chapter 3

Ash, Dawn, Sam, and Brock strode into the pokemon center the next morning. The first set of matches would begin soon and Ash and Dawn had to get the information for their battles. However, they ran into an unwelcome surprise when they entered. Piplup, who had been resting in his Pokeball the day before after an intense training session, was the first to notice. The little penguin walking next to his trainer's left leg narrowed his eyes as he caught sight of the person who had spotted them.

"Dawn, Ash. Trouble, 10 O'clock."

Dawn and Ash turned, both being able to understand an unexpected comment from each other's as well as sometimes Sam's pokemon after having been together so long and having been through quite a lot. To understand another pokemon would take a decent degree of focus on Ash's or Dawn's part. The two trainers pursed their lips at the trio heading for them.

"Dawn! You here for the tournament too?" asked Mary.

Dawn's eyes narrowed at the overly enthusiastic welcome. "Yeah, and so is Ash."

The bright look on May's face fell into pity at Dawn's pronouncement. "Oh, Ash. I'd hoped you had come to your senses since you haven't been in any tournaments all these years."

Ash rolled his eyes. "No such luck."

"Ash, how long are you going to keep this up?" asked Drew. "You took a shot at something. You didn't make it. It's not the end of the world. But if you just keep going on and on, you're only setting yourself up for disappointment."

"Maybe," Ash replied evenly, keeping his temper in check as he never could have done 4 years earlier. "But I won't quit. I may not have succeeded at first, but if being a Pokemon master was easy, it wouldn't mean as much. I've gotten much better, and if nothing else that proves that I can improve."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, Ash," cut in Max. "Maybe it'll be easier I knock you out of this tournament."

Ash smirked. "You're welcome to try." And with that, he strode off, his friends in his wake.

"Wow," Brock muttered to Sam. "Ash has changed. The guy I knew would've blown his top at all that."

Sam gave a sad smile. "Yeah, well Ash, heck all of us have been through a lot together these past 4 years. He's been forced to confront a lot of the darkness in his soul. That kind of thing changes people, especially their tempers."

Brock stared at him curiously. The group had told him several amusing anecdotes last night but nothing major. He understood it wasn't an easy transition for them from thinking of him as a betrayer to a friend, so he wasn't offended. Sam noticed his curiosity but said nothing else as the group came up to the board. Brock put aside his curiosity for the moment. He already knew where he was battling, and who his opponent was didn't matter all that much to someone on his side of the battlefield. But Ash and Dawn needed to find out who they were battling, where, and with what restrictions.

"There you are Ash!" exclaimed Sam, pointing to the top left corner of the huge screen where he spotted Ash's battle information. "Your one-on-one is against Goldenrod gym leader Whitney in Stadium C. You may not use a Pokemon with a type advantage."

"Whitney, huh?" mused Ash. "Been a while. I know exactly who to use for this battle."

"There's your information, Dawn," Brock exclaimed after another minute or so of looking. After scrutinizing the information for a moment he grinned. "You're up against an old friend. Remember Maylene?"

Dawn smiled at the thought of the gym leader she had grown close to. "Sure do. This should be fun. Ooh, looks like need to come to Stadium E with a type disadvantage. Ok. My choice is pretty easy."

Having their information, the three friends made a brief stop at the Pokeball transfer machine since Ash didn't have the pokemon he wanted with him (Sam's brother Bill had set up a system at the ranch so Ash just needed to call up and tell the pokemon who needed to come. Said pokemon could then get into its Pokeball on a special shelf which would then be moved to the transporter and sent over). After taking the ball, Ash and Dawn turned to look at each other.

"Good luck."

"Thanks, Dawn." With that Ash turned to walk away.

"Hey, Ketchum? Don't you have something you want to say to me?" Dawn breathed out, scowling.

Ash turned back to her, his face set in a clueless expression, which Brock for one would have believed had he not seen the mischievous sparkle in his eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Aren't you going to wish me luck?"

Ash made an 'Ah' face before replying. "No, I don't think so."

