Ash has begun his new journey filled with dreams of conquering the Battle Frontier. While Zaylee continues on her journey to be a top coordinator. But, before Ash can fulfill his dream, our heroes need to figure out how to get there.

(Season 8: Episode 43 - Numero Uno Articuno) Zaylee's POV

So we're lost. Which is a new thing for me. I've never been lost before. Max is checking his pokenav and Brock is looking at a physical map. May and Ash are just standing there looking around. While I polish my egg without a care in the world.

"I don't know. It looks like we went the right way" Max tells us.

"Come on, you still don't know where we are?" Ash asks.

"Better hurry, the sun's gonna set soon" May tells them.

"Yeah. I'm sure we took a wrong turn here at some point" Brock states.

"Perhaps" I agree absentmindedly as I put my egg back in it's incubator.

"No, Brock, Zaylee, we're almost there. I'm positive, it's right around the corner" Max assures us.

"That's good. Pikachu and I can't wait. We're ready to battle" Ash states.

"You always are" I tell him. We continue on our way. But the battle factory wasn't just around the corner. It's now night, at least there is a full moon.

"Right around the corner, huh? We've been around fifty corners by now!" Ash complains.

"Oh stop complaining" I tell him.

"I'm sorry, you guys. I thought my PokéNav might have been broken but luckily, it was just me" Max states.

"What a relief" May says.

"Just when I was gettin' all pumped up for my next battle" Ash mutters.

"Well, let's make the best of it. We can camp out here tonight" Brock states.

"Excellent idea" I agree as I put my bag down.

"I'm too fired up at this point. I'm never gonna get to sleep!" Ash shouts.

"Calm yourself down. Take a deep breath. Look at the moon" May tells him. He does so. In fact we all do so. "It's a gorgeous night out" she states.

"You're right May" Max agrees.

"Yeah, and there's nothing like fresh mountain air, is there?" Brock asks us. Suddenly something cold and sparkly falls from the sky.

"Is that snow?" Ash and I ask together.

"But it's so warm out" Max states.

"Something strange is going on" May adds. Just then a shadow of something flew in front of the moon. Then out of sight.

"Hey. What was that?" Ash asks us. It appears again and somethings about the shape looks familiar to me.

"There it is again" Brock states.

"Do you think that thing is what's making it snow?" May asks.

"A Pokémon that can make it snow?" Max asks.

"An ice pokemon can do that, but I can only think of one that flies" I state. As the pokemon appears again. But this time we can see it clearly. "An Articuno!" I say excited and put my egg down. Beginning to look for my camera. May takes out her pokedex to scan it. As I find my camera.

"Articuno, the Freeze Pokémon. Articuno lives deep within mountain ranges and is said to be able to fly by gracefully waving its tail" the pokedex says. As I take several photos. Hopefully one of them looks good. The articuno swopes over our hands, covering us with snow and I giggle.

"So, what would an Articuno be doing here?" Brock asks. Just then we hear the sound of an engine of sorts.

"Do you hear that?" May asks us. A one man plane appears. Heading straight for articuno. It didn't look like they were trying to hurt it, more like racing. When suddenly we're covered in smoke, when it clears. Both articuno and the plane are gone.

We decide to follow where we last saw them heading. And we come across a pokemon center. "No way, I can't believe there's a Pokemon Center out here" Ash states.

"Must be for pokemon to recover after facing the battle factory" I state. "Which means it's close by" I tell him.

"Guess it's a good thing we went chasing after Articuno, huh?" he asks and we all agree.

"Tonight I'll get to sleep in a comfy bed" May says happily. We all go inside and are greeted by Nurse Joy.

"Well, thank you, I'm Brock. And it could only be fate that we met on such a romantically moonlit night" Brock tells Nurse Joy. "Listen, I realize I'm traveling with a bunch of kids
but just say the word and I'll ditch 'em in a second" he states. "

Did you see that moon?

What could be better than gazing at a beautiful moon

with a beautiful Nurse Joy at my side?" he asks her.

"I don't know" she says.

"I always thought you and Misty were exaggerating" I admit to Ash. "And he is like this with every nurse Joy, officer Jenny and pretty girl he sees?" I ask him.

"Everyone" he confirms. Oh boy. Just then Max grabs the back of Brock's ear and drags him away from Nurse Joy.

"I'm sorry about him" I tell Nurse Joy sheepishly. "Do you think you can give my egg a health exam?" I ask as I place it on the counter.

