The next day, the trainers reported to the stadium for instructions.  They were all led into an auditorium off the main area where they were told that the qualifying rounds were to be held in specially prepared rooms and that they had to beat four trainers to get in.  They were assigned numbers and shown to their area.  As Ash, Misty and Gary (thankfully for all of them) went off in separate directions, they waved goodbye and wished each other luck.
    Gary was bored, he had yet to see one trainer that had fought three trainers so far, and they had all been pathetic.  The battles were three on three and he had yet to have even one pokemon defeated.  When a guy with spiky hair and a sandslash entered the ring, Gary wasn’t expecting anything interesting in this match either...until they started.  He sent out a butterfree that somehow defeated Gary’s arcanine.  Gary was interested now.  He sent out golem, which managed to beat the other trainer’s butterfree.  The trainer then sent out the sandslash, which beat golem, but not by much and was handily taken by Umbreon.  The final pokemon, a haunter, surprised Gary.  It then surprised him further by putting up a good fight against Umbreon, but eventually Umbreon won and Gary advanced to the tournament.  The trainer turned to leave, but Gary caught up and asked “How are your pokemon able to ignore type?” to which the trainer responded “I train wild pokemon with special training techniques.” and then he walked off.
    Misty was even more bored than Gary since she had no opponent that was worth her fighting.  She wondered how the others were doing and as it happened, as usual, Ash was having the best time of all of them.  His battles had all been hard and interesting.  His first was the best by far, though.  As he thought about it, looking for the others, it was one he had been hoping for.  The battle was against Lance, who had joined Team Rocket a while ago when he decided that they seemed to be doing better than he was.  When Ash first saw him, he announced that he had been sent to defeat Ash as revenge for beating Giovanni and to show that he was a better leader for Team Rocket.  When they started, it looked like an easy battle.  Pikachu took Lances gyarados like it was nothing.  Lance then beat pikachu with a dragonite, which then also beat his Alacazam.  Ash was in a spot, he didn’t know what to do so he did what he always did in times like these.  Send out muk.  It turned out that this was the best thing he could have done, muk decimated Lances Dragonite and his Aerodactyl.
The three met up with Brock in a small restaurant and no one was surprised that anyone got through.  Gary and Misty were surprised Ash had such a good time and grumbled about Ash’s talent for that.  The main event wasn’t until the next day and Gary needed supplies(pikachu was bored and went with them).  He and Brock went off to the convenience store, leaving Ash and Misty alone again.  They smiled at each other, kissed and then went off to look for something to do.  As luck would have it, they passed an information stand and noticed on the map that there was a secluded lake a bit up north.  They figured no one would be there, since it was surrounded on every side by at least five miles of thick forest.  They looked at each other, smiled again and then Ash finally broke the silence “Race ya to our room.”  Misty laughed and said “I’ll take you up on that.”  And they ran to their hotel, up the stairs and then Misty got to the doorknob about ten seconds ahead of Ash.  “How do you run so fast?” he asked breathlessly. 
“Exercise and vegetables, two things you never have” Misty replied.  Ash was already in a very good mood and Misty couldn’t help but be in one too.  They grabbed their bags and raced to the roof, Misty defeating Ash handily once more.  They switched over to their pidgeot costumes, grabbed their bags in their talons and took off to see what the lake was like.
A little while and a lot of flirtatious flying later, they arrived at the lake and found it to be exactly what they hoped it to be.  They both switched to their Golduck costumes and swam around for a while, then they lay on the coast and watched the passing scenery.  After awhile, Ash noticed Misty had her eyes closed and he said “Misty?” she opened her eyes a bit and said “Ya, Ash?”
“Oh nothing, just wanted to make sure you were awake still.”
She closed her eyes again and said “Well, you can tell now.  Besides, I can’t sleep with my arms under my head.”  Ash slipped off and put on his pidgeot costume (with great difficulty).  He then flew over, grabbed Misty and threw her into the lake.  “Ash Ketchum!  After all these years, you haven’t grown up yet!”  Misty yelled up at him.
“Why thank you, Mist.  And may I say that you are more beautiful than you were when I first met you.”  They both laughed at this and when Misty managed to get out, she got into her pidgeot costume and joined him in the air.  “Ready to go then?” she asked.
“Sure” and just like that they picked up their things and flew back.
    When the main tournament finally started, Ash was restless.  His was the third battle and he couldn’t wait.  According to his program, he was battling a person he had never heard of and he wanted to see how they battled.  Misty and Gary were before him, though and he got a very good show watching them pound the other trainers.  Gary especially gave a good performance when he called an explosion attack against his opponents Venusaur.  When it finally came to him, he was bubbling over with energy.  He jogged onto the field and found his opponent to be...Joy?  Ash was confused a moment, then had an idea.  He activated his psychic amplifier and took a look at Joys mind and he was on the money. It was Brock.  “Hey, Brock.  I didn’t know that you entered.”
“I didn’t want you to know, it ruins the surprise.”
“Misty was right.  After all these years, none of us have changed at all have we?”
    Brock just laughed and the battle began.  Forretress was Brocks first pokemon.  Pikachu finished it off easily enough but was defeated by ninetails.  Snorlax made quick work of ninetails and steelix.  They both stepped down and went into the stands to watch the next battle.  Ash got ready because he knew who it was even without seeing his program.  Gary was his next opponent, and Gary had been training for sure after his last defeat.
    Just as Ash suspected,. Gary was a much harder opponent that before and Ash might have lost easily but for luck and muk.  Pikachu was taken out by nidoking, which was then beat by Alakazam.  Umbreon beat Alakazam and muk beat Umbreon.  After a very long battle between muk and blastoise, muk finally enveloped the poor creature and ended the battle.  Misty beat an up and coming trainer from Trovita and there was an intermission for the two to prepare.  After making the necessary changes and healing his pokemon, he decided to talk to Misty.  She apparently was doing the same, since they both tried to talk at once.  In the end Ash said “same as always?” and Misty replied “same as always.”
    When the battle (6 on 6) started, they were both ready for a real match.  In the end they were left with pikachu against starwe.  Pikachu tried thunder and starwe used rapid spin.  Starwe tried hydro pump and pikachu used agility.  Neither could do anything to the other until Ash saw a repeat of a battle he had long ago in his minds eye.  “Pikachu, use quick attack and climb the hydro pump next time it is released.”  Misty didn’t hear since she was so busy trying to win and she ordered another hydro pump resulting in starwe being defeated.  
    When they met again outside the arena, Professor Oak ran up to them before anything could be said and gave Ash Illuminorb.  He said then “this is a special pokeball made for this pokemon.  Since it was so massive, it required a more durable and powerful ball.”
“Thanks, professor.”
“You’re welcome, Ash” As Ash went back to the train, Misty said, “I wonder if I’ll ever figure out where you get your battling skills.”
“If you refer to how I got you, take a better look.  That was a strategy you taught me.”  They both laughed and set back for their gym and hopefully some time in one place.
Authors note: Yes!  I admit it, I am the sole owner of pokemon and I'm rich!  HAHAHAHA RIIIICH!!!!!  I now give it over to some companies to mess up.