Hearthome Tag Team Tournament

Today was the start of the tag battle tournament in Hearthome City. The gang was in the Pokemon Center and Ash was handing Dawn an entry card for the tournament.

"Zoey suggested that you enter the tournament to lift your battling spirit." Brock explained.

"She didn't say anything about that to me." Dawn said.

She wasn't fond of people making decisions for her without her knowledge.

"Come on Dawn." Ash said. "I can feel that you're still low spirited because of your loss at the Pokemon contest. And this tournament is exactly what you need to perk up again."

The other boys agreed and so did Piplup. Dawn hesitated, but she could see that Ash was right and she did need some perking up. So she agreed to enter the tournament.

Soon everyone was at a stadium, where the tournament was taking place. A man named Enta, who was the mayor of Hearthome City and announcer of the tournament, welcomed everyone to the tournament. He made a speech about the tag battle tournament was to have two trainers work together as one against their opponents. Next he explained that the numbers on the trainer's entry cards were to help the trainers find their partners and see what block they were in. A big TV screen lit up to show the rounds and boxes that held the numbers. There were 32 trainers in total. Enta pressed a button and the trainers' numbers appeared. Tomo was in the E block, Dawn was in the B block, Ash was in the H block and Brock was in the E block.

It took some time, but the gang started to find their partners. Tomo's partner number was 26 and it was a teenage boy named Bert. Dawn's partner number was 9 and it was a boy named Conway. Conway had a creepy aura around him. Brock's partner number was 21 and it was a woman named Holly with a Wingull. Soon Ash managed to find his partner number which was 5, but it ended up as bad luck to him. His partner was Paul; he had come to the tag battle tournament too. Ash wasn't too thrilled to see him and it was the same for Paul. Dawn, Tomo and Brock saw the situation.

*'Ash has the worst luck.'* Dawn thought.

"You make sure to stay out of my way." Paul told Ash, rudely.

That made Ash angry.

"Give it a rest, will ya!" He shouted.

Pikachu wanted to welcome Paul's Elekid to try and make things friendly, but Ash quickly stopped him.

"Don't bother Pikachu." Ash whispered.

He knew that Paul's Elekid was no friendly Pokemon and Pikachu did as he was told.

"Brock, is Ash going to be okay?" Dawn asked.

"He made it clear that Paul is not a friendly rival." Brock said. "All we can do is see what happens during this tournament."

Etna then showed the grand prize of the tag battle tournament. It was two bells. The bells were called Soothe Bells and their chimes had the ability to calm Pokemon even in a rage or panic. As the tournament wasn't going to start until the afternoon he told everyone to learn about their partners. Ash felt he shouldn't bother with Paul because he already knew what he was like.

That afternoon the tournament was underway and Dawn and Conway went up first with the partners from Block A. The rules were every trainer only used one Pokemon and substitutions were not allowed. And the first team to defeat the other time was the winner of the round. Dawn sent out Piplup and Conway sent out Slowking. The other team sent out a Scyther and Koffing.

"You do the attacking Dawn and leave the defending to me." Conway said.

Scyther attacked with Razor Wind and Koffing attacked with Sludge Bomb.

Piplup used Bubble Beam to defeat the Razor Wind and Slowking used Safeguard to protect itself and Piplup from Sludge Bomb. Koffing attacked next with Thunderbolt, but Slowking used Protect to protect itself and Piplup from the attack.

"You see." Conway said. "Now you do whatever you want because I'll be covering you."

This was why he told Dawn to leave defending to him. Scyther moved in with X-Scissor, but Piplup moved in with Peck and struck Scyther really hard. Scyther fainted after being hit by that strong attack. Koffing attacked next with Gyro Ball, but Slowking used Psychic to stop it in it's tracks and made it fall to the ground hard. Koffing fainted and Conway and Dawn were the winners of the first round.

"Dawn has an interesting partner." Brock said. "Especially since Conway is very big in defensive moves."

Ash could see that Conway and Dawn really know how to battle together. He turned towards Paul who was standing someplace behind him.

"We should try and work together too." He said.

But then a Flamethrower attack nearly hit him.

"What was that for?!" Ash shouted.

"Give Chimchar your opinion." Paul said.

The Flamethrower had come from Chimchar.

"Oh, so you learned Flamethrower huh Chimchar?" Ash said.

Chimchar replied with a yes.

"That was a weak Flamethrower from a weak flame." Paul rudely said.

"It was good." Ash said. "Let me help you with Chimchar."

"We don't need your help." Paul said, rudely.

"Will you put aside that stubbornness and pride of yours for one day already!" Ash said, angrily. "This is a tag team tournament and we are supposed to be helping each other here!"

Paul didn't take that to heart. Dawn reminded him Cynthia said that Pokemon and Trainers should work as one. Paul still didn't take the working together thing to heart.

"Why are you competing in this tournament anyway?" Ash asked him.

He didn't see why somebody like Paul would want to come here.

"To meet fire type Pokemon." Paul answered.

He then left with Chimchar.

"What did Paul mean?" Dawn asked.

"He wants to use a opponent's fire type Pokemon to power Chimchar up." Brock explained.

Ash didn't like this; he felt something bad was going to happen later.

Soon Tomo and Bert faced their opponents in block F. Tomo used Growlithe and Bert used a Yanma. Their opponents used Shedinja and Aron. Bert's Yanma's ability Speed Boost made it so Shedinja and Aron couldn't hit it with attacks, and while the two Pokemon were distracted Growlithe knocked them both out with Flamethrower. Tomo and Bert gave each other a thumbs up. Soon it was Brock and Holly's turn to face their opponents. Brock used Sudowoodo and Holly used her Wingull. Their opponents used Bagon and Yanma. It turned out their opponents didn't get along well and kept arguing during the battle. In the end Wingull defeated Yanma with Aerial Ace and Sudowoodo used Wood Hammer to defeat Bagon. So Dawn, Tomo and Brock would move onto the second round, which was tomorrow.

Now it was time for Ash and Paul to face their opponents. Ash sent out Pikachu and Paul sent out Chimchar. Their opponents sent out a Rhydon and a Magmar.

"This will be tough." Ash said.

"With Pikachu, tough is right." Paul said, rudely.

"Chimchar isn't a good match either." Ash argued.

"Who asked you?" Paul argued.

"I have a bit of a bad feeling about this." Tomo said.

"Yes with a fire and rock/ground type, both Chimchar and Pikachu have a type disadvantage." Conway said.

Dawn was worried because Ash and Paul weren't a great match up.

"Hidden Power." Ash told Pikachu.

He knew Rhydon had the Lightning Rod ability that attracted electricity; his Rhydon had this ability as well.

Hidden Power turned out to be super effective.

"How was Hidden Power effective on Rhydon?" Dawn asked.

"Pikachu's Hidden Power is ground type." Tomo answered.

The gang had told Dawn before that Hidden Power had a different type for different Pokemon.

"Not bad I guess, but you are still in the way." Paul told Ash.

"Shut up Paul!" Ash shouted, angrily. "I'm in this whether you like it or not!"

Magmar attacked next with Lava Plume, which was an attack that spreads fire everywhere in a area and everyone takes damage. As Rhydon was a rock/ground type it wasn't affected much.

"Chimchar, jump into the fire." Paul ordered.

"Dodge it Pikachu." Ash ordered.

As Chimchar was engulfed in the flames, the flame on it's tail raged and then Chimchar used Flamethrower on Rhydon.