's moves?" asked Dawn "I remember Ash using it one time". "Correct, so whatever move Farfetch'd uses, its attacks will be stronger than normal". Tomo ordered Farfetch'd to use air slash, but Maylene had Meditite use detect to dodge it. "Use aerial ace" said Tomo. "Use thunder punch Meditite" said Maylene. Farfetch'd and Meditite charged at each other with their attacks. "You can do it Farfetch'd!" shouted Tomo. With one big effort, Farfetch'd pushed Meditite back. "Now use air slash". Farfetch'd attacked Meditite with air slash, before Meditite had the chance to do anything. "Meditite use confusion" said Maylene. Meditite held Farfetch'd in his place with confusion. "Oh no" said Dawn, worriedly. Tomo wasn't put off though. "Use swift Farfetch'd" he said. Farfetch'd fired swift and the stars hit Meditite. "Wow" said Dawn. Ash explained that he had been in situations like this before and knew exactly what to do with them, and of course Tomo ended up learning from them too. "Now finish with aerial ace" Tomo said to Farfetch'd. Farfetch'd tackled Meditite hard with aerial ace and Meditite fainted, giving Tomo another win.

"Now Tomo has one more battle to win," said Dawn "but Maylene's last pokemon will be Lucario". "Yes that will be hard," said Brock "but Tomo still has two pokemon left". Maylene returned her Meditite and she sent out her Lucario. "You're up Lucario" she said. Farfetch'd was still alright to fight.

Tomo started off by telling Farfetch'd to use aerial ace, but Lucario countered it with metal claw and Farfetch'd was thrown back. Tomo was surprised with how strong Maylene's Lucario was. "Okay Farfetch'd let's use air slash" he said. Farfetch'd let out an air slash attack, but Lucario dodged it and hit Farfetch'd with aura sphere. "Oh no Farfetch'd!" cried Tomo. Farfetch'd panted from the attack and fainted.

So now Tomo was down to one final pokemon and he sent out Pidgeotto. "I do hope Pidgeotto will be able to handle this;" said Dawn "I know it's a flying type pokemon. But with how Lucario is strong, it may have trouble". Ash and Brock just kept quiet to see what would happen. Tomo started off with Pidgeotto using gust. "Lucario use aura sphere" said Maylene. Lucario fired an aura sphere attack and it hit Pidgeotto, making it stop using gust. "Now metal claw" said Maylene. "Dodge it with agility" Tomo said to Pidgeotto. Pidgeotto quickly got out of the way before Lucario could hit him. "Time to use heat wave" said Tomo. Pidgeotto fired a heat wave attack from his wings and Lucario got hit by the flames. "Pidgeotto knows a fire type move?" asked Dawn. "Yep," answered Ash "most of my flying type pokemon know heat wave too; a perfect thing to go against ice and steel type pokemon". "Nice" said Dawn. Maylene was impressed, but she wasn't beaten yet and neither was her Lucario. "Lucario let's use dark pulse" said Maylene. Lucario fired a dark pulse attack from its paws. "Use protect Pidgeotto" said Tomo. Pidgeotto protected himself from Lucario's dark pulse attack. "I would say that it's time to use brave bird Pidgeotto" said Tomo. Pidgeotto charged at Lucario with brave bird. Lucario was hurt badly by the attack and Pidgeotto lost energy too from using the attack. "Tomo needs to be careful now;" said Brock "Pidgeotto might lose this battle if it takes any more direct hits". "Yeah, but Maylene's Lucario isn't in good condition either" Ash pointed out. It was true; both Lucario and Pidgeotto were starting to get tired out. "Pidgeotto let's use aerial ace" said Tomo. "Counter it with force palm Lucario" said Maylene. Pidgeotto and Lucario collided with each with their attacks. After the dust cleared, Lucario and Pidgeotto stared at each other for a moment and then they both fainted. The battle was a tie.

"That was a great battle" said Dawn. "Wait till you see me battle Maylene" said Ash. He turned to his Lucario. 'You see what we are up against?' he asked, through telepathy. 'Yes father,' said Lucario, in telepathy, 'and I look forward to battling her Lucario'. Tomo thanked Pidgeotto and Maylene thanked Lucario. "You gave me a very fun battle Tomo," said Maylene "thank you". "I thank you for a fun battle too" smiled Tomo. "So as it's a tie, what happens to the badge?" asked Dawn. "That depends on the gym leader" answered Connally. Maylene thought for a second. "Tomo deserves the badge;" she decided "he and his pokemon gave me a fun battle and they worked hard together". Maylene's Lucario agreed. So Maylene presented the gym badge called the Cobble badge. The Cobble badge was diamond shaped with four orange-brown rectangles in the middle which made it look like a tatami mat. Tomo was happy to have earned his third gym badge.

With having battling Tomo now over, Maylene had a battle with Ash to look forward too.

Later on that day, after Maylene had her pokemon all healed up, it was time for Ash to battle Maylene. So Tomo sat on the sides with the others. Dawn was still dressed in her cheer leading outfit with her pokemon. Both Pikachu and Lucario were standing by Ash's side.

Ash sent out Staravia first to battle and Maylene sent out Machoke first. "Staravia let's use aerial ace" said Ash. Staravia charged towards Machoke, but Machoke used brick break to counter the attack. Then Machoke attacked Staravia back with brick break. "Get away with quick attack Staravia" said Ash. Thanks to the speed of quick attack, Staravia managed to get away from Machoke. "Staravia time to use air cutter" said Ash. Staravia released an air cutter attack from his wings and Machoke got hit by the blades. "Now finish it with aerial ace". Staravia charged at and tackled Machoke with aerial ace and it fainted, giving Ash the first win.

Maylene returned Machoke. "Wow Ash, your Staravia is good" she said. "Well it got a lot of lessons from my Pidgeot, Noctowl and Swellow" smiled Ash. Maylene sent out Meditite next. Ash returned Staravia and sent out Buizel. "I take it Ash is saving Staravia for later on?" Dawn asked Brock. "Correct, remember after Meditite it will be Lucario then" said Brock.