"Of course I can" she says smiling. "I'd be happy to exam your other pokemon as well" she state.

"Great" I say smiling.

"So, Nurse Joy, I was hoping that you can maybe tell us how to get to the Battle Factory?" Ash asks her.

"I assume you're planning on competing over at the Battle Frontier?" she asks. Ash nods his head. "I'll be more then happy to tell you how you can get there. But since it's getting pretty late
why don't I give you rooms? I can give you directions on your way out tomorrow" she suggests.

"That'd be awesome. Thanks" Ash tells her. She gave us each rooms and checked all our pokemon. Who are in perfect health. She told me my egg was making noises while she examined it. Which makes me excited. But it'll hatch soon. I had a good night sleep.

(Next day)

We were up early this morning. Ash is excited from his first battle frontier battle. We all had breakfast. But before Nurse Joy could tells us how to get to the battle factory. A man in sunnies and blue Hawaiian shirt said he'd show us the way. "Hi there Scott" Ash says.

"Oh, so your the man who told Ash about the battle frontier" I say smiling. "I'm his sister Zaylee and thank you for telling about the battle frontier. Had you not, we probably wouldn't be traveling together" I tell him.

"Happy to help" Scott says with a smile. "Let me guess. You're Ash's and Zaylee's traveling pals" he says looking at the other three. They each introduce themselves.

"Well, I think I'll just leave them in your hands now, Scott" Burse Joy states.

"Great. Then I'll take good care of 'em" Scott assures her. We all get into his car and strap in. Ash is in the front sit. While I am in the back with the other three. Scott takes off like a dodrio, speeding along the mountain road.

"Goin' kinda fast for these mountain roads, huh?" Ash asks Scott.

"I haven't driven this slow since I was with my grandma" Scott states.

"That's nice, but I have a fragile egg here" I tell him as I hold the incubator tightly.

"Don't worry, nothing will happen to it" he assures me as he goes up a steep hill. We then drive through a forest, narrowly missing the trees. But we arrived at the battle factory safely, thank Ho-oh. My egg is in one piece and we all get out of the car. I make a mental note never to accept another ride from Scott, unless it's an emergency.

Just then some sort of tank thing burst out of the factory and nearly ran us over. "It seems to be out of control" May states.

"You don't say" I say sarcastically. "Violet, go" I say and she comes out. "Use physic to stop that thing" I tell her and she does so. It finally stops and we hear the tank's engine to off. A man gets out of it.

"This dumb thing. Doesn't listen to a word I say" he complains as he jumps down to the ground. "Thanks girl, you really saved my neck out there" he tells me.

"Wasn't me, it was Violet. You should thank her" I tell him as Violet sits beside me. I give her a pat.

"Ok, thank you Violet" he says and she makes a happy sound.

"Still working on that thing, Noland?" Scott asks.

"And I gotta admit this project is the best one yet" Noland states.

"Aside from it not listening you and nearly flattening us" I tell him. He gives us a sheepish smile.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is it?" Ash asks him.

"Me? Mind? I'm glad you asked" Noland tells him. "I now present the Noland J-9. It's a steam-powered dream machine that I put together myself. So, what do you think?" he asks us. "Don't hold back" he adds.

"Well, it's different" May tells him. And Max agrees with her.

"I think you have a lot to work out for the Noland J-10" I tell him. Just then another guy runs over and joins us.

"Hey, boss. Oh, no, don't tell me you're playing around with that thing again" he complains.

"I'm not playing, this is my hobby" Noland corrects him.

"So, how is that different from playing?" the guy asks.

"Just is" Noland tells him. "This is Sergio. He's supposedly my first apprentice" he tells us.

"Hi, there, everyone. Nice to meet you" Sergio says smiling. "Whoa, nice egg" he says looking at me.

"Thanks and it's nice to meet you too" I state.

"Hey, what about you, Noland? I sure don't recall hearing your introduction" Scott states.

"Yeah, I thought the day had finally come where I didn't need one" Noland tells him. "I can see that's not the case, so I'm Noland the guy in charge. Which makes me the Factory Head" he tells us.

"You're the frontier brain here?" I ask him.

"That's right, you sure are smart" he tells me.

"Wow. That's really cool" Ash says smiling. "Noland, my name's Ash and I'm from Pallet Town
and I've traveled here to challenge the Battle Factory" he declares.

