One more note before I start this chapter: Cameron and Virgil don't exist.

XXX

"This two-on-two battle between Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town - " Ash swore he heard Trip "pfft" when the announcer said the name of his hometown. "- and Trip from Nuvema Town will now begin!"

Ash sent his Pokemon out first, "Bayleef, I choose you!" The middle-stage starter emerged from her ball. She ran towards Ash and slammed him to the ground, before nuzzling his face affectionately.

"Bayleef, I missed you, too, but we have a battle!" Ash lectured.

Trip laughed loudly at him as he snapped a picture of him with his camera. "You can't even control your own Pokemon? This might be the easiest battle yet! Conkeldurr, I need your help!" The brown ogre-like Pokemon materialized in front of its trainer, its two pillars being held in place with its hands.

Ash whipped out his Pokedex and scanned it. "NO DATA FOUND." (Remember that he didn't go to Unova.)

"You don't even know this Pokemon? This'll be a snap. Conkeldurr, Mach Punch!" It dug its pillars into the ground, retracted its large fist, and zoomed towards Bayleef with unexpected speed.

"Reflect!" commanded Ash, and a circular orange barrier appeared around the Grass-type, rendering the Mach Punch useless. As soon as it began to fade, Ash gave Bayleef another command. "Razor Leaf!"

It rotated its head and sent leaves at Conkeldurr, who jumped back to its original spot, using its pillars as a defense against the leaves.

"Grass Whistle, let's go!" Bayleef let the leaf on its head fall to its mouth as it whistled a lullaby on it

"No, Conkeldurr, don't listen to it!" Trip yelled, but it was too late as his Pokemon dozed off, its hands still on top of its pillars.

Ash smiled once Conkeldurr fully fell asleep. "Take them away with Vine Whip and use Solar Beam!"

Bayleef extended vines from its neck and gripped the pillars tightly. Since it couldn't hurl them away, it just slapped them on the ground. Then, it charged a ball of energy in its mouth, which was eventually unleashed as a beam of solar energy. It scored a direct hit on Conkeldurr, who was sent flying back a few inches. When the Solar Beam was finished, Conkeldurr was bruised... and still asleep.

Trip could only hopelessly try and wake it up as Bayleef hovered to Conkeldurr (Before anyone says this is impossible, watch the Johto episode "Once in a Blue Moon".) using its leaf as a propeller and slapped its face multiple times, before ascending above it.

"Body Slam!" Bayleef was all too happy to oblige as it stopped rotating its leaf and slammed down on Conkeldurr with all its might. When she got off, Conkeldurr had already woken up, but it was unable to battle.

"Conkeldurr sure had a rude awakening! Go, Ash!" yelled a young boy in the bleachers next to Ursula.

The girl turned to him. "You know Ash?"

The boy's eyes lit up. "Do I? I traveled with him throughout Hoenn! It was awesome!" Ursula listened intently as he discussed their various adventures, including the time that Ash beat Norman, only to have the badge taken away.

Meanwhile, with Ash and Trip, the latter had sent out a large, overgrown lime green snake after both Bayleef and Conkeldurr were recalled. "You may have beat my Conkeldurr, but you'll never be able to beat my Serperior!"

Get ready for this, Ash thought, before tossing another Poke Ball into the air. "Quick Attack, go!" A huge line of fire emerged from the ball, quickly zooming towards Serperior. Most of the audience tried to guess what Pokemon that was. A few people even guessed it was a Zoroark. Ursula laughed at that; he hadn't even been to Unova, so how would he have gotten a Zoroark?

Trip's jaw dropped. "Dodge it and use Solar Beam!"

His Serperior quickly slithered out of the way before charging up the attack, not unlike Bayleef earlier on.

"Flame Wheel!" The flaming line grew more circular and more large as the solar beam of energy headed towards it. To everyone's surprise, the wheel of fire split the beam in half. Trip's Serperior was speedy, but in the middle of an attack, it was helpless as whatever Pokemon Ash had went through the powerful Grass-type attack and struck it in its face, charring it all over its upper body.

"Finish it off with Flamethrower!" Still unrevealed, Ash's Pokemon unleashed a stream of flames that washed over its opponent, taking it down once and for all.

Ash congratulated his unknown Pokemon and recalled it as he was announced the winner. He didn't even bother sticking around for Trip's reaction, instead opting to go back to his seat in the bleachers. He perked up when he saw Ursula conversing with an old friend of his.

"Max! Nice to see ya again!" he called to him.

"Ash! That was - "

"Pathetic," another all-too familiar voice cut in. Without looking, he knew it was Paul.

"Who is this chump?" Max glared at the purple-haired boy indignantly.

Paul ignored him and faced Ash. "You should have been able to take him on easily. I should have been the one to take on Tobias. But you know what? I've come to a conclusion. Infernape is your crutch."