Buizel started off with water gun, but Meditite dodge it with detect and then used meditate to power up its attack power. "If this is the case then Buizel use bulk up" said Ash. Buizel flexed his arms to power up his attack power. "Buizel knows bulk up?" said Dawn. "You won't believe this," said Tomo "but Buizel had been having fighting matches with all the fighting type pokemon back at Prof Oak's lab. And he had been learning ice punch, focus punch, bulk up and brick break from them". "With how Buizel likes to fight, I'll believe anything" sighed Dawn. "Meditite thunder punch" said Maylene. "Counter it with ice punch Buizel" said Ash. Buizel and Meditite hit each other's fists with their attacks then they bounced back. Maylene was impressed with Buizel's strength. "Alright Buizel, spin and use aqua jet" said Ash. Buizel spun around fast while using aqua jet; this made his aqua jet move quicker than normal and it hit Meditite before Meditite could do anything. "Wow that's a move I was working on with Buizel when he was my pokemon" said Dawn. It was clear to her that Buizel was better with training with Ash than with her. "Okay Buizel let's finish this off with brine" said Ash. Buizel released a powerful stream of water from his mouth. "Quick use detect" said Maylene. Meditite used detect to dodge the attack. "Use brine again" said Ash, and Buizel did. Meditite tried to use detect again but it didn't work this time and Meditite got hit by the brine attack. Meditite also got thrown back towards the wall from the brine attack and fainted.

"Ash only has Lucario to beat now," said Brock "but this won't turn out to be easy". Maylene returned her Meditite and sent out Lucario. Buizel still had a lot of energy left, so he was kept out. "Buizel water gun" said Ash. Buizel released his water gun attack. "Lucario metal claw" said Maylene. Lucario used metal claw to break the water gun apart. "Wow look at that!" gasped Tomo. "That Lucario is no push over" said Brock. "Lucario aura sphere" said Maylene. "Counter that with water pulse" said Ash. Buizel released a ball of water from his paws while Lucario released an aura sphere attack. "I reckon Buizel learnt that from Ash's other water pokemon right?" Brock asked Tomo. "Yep" answered Tomo. The two attacks collided, created a mist of steam. Then Lucario ran swiftly towards Buizel and hit him with force palm. Lucario was okay, but the bad news was he became paralyzed from the attack. "Oh no," said Ash "Buizel try to use water pulse". Buizel did try, but he couldn't do it because of the paralysis. This gave Lucario the chance to hit Buizel with aura sphere. Poor Buizel fainted from the aura sphere attack, giving Maylene the win.

"Lucario sure means business" said Tomo. "That proves of how strong Maylene and Lucario are when they fight together" said Brock. Ash returned Buizel and sent out Staravia next. 'I'll use you last Lucario' he said to his Lucario, through telepathy. 'I understand Father' replied Lucario, through telepathy. "Staravia let's go with aerial ace" said Ash. Staravia charged at Lucario with aerial ace. "Block it with metal claw" said Maylene. Lucario and Staravia collided at each other with their attacks. "It's time to get serious," said Ash "Staravia time to use brave bird". Staravia charged at Lucario with brave bird. Lucario used metal claw to try and counter it, but it still got thrown back from the attack. Ash knew it would be dangerous for Staravia to use brave bird again, so he ordered it to use wing attack. "Lucario metal claw" said Maylene. Lucario striked Staravia with metal claw before Staravia had the chance to attack Lucario. "Now Lucario force palm" said Maylene. Lucario punched Staravia hard with force palm and Staravia fainted. So now Ash was down to one final pokemon.

Ash returned Staravia and Lucario moved onto the battle field. 'I've been waiting to battle you' said Ash's Lucario, in his language. 'Same here' said Maylene's Lucario, in its language. "Lucario aura sphere" said Ash. "You use aura sphere too Lucario" said Maylene. The two aura sphere attacks collided with each other and created a small explosion. "Blaze kick Lucario" said Ash. Lucario jumped in to use blaze kick, but Maylene's Lucario defended itself with bone rush. "Use your bone rush Lucario" said Ash. The two Lucarios were soon fighting with their bones like a Bo fight. Eventually there were thrown back at once. 'You are a good fighter' said Maylene's Lucario, in its language. 'You're good yourself' said Ash's Lucario, in his language. "Lucario metal claw" said Maylene. Her Lucario charged to use metal claw, but Ash's Lucario used double team to dodge it. "Lucario use your aura to find out which the real one is" said Maylene. "Use aura sphere" said Ash. Ash's Lucario fired an aura sphere attack before Maylene's Lucario could find him. "Bone rush" said Maylene. Her Lucario used its bone to deflect the aura sphere attack. "Now aura sphere" she said. "Protect" said Ash. His Lucario used protect to protect himself from the attack. "Now blaze kick". Lucario jumped and kicked Maylene's Lucario hard with blaze kick. As blaze kick was a fire type move, it did do quite a lot of damage to Maylene's Lucario. "Now Lucario force palm" said Ash. His Lucario punched Maylene's Lucario hard before it had the time to do anything. Maylene's Lucario couldn't take any more and fainted. Ash was the winner of the gym battle.

Ash ran up to his Lucario and hugged him. "You did it Lucario" said Ash, happily. Lucario was always happy when he made Ash happy. Maylene checked over to see if her Lucario was okay and it was. Maylene's Lucario looked at Ash's Lucario and smiled; it was happy to have battled a strong opponent like Ash's Lucario and of course his other pokemon. The others were happy for Ash and congratulated him. "Ash, Tomo and Dawn," said Maylene "I thank all of you for battling me. All that battling made me remember of how fun battling was whether I lost or won. That's why I will continue as gym leader of this gym". "That's good to hear," said Ash "and Maylene don't let any other rude trainers like Paul get you down nor let anyone's lack of faith affect your faith". "I won't Ash;" said Maylene "I promise you I will not let go of my confidence again". Everyone was happy to hear that, especially Connally. Maylene gave Ash his Cobble badge.

So Ash and Tomo finally got their third gym badges and Maylene got her full confidence of being a gym leader back.

