Chapter 10 – The First Battle and New Allies?

With half an hour until Jessie's and James's match everyone left the house and were teleported back to their hotel rooms by Mewtwo, Cynthia included, who had also decided to appear at that point, and everyone else got ready for the first-round of battles. Before they all left, Ash sent out a Psychic message to a Pokémon that loved playing games and Mewtwo was once again being dragged away by his sister Mew.

Ash released his Alakazam to teleport everyone down to the Stadium, and they proceeded to the V.I.P. section and waited for the stadium to start filling, soon the roar of the crowd increased, and Jessie and James took it as their queue to make their way down to the waiting rooms for their battle. Ash and his friends made their way to the V.I.P. stands which were in a box separate to the rest of the stands and sat down in the front rows. Soon it was time to begin.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to the First Round of the Mt. Silver Pokémon League Opening Tournament!" Ken said, "These next few weeks are going to be none stop action consisting of Parties, Mini Tournament games and of course the crowd favorite, Pokémon Battles."

"Now, the first battle is about to get underway, so may I welcome the Elite Double team, Jessie, and James," Amy said, the crowd roared as the engaged couple was raised from under the battlefield, "And may I also welcome Luke and Casey of Mauville Town, Hoenn." The other two trainers walked out with the crowd cheering, especially the Hoenn supporters who were hoping for their trainers to do well in the Tournament.

"Now then, Referee Zack, the Pitch is under your control." Ken said, and all was silent.

"This is a 6 on 6 double battle between Elites Jessie and James vs Luke and Casey both of Mauville Town, each trainer can use 3 Pokémon each, when all 6 Pokémon on one side are unable to continue then the battle is over, send out your Pokémon." Zack said in a voice that said that he had rehearsed this, many times, Jessie sent out a Vileplume whilst James sent out a Leavanny, Luke sent out a Typhlosion and Casey sent out a Girafarig, "Is each trainer ready?" Zack asked, when he received a nod of each of the trainers he raised his flags saying, "Luke and Casey have the first move, battle begin."

"Alright, Typhlosion, use Eruption." "Girafarig, Protect." Luke and Casey said at the same time, it was clear that they had battled together many times because the two Pokémon did not even hesitate at their trainers talking over one another, the Long Neck Pokémon surrounded itself in a green dome whilst the Eruption Pokémon released the fire attack from the fire holes on the back of it neck and they went all over the field, Jessie and James did not even say anything as their Pokémon were engulphed by the attack, once the attack cleared two figures were visible for a few seconds before flickering out of existence revealing Leavanny and Vileplume to be completely unharmed.

"Amazing folks," Ken said, "It seems that Elites Jessie and James instructed their Vileplume and Leavanny to use Substitute to protect their Pokémon from the raging Eruption attack from Luke's Typhlosion."

"It was also some very good tactics from Luke and Casey for one to attack using an attack that would affect the whole field whilst the other defended from the attack." Amy added.

"Toxic," Jessie and James said as one, Leavanny and Vileplume both released the poisonous gunk at the two unexpecting Pokémon causing them to be poisoned, before Luke and Casey could react a sunny day was released by Leavanny and Vileplume sent a powerful Solarbeam into Girafarig knocking it down, amazingly it stood back up only to faint due to the poison affecting the Normal/Psychic type.

"Girafarig is unable to battle, Trainer Casey, please send out your next Pokémon." Zack called out, Casey recalled Girafarig, thanked it for its efforts and releases a Skarmory.

Luke quickly called out for a Wild Charge which Typhlosion complied with by charging towards Vileplume and Leavanny at an amazing pace with a static like yellow aura surrounding it, Typhlosion wanted to avenge its fallen friend badly, but James was quicker and called out for Leavanny to use Grass Knot which tripped up Typhlosion, it then fainted from the combined damage of Grass Knot, the recoil damage of the unsuccessful Wild Charge and the poison affecting the Pokémon.

