Pokemon Moonlight Silver (COMPLETE!!!)

[EmeraldSky]

@Scytherwolf; @Soups;

Episode 116a: Love, Pokemon Style (part 1)

"Okay, Master bracket..." Ash mused as he brought up the massive tournament bracket on the Johto League Web site the next morning.

After scrolling down past hundreds of names and faces he didn't recognize, he found his picture in one group. "There I am..." he grinned.

"So, where are you in this massive bracket?" Brock asked as he arrived in the room, intrigued in the millions of names and faces on the computer screen.

"I am right here, in Group H." Ash replied, proudly pointing at his picture in the bracket. "Any advice on what I can expect?"

"Well, I did a little research on the competition last night..." Brock began as he pulled up a chair to the desk. "Click on 'Competition Rules', please."

Once Ash had clicked over to the requested page in a new tab, Brock went on "The semifinal round is a round-robin tournament, where each trainer battles against each other once—with two points for a win, one for a tie, and nothing for a loss. The trainer with the most points in the group stage will move on to the Victory Tournament."

"That makes a lot more sense than this legalese and weird diagrams..." Ash smiled as he clicked back to the tab with the master bracket. "I think I get what I am supposed to do, but I hope to win anyway."

After getting up from the desk, he invited Tintri aboard his shoulder. "This is it, bud--what we came all this way to do!"

---------

Ash shielded his eyes as he stepped out of the Pokemon Center and into the sunshine. It's bright today...

He glanced at the printout of his group he had printed before departing. "Let's see, my first opponent is someone named Macy..."

"Oh, a Pikachu!" a brown haired girl smiled as she approached Ash, with a Vulpix trotting beside her. "You must be my first opponent if you've got a Pikachu on your shoulder...I'm Macy, by the way."

"Nice to meet you...I'm Ash, and this is Tintri." Ash replied, petting Tintri all the while.

"Why does Tintri sit on your shoulder all the time? Shouldn't he be in a Poke Ball?" Macy wondered.

"Tintri just never really liked being in a Poke Ball--so I let him sit with me and walk with me." Ash explained.

"That's so sweet!" Macy smiled. "But not half as sweet as Ember!" she grinned, making a grand gesture to the Vulpix that walked beside her.

"In a battle of toughness, who would win?" Ash challenged.

"Ember is both sweet and tough!" Macy shot back. The two of them continued exchanging challenges, each one getting louder and louder by the moment:

"Then I hope you're ready for the shock of your life!"

"And I hope you're ready to feel the burn!"

"Oh yeah? I will come at you with the fury of a storm!"

"And I'll meet you right back with a powerful wildfire!"

A referee's whistle brought the escalating conversation to a screeching halt before it could turn into an actual battle. "All right, break it up!" Brock called as he pulled Ash and Macy apart. "I love that both of you are fired up and excited, but you need to keep your Pokemon strong for the tournament." he explained.

Ash did not, however, expect Macy to approach him with heart eyes. "Wow...so courageous, confident, and powerful! Just as a raging volcano creates lightning, so does my love and passion burn for you!"

"Wait, what?" Ash started to back away, afraid that Macy would tackle him in the throes of love.

"How would you like to--!" Macy started before spotting Misty approaching them. "Oh, you mean you already have a girlfriend?"

"What?" Misty gasped. "Let's get one thing perfectly straight here...there is a BIG difference between a girl that is a friend, and a girlfriend, okay? Boys and girls CAN in fact be friends with no romantic implications."

She went on "Besides, I'm competing in something totally different from you two...my friendship with Ash is just that--a friendship. No more, and no less."

"Good luck in the Pokethlon." Ash whispered to Misty before hurrying off to to a training arena for last minute preparations. What makes her think I'm boyfriend material? he thought. I've never even met her before today--so I don't know her background, I don't know her interests and tastes...and she probably doesn't even know my background, interests, and tastes!

"You have to take me out on a date after the match if I win!" he heard Macy call after him, which spurred him to run even faster.

Misty sighed as Macy hurried off. "What makes her think she and Ash are romantic partners? Ash doesn't look to me like the romantic type."

She sighed as she started towards the majestic Pokethlon dome near the training arena. "No matter...I have my own competition to prepare for. We'll worry about this later."

---------

"Ready?" the announcer called as a group of Pokethletes braced themselves for the start of the Relay Run. Unlike Misty's previous Pokethlons, Misty now had seven other competitors instead of three in the circular pool.

[Here we go!] Michelle cried before diving in at the starting gun, allowing her to surface ahead of a Dewgong and an Empoleon. [Speed is better than size!] she taunted as she powered down the backstretch rapids, passing a Milotic on the way to complete her first lap.

The crowd in the stands watched as the field of eight water Pokemon jockey for position in the pool. They cheered as another one passed the line, and sighed when a Pokemon had to finally stop before the two minute timer was up.

By the time Misty emerged from the water with fifteen laps some time later, she smiuled when she saw she had come in a solid third place. "Not bad for our Grand Pokethlon debut..."

[I could've easily broken the 20 lap record with a little more time.] Michele smiled as she shook herself dry.

"You have to remember that in the Grand Pokethlon, we will participate in all ten events, so you need to save her strength." Misty reminded Michelle as they started towards the locker rooms to prepare for the next event.

[What was all that with Ash and that girl before?] Michelle wondered. [Ash doesn't look like a ladies' man to me...]

"He's not...this seems like Temacu 2.0, with Ash as the target for the lovesick lady." Misty replied. "Besides, Macy may lose interest in Ash sooner or later, and go after some other boy."

---------

"Well done on finishing in the top three in the Relay Run." Ash smiled as Misty met him and Brock in the room later that evening.

"Thanks...did you ever get that Macy girl off your back?" Misty asked.

"Haven't seen her since our awkward trash talk." Ash replied. "I'm still trying to figure out what makes her think I'm her boyfriend..."

He turned business-like again. "For now, I'm not gonna worry about that--I'm gonna make up my team for tomorrow's match!"

"Whoa there, cowboy..." Brock pulled Ash back from the desk. "First rule of battling: Know thy enemy."

"Yeah--before you throw together a rag tag team that has no chance on this big a stage, it's a good idea to read up on your opponent first." Misty agreed as Brock led Ash to the desk.

After typing "www.globalpkmnleague.net/johto" into the browser's address bar and bringing up the master bracket from the Johto League homepage, Ash scrolled a little before finding Macy's picture in the Group H block, and opened her profile in a new tab. "Here she is...she has Vulpix, Slugma, and Quilava—all Fire Pokémon."

"Then you need as many Water types as you can find." Misty replied.

"But I only have two—River and Brenna." Ash sighed. "I asked Officer Jenny to send over Brenna and have one of my active team sit the match out so Brenna can compete, but where am I gonna get a third Water type?"

"I'll lend you one of mine that's not competing in a Pokethlon event." Misty replied.

Brock, meanwhile, motioned for Ash and Misty to look at the computer screen. "You may not want a full water team...I found out that she has something to counter that."

"I know I'm using River and Brenna, no matter what, but if she may have a counter for that, who should I pick?" Ash wondered.

With Ash and Misty occupied discussing strategy, Brock clicked over to another tab displaying Ash's team entry form. River and Brenna were already confirmed, but the third Poke Ball was blank. I know just the one for the job... he smiled as he found Aina in the drop down list of Ash's registered Pokemon, selected her, and clicked CONFIRM.

To Be Continued...