Chapter 129

Meeting Team Galactic

And The Battle Arcade

That night, after defeating Maylene at the gym, Reggie was showing the gang something special about Veilstone City. There was a park at the far right of Veilstone City which held about a dozen meteorites. "Wow meteorites" said Ash, in surprise. "Oh you've seen meteorites before Ash?" asked Reggie. "I have, but not these ones of course" said Ash. He meant the meteorite he saw when they met Deoxys back in Kanto. "These meteorites are what put Veilstone City on the map" said Dawn. Reggie explained that the meteorites had been around since ancient times and had been guardians ever since. He also explained that it was the meteorites' growing fame that caused people from all over the world to see them and that's how Veilstone City was born. The gang was fascinated by that story. "I wouldn't be surprised if these meteorites came from outer space" said Ash. "I agree with that one" smiled Dawn. "These meteorites watch over Veilstone City as guardians" smiled Reggie. The gang were impressed by this.

After Reggie showed the gang the meteorites, the gang rested up at the pokemon center. The two brothers were looking at the Sinnoh badges they had earned so far. "Collecting the gym badges really is fun" said Tomo. "Wait till we get to the Sinnoh League" said Ash. Tomo had come to understand by now of how much his brother liked challenging the gyms and collecting their badges. "Don't forget you two, you still need to earn five more" Brock reminded them. "We know," said Ash "but we'll get them before you know it". Ash had been through this before. Thanks to Nurse Joy the brothers found out they could get their next gym badges at a place called Pastoria City. Dawn was happy for Ash and Tomo to have earned their badges, but she wasn't concentrating yet about contests. She also remembered that Ash only had two more contest ribbons to get. Piplup knew that Dawn hadn't been training for any contests and it made him worry.

Tonight there was trouble. Saturn from Team Galactic had arrived to Veilstone City. What no one knew was Team Galactic had a base in Veilstone City. Saturn was also carrying the cube he stole from the Solaceon Ruins. He walked into the office of the base and spoke to all of the Team Galactic members who worked there. "Attention please," he said "our next target are the meteorites surrounding Veilstone City. If the cube is successful then that event will give us the necessary key that unlocks the mystery of our operations next stage. Then after the plan is completed we will destroy this base and evacuate it. It's vitally important that we leave no sign of our presence here". All the Galactic members understood and got ready for work.

At the park Team Rocket was staring at the meteorites. "Wow look at all these meteorites" said Meowth. "One of these will surely be a liking to the boss" said Jessie. "But how would we just carry one and manage to get away with it?" said James, pointing out the obvious. It was clear that trying to steal just one meteorite would be a bit too difficult for the trio to do.

Before Team Rocket could figure out what to do, the meteorites started to glow and they shot out beams of light into the sky. "What the hell?!" gasped James. Team Rocket weren't the only ones who noticed it; Reggie, Nurse Joy, Maylene and her Lucario and the gang and all the other people of Veilstone City noticed the strange sight too. Soon it stopped. "Can somebody please tell me what happened?" said Meowth.

What had happened was because of Saturn. He took out the cube from the suitcase he was holding and the cube reacted to the meteorites. Then it reformed itself like a puzzle and turned into some weird key. "The spear key;" smiled Saturn "those meteorites and the spear key are made from the same material". The meteorites stopped glowing after the spear key was placed back into the suitcase. Saturn ordered the grunts from the building to start jamming the signal; he had a plan to distract the people of Veilstone City so he could work on another plan of his.

Meanwhile Reggie was getting a call from his brother Paul; Paul wanted his Electabuzz for the Pastoria Gym. "I've met your rival Ash," said Reggie "strong trainer I say; you've found a worthy rival". Paul snorted; he still wouldn't admit that Ash was strong. Suddenly the call was cut off, and all of the communications in Veilstone City was cut off and all technology went haywire too. This was because of Team Galactic; they had jammed the signals of the city and how they were heading to the meteorites in their helicopters.

Back the pokemon center the gang noticed about all technology was cut off and the medical equipment in the center was off too. It was then Maylene turned up. "Lucario and I sensed something was wrong and we came here as fast as we could" said Maylene. Ash had an idea. "I suggest we go to where the meteorites are;" he said "remember those lights we saw?" "I agree with your idea Ash" said Maylene. She and the gang left the center for the park at once.

At the park the Galactic grunts were fussing over the meteorites; their plan was to steal the meteorites. The helicopters were big and strong enough to lift up the meteorites. Team Rocket, who was hiding in some bushes all this time, saw everything. "Time we got even with them for leaving us with the Unown back at the Solaceon ruins" said Meowth. Jessie and James agreed. Saturn was checking over everything, when Team Rocket ran up to him. "We have a bone to pick with you Saturn!" shouted Jessie. "Yeah you left us to deal with those Unown back in the Solaceon Ruins!" shouted James. "Oh really? Well my apologies then" mocked Saturn.

Before Team Rocket could start a fight with Saturn, Maylene, Lucario and the gang turned up. "Team Rocket, what are you doing here?!" said Ash "and who are those people?!" "Those twerps are the Team Galactic group we told you about," said Jessie "and they're the ones who caused that disturbance back at the Solaceon ruins". "So this is Team Galactic huh?" mumbled Ash. It was then Saturn sent out a blue, black and red pokemon that looked like a big ugly frog.

Ash looked at it on his pokedex: Toxicroak, the toxic mouth pokemon. The evolved form of Croagunk. It has a poison sac at its throat. When it croaks, the stored poison is churned for more potency.

"What are you up to Team Galactic?" said Ash. Due to his experience with Team Rocket, Aqua and Magma, there was no doubt that Team Galactic was bad news. "If you must know," said Saturn "we are simply gathering these meteorites for our necessary needs for our new world". "What the?" said Ash; he didn't like the sound of that.

