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Jake joined Robert and co. in the dining hall to celebrate his victory. "Nice job winning that ribbon," Jake said as he approached Robert, "I really like the bit where Kirlia bowed before using teleport. It was a nice way to give him a little F-you." Jake laughed and sat down next to May. May turned to Jake and spoke, "So, are you ready for the tournament tomorrow?" Jake gave May a nod, "Yep, I've been practicing in my room to ensure that all my moves were polished and ready to be used in battle." May smiled, "That's good. Its a shame Max isn't here, I've really been looking forward to seeing how he's improved." Jake smiled, "Oh really? Well maybe I'll have the honor of battling him sometime." May smiled, "I sure hope so, it would be a good battle."

Meanwhile, the Team Rocket (with the exception of Butch and Cassidy) members sat in disguise at another table. Joan looked her boss straight in the eye, "So Gregory, what's your plan for obtaining that ribbon Kira lost?" Giovanne gave a nasty look at Joan, "Joanna, it wasn't just Gregory who failed to obtain it. You and Jazzabella were in that contest as well. I've either got two plans, leave it up to you, Jazz, and Kira to obtain it, or I could entrust this with Jimmy, Lyle, and our newest member, Scott. Seeing as Jame's is rather soft and Scott doesn't have much experience, I'm going to leave Kira in charge of you and Jazz, so you three can obtain the ribbon." Jessi showed a look of annoyance for she had to work with Joan, she then opened her mouth and spoke, "Perhaps we follow him back to his room?" Jessi waited for an answer.

Joan had lost her attention in Giovanne's speech for she glanced at the table Robert had sat and saw Jake, the twerp she had dealt with few times before. She leaned over and spoke to her partner, "Hey, Lyle. Isn't that our twerp sitting at Robert's table?" Liam looked up and saw him too, "Yeah it is. The one with the purple orb." Joan replied, "Think we should tell the boss?" Liam answered, "No, he's busy right now." Giovanne was still giving his speech for the table to hear.

Dawn looked at Jake and smiled, "We havn't really talked much, how about we stick together?" Jake returned the smile, "Yeah sounds great, I would love to hear about your travels and whatnot." Dawn laughed, "Yeah, and I can give you some advice for the contest." Jake smiled. Brock then spoke up, "I'll be fine alone. I've got Steelix and Crobat with me. If I run into any trouble, I can trust them to help." Dawn turned to Brock, "Are you sure? You can hang out with me and Jake." Brock laughed, "Really, Dawn. I'll be fine." Dawn gave a nod, "Alright then." After finishing their dinners, Jake and Dawn stood up and began to walk towards their rooms. Jake with Charmeleon out and Dawn with her Prinplup out.

Dawn looked down and Jake's pokemon, "So, is Charmeleon your starter?" Jake gave a nod and looked at Prinplup, "Yeah, was your Prinplup your starter?" Dawn smiled, "Yeah, we've been together since the very beginning. And I'm sure it won't be long until she's an Empoleon." Prinplup gave a smile. Jake nodded, "Yeah, I can't wait until my Charmeleon evolves." Dawn smiled, recalling a memory of Ash battling with his Charizard. They talked about their journey's and then said goodnight as they reached their rooms. Dawn's room turned out to be right next to Jakes.

Once in his room, Jake sent out all his pokemon for some training before bed. "Alright Jin," Jake said, setting up cups in verious places throughout the room, "I want to work on your water gun aim, okay?" Jin nodded. "I want you to use water gun to knock down every target in this room. Jin knocked down every cup with great precision. "Okay, now I want to practice your aim on moving targets. What your going to do is turn and use water gun on Scyther. Scyther, you will try to dodge in any direction you wish. Then Poliwag, you will direct your water gun in the direction he moves so it doesn't miss." They tried this for about 40 minutes and Poliwag had finally mastered attacking moving targets. "Now I want to see your wakeup slap one last time before we get to bed, okay?" Poliwag stood on her toes, preparing a hypnosis attack. "Oh sorry, you can do this one with me awake." Poliwag nodded. She ran towards Jake and then kicked herself into the air. She began to flip, her body glowing halfway through the flip. Her body shape changed and she stopped glowing, revealing a Poliwhirl. She then smacked Jake in the head with one of her new fists. "Nice job Jin, you've evolved!" Jake shouted and gave her a big hug. He took out his pokedex and held it up to Poliwhirl, "The spiral pattern on its belly subtly undulates. Staring at it gradually causes drowsiness." Jake smiled, "Alright Jin, you're done for the night."