"And just why not?" asked the fuming Bluenette.

Ash smirked. "Look around at all these trainers, Dawn. Don't you think it'd be nice to save the luck for those poor fools who need it?"

Dawn's scowl fell away, replaced by an amused smirk of her own. "Good answer Mr. Ketchum." With that, she leaned forward and pecked him on the lips before pulling back.

Both trainers turned away from each other to lock eyes with Sam. The three held their gazes for a moment before both trainers turned and walked off in opposite directions, headed for their battles.

Brock looked on in astonishment. He had felt the unspoken things that passed between the three, although he didn't understand them. Sam hadn't been kidding before when he said they'd been through a lot together, and he couldn't help the flaring of his curiosity once more. Brock snapped out of his daze as he felt Sam grip his arm and point to the clock. Realizing his battle would begin in 15 minutes, Brock sped off.

'They're entitled to their secrets. Besides, maybe they'll just tell me later.'

Ash walked through the large doorway and out onto the plain dirt battlefield, Pikachu at his side as always. He could see the blond form of the Goldenrod City gym leader coming out the doors on the other side and smiled.

"Well, this is it, buddy. Here it begins."

"Time to kick some serious butt." His starter replied.

Ash chuckled just as he heard Whitney call out to him.

"Long time no see, Ash."

"You're looking well, Whitney. I'm surprised you still remember me. It's been a long time."

Whitney gave a short laugh. "You were one of my more memorable challengers, Ash."

Their conversation was interrupted by the voice of the announcer on the loudspeaker.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to this 1st round battle of the Mastery cup! Our tournament contestant is a previously rising star, though his appearances have been sporadic for about four years now, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!."

The crowd let out a cheer.

"His opposition, long-time leader of the Goldenrod City gym, Whitney!"

More cheers erupted briefly before the referee began to speak.

"This will be a 1-on-1 pokemon battle. As determined by random computer selection, Mr. Ketchum will be unable to use a pokemon possessing a type advantage. The battle will end when either pokemon is unable to continue. The battle begins!"

"Well Ash, I think my choice should be pretty familiar to you," said Whitney with a smile as she raised a Pokeball.

"Miltank, let's go!"

Whitney threw the ball into the air. It popped open and a brilliant white light exploded out of it, shooting out onto the battlefield before coalescing into a pink and white cow.

Ash smirked. "I figured you'd use Miltank, Whitney. That's why I brought someone who should be familiar to you too," Ash paused for a moment, pulling his own red and white ball from his belt. And throwing it. The white light shot out of the ball, taking shape as Ash called out,"

"Typhlosion, I choose you!"

The volcano pokemon took stock of his opponent and narrowed his eyes, letting the flames on his back burst into life.

"Oh yeah! I'm finally gonna get another crack at the cow that tossed me around like a sack of potatoes!"

Ash, being the only person who could understand, smiled at the fire type's enthusiasm. Typhlosion may have been unusually meek for a fire type, but he still had his pride.

"We'll see, little firecracker." Smirked Miltank

At this point, Ash knew, the meek nature of this particular pokemon of his came in handy. Typhlosion was one of the few pokemon who would not need much effort not to lose his temper at a crack like that.

Whitney smiled to herself seeing Ash's choice.

'Classic Ash choice. Using a pokemon previously beaten twice by my Miltank, allowing it to reclaim its pride. But that doesn't mean this is anything to laugh at. He was just a Cyndaquil back then, and that was over 9 years ago.'

"Alright, Miltank, you may have beaten this guy before, but that was long ago, so stay alert. Use Rollout!"

Miltank leaped forward, tucking all 4 of her legs together until she was curled into a ball and landed rolling, spinning faster and faster toward the Johto starter in its path.

Ash was unfazed, the smirk not leaving his face.

"Typhlosion, dig the front half of your body into the ground, keep the back half out!"

Typhlosion began digging furiously with his front paws, sending dirt flying until the top of half of his body was level with the ground, the rest sticking up. Whitney was startled for a moment by the tactic before her eyes widened, recognizing the danger.

