[ The next morning ]

"Welcome to the second match of today's Top-16 battlers. This time, the participants are Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, and Ken from Viridian City, both of which are in Kanto." The commentator exclaimed. "Ash, who has demonstrated a wide variety of pokémon under his command, is going to battle against Ken, who has been winning every single battle with his fire team."

Austin who had been calmed down by Professor Oak last night was now feeling better knowing the fact that even if the Pokemon league wanted his Charmander they couldn't do anything since his sponsor had been Professor Oak who had enough connections to immediately fix his problem if it ever arose.

The platform in front of them suddenly let out another hiss, as it started to sink down, until it was at least a couple of feet deep in, when halves of a new platform slid in from either side.

"The battleground for this match has been chosen to be Rock-type." The commentator stated.

"This will be a three-on-three battle. Rotation is allowed." The referee stated, "Blue Trainer, choose your pokémon."

Austin, the Red trainer for the battle, stood in wait as Ken brushed his red hair aside .

" Ninetales, go battle." Came the voice of the stoic Ken.

The red light that inundated the stadium slowly ceased, leaving behind a dazzlingly beautiful, brilliant white fox with long, fluffy tails, all nine of them, folded around her to give the appearance of a throne. Her red eyes, along with the luxurious white fur, formed an avid juxtaposition between ethereal beauty and lethality, something even Austin couldn't help but admire.

' That's settled. I need to get myself a Ninetales one of these days.' Austin thought inwardly, as he selected his own pokémon.

"Squirtle, I choose you." Austin made his choice, as Squirtle appeared in front of the silvery-white fire creature.

"And Ash has chosen Squirtle against Ninetales. Will Ash's Squirtle be able to prevail against Ken and his Ninetales?" The commentary ran in the background, as Austin muted it out, focussing on the match.

"Ninetales, use fire blast!"

"Squirtle , use Aura Sphere !"

The two powerful attacks slammed into each other midway, as the powerful fire blast from Ninetales met Squirtle's aura sphere clashing into a giant explosion.

"Ninetales, use fire spin." Ken shot back.

"Stay where you are, Squirtle, and use protect." Austin commanded.

"Ninetales, use Flare blitz!"

Ninetales howled, as it gathered a powerful conflagration before thrusting it out towards Squirtle.

"Counter Shield ."

Squirtle retracted into his shell as jets of water shot out creating a an intricate shield made of water .

( ~ Boom ~ )

( ~ Boom ~ )

( ~ Boom ~ )

Squirtle's counter shield was like a never ending barrier that slowed down Ninetales's flare blitz to a stop.

" Ice Age ! "

Squirtle's water jet's stop as it shot ice beam at the spinning jets of water around him.

Under the awed eyes of the audience a beautiful ice sculpture formed but before anyone could comment , an aura sphere shot out from ice sculpture targeting Ninetales who shot a flamethrower at it.

Another time, two powerful blasts collided with each other, creating an explosion, but nevertheless, leaving the situation to a stalemate in the eyes of Ken whose eyes widened as shards of ice were thrown at high speeds towards Ninetales as Squirtle used rapid spin to throw the broken pieces of the ice sculpture at Ninetales.

The smoke cleared showing a somewhat injured Ninetales.

"Ninetales, return..." He plucked out another pokeball and threw it into the field. "Go, Typhlosion!"

"And Ken has replaced his Ninetales with Typhlosion. Will Ash continue with Squirtle, or will Ken's plan work out differently?" The commentary went on. The rat-like pokémon that had appeared on the field was as tall as Surge himself if not taller, and had a burning flame on his back.

"Squirtle, get ready." Austin warned.

"Typhlosion, use quick attack followed by flame wheel."

"Squirtle, use mudsport on Typhlosion!"

"Dodge and attack." Ken commanded, as Typhlosion dodged mid-attack, before landing the flame-wheel onto Squirtle's back, slamming the pokémon to the ground.

"Now use brick break on Squirtle !"

Typhlosion let out a war cry as it jumped into the air, its fists glowing as it slammed down towards Squirtle, who was on the ground.

"Use rapid spin in the muddy ground ." Austin commanded, and right that instant, Squirtle spun at extremely high speeds causing it to launch the mud on the ground to directly spray on Typhlosion causing it to miss its attack.

" Cannon Castle ! " Austin shouted out as

Squirtle stopped spinning and erupted a protect between it and Typhlosion . Squirtle was launched an Aura Sphere which collided head-on with Typhlosion, who yelped as it got pummelled with the inescapable attack.

"Typhlosion!" snarled. "Get back up, and use inferno!"

" Water Gun"

"Double team with brick break!" Ken commanded, and almost instantly, several illusory copies of Typhlosion were all around the platform, coming towards Squirtle who went on firing Water guns madly at every direction.

"Full power!" Ken snarled.

"Aura Sphere !" Austin exclaimed ,as he watched Typhlosion suddenly appear behind Squirtle trying to slam a powerful brick break which was met by Squirtle's aura sphere .

( ~ Boom ~ )

The dust cloud cleared showing Squirtle and

Typhlosion having a stare down before Typhlosion collapsed to the floor , knocked out.

Ken grit his teeth. This match was tougher than he had expected it to be. This Squirtle had a good combination of power and speed. He couldn't use Slugma , looks like he was going to release his ace as he sent out Arcanine.

" Extreme Speed ! "

Squirtle knew that it was on its last leg. Feeling the presence of Arcanine behind him , Squirtle didn't want to accept defeat without doing anything as it's tail glowed with a Azure light .

Under the hardened eyes of Austin , Squirtle's body hit the muddy ground with spirals in its eyes.

( ~ Tap ~ )

A drop of water hit the ground near Austin as he looked at ceiling with was covered with dark clouds.

" Pika !"

Austin smiled as he gazed at Squirtle's Rain Dance.

" Ready "

" Pika, Pi "

Pikachu jumped from Austin's shoulders and landed on the battlefield.

" Thunder strike."

Pikachu's paws glowed as electricity sparked on them, as the thunder punch was prepared and in a show of speed , Pikachu launched itself at Arcanine using Quick Attack.

"Arcanine , use Extreme Speed ," Ken commanded, "and then use double edge ."

Pikachu was just about to hit Arcanine when " " The Legendary" pokémon disappeared from its vision and appeared behind it as Arcanine used double edge .

The destructive technique hit Pikachu directly on the face, before the latter move sent him slamming into one of the rocks, causing further damage.