Jake then turned to Charmeleon, "Charmeleon, you know that smokescreen technique I taught you?" Charmeleon nodded. "Well I want to make a minor modification. If I say smokescreen left, you will attack to the right. If I say smokescreen right, you will attack to the left. If I say smokescreen, you will attack from behind." Charmeleon nodded and after about 20 minutes, Charmeleon had got used to the new way of using this attack.

"Alright Cross, I want to work on a quick combination with you. Its going to be called blade acceleration. What you will do is use quick attack towards your foe then at the last second, strike with fury cutter. You will then do a quick spin and attack with another fury cutter." Scyther nodded and got the routine down within 20 minutes.

Jake turned towards Zubat, but then was distracted by Poliwhirl shouting and pointing at the egg. Jake turned towards the egg and it began to shine. Jake quickly ran over and held the egg in his hands, looking down, eager to see what would hatch. The egg changed shape and stopped glowing, revealing a small pokemon who quickly dug its teeth into Jake's arm. "Oww!" Jake shouted in pain. Charmeleon pryed the pokemon off of Jake and Jake quickly took out some poffin and fed it to the hungry pokemon. He held up his pokedex and it spoke. "Munchlax, the Big Eater Pokemon." Jake laughed at this. "It hides food under its long body hair. However, it forgets it has hidden the food. Current attacks are shockwave, zen headbutt, rest, and tackle." Jake picked up his new Munchlax and smiled, "Well Munchlax, welcome to the team." Munchlax smiled and jumped to the floor. He then got up on Jake's bed and fell asleep. Jake laughed and turned back to Zubat and Gloom, "Well guys, I'm getting kind of tired like Munchlax, so how about we call it anight?" They nodded and everyone fell to sleep.

Robert walked along the deck with May. "So how are your parents? I imagine they must be busy taking care of all of those pokemon by themselves." May asked. "They're doing fine. My father finished building a large ranch to let the pokemon roam around freely, and a large berry garden on the other side of it. How about your parents?" Robert asked. "Dad's still running the Petalburg Gym and training even harder than before. Mom's doing good." she replied with a smile. After sitting himself down, Robert went into the details of his journey so far.

"Wow, your Vulpix sure is lucky. I know you said how bad Kira was, but I had no idea how heartless he really was." May said after listening to how Robert aquired his shiny vulpix. "But at least your safe, and all of your pokemon seem to adore you." May replied. May then went into her stories of her adventures with Ash and Brock. "Jirachi? Manphy? Man, talk about lucky! Sound slike you've been rubbing elbows with the pokemon of legends. Its sad you and manphy had to part ways, but considering its place in the ecosystem, I suppose it couldn't be helped." Robert replied. "You haven't run into any leggies yourself yet I would imagine." may spoke. Robert shrugged. "Not met, but I did see on while traveling to Kanto. According to Brock, the pokemon I saw flying overhead was a Latias. Evidently there's a whole flock of them, but they're rarely ever seen. That's about all I heard of from Brock about it." Robert replied. May smiled. "Well, maybe one day you might actually meet one." May replied. Robert smiled as he looked upwards. "Yeah, that would be nice." Robert spoke before taking a breath. Just then, Nurse Joy came out. "May, you have a televid call." Robert and May stood up. "Well, let's go see who it is."

When they reached the pokemon center onboard, May gasped in surprise to see Max on the screen. "Hey sis!" max called out. May smiled as she and robert went over to the screen. "Max! How have you been? Where are you?" Max smiled. "Oh, I'm fine. I'm a bit nervous though. I've already won four badges, but now I have to battle father for the fifth one. Oh, wait a minute. Is that Robert from the pokemon orphanage in Oldale?" Max asked. RObert gave a smile as his Kirlia jumped up onto his shoulder. "Yup. Sounds like you're having alot of fun in Hoenn. I can imagine how awkward it's going to be fcing your father. I myself have to face my grandmother, but first I need to get all eight badges and win the Indigo Platuea tournament before I can fight her and the other Elites." Both Max and May gasped a bit. "I never knew your grandmother was one of the Elite Four!" May said. "Come to think of it, we never seen his grandmother before." Max chimed in. "That's because she lives in Kanto. She never wanted to move, but I made visits every year to Kanto to see her and watch her and the other elites spar and battle the Tournament winner of each year." Robert replied. Max then looked up at Robert's Kirlia. "Wow, you have a Kirlia too? That's so cool! Mine just evovled into a Gardevoir a few days ago." Robert smiled. "That's great! I don't know how much longer it will be for Lilly here to evolve, but I don't think any of us are in a rush." Robert said before scritching Lilly's cheek May smiled before talking to her brother for about fifteen minutes. After that, May and Robert said goodbye to Max and turned off the video phone.

