Nicholai

Today the gang was taking a break from traveling and May started to practice for the Fallabor contest. She had a new Pokemon on her team; a Skitty. The other day May found an unwell Skitty and she and the boys took it to the Pokemon doctor to be healed. After Skitty was healed, May caught Skitty and was happy with her new Pokemon. May's current team was Torchic, Beautifly, Azurill, Skitty, Volbeat and Illumise. Ash was training his current team; aside from Latias, he had Corphish, Feebas, Zigzagoon, Poochyena and Seedot. Ash had found out that the Lavaridge gym specialized in fire type Pokemon and he decided to use Corphish and if he could, Feebas.

Suddenly a white Pokemon with red stripes ran past the gang.

"Hey, a Zangoose." Max said, excitedly.

Tomo looked Zangoose up on the Pokedex.

"Zangoose, the Cat Ferret Pokemon. Memories of battling it's arch-rival Seviper are etched into every cell of Zangoose's body. This Pokemon adroitly dodges attacks with incredible agility."

"Wow, so does that mean Zangoose and Seviper fight with each other all the time?" Tomo asked Max.

"Yes, and once they start fighting they don't stop until one or the other is defeated."

"Gosh." Tomo said.

Just then another Zangoose appeared, but it started talking.

"Hold on a second." Ash said. "Nicholai?"

Nicholai was a Pokemon trainer who liked to dress up as different Pokemon that the gang met in Petalburg Woods.

Nicholai was happy to see the gang again and he introduced Zangoose as his new Pokemon.

"So how have you been Nicholai?" Ash asked.

"I've been great thank you." Nicholai said. "I've been to different places, seen some cool new Pokemon, as well as caught some new Pokemon for myself and I've been participating in different Pokemon battles and gym battles too. The truth is I battled the Petalburg Gym some time ago."

"Really, did you win?" May asked.

"No I lost; your dad is strong and really hard to beat." Nicholai said. "But I plan to try again after I train some more."

"Well then, why don't you have a battle with me?" Ash offered.

"I accept your battle Ash, but you won't beat me this time." Nicholai said.

He and Ash had a Pokemon battle the last time they encountered each other and Ash defeated Nicholai's Zigzagoon with Taillow.

Ash and Nicholai got ready to battle and Brock acted as the referee, declaring the Pokemon battle a two on two battle. Nicholai dressed up as Marshtomp and released Marshtomp from a Poke Ball. This meant that Nicholai's Mudkip was now a Marshtomp. Ash sent Seedot out to battle; Marshtomp was a water/ground type Pokemon so Seedot would be 4x effective against it.

"Marshtomp, Water Gun." Nicholai ordered.

"Dodge it with Quick Attack." Ash said

Quick Attack was Seedot's egg move.

"Fire Mud Shot Marshtomp." Nicholai said.

Marshtomp fired a glob of mud that hit Seedot.

"Use Sunny Day." Ash instructed.

Seedot glowed white and the sun shined brightly.

"Let's use Iron Tail Marshtomp." Nicholai said.

"Solar Beam." Ash said.

Seedot fired a beam of energy from it's acorn cap straight at Marshtomp.

Marshtomp fainted after it was hit by Solar Beam.

"Whoa, how did Seedot use Solar Beam so quickly?" Max asked. "Usually a Pokemon has to store energy first before using Solar Beam."

Tomo explained that if a Pokemon used Sunny Day it can use Solar Beam without having to wait a turn. May and Max thought that was a brilliant strategy.

"You should teach that to your Bellossom May." Tomo said. "That kind of strategy may work for you in Pokemon battles."

May thought that was a good idea.

Nicholai returned Marshtomp, changed into a Zangoose costume and called out his Zangoose.

"Be careful Seedot." Ash advised. "Zangoose isn't a pushover."

Seedot nodded.

"Swords Dance." Nicholai ordered.

Zangoose didn't do anything. Instead it started looking elsewhere as if it was searching for something. Then it ran towards some bushes.

"Hey Zangoose, what's wrong?" Nicholai asked.

"Uh oh." Max said. "I bet Zangoose sensed a Seviper nearby."

"What do you mean Max?" May asked.

"Well you see Zangoose and Seviper are sworn enemies. They can detect each other's presence even from a distance." Max explained. "And once they do they have the urge to fight each other and they can't resist it."

Zangoose did detect a Seviper, but this Seviper was Jessie's. Team Rocket was in the area looking for Pokemon to steal. Jessie, James and Meowth revealed themselves when they saw Seviper was willing to fight Zangoose.

"Not you three again." Nicholai groaned.

He ran into them when he met the gang for the first time.

"What do you want?" Nicholai demanded.