Suddenly Officer Jenny turned up on her motorbike. As the phones were dead, thanks to the jammed signals, Maylene had sent Connally to fetch Officer Jenny. "Thanks for the message Maylene" said Officer Jenny. "My pleasure" replied Maylene. Officer Jenny turned to Saturn and the Galactic grunts. "So you're the master minds of this rouble huh?" she asked "what are you planning to do with the meteorites?" Saturn didn't want to answer Officer Jenny's questions and he ordered Toxicroak to use dark pulse. Pikachu, Piplup, Growlithe and Lucario used thunderbolt, bubble beam, flamethrower and aura sphere to counter the attack. It was then Brock's Croagunk came out of his pokeball; he had noticed what was going on and wanted to help. Croagunk and Toxicroak saw each other and they started to growl at each other. Team Rocket knew this was trouble, so they quickly made their way out of this. Officer Jenny told Saturn to surrender, but Saturn didn't intend to. His grunts sent out a big swarm of Golbats from their pokeballs and the Golbats used air cutter. Croagunk and Toxicroak started to fight each other. Croagunk used brick break, but Toxicroak dodged hit and hit Croagunk away. Next Croagunk used poison sting while Toxicroak used sludge bomb to counter it.

Things were difficult for Officer Jenny with all the Golbats in the way, and the worst was the helicopters were starting to fly away with two of the meteorites that were gangling from the helicopters. But then Pikachu used swift and the stars hit all the Golbats. Then Piplup and Growlithe helped by using bubble beam and ember. Some of the Golbats were about to use shadow ball, but then a thunderbolt attack stopped them. Reggie had turned up with Paul's Electabuzz. "We have to combine all our pokemon's attacks to get back the meteorites" said Paul. Electabuzz, Pikachu, Piplup and Growlithe used thunder, thunderbolt, bubble beam and flamethrower to get rid of the Golbats. As the humans tried to run over to Team Galactic, Saturn had Toxicroak use sludge bomb to stop them in their tracks. Electabuzz got knocked off his feet and some Golbats were about to use shadow ball on him, but then Pikachu used thunderbolt to help Electabuzz. One Golbat fired a shadow ball attack towards Pikachu, but Electabuzz countered the attack with thunder punch to help Pikachu. Thing is Pikachu and Electabuzz had put aside their differences and were working together to defeat the Golbats.

After the Golbats were defeated it was time to save the meteorites. Pikachu and Electabuzz used volt tackle and thunder to break the strong cables that held the meteorites. Then Maylene's Lucario used bone rush to destroy the machinery on the meteorites and then Piplup used whirlpool to bring the meteorites safely back onto the ground.

Saturn knew this was the time to retreat and returned Toxicroak. Then he and his grunts left in the helicopters. Ash and Maylene tried to stop them with Pikachu and Lucario, but the helicopters had flown too far away for any attacks to stop them. Despite Saturn failed to get the meteorites, they had succeeded on evacuating the Galactic base in Veilstone City.

Maylene, Reggie and the gang were sorry that Team Galactic was able to get away. But Officer Jenny said that the meteorites were safe, which was a very good thing, and they could just get them next time. "I'm concerned about what that Team Galactic member said about them needing the meteorites for their new world;" said Ash "it reminds me back when Team Magma and Team Aqua wished to recreate the world". "I remember that too," said Brock "wait you don't suppose Team Galactic wish the same thing do you Ash?" "I have a bad feeling that the answer is yes" said Ash. What Ash just said made everyone fear of what Team Galactic was up to.

By now Team Rocket had found themselves someplace safe from the park. "So what should we do about Team Galactic?" asked Meowth. "Well if you ask me that team must be as crazy as Team Aqua and Magma were" said James. "Well if they are, then I suggest we toughen ourselves up for the next time we see them," said Jessie "we can't let them make us feel defeated". James and Meowth agreed.

The next day it was time for the gang to leave Veilstone City. Maylene and Reggie saw them off and wished them luck with the next gym battle and pokemon contest. The gang said goodbye before they left, but they still had the worry of Team Galactic on their minds.

After just leaving Veilstone City, the gang came to a big building which looked like a very large circus tent with circular domes on top with all sorts of colours painted on it such as red, blue, yellow, orange and white. This was the Battle Arcade where Ash could earn his next frontier plaque. "I wonder what they'll do in this challenge?" said Ash, remembering how he battled in the Battle Hall and Battle Castle. "Well let's go in and find out" smiled Dawn.

Inside the entrance was like a reception hall and there were four doors leading to another room. Matt was in the entrance hall waiting for the gang. "Well, well, well, it looks like I arrived just in time before you kids did" said Matt. Ash asked Matt what the frontier brain was like, and Matt explained the frontier brain was a woman named Dahlia, known as Arcade Star Dahlia. "What's she like?" asked Ash. "Well let's say that she's a fun loving type" said Matt.

Matt opened the door to the battle arena. The battle arena looked like a dance floor and on the wall was a big screen that looked like a game board. There were lots of people dancing to music. "This looks fun" said Tomo. "People always come here for all sorts of dancing and they hold games here too" said Matt. Just then a woman with long black hair, wearing a yellow and white jumper and blue trousers and yellow shoes came up to Matt. "It's been a while since I last saw you Matt" she said. "Same here Dahlia" said Matt. The woman was the frontier brain Arcade Star Dahlia. Matt introduced Ash and Dahlia to each other. "Well Ash let's have a good time in our battle" said Dahlia. "Yeah" replied Ash.

It wasn't long till Ash and Dahlia took they're places on the battlefield and everyone, including Dawn, Brock, Tomo and Matt, were at the side-lines to watch. Dahlia's assistant who was also the referee explained the battle was a two on two pokemon battle. Then the ceiling opened up revealing the sky, four pictures appeared on the screen. There was a picture of a snowflake, a picture of the sun, a picture of a rain cloud and a picture of sand. What this meant was what weather the challengers would battle with in each round. A Castform lived in the Battle Arcade and it would use the moves rain dance, hail, sunny day or sandstorm on whatever picture the screen has chosen. The four pictures got scuffled around for a bit and then suddenly a picture of a sun came up. That meant the first battle will be in sunny weather. Castform used sunny day and transformed into its sunny form. Next Dahlia sent out her first pokemon a Ludicolo and Ash sent out his Shiftry first.