"Miltank pull away quick!"

Too late. Miltank rolled straight onto Typhlosion's head and down, or in this case, up to his body, the curve of his elongated form serving as a ramp. As the Milk Cow Pokemon reached the edge of the 'ramp', Ash called out swiftly,

"Double kick, now!"

Typhlosion flung his back legs up, throwing Miltank sky high with impressive strength, before a second kick smacked into the airborne cow, doing a decent amount of damage as a super-effective move and shifting its trajectory slightly more back in the direction it had just come from. Without the ground underneath it, Miltank's roll ran out of steam, leaving her suspended in midair for a split-second, looking straight down at her opponent.

"Now, Typhlosion, use Eruption!"

"Ty-Phlo-SHION!"

A searing beam of fire blasted out from Typhlosion's back, shooting straight upward and catching the hapless pokemon right in the stomach. For several seconds Miltank was carried higher and higher by the beam crashing into her gut before the attack ended. Miltank's ascent gradually lost speed until finally there wasn't enough left to overcome gravity. Miltank plummeted back down towards the earth, Typhlosion simply taking 3 nonchalant steps back before the cow came crashing down on the ground where his head had been not 2 seconds earlier, clearly knocked out.

"Cows CAN fly! Who knew?"

Ash and Pikachu both chuckled at the comment as the ref examined Miltank.

"Miltank is unable to battle! The winner is Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!"

The crowd lay there stunned for a moment before bursting into loud cheering. A powerful gym leader had just been swept aside in less than 10 seconds!

"AMAZING! Ash Ketchum has defeated Whitney in an impressive 9.6 seconds! What else can we expect from this up-and-coming trainer?"

Ash and Whitney each recalled their fallen pokemon with murmured words of thanks and strode forward to shake hands.

"Well, Ash. I don't recall ever getting beaten quite that badly before. You've grown tremendously! I look forward to seeing what else you come up with!"

Ash gave a friendly smile. "Thanks, Whitney!"

Meanwhile, Dawn was locked in a battle of her own. She had said a brief hello to her old friend Maylene before the battle got underway, and now Lopunny was shifting around the battlefield with the flowing grace of an expert dancer, avoiding strike after strike from Maylene's Lucario.

Maylene grimaced. 'That rabbit is just too maneuverable. Time to change things up.'

"Lucario, Aura Sphere!"

Lucario stopped trying to catch the nimble bunny and formed a blue sphere of energy in his hands. Dawn knew it would be impossible to dodge, so her only choice was to counter it.

"Lopunny, block it with Hidden Power."

Lopunny spun out of her cartwheel toward Lucario and formed a green sphere of her own. The two energy bolts met in midair and exploded.

Maylene frowned. 'What is she up to? Is she trying to wait for Lucario to run out of steam? She should know better! Oh well, I guess I'll have to make this a painful lesson.'

"Lucario, Close Combat!"

Lucario leaped high into the air before coming back down, heading straight for his prey.

Dawn smirked at the move. 'Perfect.'

"Dodge, and Ice Beam the landing!"

Maylene started at the command. "What?"

Lopunny jumped backward while forming a white energy stream in her mouth. As she came toward the ground she spat the Ice Beam at the Earth which had been under her feet a moment before, forming a patch of ice.

"Lucario, Force Palm the ice-"

Too late. There weren't a great many Pokemon that could maintain their balance landing on a patch of slippery ice. As it happened, this Lucario was one of them, but it would need at least a couple of seconds of warning. Lucario's legs hit the ground but found no traction, and started sliding back and forth as he tried desperately to right himself. Dawn, however, had no intention of giving him the opportunity.

"Lopunny! Quick Attack into rapid Fire Punch!"

Lopunny surrounded herself in a white aura and shot forward at unbelievable speed, smashing one of her flame-tipped ears into Lucario's chest pushing him back and off the ice. Lopunny jumped over the ice patch after it, following up her attack with the other ear. Twice more she pummeled the jackal, who was taking a large amount of damage from the repeated super-effective attacks and in too much pain to defend itself in such a short window of time.