Robert and May returned to thier rooms and locked thier doors. "Alright. Now let's get started training for the tournament." Robert went over some new combinations for his pokemon, with the exception of Hogan, who was too large to fit inside the room. However, he spoke to Hogan's pokeball, knowing Hogan would be able to hear him. What was more, was Robert taught Lilly how to link his mind to that of his pokemon, using her as a intermediary. This would allow Robert to issue commands mentally to his pokemon, a very useful technique for truely messing with the heads of his opponents. Robert and his pokemon trained until midnight. Before wanting to head to bed, Robert gave each of his pokemon a nice, refreashing massage. But Robert was in for a surprise when he finished massaging Lotus. Lotus hopped into his arms and nuzzled agianst his chest. As she did so, she began to glow and evolve into Umbreon. Robert took out his pokedex. Umbreon, the moonlight pokemon. When darkness falls, the rings on its body begin to glow, striking fear in the hearts of anyone nearby Robert smiled and gently petted Lotus. "I don't know about fearful, but you sure are beautiful." Robert spoke before cuddling his new friend. With that, Robert went to bed, and his new 'nightlight' lay on his feet. Tomarrow would be Robert's greatest challenge to date.

Jake awoke early the next morning to find munchlax nibbling on his arm. Jake laughed and took out some poffin and fed it to his pokemon. "Alright Munchlax, I guess we should do a bit of training." Munchlax showed a big smile, "Munch!"

"So, I want to start off by viewing your attacks. Show me a shockwave attack." Munchlax opened his mouth and shot a jolt of electricity at Jake. Jake tried to dodge it, but the attack curved and hit him anyways. "Oh yeah, shockwave is like magical leaf, it can't miss. Well that can prove to be pretty useful in battle." Munchlax nodded and showed a look of bravery on his face. "Now, show me your tackle attack." Munchlax ran towards Jake and knocked him to the ground. "Wow, that's a good one too. I didn't know that baby pokemon could be so strong. I still don't think it would be wise to use you in battle though." Munchlax gave a quick frown, then looked back up at his trainer. "Okay, now show me zen headbutt. Munchlax pushed himself in the air and flew towards Jake, a puprle atmosphere forming around his head (best I could describe it haha. It looks like Roark's Cranidos' zen headbutt looked like), Munchlax then hit Jake hard with his psychic attack. "Nice job Munchlax, once your a little more grown, you'll be very useful in battle." Munchlax gave a smile. Jake then woke up the rest of his pokemon and walked over to the battle dome, where the tournament would be held.

After reading the sign, Jake turned to Munchlax and Charmeleon, "Looks like this is a one on one battle against a guy named Tom." Jake then walked into the waiting area and signed in to confirm he was there for the tournament. After signing in, Jake saw Ash, sitting in a chair talking to his Pikachu. Jake sat next to Ash and spoke, "Good luck in your first battle." Ash looked at Jake and smiled, "Thanks Jake, good luck in your battle too. I already met my competition and everything. Me and her are going to put on a great battle." Jake replied, "Yeah, I guess I should figure out who Tom is." Ash nodded as Jake got out of his chair and searched the room for a Tom.

After a minute or two, Jake finally met his competition. "Hey, are you Tom?" The boy turned to Jake, "I sure am. You must be Jake, nice to meet you." Tom extended a hand for Jake to shake. Jake shook Tom's hand and then wished him luck on the battle field. Tom nodded and Jake walked back to Ash, "So Ash, who do you think you'll be using?" Ash looked at Jake, "I'm going to use my Pikachu for the first round, you?" Jake looked at his belt full of pokeballs, "I think I'm going to start with Poliwhirl. She evolved last night." Ash nodded, "That's great, I'm excited to see her in battle. I remember when Misty had a Poliwhirl. Of course, now its a Politoed. Haha." Jake nodded and recalled his gym battle against her. Perish song was a deadly attack, Jake hoped for his Poliwhirl to learn it some time.

Jake watched the first battle on the screen, Scott -the one Jake obtained his Scyther from- was in the first battle. He battled the opposing trainer's Kricketune with a Miltank of his own. Scott won the battle.

Jake kept watching the screne and they called the fifth trainer to the field. It was Ash. His Pikachu successfully took out a girl's Probopass. "Wow, nice job." Jake said as Ash came back to the room. Ash laughed, "Haha yeah, it wasn't too hard of a task. Thanks to Pikachu's iron tail, we really pulled through." They kept watching the screen as one by one, trainers were called to the stage to do their battles. Eventually, Kira was called to the field.