Dahlia started off by telling her Ludicolo to use bullet seed and Ash's Shiftry countered it with his own bullet seed attack. "Shiftry use air cutter" said Ash. Shiftry fired an air cutter attack from his leaves and Ludicolo got hit by the attack. "Not bad, but check this, Ludicolo use fire punch" said Dahlia. "Oh no, Ludicolo knows fire punch?" said Dawn, in surprise. "Since the sun is so bright, Ludicolo's fire punch will be stronger than normal" said Brock. Ash ordered Shiftry to dodge the fire punch attack and use x-scissor. Shiftry jumped backwards to get away from the fire punch attack attach, and then he slashed Ludicolo with x-scissor. "Alright Shiftry let's use solarbeam" said Ash. "You use solar beam too Ludicolo" said Dahlia. Because of the bright sun, Ludicolo and Shiftry didn't need to charge up their solar beam attacks and they fired their attacks at once. The two solar beam attacks collided with each other, creating an explosion. When it cleared up both Ludicolo and Shiftry were standing. "Ludicolo go with fire punch" said Dahlia. "Use focus blast Shiftry" said Ash. Shiftry fired a light ball of energy from his leafy hands straight at Ludicolo, while Ludicolo tried to counter it with fire punch. A small explosion occurred when Ludicolo punched the focus blast attack with fire punch, but Ludicolo was not beaten yet. "Now Shiftry use x-scissor again" said Ash. Shiftry slashed Ludicolo with x-scissor before Ludicolo could do anything and then Ludicolo fainted, giving Ash the first win.

Dahlia was impressed with Ash's battling skills. 'I'm having a lot of fun here' she thought. She returned Ludicolo and sent out a brown and cream coloured rabbit type pokemon. This rabbit type pokemon had long legs and long ears. "That's a Lopunny," said Dawn "and if I remember correctly Buneary evolves into that".

She opened up her pokedex to find out: Lopunny, the rabbit pokemon. The evolved form of Buneary. The ears appear to be delicate. If they are touched roughly, it kicks with its graceful legs.

Ash returned Shiftry to use again later and he sent out Crawdaunt next. "Ash has a fine collection of pokemon indeed" said Matt. It was then the screen came up with the pictures again, and this time it chose the picture of a rain cloud. So Castform used rain dance and changed into its rainy form. "Since it's raining, Crawdaunt's water type moves will be stronger than normal" Matt pointed out.

Ash started off by telling Crawdaunt to use bubble beam, but Lopunny jumped to dodge the bubbles. "That's a thing about rabbit type pokemon like Lopunny;" said Matt "they are really good jumpers". The others agreed, especially Dawn. Dahlia ordered Lopunny to use bounce. "Use harden to defend yourself Crawdaunt" said Ash. Thanks to harden, Crawdaunt didn't get hurt so much when Lopunny hit him. "Bubble beam again Crawdaunt" said Ash. Crawdaunt fired bubbles from his claws and this time Lopunny got hit by them. "Lopunny use jump kick" said Dahlia. Lopunny jumped and kicked Crawdaunt before Crawdaunt got the chance to do anything. "That's not good if Lopunny knows a fighting type move;" said Brock "Crawdaunt is part dark type as well as water type. And dark type pokemon are weak against fighting type moves". Dahlia ordered Lopunny to use jump kick again. "Not again you won't," said Ash "Crawdaunt grab onto Lopunny's leg". Before Lopunny could kick Crawdaunt, Crawdaunt grabbed onto one of Lopunny's legs with his claw. Then Crawdaunt spun Lopunny around and then tossed it. "Wow, I've never seen anything like that before" said Dawn. "Ash's Crawdaunt has been good at tossing its opponents aside ever since it was a Corphish" chuckled Brock. Ash ordered Crawdaunt to use brick break and Crawdaunt hit Lopunny hard. "Now Lopunny will be in trouble because normal pokemon are weak against fighting type moves too" said Tomo. Dahlia wasn't giving up yet and she ordered Lopunny to use jump kick again. But Crawdaunt managed to dodge the attack, making Lopunny miss and getting hurt in the process. "Now Crawdaunt it's time to use hyper beam" said Ash. Crawdaunt launched a hyper beam attack from his claws and the beam hit Lopunny directly. When the light fainted, it revealed that Lopunny had fainted. So Ash was the winner of the challenge.

Dahlia returned her Lopunny and walked over to Ash. "Well Ash," he said "that was a very fun battle indeed and I was very impressed by your battling style". "I had fun too" replied Ash. The referee came over, holding a cushion. "So then Ash, as proof of your victory I present to you the Battle Arcade plaque". The golden plaque had a picture of the Battle Arcade. So Ash only had two more frontier plaques to get.

After the challenge was over, the gang said goodbye to Matt and Dahlia and left for their next destination.

Chapter 130

The Kidnapped Riolu

One night a disturbance was happening. A small explosion occurred at a lab and some men with a Golem and a Riolu were running away from it. A scientist and some guards came out of the building. "The RX1 is a priceless research tool, get Riolu back at once" said the scientist. It was clear that Riolu was kept at the lab for research. Golem used hyper beam to distract the guards and scientists and Riolu ran away with the men. It was then a van turned up to pick up the men and Riolu. Golem was returned and Riolu was placed in the back of the van while the men entered the front.

But Riolu's aura made it hear what the men at the front were saying. The truth was the men wanted Riolu for them-selves as well and they lied to it that they would take it back to its real home again. Riolu was angry with the betrayal and it used aura sphere to escape from the van and the men; this Riolu could use aura sphere like Ash's Lucario did back when he was a Riolu. The men stopped the van and their leader ordered them to start searching for Riolu at once; this man was greedy for Riolu's power.

It was at this time that the gang were travelling through some big forests to get to their next destination. But then Ash suddenly stopped. "I feel a power of aura here" he said. "Really where?" asked Dawn. Before her question could be answered, the Riolu came out of the bushes. It was injured on the arm because of the escape. "Hey a Riolu" said Ash; he was surprised to see one in the wild. Ash saw that Riolu and went over to it to help, but Riolu knocked his hands away. "I'm only going to help you Riolu" said Ash, calmly. Riolu used aura sphere on Ash to keep him away. "That Riolu knows aura sphere like your Lucario did when he was a Riolu Ash" said Brock. "That means that Riolu is special too" said Ash. Ash stood up and formed an orb of aura in his hands. Riolu saw that and realised that Ash can use aura. "See Riolu will you let me help you now?" said Ash.

