After several days of hard work and dedicated training, there was only one day till the tournament. With the mysterious Team Shadow almost literally staying in the shadows, no one was able to understand their motives. But, all would become clear for Ash and co fairly soon.

"Ash, look!" Serena waved as everyone gather around, although she only called Ash. "The rules have been displayed all over Kanto"

Ash walked over and he and Pikachu carefully inspected the rules.

The rules for the Pokemon Battle Tournament are as follows:

1. 6 Pokemon are required for both qualifying and final rounds.

2. You must attend your battle without fail, there are no warnings or redo's. If one trainer is not present at the time of their battle, they are automatically disqualified. The same applies for all qualifying events.

"Rule 2 suggests we won't just be battling" Clemont analysed the rules and everyone else peered at the second one.

"You're right," Brock said, scratching his chin. "Maybe there will be various events to quickly thin out the numbers. There must be hundreds of competitors but an average tournament should have around 32 or maybe 64"

Everyone turned back to the rules.

3. A battle ends once all Pokemon are unable to battle. Even if a Pokemon is badly poisoned or needs medical attention, the fight must continue regardless of the circumstances.

4. If a trainer does not have six Pokemon by the starting point, they will receive a warning and will need six the day after, otherwise, they are disqualified.

5. Anyone from the members of all elite four's and champions are not allowed to compete. Gym leaders from all regions can compete in the tournament.

6. Have fun and be at your best for our tournament!

NOTE: the qualifying events may contain danger and/or life threatening situations. By signing up to our tournament, you automatically agree that any injuries are your responsibility and the health of your Pokemon is also your responsibility.

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After reading the rules, everyone took a few steps back.

"Seems a little harsh, rule 3" May moaned slightly. Everyone thought about it again.

"It is kind of a balanced rule" Cilan finally decided on what to say. "It makes battles end there and then because they have to thin out numbers as Brock said. If the Pokemon needed medical attention then the match would end, but this tournament requires that all six Pokemon are unable to battle. It can technically still battle, but it is nearly impossible"

"Still harsh" May pouted, folding her arms.

"Also, it is unbalanced because people can abuse sleeping powder and poison stings, things that have mostly everlasting effects on their opponents Pokemon"

"Maybe we need some plans to counter them" Misty suggested.

"Well, in Ash's second gym battle in Kalos, he had Pikachu thunderbolt himself just before the sleeping powder had any effect, which kept him awake" Serena reminisced, remembering the battle she had watched.

"Wow, really?" Dawn said, impressed.

"Hi, guys!" Miette skipped over, seemingly really happy.

"Oh, hi Miette" Serena returned a friendly smile as Miette skipped past.

"I came to read the rules.." she paused as she bent down to read the sign.

"That reminds me, I need some more Pokemon..." Serena moaned, wondering what to do.

"Well, I am sure most of us need some Pokemon" Ash finally spoke. "If anyone desperately needs any, after the first day I mean, then you can borrow some of the mine"

"That should be a last resort because it is your Pokemon" Iris looked up at Axew, realizing she didn't have many Pokemon. "Right Axew?"

"Ew, ew!" Axew agreed enthusiastically.

"Pika..." Pikachu gave a 'he was only offering' look.

"Well, we all better go and train for the first day. Who knows what we will be doing" Iris pointed out.

"Well, I am going to be training my Pokemon to use their speed and agility," Ash said, eagerly wanting to run off. "Bye, guys!"

"Ash was-" Miette turned around, but Ash had already run off. "Hmph," She puffed, annoyed.

Ash continued to run, Pikachu following by his side. He made his way up a small hill and then let out all of his Pokemon.

"Ok, today we are going to be working hard" Ash began explaining his training ideas to his Pokemon, who all agreed.

"Ok, Charizard lets see you fly, keep it steady with the heavy wind. Hawlucha, you glide through the wind and down the hill, before running back up to train your speed"

They both took flight, Hawlucha using its wings to glide through the wind, slowly floating down the hill and to the bottom. Charizard was flying around, keeping itself steady in the wind, to gain more experience and get faster.