"Good. That's fine by me. So, when were you planning on doing this, Ash?" Noland asks him.

"Now. Right away" Ash tells him.

"That's what I like to hear" Nolan says smiling. Just then Sergio calls a bunch of pokemon over. They all start to eat and May's munchlax comes out, and helps itself to the food also. Sergio assured her it was fine.

"Do all these Pokémon belong to you, Noland?" Ash asks.

"Sure do, see, the more Pokémon you have the more kinds of battles you can have" Noland tells him. "So, Ash, who'd you like to battle with?" he asks Ash. Who looks at him confused.

"So you mean you're giving me a choice?" Ash asks him.

"I sure am. Choose whichever one you'd like" Noland tells him.

"Wow. I've never done it that way" Ash states. Then looks at all of Noland's pokemon. "Cool. Now which Pokémon should I go with?" he asks himself. "Venusaur's the final evolved form of Bulbasaur so it'd make a good opponent. And it'd be great to try my hand at a Rhyhorn too. But the chance to battle a Machamp, do I wanna pass that up? Oh, man, this'll be harder than I thought" he grumbles. I chuckle as I let my pokemon out and feed them.

"Just take your time, Ash. You know I'm not going anywhere" Noland tells him and then comes over to me. "You're pokemon all look strong" he states.

"Thanks, I make their own food" I tell him.

"I've never seen a ninetale that colour" Sergio states as he joins us.

"Silver is a shiny ninetales. I've had her since she was an egg" I tell them.

"Then I am surprised you only have four pokemon" Noland states.

"Oh I have more, they are just at Professor Oak's lab. Except for Ariel who is with a friend of ours at the Cerulean gym" I tell them. "I rotate all my pokemon, in fact I was thinking of sending Bluey back and getting one of my other pokemon sent to me" I state.

"Well you can do that here if you want" Noland tells me

"Yeah, we have a pokemon transporter inside and a phone you could use" Sergio adds.

"Thanks, I'll think about it" I tell them. Just then the articuno from last night appears, flying out of the garage. "There it is again" I say with Ash and Brock.

"Articuno" Scott says in awe. It lands beside Noland cooing.

"Well, secret's out" he says with a chuckle.

"Wait, so that was you we saw flying along side Articuno yesterday?" Brock asks him.

"Yeah, I was just doin' a little night flying" Noland tells us.

"But the most amazing part of it is that you captured Articuno" May says.

"That's the strongest Pokémon you can catch" Max states.

"Not really Max, there are other legendary and mythical pokemon stronger then articuno" I correct him.

"No, this is a wild Pokémon we're talking about here. We're just friends" Noland tells us as he pats Articuno.

"You're just friends?" Ash asks.

"Yeah. You see, we met up back when I was test-flying a plane. You can imagine I was pretty blown away. I'd never seen an Articuno up close like that before. I've heard that Articuno liked to fly from one snowy mountain to another. So I figured this one must've gotten injured during one of those flights" Noland explains. "I had it land on my plane wing and I landed. I tended to it's wounded wing and that's how we meet" he states. "We've been real good buddies ever since.
Which is why, Articuno likes to stop by and visit a lot" he tells us. Articuno agrees with him.

"Noland, do you think you could take me up to fly with Articuno?" Max asks him.

"I don't see why not" Noland tells him.

"Bluey" I call and she appears beside me. I hand Brock my egg. "Take care of my egg" I tell him and get on Bluey. "Articuno, bet you can't catch us" I tease and Bluey takes off. Articuno follows us. Not long after Noland, Max and Pikachu appear in Noland's plane. All three of us race. "Articuno!" I call and it level with me. "Thinking what, I'm thinking?" I ask it and it coos nodding it's head.

"What are you doing Zaylee?" Max asks.

"Just watch" I tell him and drop off of Bluey. I hear Max and Noland shout in worry. But I just laugh and scream with joy as Articuno catches me. "This is amazing!" I shout. "Articuno, show me your speed" I say as I grip it hard and it shots off.

"You're crazy Zaylee!" Noland laughs.

"I can't believe you are flying Articuno, that you jumped off Bluey" Max states.

"I do it all the time" I tell him as I stand up slowly on Articuno. "Hold yourselves steady" I tell them and jump onto the wing of the plane. I walk along it and salute them before jumping off. Bluey catches me and we all continue to fly.