"Typhlosion is unable to battle, Trainer Luke, please send out your next Pokémon." Zack called out, Luke proceeded to recall his Typhlosion, thanking it for its hard work and called out his Magnazone.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Up in the V.I.P. stands it was obvious what the strategy was for Luke and Casey, first they tried the Hit and Run technique to disable Jessie's and James' first choice of Pokémon and now they were going for an all-out type advantage over the Elites speciality.

"It's not going to work," Ash said to Brock as they were sitting next to each other, "Jessie and James have always come up with some unique way of defeating an opponent with a type advantage."

"Your right Red," Brock replied, he looked around the V.I.P. stands to see that all the other Elites and Champions were watching the battle with their undivided attention to see how Jessie and James battled, to say they were impressed was an understatement, most of them had their mouths hanging open in surprise, "They will finish this round in 5 moves."

"I say 3 each." Ash said.

"Usual stakes?"

"Of course."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"Vileplume Return." Jessie said as she returned Vileplume, swapping the Pokéball for another she called out her Serviper. The poisonous snake let out its

"Go Amoonguss." James recalled Leavanny before calling out the Mushroom Pokémon from Unova. The Pokémon landed with a loud thud and moved its arms into a fighting stance, which looked rather strange for an over grown mushroom. The two Pokémon let out their respective roars as a challenge to the opposition.

"Skarmory and Magnazone vs Serviper and Amoonguss, battle begin."

"Magnazone, Electric Terrain." Luke called out as Casey ordered Skarmory to use Tailwind. Magnazone gathered electricity in the magnets on its body before releasing it in a pulse like aura that made the battlefield glow yellow whilst at the same time, Skarmory started to beat its metal wings creating a strong gale increasing its speed.

"Amoongus, Grassy Terrain." James called out as Jessie commanded Serviper to use Coil. Amoongus raised its arms before slamming them into the ground releasing vines and roots which collided with the Electric Terrain resulting in no overall advantage, whilst Serviper coiled its self-up increasing its attack, defence and speed.

"Would you look at that folks," Ken began, "Elite James has cancelled the effects of Magnezone's Electric Terrain by having his Amoongus us its own Grassy Terrain, this is something that I for certainly have never seen before."

"It is amazing with the ideas that Elite Four members are able to come up with." Amy said agreeing with Ken.

"Alright Serviper, use Haze." Jessie said, "Amoongus, use Sunny Day after the Haze attack has been released." James ordered. Serviper raised its head from its coiled body and released a wave of gas over the battlefield, using this as a distraction, Amoongus made a ball of pure energy before sending it skyward, but not high enough for it to escape the gas cloud.

"Dam can't see a thing, Skarmory use Defog." Casey called out. Her Skarmory started to beat its wings once again but harder this time, this caused a small Gale to form blowing away the gas cloud, but the sight before them was worse than not being able to see.

"NOW!" Jessie and James called out at the same time. Seviper has coiled its-self around Amoongus so its head was in-between Ammongus's out stretched arms, the two Pokémon released a combined attack which consisted of a Flamethrower from Serviper and a Solarbeam from Amoongus, the two attacks combined creating a single beam of pure energy and struck Magnazone and Skarmory at the same time, once the two Pokémon stopped their attack the audience could see that both Magnazone and Skarmory were out of the battle.

"Magnazone and Skarmory are unable to battle, Trainers Luke and Casey, please send out your final Pokémon."

"And it could all be over for the Mauville Duo Luke and Casey as they have one Pokémon each whilst Elites Jessie and James have three Pokémon each to battle with." Amy says.

"Yes, it does look like Luke and Casey are backed into a corner with no escape." Ken added.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"I believe that I win our bet Rocky."

"Fine, when do you want to do it Red?"

"Well do it later after all of the matches."

"Very well."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Luke returned his Magnazone and called out, "Mismagius, avenge your fallen comrades." The Pokéball opened to reveal the Magical Pokémon which floated in front of Luke, at the same time Casey called out a Pokémon which caused Serviper to coil up in anger.