"Since we have nothing to do at the moment, we'll take your Pokemon." Jessie said.

She ordered her Seviper to attack, but it was too busy concentrating on Zangoose.

"Uh oh." James said.

He also knew Seviper and Zangoose were sworn enemies and shared that with Jessie.

Jessie was about to giver her Seviper a command but then Zangoose sent Jessie, James and Meowth flying with Crush Claw. The Crush Claw was meant for Seviper but it dodged the attack which hit Team Rocket instead. So Seviper was left alone to fight Zangoose.

First Seviper wrapped Zangoose up with it's tail, but Zangoose bit Seviper to free itself. But then they rolled into a river. Nicholai and the gang ran after them to help Zangoose. Seviper hit Zangoose hard with a Poison Tail attack and was about to bite Zangoose next.

"I don't think so Seviper!" Ash exclaimed.

He released Feebas and ordered her to use Ice Beam. Feebas froze Seviper in a block of ice and then she whacked it with Iron Tail sending Seviper down the river. Next she helped Zangoose get to shore. Zangoose was injured and needed medicine and a good rest.

"Well done Feebas." Ash smiled, rubbing her head.

Meanwhile Team Rocket found Seviper and decided to come up with a plan to defeat Zangoose. Jessie understood her Seviper's feelings because she had a rivalry with Cassidy.

"Okay Seviper, we are going to train for a bit and then we'll get back at that Zangoose." Jessie said.

Seviper nodded in agreement.

Back with Nicholai and the gang, Nicholai was thinking about what to do with Zangoose. Zangoose obviously wanted to fight Seviper again after it recovered. Ash offered to help because he battled Jessie's Seviper on a regular basis. Nicholai accepted Ash's help and he changed into his Zangoose costume. Ash also changed into a Seviper costume Nicholai owned; Ash and Nicholai decided to fight each other as if they really were a Seviper and Zangoose. Ash pointed out to Nicholai that he had to watch out for Seviper's tail and fangs.

"Another thing you should know is that Seviper can learn Glare which can paralyze a opponent." Nicholai could see that trying to defeat Seviper wouldn't be easy, but he wasn't willing to give up.

Suddenly Team Rocket and Seviper turned back up and Seviper was ready to fight Zangoose again.

"I don't think Zangoose has fully recovered to fight." Ash told Nicholai.

"Don't worry Ash, Zangoose and I will win." Nicholai declared.

As Jessie was battling Nicholai, James decided to fight the gang in a attempt to take their Pokemon. He sent out Cacnea and ordered it to use Sandstorm on the gang. Ash was about call out his Corphish, but then Feebas popped out of her Poke Ball by herself. Feebas wanted to fight. When James and Meowth saw Feebas, they started to laugh.

"That ugly thing couldn't defeat a Caterpie." Meowth laughed.

Ash got angry and told them not to insult his Feebas. At that moment Feebas started to glow and then she evolved into a Milotic. As Milotic was shiny, she had light blue ears and yellow scales instead of blue scales. Ash and the others thought Milotic was beautiful.

"Okay Milotic fight Cacnea with Ice Beam." Ash said.

Milotic fired a beam of ice which froze Cacnea, James and Meowth.

"Okay, now let's use one of your new moves. Use Twister." Ash said.

Milotic spun around and created a tornado, then the tornado sent the frozen James, Meowth and Cacnea flying. Ash congratulated Milotic and hugged her.

"You were great Milotic." Ash smiled.

Milotic happily cooed.

Meanwhile Jessie and Nicholai were still battling each other. Zangoose was still tired, but it wasn't willing to stop fighting and neither was Seviper.

"All right Seviper let's use Flamethrower." Jessie said.

She had taught her Seviper Flamethrower. Nicholai was surprised by that and ordered Zangoose to dodge it. Zangoose jumped just in time to dodge the Flamethrower. Then Nicholai ordered Zangoose to use Crush Claw. Zangoose scratched Seviper hard and then it fainted. Jessie returned Seviper.

"You may have won this time twerps, but you haven't seen the last of me." She said.

She ran off as fast as she could to find James and Meowth.

Nicholai was happy with the victory and told Zangoose that it did a great job. Ash was looking at his Milotic on the Pokedex and saw that Milotic had learned a lot of new moves. She now knew Water Gun, Wrap, Refresh, Twister, Recover, Aqua Tail, Attract, Captivate and Water Pulse.

"I can't wait to use my Milotic in battles." Ash smiled.

Since Team Rocket was now out of the way, Ash and Nicholai decided to resume their battle. Ash called out Poochyena and Nicholai changed and sent out Zigzagoon. In the end Ash and Poochyena won.