"Who are those yahoos?" Noland asks and I look down. To see team rocket in a new robot threatening our friends. Great, they couldn't let us relax for one day.

"It's Team Rocket, and they're a bunch of crooks" Max tells him.

"Bluey, lets go help" I tell her and she takes off. Noland follows with Articuno. We see team rocket grab some of Noland's pokemon. "Oh no you don't" I sneer. "Bluey, body slam" I say and she slams into the robot. Sending the pokemon caught flying. They all land safely and I see Ash catch a pokeball, must be his. The robot crashes to the ground as we circle around.

"Fast thinking Zaylee" Noland praises me.

"This isn't over yet" I tell him.

"I must say, I'm impressed with that machine of theirs, however" he adds looking at the robot.

"I don't think those guys should be getting any compliment" Max tells him. Noland and I both agree with him.

"Send them flying, Articuno" Noland tells him. Articuno grabs the robot and lifts it into the air.

"Would you look at the strength of that Articuno" Brock says awe struck. I was relieved to see him still holding my egg.

"That machine has got to be super heavy" May adds as team rocket screams.

"Lets finish this Noland" I tell him and he nods his head as Articuno tosses team rocket. Along with their robot. Noland and I tell Articuno & Bluey to use ice beam. Both destroy the robot and send team rocket blasting off. "Good job Bluey" I praise and she smiles.

"They never had a chance against Articuno" Brock states.

"And Zaylee's dragonair" May says as we land.

"Yeah, I think those two were the most powerful Ice Beam Attacks I've ever seen" Scott states.

"Not really, Bluey's was just powered up by articuno's" I tell them. The others land and we make dinner. We decide to eat outside as it's another beautiful night. Bluey is taking a well desrved rest in her pokeball.

"Okay, Ash, have you decided who you'd like to face in battle?" Noland asks him curious.

"Yep. I finally made my decision" Ash declares.

"I'll bet your gonna choose Venusaur" Max says.

"I'll bet you choose Rhyhorn" May suggests.

"You both are wrong" I tell them and they look at me confused. But I just look at Ash. "You want to battle Articuno, am I right?" I ask him and he chuckles.

"Even after three years of hardly seeing each other, you still know me better then anyone else Zaylee" he states. "I want to battle with Articuno, one on one" he tells Noland. Who looks up at articuno.

"Well, what do you say, huh?" Noland asks it. It coos excitedly nodding it's had. "We accept, Ash. So, what Pokémon will you use?" he asks.

"I choose that one up there" Ash says pointing to the sky. We all look to see Ash's charizard. Honestly, it's not surprising Ash would choose charizard to face articuno. "Hey! Charizard, it's me" he shouts as we runs out to greet charizard. Who blasts him happily with a flamethrower and I laugh. I guess somethings never change.

"Hey, this is gonna be good. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, that's for sure" Scott states.

"I agree, this is the first official battle I will be seeing Ash fight in and I can't wait" I state. Noland gives us rooms for the night, so that we didn't have to go back to the pokemon center. I call professor Oak.

"Evening Zaylee, why the late call?" he asks me.

"I was just wondering how my pokemon are going?" I ask him.

"Oh very well, in fact your gloom evovled into a bellosom just the other day" he states.

"Really?" I ask shocked. "Then I think it's time she and I trained some more" I state. Just then Angel comes out of her ball. "Angel, would you be ok going back home for awhile with Silver and Bluey?" I ask and she nods her head. I knew Silver would be fine with it, she loves playing with the other ninetales and vulpix at the lab. Besides Bluey needs a chance to swim properly. "Ok, Professor Oak, I am gonna send back Silver, Angel and Bluey. Can you please send me Fly and Belle?" I ask.

"No problem Zaylee" he tells me. "By the way, has your egg hatched yet?" he asks me.

"No, not yet. But it's started to make sounds, so it may hatch this week" I tell him.

"I can't wait to hear about it" he tells me. We transfer my pokemon. I thanked him and wished him a goodnight. Before hanging up and going to bed in my assigned room.

Third Persons POV

Ash first step to conquering the Battle Frontier is a one-on-one challenge Ash and his beloved Charizard against Noland and his Legendary Articuno. All of the next day's action and excitement is coming up. Meanwhile Zaylee has a new pokemon to train and her egg is getting closer to hatching by the day. Stay tuned for the next chapter.

A/N

Picture above of Noland and his Articuno.