"It’s too bad they made Ash and us separate," Sooney mumbled, "But rules are rules, I suppose."

"I guess," Eevy muttered, "We’ll meet up again."

"I bet," Yuu-Yuu nodded, "Time to get your next opponent, Eevy."

"I hate this music!" Medira flipped and scratched at her head as they entered the Pokemon Center, "It drives the brain nuts!"

"That shouldn’t bother you that much then," Morty chuckled before Medira’s evil scowl, "Sorry…"

"While you two were battling verbally," Eevy laughed at the petrified face her brother was wearing, "I got my next opponent. Sandy Mudd of Olivine City, Johto. And today I get to start my last three battles on the Sand Field."

"You’ll do great!" Mizu shouted, "You can’t lose!"

"Don’t say that," Eevy made an embarrassed and begging face, "If you say things like that I have a strong chance to lose."

"Nah," Eusine reassured, "No way. You’ll beat them no matter what."

"If you say so," Eevy shrugged, "Shall we head to the Stadium?"

"Sure!" Skiff cheered, "Let’s go!"

*^~^**^~^*

"Entering the Stadium from the western entrance we can see trainers Evangelina Hikoboshi of Rose and Ash Ketchum of Pallet along with Hikoboshi’s Coach, Medira Kurayami of Dogwood!" the speaker was only driving Eevy and Ash nuts by announcing their names together.

"Good luck, Ash," Eevy muttered to her left to Ash, "Hope you win."

"Same here, Eevy," Ash mumbled to his right to Eevy, "You’ll do great."

"Thanks."

"Entering the Stadium from the eastern entrance we can see trainers Sandy Mudd of Olivine and Derik Barge of Blackthorn!"

"Ready for a battle?" Sandy boasted as she shook Eevy’s hand.

Eevy snickered evilly, "Yes, I am," she nodded, "Are you ready to lose?"

Sandy snapped, "I’ll be asking you that same question."

"Let’s go, Eevy!" Medira pulled Eevy’s wrist and threw her into place, "We’ve got to win this!"

"Yeah! You bet!" Eevy stepped onto her podium and felt the usual shaking of the ground, but it wasn’t the platform shaking.

"As these matches are to be secret," Lance laughed from his speaker, "We’ve installed new walls that will raise before each match and lower after the competitors have exited every day. They’ll hide your progress from each other and keep one battle’s attacks from interfering with the others. After you’ve finished your last three battles on your last assigned Field you’ll receive your final test. Ta-ta till then," he laughed evilly and flicked off the speaker, leaning back and thinking, "Good luck little Miss angel and little Mister Pikachu."

Ash and Eevy nearly fell over as the walls raised. One ran across, between the Water and Rock Fields and the Sand and Fire Fields. The second rose between the Water and Sand Fields and the Rock and Fire Fields. Spotlights flickered on around the top of each wall to light the arenas. Each arena got a screen outside the boxes to show the happenings inside. Morty was boiling over now.

"How dare that idiot Dragon Master trap my sister in his freaky cage!" he burst, "I don’t care who he is!"

"Calm down!" Eusine cautioned, "She’s fine, Morty!"

"This is pretty weird," Sandy nodded, "Are they sure this is safe?"

"Don’t ask us," Medira shrugged, "We have no clue."

"Let’s begin," Eevy smirked, "I’ll allow you to choose first."

"Stupid move!" Sandy laughed, "I choose you, Fearow!"

"Fearow’s a Flying- type Pokemon. I choose you, Lovo!"

"An Electric- type. That was overly expected," Sandy snickered, "Go, Fearow! Give that Jolteon your Fury Attack!"

"Lovo! Show her your Quick Attack!"

Lovo charged forward, zipping in and around Fearow’s flying Fury Attack. He crashed into Fearow with a heavy head-on Quick Attack. Fearow tipped backwards but regained his composure by flapping his wings and propelling himself up. The flapping of his wings acted like a Whirlwind and pushed Lovo away.

"Great recovery, Fearow! Now show them your Peck attack!"

"Lovo! Stand and use Agility!"

Lovo shot up as quickly as he could with Fearow rampaging towards him. He shot away with the feathered Pokemon slamming into the ground where he had been standing. Lovo continued running as fast as he was able with Fearow tailing and launching a Swift attack. The Swift hit Lovo hard, knocking him to the ground. Fearow continued attack with a Mud-Slap. Lovo jumped away skidding to a stop.

"Perfect avoidance, Lovo! Give it a Thundering Pin Missile!"

"Good, Fearow! Now block that attack with a Steel Wing!"

Fearow acquired his steel shine as the Thunder Pins tore towards him. The stinging of the Poison Pins was nothing to his iron covered body. He thrashed forwards, colliding with Lovo and popping him backwards into the air. He landed on his back and skidded away. Sandy smiled wide until Lovo stood back up, eyes glowing violently.

"Ah! Finish it off with Pursuit!"

