1.Ash's Story (Part 2: Johto)

Chapter 39

"Hey, Ash! The matchups are here." Reisa says as we go to check it out. We find Silver, Ethan, and Harrison in the matchups, and when I found mine, I can't believe it! I'm facing Gary in the top 16 round.

"It's Gary!" I gasp.

"Lucky you. Your Silver Conference experience is going to be a short one. It will be fun." Gary smirks.

"Hey!" I yell back. "Not so fast, there's no way I'm losing to you, Gary!"

"There they go again..." Lillie frowns.

Gary says, "Hey, Ash. Remember this?" I gasped as he took out the half Pokeball. "Of course I remember that. The Pokeball when you and I tied!"

"He kept a Pokeball from when they tied?" Kris is confused.

"Wrong, I consider that one a loss." The words Gary said to me are getting on my nerves.

"Talking to you is already a loss, the battle this time is going to be six on six, and that means one thing, you will be toast." Gary says.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that one, Gary!" I yell back.

"See you at the battlefield." Then he walks away.

That night, I find out the other half of the Pokeball in my backpack, and I say, "It is the very first Pokeball that I got before my start on my journey."

"So what is that all about?" Kris asks Lillie.

Lillie says, "You see...before we started our journey, Ash and I were fishing by a stream, Ash managed to hook a Magikarp, which proceeded to slap him in the face before landing back into the water. Gary, on the other side of the stream, taunted Ash for being unable to name any of Magikarp's attacks, including the Flail that was used on him. The two had liked the stream as a fishing spot, and this caused their rivalry to escalate. When both Ash and Gary caught a bite, both reeled their lines in, but discovered that they had both hooked onto the same rusted Poké Ball. After a brief tug-of-war, the Ball broke in two."

"So they keep each pieces?" Ethan asks.

"Well...Ash was willing to accept that the fishing battle was a draw, but Gary had declared it a loss since he thought that tying with Ash was just as bad as losing." Reisa sighs. "It is also the reason we didn't like him at first."

"I kept this ball as my good luck charm, and this time I am going to show him that I am not an opponent to be underestimated." I say.

"That's the spirit." Lillie says.

"Well, the next day is a rest day, so you should prepare your strategy." East says as we nod.

The next day, Ethan and the others notice Lillie and I bury ourselves in books. "What's all this?" Ethan asks.

"Hey, guys!" Lillie says.

"Have you guys been reading all of those since last night? Aren't you exhausted?"

"Not a bit." I say back. "I couldn't sleep because of my battle with Gary."

Then we decide to go outside for training, and we're still discussing about Gary.

"So it seems like he has no particular type preference like us..." Lillie says.

"Yeah, and he keeps rotating Pokemon like us, so we don't know what he will use." East says.

Reisa says, "I think that your team-battling strategy will be crucial..."

I then look up to see two shadows flying over us. And I can't believe it, it's Charizard and Charla, they have come to help us from the Charicific Valley.