Before Riolu could reply a boy in a cape came up to Riolu. "Found you" he said. Riolu ran off. "Wait Riolu" said the boy, chasing after it. Ash felt that something wasn't right and followed. Ash came to some bushes when suddenly the boy pulled him into the bushes. "Shhh" he said. Riolu was sitting on a branch in a tree. "Is Riolu yours?" asked Dawn; she and the others had caught up. "No and it's not a wild pokemon either," said the boy "I'm here to help Riolu get back home again". "Are you saying Riolu was stolen by somebody?" asked Ash.

Before Ash could get an answer, everyone heard a noise of some vans coming up. It was Hunter J's vehicles and some men came out at once. One of them sent out a Crobat and the Crobat knocked Riolu out of the tree. "Those men are after Riolu" said Brock. "Oh yeah, well we won't let them" said Ash. He took out his pokedex. "Tomo get your strongest pokemon from Prof Oak's lab too; since we are up against J again, we'll need some of our strongest pokemon". Tomo understood and the brothers started to switch out their pokemon. By now an aura sphere had shot out from the bushes and hit the Crobat. It was from Riolu; despite being hurt it wasn't going to let the men take it. The other men sent out their own Crobats to capture Riolu. But than an aura sphere came out of nowhere and stopped the Crobats in their tracks. It was from Lucario; Ash and Tomo had some of their pokemon out to help Riolu. Ash had Pikachu, Lucario and Venomoth out, and Tomo had Growlithe, Granbull and Magcargo. Ash ordered Pikachu to use swift and Venomoth to use string shot. Pikachu's swift attack hit all the Crobats and then Venomoth tied them up tight with string shot. Then Growlithe, Magcargo and Granbull both used dig to trap the men in a hole. This was a plan to help Riolu get away from J's men. Lucario went over to Riolu and held it in his arms. 'My trainer and his friends are here to help you' he said to Riolu, in his language. Riolu felt happy and safe with its evolved-form Lucario and calmed down at once. Everyone ran off to get away from J's men.

Once everyone got far away from J's men with Riolu, the boy started to attend to Riolu's wounds with Lucario comforting it. The boy introduced himself as Kellyn and he was a top rank pokemon ranger. Dawn was surprised to meet a pokemon ranger for once as she never met one before. Kellyn took out a little bag from his pocket and inside was a small wooden doll shaped like a Riolu. Riolu was happy to see the doll because it was a gift from a man who raised it. "Riolu went through some horrible times didn't it?" Ash asked Kellyn. "You can tell can't you Ash?" asked Kellyn. "Yes because I've met with pokemon who find it hard to trust humans because of how cruel some humans treat it" answered Ash.

Just then both Ash and Lucario suddenly had a vision. It was about Riolu at its home, which was a village, and the old man was giving Riolu the doll. "That doll is very precious to you because it was the first gift you ever got from the old man right?" Ash said to Riolu "your aura told me and my Lucario that". Ash revealed his aura power to Riolu again. This made Kellyn surprised seeing Ash use aura. "This is the first time I have ever met an aura user," said Kellyn "Ash I'm counting on you to help me get Riolu back home". "You can rely on me" said Ash. Lucario told Riolu that Ash was a good person and always helped pokemon that were in trouble.

Suddenly Kellyn got a call from his vatonage styler. To Ash, Tomo and Brock's surprise, it was Solana. "Hi Solana, it's been a while" said Ash. "Well, well, well if it isn't Ash and Pikachu" said Solana "well Kellyn with Ash there with you, he will be a big help". Tomo and Brock were happy to see Solana again too. Dawn was surprised to know that the boys knew a pokemon ranger and she introduced herself to Solana at once. "What's the latest on the search?" Kellyn asked Solana. Solana was with Officer Jenny and they were searching for Hunter J's client, who was after Riolu. "We have determined the exact location of Hunter J's client, we are heading over there now" she said. "Riolu is with us," said Kellyn "we are heading for the exact coordinates". The call ended.

Suddenly there was a rumbling noise coming from the sky. It was Hunter J's ship. "She's here" said Tomo. "We better get out of here before J finds Riolu" said Ash. "Everyone we all have to calm down and do exactly what I say" said Kellyn. The gang understood.

Hunter J was talking to the man who Tomo's pokemon trapped in a big hole. He was telling her about Kellyn and the gang who were helping Riolu escape. She showed her a picture of them. J was cross to see that the gang were getting in her away again, and she was cross that he had let some kids outsmart him.

Meanwhile Kellyn and the gang were heading downstream in a boat with Riolu with Tomo's Poliwrath pulling it. Kellyn was explaining Riolu's story. Riolu came from a kingdom called the Lucario Kingdom and Riolu was born to become the kingdom's new guardian, which was why it knew aura sphere. But then the scientist and his guards stole Riolu from the old man for evil purposes. Then of course the group of men who helped it escape the lab wanted it for evil purposes next and Riolu escaped from them. "With an awful time to go through" said Dawn. "With what Riolu went through then and now with pokemon hunters chasing it, it's no wonder Riolu can't trust anyone from outside the kingdom" said Brock. "To transport Riolu safely back is my mission" said Kellyn. "And we are going to make sure that happens" said Ash.

Suddenly Lucario stood up in the boat and fired aura sphere at the river. Some Sharpedo were following the group and Lucario had sensed their presence. "Where did they come from?" asked Ash. He soon got his answer; they belonged to Hunter J's men. Kellyn told everyone they needed to get away to shore fast. He used his styler to capture a wild Floatzel to use it to help Poliwrath pull the boat fast. Ash sent out his Feraligatr to help out. One of the men told all the Sharpedos to use aqua jet, but Feraligatr used hydro pump to push them back. Then Pikachu moved in by using thunder bolt on the Sharpedos. Before the group could get away a hyper beam stopped them in their tracks and knocked everyone into the water. Ash, Brock and Lucario grabbed onto Feraligatr at once. Tomo grabbed onto Poliwrath, Dawn grabbed Piplup and Kellyn and Riolu grabbed onto Floatzel. It was Hunter J on her Salamence. "I'm taking Riolu" said Hunter J. "I don't think so" said Dawn. Piplup, Pikachu and Lucario fought with bubble beam, thunder bolt and aura sphere, but Salamence countered the attack with hyper beam. J got her cannon ready to fire at Riolu. Kellyn told Floatzel to use water gun to stop J from firing, but J managed to fire her cannon. Luckily the beam missed Riolu and Kellyn. But Riolu's doll fell into the water and Riolu got off Floatzel to swim after it. J's men went after it at once and so did the group. J had her Salamence use hyper beam and the attack knocked some rocks from the cliff into the river. Everyone managed to dodge the rocks thanks to the water pokemon, but it made it hard to catch up to Riolu. Being the faster swimmer, Feraligatr quickly dodged all the rocks and he, Ash, Pikachu and Lucario went after Riolu. J left with her Salamence.