"Go, Lovo! Rapid fire Thunderbolt!"

Lovo shot rip after rip of lightning at Fearow who lifted himself into the air as in slashed down. Eevy and Medira growled hastily at the speed the Fearow had.

"Great job, Fearow! Take it out with the Pursuit, now!"

"Lovo! Alternate from rapid fire Thunderbolt to rapid fire Thunder!"

Lovo continued lashing out with electricity. Fearow kept jumping away and slashed in with his Pursuit. He came swooping down on Lovo with his talons bared. Lovo combined his Thunder attacks with Rage and tore the lightning along the ground. The shocking power crashed into Fearow, sending him to the ground with a shriek.

"Ahh!" Sandy blared, "My Fearow! You’d better take a rest. Return, Fearow and go, Furret!"

"It’s so cute!" Lisle shrieked with a scowl from Morty, "What?"

"We train Ghost- type Pokemon, not Normal," Morty snorted.

Lisle rolled her eyes, "Go, Eevy!"

"Furret! Use Iron Tail attack now!"

"Lovo! Use Thundershock attack now!"

Lovo stood his ground and launched his Thundershock with all his might. Furret ran through the electrocuting power of the thunderous attack, slashing across Lovo’s face with her Iron Tail attack. Eevy almost burst as her Jolteon flipped backwards in pain and landed, eyes spiraling, in front of her podium. He tried desperately to stand up, but flopped back down. He tried over and over again but kept falling.

"It’s alright, Lovo. You tried and did very well," Eevy nodded and recalled him to his Jolt Ball, "Now I choose you, Sovo!"

"Easy one!" Sandy cheered, "Furret! Shadow Ball!"

"Oh great," Medira drooped.

"Sovo! Agility now!"

The Espeon whipped to the side, dodging the approaching Shadow Ball. Sandy growled nastily as Sovo spat his tongue out at them. Medira laughed at the totally stumped face of the Furret as it watched Sovo bounce away from his attack.

"Sovo! Psybeam attack, now!"

"Furret! Thunderpunch!"

Furret swung in for the Thunderpunch. Sovo watched carefully and ducked just as Furret’s electrified fist swung overhead. Sovo jumped up, ramming Furret’s arm into the air. He then launched his Psybeam into Furret’s stomach, throwing him back into the air.

"Furret! Hurry and use a Defense Curl!"

Furret slammed into Sandy’s podium and dropped down onto her feet and stood back up. She looked up with an evil Furret sneer until she noticed an Espeon charging her. She started for a Cut attack but Sovo’s Quick Attack connected first, throwing Furret into the air. Sandy saw her Furret flying down toward the ground and immediately reacted.

"Return, Furret!" Sandy called, "You did great. Now get out there, Muk!"

"Muk?" Medira cocked her head and pulled her shirt over her mouth and nose, "OH GROSS!"

"I think I’m gonna be sick!" Eevy choked, "Take that thing out quick, Sovo, before I suffocate!"

Lance let out a low laugh, "Too bad."

"Sovo!" Eevy called into her hand, "Psywave attack, now!"

"Muk!" Sandy gagged behind her tissue, "Sludgebomb!"

Sovo plowed forward, releasing his Psywave as he ran. As he reached Muk, he jumped and came slamming back down in a surprise aerial Skull Bash. Muk flopped down and popped back up, sending Sovo soaring.

"Sovo! Retaliate with an in the air Psychic!"

"Muk! Sludge attack, now!"

Muk shout his Sludge at the air-born Espeon just as he launched his Psychic. The Psychic attack plunged into Muk as the Sludge slopped into Sovo’s face. Sovo landed on all fours, swinging his head vigorously to get the goo from it. Muk roared painfully and drooped into a puddle. Lance nearly gagged, realizing that the Poison Sludge Pokemon had gone down with only a few simple hits.

"If she can do that to Sandy Mudd’s Muk," he swallowed, "what’s she going to do to me?"

"She just obliterated that girl’s Muk," Will whimpered, "We’re all gonna lose!" he flailed.

"We might as well hand in our capes and cloaks now," Luri drooped, "I’m going to get roasted!"

"My poor Rapidash is going to get washed away!" Jason wailed, "Ahh!"

"You’re pretty good," Sandy recalled her Muk, "Beat this! Go, Exeggutor!"

"Sovo," Eevy called, "Return! Go, Zovo!"

"Exeggutor! Leech Seed!"

"Zovo! Ember!"

The Flareon surrounded himself with burning hot Embers as the Leech Seed shot forward. As they reached his fiery barrier they withered away as the heat from the burning coals roasted them. Sandy facefaulted to the platform and Eevy and Medira stood laughing at the attack lying baked on the ground.

"Ooh!" Sandy growled, "Go, Exeggutor! Use Egg Bomb!"

"Zovo! Use Fire Spin!" Eevy shouted.

