Author's Note: Hello everyone and welcome to my first attempt at writing a story. This will be an Ash/Cynthia pairing as there aren't too many stories with that pairing and I wanted to begin writing with something unique. As this is my first story, I hope everyone will be able to review and tell me what they like, what they didn't and anything else I could change. This would greatly help me become a better writer as I will be reading every single review to see what I can change and make better and what I can retain that is good. Finally, thank you for giving this story a chance and giving me a chance to develop my skills as a writer. I assure you my AN will not be this long from now on, if any.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon in any way or shape.

"Pikachu, use Volt Tackle!"

With a burst of speed, Pikachu charged towards its opponent while covered in an electrically charged light. Before the defending Pokémon could even move a single step in self defence, Pikachu hit it head on with its powerful tackle. As both Pikachu and Gyarados hit the water, only the Electric Mouse Pokémon emerged out of the water conscious.

"Gyarados is unable to battle, therefore victory goes to Pikachu!"

As Ash and Pikachu embraced each other in a hug in celebration of their victory, Crasher Wake was starting to look quite worried. As he returned Gyarados back into its Pokéball, he started to think of what his last Pokémon should be. When the match had first started, it had been Pikachu vs. Quagsire. Due to Quagsire's Ground typing, Pikachu hadn't been making much progress, so Ash had quickly been forced to switch Pikachu with Turtwig. Turtwig had been able to take out Quagsire relatively quickly with its Energy Ball, but got beat down fast against Crasher Wake's Gyarados. In retaliation, Ash quickly had Pikachu take center stage again, and the yellow rodent had used its amazing speed to outmatch Gyarados and take it down with a single Volt Tackle. Now Crasher Wake was left at a disadvantageous position, with Ash having his Pikachu and one other Pokémon remaining, while he only had his last Pokémon left. Well, Crasher Wake wasn't going to throw down the towel just yet! His final Pokémon will turn everything around and win him the match, he just knew it. He just had to have faith in his remaining Pokémon, and believe that it would pull through for him.

"Well Ash, you've done amazingly well against me so far and I am more than impressed with your skill and strength. However, this is where it all ends. Prepare to face my strongest Pokémon of all, Floatzel!"

As Floatzel emerged from its Pokéball, it landed gracefully on a platform and smirked at Pikachu, causing the electric rodent to get a little nervous. Noticing this, Ash looked at Pikachu and smiled.

"Don't worry Pikachu; this match will be a piece of cake. Victory is as good as ours, just you wait and see!"

In the stands, Brock and Dawn were watching the match progress with much attention and cheering Ash on. Brock looked at Floatzel and went into deep thought. Dawn who was sitting next to him noticed this, and asked him what was wrong.

"Well, Ash's Pikachu may have the type advantage here, but that Floatzel looks much stronger than any of Crasher Wake's other two Pokémon. Not to mention that Pikachu is quite worn out from its battles against Quagsire and Gyarados. I'm afraid this may not be as easy as Ash thinks."

Dawn looked at Ash's Pikachu and had to admit that Pikachu did look very tired, and was panting hard even as it stared at Floatzel with confidence burning in its eyes. Meanwhile Floatzel was staring down Pikachu with a somewhat bored look, as though it thought that Pikachu wasn't really worth fighting and that it was just a waste of its time. Ash decided not to waste any more time and had Pikachu start off with a Quick Attack. As Pikachu got quite close to Floatzel, Ash quickly had Pikachu use Iron Tail. But just as the attack was about to hit, Crasher Wake had Floatzel use Aqua Jet to avoid the attack at the last second, resulting in Floatzel quickly coming up behind Pikachu and hitting it full force, taking both of them into the water. As Pikachu struggled to swim to the top, Floatzel came in with another Aqua Jet. Before the attack had hit its mark however, Pikachu let loose a thunderbolt underwater that quickly spread and giving Floatzel an electrifying experience.

As the sea weasel was trying to recover from it injuries, Pikachu took the opportunity to quickly swim to the top and get onto a platform. Ash decided to get in another thunderbolt in a bid to finish this match quickly, but Crasher Wake had other plans. Floatzel quickly emerged from the water with Aqua Jet right as Pikachu's Thunderbolt hit the water. Floatzel rammed into Pikachu, sending him into the air. Before Pikachu even had a chance to get his bearings, Floatzel got in a direct hit with Razor Wind. This combo proved to be too much for poor Pikachu as it ended up on a platform with spirals in its eyes.

"Pikachu is unable to battle, therefore victory goes to Floatzel!"

As Floatzel got onto another platform, Ash pondered over what his last Pokémon should be. That Floatzel was indeed very powerful, and it would take a Pokémon that was just as skilled in combat in a watery terrain to defeat it. All of a sudden, realization hit Ash, and he pulled out his next Pokéball.

"I choose you, Buizel!"