"Quilava, flamethrower on Charizard! Jump before you do it to get closer!"

Quilava leaped into the air, before breathing in. Quilava then proceeded to send a rush of flames at Charizard, who turned around to face the attack.

"Charizard, flamethrower now!" Ash said, making Charizard promptly jump up in surprise. Quilava's flamethrower hit him before he could react. "It's ok Charizard, try one more time to be quicker! This is what training is for"

Quilava was jumping higher each time while Charizard was beginning to fly faster and react faster too. Hawlucha was gliding with ease and making it up the hill in seconds.

"Ok, Buizel, Sceptile, we will be working on your speed and reactions"

"Pika..?" Pikachu tilted his head, wondering why he wasn't involved right now.

"Ok, Buizel, use water gun on Sceptile!"

Buizel did what Ash said and, just like Quilava's flamethrower, forced out a huge spray of water at Sceptile.

"Sceptile, use your leaf blade and cut straight into the water!" Sceptile stood its ground and the leafs hanging off of its arms became brighter. Sceptile span round and swung its left blade, striking the water with all of its strength. Sceptile then continued to spin, swinging its right blade to finish the move, cutting the water and sending it splashing around the sides.

"Buizel, ice punch, lets go!" Ash continued to tell Buizel to attack. Buizel dashed forward and his fist became completely encased in ice. He continued to advance on Sceptile, who seemingly stood its ground.

"Sceptile, use agility and dodge it!" Ash shouted to the waiting Sceptile. Sceptile focused hard and used the psychic move, becoming much faster. He dashed left and right, seemingly gliding through the air. Buizel swung his fist and hit nothing.

"Sceptile, leaf storm!"

Sceptile conjured up a storm of leaves and sent them straight at Buizel, who waited for Ash for a defensive instruction.

"Buizel, sonic boom, straight through the leaf storm!" Buizel jumped up and spun around, his tail becoming a bright light.

"Bui!" he grunted, sending out one wave of energy.

"Bui!!" he continued, sending out the second one. Both hit the leaf storm at full power, creating a minor explosion of smoke. Once it cleared, everyone was unharmed.

"Ok, continue doing those combinations," Ash said, before kneeling next to Pikachu. "We are going to work on a special combination, I want you to use quick attack and gain as much speed as possible, cover the length of this hill"

Pikachu's whole body was covered in a white light, as Pikachu dashed in zig-zags across the hill. His speed continued to increase while Ash was carefully inspecting his movement.

"Ok, now let it rip, jump and use iron tail on the ground!" Ash finished the combination and Pikachu leaped into the air, being carried by his momentum from the quick attack, as soon as Pikachu flicked his tail and it turned into solid iron, he flipped down and threw his whole body at the ground, his tail pointed just a few centimetres in front. The momentum gave Pikachu much more height when he jumped, which resulted in an outstanding increase in the iron tails force. As soon as Pikachu hit the ground, the whole hill began shaking. All of Ash's Pokemon stopped abruptly to see what was going on. Pikachu was stuck in the ground, his tail sticking into the dirt. Ash ran over and helped him out, before turning to his other Pokemon.

"Continue practising guys, we need to be ready for the tournament" Ash knelt down beside Pikachu. "That was amazing, don't you think?"

"Pika, Pikachu!" Pikachu exclaimed excitedly. It was a very strong move he couldn't wait to use over and over.

"Now, keep training your speed with quick attack, but don't use iron tail...you might cause the ground to shake again"

"Pika.." Pikachu nodded, understanding Ash. He continued to train his quick attack while the others simultaneously repeated their training. Ash looked on, pleased with the training that was happening. Meanwhile, just over his shoulder, the sunlight that should have been hitting the forest was being obscured by an ever increasing shadow, it slowly got to the end of the trees and then dissipated, as if it was never there. Ash, seemingly sensing something, turned to look at the forest. Nothing was visible to him, so he continued to watch on with his training as the eerie shadow made its way around the hills, disappearing and reappearing, like blurred movement. Ash wasn't sure, but he was in trouble.