"Finish with Jump Kick!" Dawn called out.

Lopunny bent slightly and leaped into a backflip, one leg catching Lucario's jaw on the way. This last attack proved too much for the fighting type, which was propelled up into the air to come to rest on the ground, unmoving.

"Lucario is unable to battle! Lopunny is the winner!"

Over the enthusiastic applause of the crowd, the announcer shouted, "And it's over! Dawn's Lopunny has defeated Maylene's Lucario without taking a single hit!"

Dawn and Maylene walked up and shook hands after recalling their pokemon, both beaming.

"That was a great battle, Dawn! You've grown by leaps and bounds! I haven't gotten a thrashing like that in a good long time!"

"Thanks, Maylene! You and Lucario were terrific."

The two friends walked together to the Pokemon center, making light conversation. Maylene was ecstatic to hear about Ash's and Dawn's engagement, delivering the appropriate amount of gushing over her friend's ring. As the two walked through the sliding doors of the building, Dawn immediately spotted Ash standing near the counter with Sam, who had been watching his battle. Dawn ran up to her fiancé and threw her arms around his neck, giving him a peck on the lips.

"So can I take it from your enthusiastic greeting that you also won?" asked Ash with his trademark bright grin.

"You may," Dawn responded, responding with a grin of her own.

Ash raised his hand in the air. Dawn took one of her arms out from behind his neck to complete their traditional high five.

"I told you wouldn't need luck," Ash said, right before wincing as he spotted the woman standing behind Dawn. "No offense, Maylene."

"None was taken, Ash. As her fiancé, you're supposed to say things like that, and frankly, considering how well she trounced me, I have to say I hear where you're coming from. Congratulations on that, by the way."

"Thanks," Ash responded, his grin returning at the turn the conversation had taken.

"So, you lovebirds going to introduce me to your friend?" Maylene asked, noting Sam's proximity to the couple.

"Oh! Sorry, where are our manners?" Dawn replied.

"Probably up in Cupid's cloud, right alongside your heads." Sam snarked, only to get a slap on the arm from the Bluenette.

"Hush you. Sam this is Maylene, leader of the Veilstone gym. Maylene, this is Sam Mosely."

Maylene gasped. "Sam Mosely?! The famous Pokemon Tactician?"

Sam gave a modest shrug. "Well I don't know about famous, but the other parts you've got right."

"B-but you are famous! You're one of if not the most noted expert on Pokemon battle tactics today. Oh!" Maylene gasped as if realizing something. "There was a rumor that you'd taken on two protégés! They were Ash and Dawn?"

Sam chuckled. "Not exactly. You see at the beginning I had believed that would be the kind of relationship I'd have with the two of them. However, after a little time, I realized all they needed was a little help filling in some gaps and they could easily surpass me. They're my partners."

"That explains a thing or two," said Brock, walking up to the group from behind Maylene. After exchanging greetings with the fighting-type gym leader Brock continued. "I had been wondering why you were here but not participating in the tournament."

"Yeah," Sam chuckled. "These days most of my Pokemon will run screaming if Pikachu or, heaven forbid, Charizard want to spar."

Noting Maylene's confusion at the mention of a Pokemon whose presence in the group she wasn't familiar with, Ash invited Maylene to lunch with the group where he promised he would tell her a little about his fearsome Charizard. So, Ash, Dawn, Brock, and Maylene handed over their Pokemon to Nurse Joy, and the five friends left to get a table.

About half an hour after they finished their lunch, the matchups for the next round were posted on the board. Ash was feeling quite excited by the prospect of battling Lt. Surge with a type disadvantage when he heard a small mutter of "Oooooh Boy…" from Sam followed by what he could only describe as a mental smirk from Dawn. Turning to see what had caught their attention he had to agree with his friends' assessment.

Dawn's three-on-three matchups were against Iris.

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Please Please Please Review! Also, I'm putting up a poll about whether or not I should give Ash's battle against Lt. Surge or just say what happened. Please vote!