"Well folks it looks like Luke and Casey are going for the team of Mismagius and Zangoose, will James and Jessie switch out their Pokémon?" Ken announced.

"Now why would I switch out Serviper when he will instantly come back out." Jessie said.

"Well if you're not switching out then I'm not switching out." James replied.

"Mismagius and Zangoose vs Amoonguss and Serviper, battle begin."

"Mismagius use Shadow Ball on Amoonguss"

"Zangoose use Crush Claw on Serviper."

Mismagius charged up her Shadow Ball ready to fire as Zangoose rushed at Serviper with its claws extended glowing a harsh grey colour, rage clear in its eyes, it was amazing that Zangoose was obeying its trainer at all.

"Amoongus, rapid fire Energy Ball." James called out.

"Poison Tail, En Garde." Jessie commanded.

Amoongus moved its hands as though it was punching something releasing small Energy Balls one after another towards Mismagius, Serviper on the other hand slithered towards Zangoose and raised its tail which not glowed in a deadly purple colour and traded blows with Zangoose's claws as though Serviper was an actual Fencer, Mismagius was easily overpowered by the barrage of Energy Balls that struck it and it lost control of the Shadow Ball it was creating which blew up in its face. Zangoose was trading blows with Serviper repeatedly, but nothing was working for Zangoose, it just got hit repeatedly by Serviper's Poison Tail, the hatred between the two species of Pokémon became too much for Zangoose who let out a loud roar and went on a rampage using Close Combat and Slash repeatedly.

"Oh no, it looks like Zangoose is out of control." Ken exclaimed as Casey tried to get Zangoose to listen to her.

"Yes, no matter how hard she tries Zangoose will not do anything she says," Amy stated, "This must be down to the rivalry between Zangoose and Serviper getting in the way of its trainer's orders, it's amazing that Serviper is listening to Jessie's commands on where to move to avoid Zangoose's attacks."

Jessie was in fact telling Serviper where to go, James on the other hand called for another Energy Ball on Mismagius who fainted from the attack this time, he looked at Jessie and could see on her face that it would be pointless to join in so he just returned Amoongus indicating to Zack that he was finished.

"Mismagius is unable to battle and Amoongus has been returned, the battle is now down to Jessie's Serviper and Casey's Zangoose." Zack announced.

"Serviper, finish this with Dark Pulse." Jessie shouted, Serviper jumper in the air with its tail now glowing in a black colour that seemed to draw light in and slammed it into the ground, this created a ring of Dark energy that pulsed outwards from Serviper's tail and slammed into Zangoose sending it flying into the wall of the battlefield, once the dust had dispersed Zangoose was revealed to be knocked out.

"Zangoose is unable to battle, Serviper wins, therefore the Battle goes to Elites Jessie and James." Zack announced.

"Well there you have it folks, after an intense battle Elites Jessie and James are the clear winners." Ken said.

"It's a good thing too, Zangoose's are known to go on a rampage for hours once they defeat their enemies, Serviper's are commonly the same but Jessie's is clearly well trained." Amy added.

Jessie and James walked over to Luke and Casey smiling, "Well done," Jessie said, "I am sorry that you had to be paired up with us, you could have done well in this Tournament."

"Yeah, but we still lost." Luke said in a dejected tone of voice.

"Lost or not it was a good battle," James said, trying to raise the boy's spirits, "That starting move would take out most Pokémon in a double battle, our reactions were just a bit too fast for you."

"Thanks," Casey said, "For now though, we will just sit and watch the rest of the Tournament and work on some new tactics for future purposes."

"We wish you both the best of luck." Jessie and James said before both pairs turned around and walked back through the tunnels they came from.

"Now, we will have a ten-minute break before our next battle," Ken said, "The next battle will be between Hadrian of Goldenrod City and Victor of Castelia City against Joey of Driftveil City and Oliver of Saffron City."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"Well I am going to take a quick walk before my match," Ash said to Brock, "If I'm not back in fifteen minutes then I'll message you why."