"What is he talking about?" Ursula whispered to him.

"Don't play dumb. You saw his matches against Tobias and Trip, didn't you? Against Tobias, he could only manage to take down Darkrai and Latios - "

Max gasped. "Ash, you took down two legendary Pokemon? Why didn't you tell me? You have to show me a recording of it sometime!"

Paul went on, "And against Trip, your second Pokemon took down Serperior with ease, while Bayleef struggled with Conkeldurr and could have easily lost if it didn't put it to sleep, so I can only conclude that that mystery Pokemon was Infernape, and that you suck without it. You couldn't win a match without that Pokemon!"

"Wasn't it you that said it was too weak?" Ash retorted.

"Yes, and that hasn't changed," Paul answered. "Every dog has its day at some point."

"Of course! Don't worry, your day will come!" Ash replied back.

Paul's face contorted into one of anger, unable to think of a comeback. He settled for simply mumbling "I'll show you in the battlefield" and walking away. Max, Ursula, and a few others couldn't stop laughing.

Soon, Max was called to the field to battle a trainer from another faraway region. Max's Sceptile easily dispatched the opponent's Pokemon, which looked like some sort of ghostly sword with eyes. That was the last battle of the day, so everyone was dismissed. All of the ones who battled went to the Pokemon Center to heal their Pokemon.

"I'm going to need all of your Pokemon," Nurse Joy said to Ash.

"But my battle was two-on-two," Ash told her.

"The official league rules say that they need to be inspected interspersing each match, just in case of minor injuries that may not be noticeable by the average trainer, certain materials injected into it, and more," she reminded him.

"Oh, right!" Ash gave his Poke Balls and a sad Pikachu to the nurse, before sitting on the bench with Max and Ursula. At one point, Ash accidentally nudged Ursula, gaining an embarrassed reaction from her.

"S-Sorry ab - " Ash tried to apologize.

Luckily, Nurse Joy's loud voice boomed over the speakers, saving Ash from trying miserably to salvage the situation.

"Your Pokemon are all in good hands now and will be back in just a few minutes. In the later rounds, you'd better be prepared for a lot of trouble, and be ready to pay back your opponent double!" she chirped.

I can think of one person I'd like to pay back... Ash thought, a bit confused.

"Hey, I gave you my Pokemon an hour ago! Where are they?!" a muscular man complained, cutting into Ash's thoughts. This immediately started a riot.

"Patience, young ones! They'll be there soon!" The pink-haired lady tried to calm them all down.

"Young one? I'm older than you by a country mile!" a bitter old man whined.

Wait a minute, trouble, double? Ash pointed to the spot where Nurse Joy formerly was. "It's Team Rocket!" He bolted up and jumped over the desk, chasing after the supposed Nurse Joy.

"Ash, wait up!" Max and Ursula called out at the same time, chasing after him. They ran through the hallways after Ash. There were doors on each side, and Max's eye caught a bound and gagged woman in the room to the right, and another one in the room on the opposite side. He stopped Ursula and showed her what he saw.

"Ash, we'll catch up with you later! We'll save the Nurse Joys!" Ursula shouted to him. As they each opened a door and entered a separate room, they shut off by themselves, having locked them in.

Max and Ursula went to the doors and pounded on them. "Let us out!"

Meanwhile, with Ash, he had already confronted the impostor Nurse Joy at a dead end. "Stop right there, Team Rocket!"

"'Stop right there!', a feeble cry indeed!" she mocked, in a more dominating voice.

"The answer to come - " Another figure, in a Nurse Joy outfit that was less convincing as a disguise, mostly due to the blue hair and more manly structure, dropped down from the ceiling and next to the better imitation Nurse Joy. "When...we feel the need!"

"Bringing the blinding white light of chaos into the future!"

"Thrusting the hammer of justice down onto the black darkness of the universe!"

"And carving our names into the rock of eternity!" a bipedal cat-like Pokemon hopped down from the ceiling as well, landing on all fours.

"The fiery destroyer, I'm Jessie!"

"With thunderous emotion, I'm James!"

"I'm the wisest of the wise, Meowth!" Meowth pressed a button on a remote, and the floor beneath Ash opened up. He had to grab on to the edge so that he wouldn't fall in.

"Now gather under the name of Team Rocket!"

The three of them flew out of an open window using their jetpacks, leaving Ash to try and get back on solid ground.

"I won't get them get away..." he groaned, as he managed to hurl himself up. He then jumped out of the window and saw a balloon in the air. It was shaped like a Meowth's head, and had a basket below. Of course, Team Rocket were just sitting in it, smiling. Tied to it was a large bag, which Ash assumed were the Poke Balls.

There was one problem, though: Without any Pokemon of his own, how could he reach them?