"Fern, wake up!" Emily sighed. "If you want to get to the gym soon, we better get going now."

I grumbled, trying to shake the drowsiness from my head. "How close are we?" I mumbled.

"Despite the fact that we side tracked because of the Beedrill, I think we should get to Violet City in about four days - depending if we do not have any major interruptions," Emily replied after looking at the map.

"Alright!" I jumped up. "Come on out everyone!"

"Chiko!" Chikorita immediately leaped onto my back.

"Phanpy!" Phanpy hopped up and down, unable to jump very high.

Meanwhile, Salamence let out a loud roar that sent nearby Pokemon to run or fly away.

I bent down to let Phanpy jump onto my shoulder while Salamence took off into the air to stretch its wings.

"I wonder what's the commotion over there," Emily observed. "There are a lot of people there. Shall we check it out?"

"Sure," I replied.

When we reached there, we had to squeeze through the crowd to see the notice that someone pinned up.

"Pokemon competition, winner gets a mysterious prize," I read it out.

"Mysterious prize?" Emily echoed. "That would make many people join."

"I want to join," I said. "It's great practise for me by the time we reach Violet City."

"Come on then," Emily said. "You will have to register over there."

"Hold on, let me find Salamence and return it to its Pokeball," I said, running back into the woods to find Salamence.

~~~~

After I have returned Salamence to its Pokeball and registered, I sat on one of the many chairs in the waiting room to see who I would be fighting against.

There were originally many participants, but I don't know why, they quit at the last moment just as the competition was going to begin.

Now, there were eight left, including myself.

Even in the waiting room, I could still hear the announcer's voice. "The moment you all have been waiting for is here, folks! Now let's see the match-ups."

I looked at the screen and I was against a random guy in a blue and yellow shirt, who I saw him showing off his Venusaur earlier on.

Looks like I need to have a strategy.

As the others did their battles, I spent the entire time think of a good strategy that could give me the upper hand.

Luckily, by the time it was my turn to battle, I have thought of a good strategy - not too complicated - to use.

"The second last battle of the qualifying round is about to begin!" the announcer said. "On my left is the trainer Wave, who came all the way from Goldenrod City!"

There were a lot of cheers for him and he looked slightly embarrassed.

"And on my right is the trainer Fern, from New Bark Town!" he continued.

This time, only the Murkrow said something. "Murkrow! Murkrow!"

Oh well. At least I know Emily is supporting me.

I had spotted her with her Cyndaquil, mouthing the words, 'You can do it!' as a form of encouragement.

"Each trainer may use three Pokemon and the battle will be over when either one trainer have defeated the other trainer's Pokemon," the announcer announced. "Battle begin!"

"Since you seem new, I shall go easy on you," Wave smirked. "Squirtle, I choose you!"

"Squirtle!" his Squirtle cried.

The obvious choose is to choose Chikorita, but I should be careful, I thought.

"Chikorita, I choose you!" I said.

"Chi!" Chikorita said.

"Squirtle, use Water Gun!" Wave ordered.

A jet of water was shot towards Chikorita. "Dodge it!" I said.

"Chiko!" Chikorita had jumped high enough to avoid the Water Gun attack.

"Now use Rapid Spin!" Wave said.

"Chikorita, dodge it and use Razor Leaf!" I said, thinking quickly.

Chikorita somehow managed to dodge the rapidly spinning Squirtle and used Razor Leaf, which shocked Squirtle instead of injuring it.

"Razor Leaf again!" I shouted.

"Counter with Water Gun!" Wave shouted.

If Chikorita is able to exert enough pressure on the Water Gun, the attack may be able to break through!

"Come on, Chikorita, you can do it," I encouraged.

"Squirtle, harder!" Wave called.

"Chiko!" Chikorita's attack broke through and Squirtle was hit.

"Squirtle..."

"Squirtle is unable to battle, Chikorita wins!" the referee said.

"Lucky shot," Wave muttered. Then in a louder voice he said, "Squirtle, return. Charmander, I choose you!"

"Char!" Charmander said.

"Chikorita, can you continue?" I asked, worried that Chikorita had uses most of its strength on breaking through the Water Gun.

"Chiko!" Chikorita replied, turning to face Charmander.

"You should have substituted your Pokemon," Wave said. "Fire type moves are super effective against Grass types, so you better prepare yourself for a defeat. Charmander, use Flamethrower!"

"Chikorita, dodge it and use Tackle!" I said.

"Chikorita!" Chikorita dodged using Tackle and began heading towards Charmander.

"Use Flamethrower again!" Wave ordered.

"Chiko!" Chikorita was hit and badly injured. I bit my lip, wondering if I should stick to my plan or substitute Chikorita with Phanpy.

"Finish it off with Flamethrower!" Wave shouted.

"Chikorita," I said and Chikorita stood up, ready to attack and counter the Fire type move. "Use Ancient Power!"

Both attacks collided. What if Ancient Power wasn't enough to counter Flamethrower?

Suddenly, Chikorita's Ancient Power attack broke through and it hit Charmander.

"Char!" Charmander cried as it was flung against the wall. Charmander was knocked out.

"Chiko..." Chikorita fainted as well, probably because of it using too much of its energy to break through the attacks and the super effective Flamethrower attack.

"Both Chikorita and Charmander are unable to battle," the referee announced.

"Chikorita, return," I said. "You have battled hard today."

I grabbed out my other Pokeball. "Looks like it's up to you, Phanpy."

"Venusaur, I choose you!" Wave had already chosen his Pokemon, just like I have expected.

"Phanpy, I choose you!" I shouted.

Let's see how this will turn out, I thought as the battle between Venusaur and Phanpy began.