“Ask Ketchum!” yelled Brock. “Wake up, lazybones!”

“Huh? What’s going on, Brock?” I mumbled from under a pile of blankets.

“A challenger. Seems like you’ve got a battle waiting for you!”

“Who asks for a battle in the middle of the morning?” I grumbled while getting dressed. I ran down to the battle arena.

“Hello,” murmured a darkly clothed trainer. “I presume you are Ash Ketchum?”

“That’s my name! You’re here to challenge me, I guess?”

“You are correct,” laughed the trainer. I could tell from the voice that the trainer was a girl. A hood was covering her face, and I walked to the opposite side of the battle field. The girl removed the hood to reveal…

“Ash Ketchum! Wake up!” yelled Brock.

“What? But I, you, dark trainer, déjà vu?” Brock looked at me strangely, then handed me my Pokeball belt, and my clothes.

“Get out of bed, get dressed, and get going! Trainers are lining up to fight you!” I sighed and got dressed. I ran down to the battle arena, where the first challenger awaited me. Brock was close behind me, finally reaching a podium at the side of the battle field. Trainers awaiting a battle packed the stands, eager to watch the first challenger’s attempts.

“Ash Ketchum, Pokémon Master!” I called, introducing myself to the challenger. The challenger smiled and nodded.

“Max Maple, Challenger!” Now that I thought about it, the challenger did look like Max.

“Good to see you again, Max! Don’t think I’m going easy against you!”

“I didn’t expect you to!” Max yelled.

“Please choose your first two Pokémon!” called Brock.

“Milotic, Tyranitar! Let’s go!” I called at the same time as Max called out his two Pokémon.

“Fearow, Rampardos! We can win!” I smiled, covering up my expression of confusion. Let’s see, Rampardos was Rock, Fearow was Normal/Flying. Milotic was Water, Tyranitar was Rock/Dark. Tyranitar would do well against Fearow, and Milotic would do well against Rampardos.

“Milotic, use Hydro Pump against Rampardos! Tyranitar, use Stone Edge on Fearow!”

“Fearow, dodge! Rampardos, dodge!” Fearow was quick enough to get out of the way of Tyranitar’s attack, but Rampardos wasn’t so lucky. He was blasted with a hard stream of water from my Milotic.

“Good job, Milotic!” Milotic waved its tail happily.

“Fearow, use Drill Peck on Milotic! Rampardos, use Zen Headbutt on Milotic as well!” I smiled.

“Tyranitar, use Stone Edge on Fearow! Milotic, use another Hydro Pump!” This time, the attacking Pokémon didn’t have a chance of dodging the attacks. Both Rampardos and Fearow were hit with Hydro Pump, and Tyranitar’s Stone Edge did a lot of damage to Fearow. Rampardos stumbled, and then fell to the ground, knocked out.

“Rampardos is unable to battle!” called Brock. Max grabbed Rampardos’s pokeball and called it back. Fearow flapped its wings feebly, refusing to give up.

“Fear… Fearow!” It called. I looked at my Vaporeon, who had come to my side. Pikachu had climbed onto my shoulder, so I assumed I looked like a strange sight.

“What’d Fearow say, Vaporeon?” Vaporeon acted as a translator, seeing as she could speak human language.

“Fearow wanted to know why Rampardos left him. They’re obviously a good team and nearly never get separated,” Vaporeon replied in a calming, sweet voice.

“Alright. Thanks. Milotic, use Hydro Pump one more time!” Milotic used a weaker Hydro Pump, seeing as she had been hit by both Rampardos and Fearow’s attacks. Fearow attempted to withstand the attack, but fell to the ground.

“Fearow is unable to battle! Milotic and Tyranitar win! Two more Pokémon will now be used. Ash, Max, please choose your final two Pokémon.” I called back Milotic and Tyranitar, then let Vaporeon and Pikachu hop onto the field.

“Vaporeon and Pikachu!” I called confidently. “Are you two ready?”

“Pika Pika!”

“I’m ready Ash!”

“Masquerain, Ninetales! Let’s beat them!” Masquerain and a shiny Ninetales came out of Max’s PokéBalls.

“Masque! Rain!”

“Tales! Ninetales!”

“Vaporeon, use your Hydro Pump on Ninetales! Pikachu, use Volt Tackle on Masquerain!”

“You really enjoy Hydro Pump, don’t you?” Max called as he motioned to his two Pokémon. They both tried to dodge but it was too late. Both of my attacks hit head-on. I nodded in response to Max’s question.

“Fine then! Masquerain, use Air Slash on Pikachu! Ninetales, use Dark Pulse on Vaporeon!” I laughed.

“Vaporeon, use Blizzard on Masquerain. Pikachu, use Volt Tackle on Ninetales.” Masquerain was soon caught in a blizzard, so her attack missed Pikachu. Pikachu ran straight towards Ninetales, charging up electricity as he got closer. Ninetales then released a Flamethrower right before Pikachu’s attack could hit.

“Great,” I mumbled. Then I looked back at the battle. Masquerain was still trapped in Vaporeon’s Blizzard, so she couldn’t attack. Pikachu was dodging Ninetales attacks. Then I remembered Vaporeon.

“Give up, Ash?” Max called.

“Never! Vaporeon, use Hydro Pump on Ninetales! Pikachu, use Thunder on Masquerain!” Vaporeon’s Hydro Pump quickly knocked out Ninetales, and Pikachu’s Thunder slashed through the weakening blizzard and knocked out Masquerain.

“Masquerain and Ninetales are unable to battle! The winner is Ash Ketchum, Pokémon Master!” called Brock as the crowd cheered, not only for me, but for the wonderful effort of Max. I walked across the field to where Max was calling back Masquerain and Ninetales. Pikachu and Vaporeon took their places as we finally reached him.

“Wonderful job, Max!” I said, giving my old friend a high-five. “You did great, I almost didn’t recognize you!”

“I enjoyed that battle,” Vaporeon said. “Your Pokémon fight well. You are a brilliant trainer.”

“Thanks, Vaporeon,” Max said. “Would you like to meet the other two?” Pikachu, Vaporeon, and I all nodded. Max tossed up two PokéBalls, and a Venusaur and Espeon came out.

“Saur! Venusaur!” growled Venusaur.

“Espe, Es, Espeon!” said Espeon, eyeing Vaporeon suspiciously.

“Where’s Ralts, or did he evolve?”

“Ralts is living at my house, he enjoys caring for the wild Pokémon in my garden.”

“Oh, so he didn’t evolve?”

“No, he chose not to.”

“Well, Max, you can sit over there by Brock, and we can talk later. I’ve got some battles to win!”