"Sure thing Red." Brock said.

Making his way outside with Lucario in tow and Pikachu under his hood, Ash walked around the PokéPark taking in the fresh air when he saw two people standing on the path, unmoving and staring at him, one was dressed completely in Red and seemed to hold himself with a sense of seriousness that most people could never manage, the other was dressed completely in Blue, he was taller than the man in Red but Ash could feel the energetic vibes coming off him.

"Alpha," Ash said looking at the man in Blue who nodded, Ash then turned to look at the man in Red who nodded when Ash spoke his name "And Omega, or should I say, Archie and Maxie?"

Neither man reacted to what Ash said, it was though they had not heard him say anything. Until finally the man in Blue said, "You are correct Champion Red Satoshi."

"But we now go by Alpha and Omega." Maxie finished.

"We wish to talk to you."

"About why we are no longer in Prison."

"And about why we need to find the man called Ash Ketchum."

Ash stood there and stared at them, in his hood Pikachu was whispering, "What are you doing Ash they can't be trusted," whilst Lucario just stood next to Ash and stared back at the two Team Leaders.

"What were the goals of your respective teams." Ash said, knowing the answer, but wondering if they would give the right answer.

"Team Aqua wanted to expand the oceans to create more area for Water Pokémon to thrive in." Archie answered.

"Team Magma wanted to expand the land to create more area for all Pokémon to live on." Maxie stated.

Ash stood there and had a very fast mental conversation with Mewtwo, Pikachu and Lucario about whether the Line in the Prophecy 'When friends become enemies and enemies become friends' referred to Archie and Maxie.

"We have half an hour, follow me." Ash said and walked off with the Team Leaders of Aqua and Magma following behind him.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Back in the VIP section of the main stadium Brock stood at the edge of the balcony looking down at the match unfolding before him, or that was what he appeared to be doing, he was actually using his visor which Meowth had adapted to be able to zoom in on certain images to be seen up close and show if there was a foreign object on someone, as he looked around he came across a large man wearing a leather jacket, the most interesting thing was the hand gun he had in his jacket's inner pocket. "Connect Looker," Brock said into the microphone in his helmet.

"Looker connected," came the response from Looker.

"I'm currently looking at a large man in a leather jacket with a hand gun in one of his pockets," Brock said, "He appears to be sitting in seat 27 row P of section F."

"I got people currently in section H, they will be there momentarily."

"Thanks Looker, Brock Disconnecting." Brock then turned away from the match to go to the toilet, as he walked away, Flint asked, "Aren't you going to watch the last of the match?"

"Carmen will win in five moves from her next Pokémon." Brock replied, he got back just in time to see the girls Politoad use Water Pulse to win the match. Flint called out, "Five moves Rocky, five moves."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Ash led Archie and Maxie to the back of the Poké Park where there was a giant cliff face, he placed his hand on the earthen wall and let his Aura seep into the cliff face, the earth seemed to fall away from the area around his hand but disappeared before it hit the ground until an archway big enough for the group to walkthrough one by one was made, Ash led the group in and the archway re-sealed itself once everyone was inside. Torches that lined the walls of the tunnel light upon their own accord and revealed a study/lounge area.

"Welcome to my hideout, this is where I can do all of my work in peace or relax by myself away from everyone after a long day." Ash said as he sat down behind his desk and moved some of his work out of the way, "Please sit and explain your situation to me."

Archie and Maxie sat at the two chairs that appeared out of nowhere as Ash said sit, they suspected a Psychic Type Pokémon was responsible, and took it in turns explaining what had happened.

"We had been in jail for a couple of years after the incident with Kyoger and Groudon when we heard a rumour that Team Rocket was growing stronger, not long later we were broken out of prison by none other than Giovanni." Maxie started.