Finally, after watching all his friends battle, Jake was called to the field. They flipped a coin to see who would send out the first pokemon and it was Jake. "Poliwhirl, go!" Poliwhirl came from her pokeball and prepared for battle. Tom thought for a second and then sent out his pokemon, Magneton, go!" Jake smiled at his opponents choice, Magneton was a steel type, which would mean that wakeup slap would be super effective.

Since Jake sent out his pokemon first, he got to make the first move. "Poliwhirl, let's buy us some more time at the beginning, use hypnosis!" Poliwhirl's belly began to spiral, sending soundwaves towards magneton. "Magneton, fight it with metal sound!" Magneton then sent its own series of soundwaves towards Poliwhirls hypnosis. However, the hypnosis was stronger and mushed the metal sound back at Magneton, putting it to sleep and lowering its special defence. "Now Jin, let's take advantage of this low special defense with a water gun attack!" Poliwhirl shot a strong jet of water directly at Magneton. Magneton took a decent amount of damage and remained sleeping. "Magneton, you've got to wake up, buddy!" Magneton failed to hear its trainer's command. "Now Jin, let's give Magneton a rude awakening. Wakeup slap!" Poliwhirl rushed towards Magneton, jumped into the air and slapped him hard in the face (faces?), dealing double damage do to its sleeping condition. Magneton had fainted.

Jake headed back to the waiting room to see who he would be battling for round two.

It was Jake's turn for battle. Jake started the battle by sending out Munchlax. Munchlax gave Jake a look of surprise as Jake called him to the battle field. Jake laughed, "Its okay Munchlax, I'm going to use this battle as a bit of training for you. Remember that pecha berry I gave you earlier?" Munchlax shook his head no. "Well its deep in your fur, when you use rest, it will wake you up." Munchlax nodded. Jake was against a girl named Stacey. Stacey started the battle with her Ledyba.

"Alright Munchlax, let's start off with tackle!" Stacey laughed, "Wow, your lax's moveset sure is limited. Sedyba, use mach punch!" Munchlax charged towards Ledyba but she punched him to the ground. Munchlax took a lot of damage from the super effective attack. "Its okay Munchlax, get up and use zen headbutt!" Munchlax stood up and flew at Ledyba with a zen headbutt attack. "Ledyba, dodge and use comet punch!" Ledyba dodged and then punched Munchlax. Comet punch wasn't a fighting attack and didn't do too much damage. "Okay Munchlax, so she likes to dodge. Use shockwave!" Munchlax opened his mouth and sent a jolt of electricity at ledyba. "Ledyba dodge!" "Munchlax, zen headbutt!" Ledyba failed to dodge shockwave and Munchlax hit her with a zen headbutt attack. "Now ledyba, give him another mach punch!" Ledyba punched Munchlax again, leaving with little health left. "Munchlax, rest and use shockwave again." Stacey laughed again, "its going to be a while before Munchlax wakes up." Jake laughed back, "That's what you think." Munchlax layed down and closed his eyes for a second, then opened them and struck ledyba with a shockwave attack. "Zen headbutt!" Munchlax KO'd Ledyba with a final zen headbutt.

Stacey then sent out a Hitmonlee. "Double kick!" HItmonlee quickly KO'd Munchlax with his double kick attack. "Alright, Charmeleon, go and use fire spin!" Charmeleon emerged from his pokeball and shot a spiraling flame at Hitmonlee. Stacey laughed again, "Hah, a special fire attack. We'll show you how to really play with fire. Blaze kick!" The blaze kick caught Jake by surprise and hit Charmeleon full on in the face. "Charmeleon get back up and use dragon rage!" Charmeleon opened his mouth and sent a deep purple flame at Hitmonlee, leaving him fainted.

"Dugtrio, go and use dig!" Dugtrio emerged from his pokeball and then dug himself into the ground. The underground attack caught Jake by surprise and he sent Charmeleon flying into the air. "Use dig again!" Dugtrio then dug into the ground again, sending Charmeleon into the air. After a few more rounds of Dugtrio's dig, Jake made a plan. "Charmeleon use fire spin in the nearest hole!" Charmeleon use fire spin in the hole, the fire traveled throughout all the underground tunnels, sending fire out of all holes but one. In the last hole, a fainted dugtrio emerged. "Dugtrio, return!"

Jake then walked back into the waiting room to get healed and see who he would be paired with for round three. After the last three battles, the results appeared on the bored. Jake was to be paired with a guy named Lyle. Jake walked up to Lyle and spoke, "Hey, I'm to be your partner for round three. Lyle gasped and then quickly held out his hand, "Oh good. From what I've seen, we should partner real well." Jake nodded. His partner seemed oddly familiar, but he was unsure where he had seen him before. Jake and Lyle were to be battling the team of Scott and a trainer whom Jake didn't know.