By now Riolu was swimming as fast as it could to get its doll back. But there was trouble; there was a small waterfall and the current was very strong. It made it hard for Riolu to swim it. By now Ash and his pokemon turned up. "Riolu is in trouble" said Ash. He was right because Riolu was sinking under the water.

While unconscious, Riolu was dreaming about its home and the time when the man finished making the wooden Riolu doll. But it also dreamt about the day when the evil scientist and his men kidnapped it. Riolu woke up from its nightmare at once. "It's alright Riolu, you are safe now" said Ash. 'Yes we are away from the pokemon hunters now' said Lucario. Riolu realised it didn't have the doll, but Ash saved it from the river for Riolu. "Here, now you be careful with it" said Ash. Riolu was grateful.

Suddenly Lucario spoke. 'Ash I sense that pokemon hunter and her men' he said, in his language. Hunter J and her men were standing not too far from where they were standing. "We must get out of here quickly" whispered Ash. He and his pokemon ran from the area at once. Unfortunately J and her men noticed them. The men were about to chase them, but J told them to wait; she had a nasty plan. Her plan was having her Salamence set the whole forest on fire with flamethrower. It wasn't long till the forest started to burn thanks to Salamence. Ash and his pokemon didn't like this one bit. Before Ash could give his Feraligatr a command, Hunter J turned up. "I warned you to stay out of my way" said J. "I intend to always ignore your warnings J!" shouted Ash "and you aren't taking Riolu anywhere!" Hunter J ordered Salamence to use flamethrower and Ash ordered Feraligatr to use hydro pump.

Things were getting bad.

Ash's wasn't going to let Hunter J take Riolu. Lucario fired aura sphere at Salamence and Feraligatr used water gun to put out the flames that surrounded them. "Let's go" he said to the pokemon, and they started to run. But J fired her cannon and the beam hit Riolu, turning it into a statue. "Oh no Riolu!" shouted Ash. Lucario was about to get Riolu, but Salamence used hyper beam to knock Ash and his pokemon away. Then Salamence used flamethrower to trap them in a fire, making it easier for J to capture Riolu.

In the forest Kellyn and the others were helping the wild pokemon escape the fire and Tomo had Poliwrath to use hydro pump to douse the flames. "It's time to use rain dance to make it rain" said Tomo to Poliwrath. Kellyn thought that was a good idea and he used his styler to catch three wild Blastoise. Together the power of Poliwrath and the three Blastoise created a very heavy downpour with rain dance. Thanks to the very heavy rain the forest fire was put out quick. "I owe this to all the times I've seen pokemon change the weather" said Tomo. "Yes rain dance is a smart move to use in fires like this" said Brock. "Now all the pokemon and the forest will be just fine" smiled Dawn. "Come on all of you, we have to find Ash and Riolu" said Kellyn. He was worried about them.

Ash and his pokemon were alright; Feraligatr had used protect to protect everyone from the flames. They were happy to see that the fire had been put out thanks to the rain. Suddenly Lucario saw J's ship. "Come on Pikachu and Lucario, let's go get Riolu" said Ash. He returned Feraligatr and they quickly snuck on board the ship without the men noticing just before the ship was about to take off. By now the rain had stopped and Kellyn and the others saw J's ship taking off. "Oh no, does this mean that they've got Riolu?" said Brock, worriedly.

Right now J was talking with her client. Her client was none other than the man who kidnapped Riolu from the lab. J let half the body of Riolu loose so the man could see it. "I'll arrange for your payment right away" said the client. "I'll meet you face to face at the destination" replied J. The call ended.

Suddenly Ash, Pikachu and Lucario entered the control room. "Let Riolu go now J!" shouted Ash. J turned Riolu back into a full statue and released her Drapion. Drapion grabbed onto Ash tightly with its claws. "It's time to punish you for always getting in my way" said J, smiling evilly. Lucario hit Drapion with bone rush; Ash told him before that Drapion was weak to ground type moves. Drapion dropped Ash when it got hit by the attack. Unfortunately Ash landed on one of J's trap doors and Pikachu and Lucario went over to him. J opened the trap door and the trio went falling down a hole and out of the ship.

Ash was about to use teleport to get him and his pokemon to safely, but he didn't need to do anything. A Staraptor grabbed Ash and his pokemon and helped them to safety. The Staraptor was a wild one that Kellyn captured with his styler. J's ship became invisible a second later. Dawn, Tomo and Brock were happy to see Ash was alright after they got to land. "It's bad J has got Riolu" said Ash. He had Riolu's doll with him. Suddenly Kellyn got a call from Solana. Solana had bad news; J's client and his men had escaped from being captured before Solana and Officer Jenny had the chance to capture them. Kellyn told Solana that J had captured Riolu. This was bad because if the client did get Riolu they would cover their tracks and then it would be hard for even the police to find Riolu again. Ash was upset by this and he called out. "Riolu if you can hear me, please tell me where you are!" Lucario wanted to know where Riolu was too. Suddenly Ash and Lucario got a vision from Riolu; this vision showed Ash and Lucario where the ship was and where it was going. "Lucario and I know where Riolu is; we got a vision from it" said Ash. "That's good" said Kellyn. Kellyn told Solana that they were going after Riolu and Solana wished them good luck. Then Kellyn used his styler to catch five wild Dodrios for them to ride on. "Don't worry Riolu we are coming" said Ash.