Buizel stood proudly on one of the platforms with its arms crossed as it stared down Floatzel. However, Floatzel didn't seem to be too worried. If anything, it looked even more confident upon seeing its pre-evolved form. Since it was the evolved form of Buizel, the Sea Weasel Pokémon was quite sure that it was the stronger of the two, and that it would be the one to win this fight hands down. This time, Crasher Wake decided to get things started first and had Floatzel charge in with an Aqua Jet. At the same time, Ash had Buizel counter with an Aqua Jet of its own. When the two priority attacks hit each other, both Buizel and Floatzel were blasted away from each other from the resulting explosion. Floatzel quickly recovered from the fall and Crasher Wake had it use a Bulk Up/ Ice Fang Combo on Buizel, but Buizel quickly launched a Water Pulse in its direction to disorient it. Floatzel managed to avoid it and launched a Razor Wind attack as Buizel blasted towards Floatzel with an Aqua Jet attack. Narrowly missing the attack, Buizel smashed into its foe and took both of them into the water. As both of the Pokémon battled it out underwater, trying to undermine the other, Ash was quickly trying to think up a strategy to tip the odds in his favour.

Brock and Dawn had their eyes glued to the match, and as they watched the spectacular underwater display of battle skills, they could only wonder who the winner would eventually end up being. Both Pokémon seemed almost equal in strength, though Floatzel seemed to be just a little bit stronger. It currently seemed like Crasher Wake's Pokémon would be the winner, but they knew how strong Buizel's willpower was. Like Ash, Buizel refused to give up in any match and would give its all to try and win. Heck, all of Ash's Pokémon seemed to take after Ash in regards to that 'never give up' attitude. They would push themselves to any limits to succeed and make Ash proud of them. Buizel especially tended to go all out, as if its pride and dignity were on the line. And right now was no different as Buizel launched an underwater water pulse attack at Floatzel, which it barely avoided and then came after Buizel with an Ice Fang attack. However, Buizel quickly propelled itself out the water and landed on a platform. The moment Floatzel emerged from the water, Ash decided to execute his strategy.

"Buizel, use Sonicboom, and then while it's down, follow up with a Water Gun attack."

Buizel pulled off the sequence perfectly and before long, Floatzel was struggling to stand up. Crasher Wake decided to take full charge of the situation and had Floatzel execute a Razor Wind attack followed closely by Ice Fang. But just as Floatzel was about to finish off Buizel with its Ice Fang, Ash had Buizel use Water Pulse and as Floatzel tried to recover from the attack, Ash wrapped it up with an Aqua Jet attack that rendered Floatzel unconscious.

"Floatzel is no longer able to battle, therefore victory goes to Buizel and the winner of the match is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town."

As the stands erupted with Brock and Dawn's cheering, Crasher Wake sighed as both he and Ash returned their Pokémon. While both Pokémon had fought their very best, Ash's Pokémon emerged the victor and his had lost and that was that.

"Well done Ash. Both you and your Pokémon fought well and though I tried my best to defeat you, you proved to be too strong. You are most definitely deserving of this Fen Badge and I wish you the best of luck in your future battles."

Ash thanked Crasher Wake for a great battle and exited the Gym with Brock and Dawn. As he reflected on the match, he had to admit that the last fight had been quite a bit shaky. One wrong move and he could very easily have lost the match. Brock saw that he was lost in thought and asked what was wrong.

"I had been doing quite well until that Floatzel had shown up. While it's definitely a strong Pokémon, I shouldn't have had such a tough time beating it. I need to become much stronger than I am now if I want to become a Pokémon Master."

"I admit that you did have a bit more of a tough time in that Gym battle, especially near the end, however you have to understand that you really are getting stronger and that with each fight, your Pokémon are slowly but surely becoming much more powerful than they were before. Look at Buizel for example. Even though it had been facing its evolved form, it held its own and managed to come out a winner in the end."

"And you've definitely become much stronger since we first met, Ash." Dawn had been listening in on the conversation and had decided to join in. "I doubt you would have been able to beat Crasher Wake back when you first came to Sinnoh."

"Hmm, I guess that's true. I don't think I was even close to being this strong back then and my Pokémon have also definitely come a long way since then."

Ash looked at his newly earned badge, his fourth one overall. He had to admit that he did come a long way on his journey through Sinnoh, though he wasn't sure if he was as strong as he could have been by now. For the time being however, he decided not to worry about it. As he looked at Pikachu who was perched on his shoulder, Ash smiled and then looked back at his two friends and travel companions.

"Alright guys, let's have some lunch cause I'm starving! And I can't become a Pokémon Master on an empty stomach now, can I?"

As they all laughed and walked away to find a place to set up lunch, a mysterious Pokémon was watching them from the shadows with amusement in its eyes.

Well that's it for the first chapter. Tell me what you think of it so far, and what changes I should make. Once again thank you for your time and I hope you enjoy!