"From what we gather, Giovanni had bribed one of his guards to break him out of his cell and into a car," Archie continued, "Rumour has it that there was an accident on the road that lead to the death of a veteran prison officer that was returning home after a long shift where he lost control of the car due to high fatigue."

"Similar reports came in just weeks after in each region which resulted in the multi prison breakout of the other team bosses, including Lysander," Maxie said, "We also have reasons to believe that he had outside help, who we don't know, but we have seen him being followed around by someone who covers their face with a mask, the only thing we can clearly identify the person by is their long light navy-blue hair."

"Light navy-blue hair," Ash muttered, "Well there aren't many people with a hair style like that. Now why do you need to find Ash Ketchum?"

Archie and Maxie looked at each other before coming to a mental agreement when they both turned back to face Ash, Maxie said, "Ash Ketchum, along with his friends and Champion Lance of the G-Men were able to subdued both Kyoger and Groudon as well as stop both of our Team from achieving our goals which would have destroyed the world as we know it due to the both of us underestimating the power that the two Legendary Pokémon had when they fought each other."

"Our intel tells us that Ash Ketchum has had a hand in the fall of each of the Organisations that have tried to seize power in each region except for the Kalos region where you were the one to prevent Team Flare from activating the Doomsday Device," Archie said, "It's not that we doubt your ability to save that day, the reason we need the Ketchum kid is because he has the experience of fighting the other team Bosses."

Ash leaned back in his chair and mentally asked Mewtwo, "Are they telling the truth?"

"Yes, they are," Came the reply, "They also know that you have a Psychic Pokémon in the room, they just don't know that it is me."

Ash nodded to what Mewtwo said, Maxie and Archie did not ask what it was for knowing that he was probably asking his Psychic Pokémon something about them. Through his aura, Ash asked Lucario and Pikachu, "What do you think guys?"

Lucario answered, "Their auras are true, there is a clear indication of their deeds in the past, but the rest of their aura is overflowing with good intentions."

"Arceus' prophecy did state that 'Enemies become Friends' Ash." Pikachu said, adding his own two PokéDollars.

Satisfied with their thought's, as well as his own, Ash said, "So if I was to get in contact with Ash Ketchum, how would you be able to guarantee that you will not just hand him, and myself, over to the other Team Bosses?"

Archie grinned at this, he turned to Maxie and said, "I told you that he was going to ask us this."

Sighing, Maxie adjusted his glasses and said, "We both agreed to return to prison at the end of the situation at hand and continue out our prison sentences, our teams we created to make the world better for Pokémon."

"And you'll be damned sure that we will keep it safe for the sake of the Pokémon." Archie added.

Ash just sat there for a minute, staring at the two of them as he weighed up his options, eventually, he reached across his desk to shake their hands, "To saving the world," both Maxie and Archie shock Ash's hand and when they had finished, Ash said, "I'll be in contact." And snapped his fingers. Mewtwo teleported the two of them out of his hideout. Ash stared at the spot where the two of them had just sat and said to himself.

"I just hope I made the right decision."

Author's Note

So, I owe you all an even bigger explanation this time right. The only way to explain it was a huge loss of motivation and extreme writers block. I didn't want to just give up because that is against all I personally stand for, and I didn't want to give it up for adoption because of the same reasons.

I have ideas for the story for the future, it was just writing this part being the hard part, but rest assured, I will try to get chapters out every two weeks now. The chapters will generally be 4,000 words in length, this actual chapter is 3788 when you take this author's note out of it. I know I said I was going to try for longer chapters, but it just wasn't working out for me, maybe I will try again at some point.

There is a poll active on my page if anyone is interested in me writing a Harry Potter Fanfiction on the side, its set in the Marauder Era and is centred around my own OC and the Marauders plus a few others from the books, if you are interested, please vote, if you're not, vote anyway.

Anyway, thank you for all of those who will continue to support me.

Hope you enjoyed this instalment of Friends, Traitors and a New League.

Zeffairan