Meanwhile J and her men met with her client and his men. The client was happy to have Riolu in his hands again and gave J her payment. "Thank you for your work Hunter J" said the client. "Hold it right there you!" shouted Ash; he and the others turned up just in time. Of course Hunter J and her client were not happy to see them. "Give back Riolu!" shouted Kellyn "it needs to return to its home!" The client wasn't going to return Riolu; he wanted it all for himself. Lucario fired aura sphere at the client and the client dropped the container. Then Kellyn and the gang charged down the hill on the Dodrios. Hunter J's men wanted to fight them, but Hunter J said it was time to leave because they had their money now. So it was their que to leave. Ash noticed J and her men leaving, but this was not the time to stop her today. They had Riolu to get back. One of the client's men released his Golem and ordered it to use hyper beam. The hyper beam attack stopped the Dodrio that Ash was riding in its tracks and Ash fell off Dodrio. The client wasn't going to let go of Riolu that easily and J and her men left in the ship. "I've got Riolu so let's go!" the client shouted to his men. "Oh no you don't!" shouted Ash "Lucario slash the tyres on their van. Lucario charged towards the van with extreme speed and then used metal claw to slash the tyres. The client was cross and ordered his men to attack the group. The men sent out Nidoking, Graveler, Tyranitar and a Rhyhorn to help Golem attack the group. Then the client sent out a Fearow to fly away with Riolu. "I'll leave the rest to you!" he called out to his men. "Riolu!" shouted Ash, in worry.

Suddenly Officer Jenny and Solana turned up on Officer Jenny's motor bike. "Kellyn we'll take cake of these men, you go after Fearow" said Solana. Ash and Kellyn got back on the Dodrios to go after the client. "Oh no you don't!" shouted one of the men. He ordered his Golem to use sandstorm. "Quick Piplup use bubble beam" said Dawn. Piplup used bubble beam on Golem, before it could use sandstorm. "Time for backup" said Tomo. He called out Poliwrath and Granbull out as well as Growlithe. Dawn sent out Wormadam, Ambipom and Smoochum out to help out. Brock called out Probopass and Croagunk to battle and Officer Jenny called out her Growlithe.

Meanwhile Ash and Kellyn were chasing after the client and his Fearow. "Okay that's it Dodrio use tri attack" said Ash. As Kellyn had captured them with the styler the Dodrios would listen to those other than Kellyn. Dodrio fired a tri attack and it took Fearow off guard. Kellyn moved in with having Dodrio jump onto Fearow and have it crash to the ground with fury attack. "Give Riolu back!" commanded Ash. "Not in a million years!" shouted the client. He ran into a cave with Riolu and Kellyn and Ash chased after him with Pikachu and Lucario. In the cave the client sent out an Aggron and commanded it to use rock smash. His plan was have Aggron create some rock slides so he could easily escape the cave. Ash and Kellyn soon turned up but a big wall of rocks was in the way. Just then Kellyn saw a wild Donphan and used his styler to catch it. "Donphan use rollout" he said. Donphan broke down the wall of rocks with rollout. But there was another problem. The client had cover up some tunnels with more walls of rocks to make Ash and Kellyn confused of which way to go.

Meanwhile Officer Jenny and Dawn, Brock and Tomo were putting up good fights against the men's pokemon. Piplup used bubble beam, Ambipom used water pulse and Wormadam used razor leaf against Nidoking and Tyranitar. The two Growlithes used flamethrower, and Croagunk used brick break against Rhyhorn. Probopass used stone edge on Nidoking, and Granbull and Poliwrath used headbutt and hydro pump on Graveler and Golem. To finish this all off, Solana used her styler to catch a wild Trapinch and told it to use rock tomb. Thanks to rock tomb the men and their pokemon became trapped in a big rocky cage like prisoners. They were helpless now.

Back in the cave Ash and Kellyn had to figure out what to do. "Riolu is behind only one of these stone walls" said Kellyn. Ash and Lucario concentrated on their aura. "Riolu please tell us where you are" said Ash. Thanks to Riolu's aura, Ash and Lucario found out where the client and Riolu were. Ash ran to the first stone wall on the left and told Kellyn that Riolu was behind it. Kellyn ordered Donphan to break the wall with rollout again, and then they all chased the client out of the cave.

"Give up it's all over!" Kellyn shouted to the client, once they found him. "How did you figure which way we went?!" shouted the client, who was shocked to see them. "Riolu told me and my Lucario" answered Ash. Kellyn commanded the man to give Riolu back, but of course he wouldn't do it. He ordered his Aggron to use double edge, but Kellyn ordered Donphan to use horn attack. Donphan pushed Aggron back with horn attack and Aggron crashed onto his trainer. The client dropped the container. Ash ran to the container and freed Riolu at once. Riolu was happy to see Ash and jumped into his arms. "You're safe now Riolu" smiled Ash. The client was angry by now. "Riolu belongs to me!" he shouted, and commanded Aggron to use hyper beam. But Lucario and Riolu used aura sphere to counter the move. "Pikachu use volt tackle now!" commanded Ash. Pikachu charged at Aggron very hard with volt tackle. Aggron was defeated and landed on the client. "Give up," said Kellyn "it's over for you now". The client could see by now that he was defeated and couldn't do anything now.

By now the men were arrested and their pokemon confiscated. Officer Jenny was grateful for Solana, Tomo, Brock and Dawn with their help. Tomo, Brock and Dawn were glad they stopped the villains and so were their pokemon.

It wasn't long till a rescue squad from the Lucario Kingdom, along with Riolu's trainer, came to take Riolu home. The client and his men were arrested and sent to prison. The better news was the scientist and his guards, who kidnapped Riolu first, had been arrested by the police by now as well. Kellyn thanked the gang for helping him make his mission successful. "I told you with Ash's help your mission would be successful" smiled Solana. "I'm glad that it's all over and Riolu is going back home again" smiled Ash. Riolu's trainer was grateful to the gang for saving Riolu, especially to Ash and his Pikachu and Lucario. Ash then remembered he still had Riolu's doll in his pocket and gave it back to Riolu at once. "You take care of this doll as well as yourself" smiled Ash. 'Continue to grow strong' said Lucario, in his language. Riolu was happy that he was going back home at last and was happy that there were good people outside the Lucario kingdom.

So Riolu was finally safe at last, but of course there was still the problem with Hunter J since she had still not been arrested yet.