The attack from Exeggutor shot forward with Zovo lashing out his Fire Spin. The spiral of flames ripped forward, catching both the halves of the attack and toasting them clean away. Lance and Will rolled in laughter at the clueless expression Sandy had taken on. Luri’s jaw dropped open as she imagined what would happen to her poor Ice- types and Jason wailed at what she would do to his Forretress and Scizor.

"Zovo!" Eevy snickered lightly, getting a begging face from Sandy, "Fire Blast!"

"No! N-n-n-n-no!" Sandy flipped.

Zovo’s Blast of Fire tore forward, heating the Sand around them to sweltering heat as it crashed toward Exeggutor. Exeggutor was hit head on, stumbling back with the Fire Blast tearing away at him as he slammed to sit. When the attack cleared, Exeggutor flopped backward, puffing smoke.

Sandy let out a long scream, "I don’t believe it!" she freaked, "Return, Exeggutor!" she reached to her belt and reached between two Poke’Balls, "I choose, Poliwrath!"

"Bad match up, Eevy," Medira pointed out, "Zovo’s weak against Water- type attacks and can’t really do too much to a Fighting- type either."

"Yeah," Eevy nodded, "Return, Zovo! Go, Yovo!"

"Poliwrath, use Body Slam now!"

"Yovo, Take Down attack now!"

Yovo and Poliwrath ran forward, crying out as they moved. They collided dead on, both flopping back and standing for more. Yovo gave a Skull Bash that was fought off with Poliwrath’s Bubble attack. Yovo slid back and rampaged forward, already knowing what Eevy wanted done.

"Yovo! Fury Take Down attack!" Eevy spat.

"Poliwrath, Rain Dance attack!"

Rain started pouring as Yovo trounced forward. He slammed Poliwrath once, twice, three times, whipping back every time for another. Yovo whirled to attack again, coming at Poliwrath head on with enough speed to push a Nidoqueen backwards. It was his immense speed that would cost him. He stepped in a puddle created by the Rain Dance and went slipping onto his back. Poliwrath trotted up beside him and crashed a Dynamic Punch into his stomach. Yovo contracted in pain with Eevy and her group gasping wildly. Poliwrath backed away, allowing Eevy to recall her Pokemon.

"Return, Yovo!" the black beam of light reclaimed the Pokemon, "I choose you! Vovo!"

"Great job, Poliwrath! You’re doing great! Let’s win this! Use your Doubleslap attack!"

"Vovo! Agility, now!"

Vovo hopped to the side with Poliwrath swinging violently for him. He did a quick back flip, cracking Poliwrath across the face with an immense Iron Tail. Poliwrath stumbled back, rubbing his head.

"Hang in there, Poliwrath! Use your Hydro Pump!"

Vovo was caught totally off guard, as was Eevy, as he was thrown back into the bars of Eevy’s platform. He cried in pain and started falling, but Eevy reached out and caught him, bringing him into a cradling hug.

"You tried, Vovo, and I'm so proud," she brought the Star Ball from her belt, "Very good, my friend. Return now! Now I choose you, Novo!"

"Easy victory!" Sandy cheered, "Go, Poliwrath! Use your Doubleslap!"

"Novo! Bubblebeam!"

Novo’s string of Bubbles washed forward, crashing into Poliwrath before he had the chance to attack. Medira snickered at the way he flailed to try and brush them away. Sandy was finding nothing funny about this at all.

"Go, Poliwrath! Use the Blizzard!"

"Novo! Look out!"

Novo spun around, brushing up a huge wash of sand to block the oncoming attack. The sand of the Field was still heated from Zovo’s searing Fire Blast and wiped the Blizzard away easily. Sandy flipped out and pulled the hair on the sides of her head down in an angry growl.

"Go get them! Use your Ice Punch!"

"Use your Return attack now!"

Novo was powered with super speed this time and rammed Poliwrath head on to send him flying backwards. He crashed into Sandy’s podium and slipped downwards, grunting and moaning as he fell. Medira could have sworn Sandy’s eyes bugged out of her head.

"OK, tough guys and girls!" Sandy recalled her Poliwrath, "Let’s see you beat this one! Go, Spinne Nadel!"

"What is it with these people and foreign language nicknames?!" Medira growled, "That must be French."

"No," Sandy snickered, "German. Go! Spider Needle!"

"So Spinne Nadel is Spider Needle in German," Eevy muttered, "Note to self; Next time you enter college do not take German off your language list."

"College?" Medira twisted to look at her.

"I took a bunch of foreign language courses at the Rose Town College. I know Spanish, French, Russian, Greek, Swiss, Finnish, a little Italian and I’m really good at Japanese," Eevy snickered, "Don’t ask me how, but I know Dutch and a tiny bit of Chinese and Latin too."

Medira nearly facefaulted, "Oh brother!"

"I don’t care about your learning habits!" Sandy stomped, "Get in there Spinne Nadel!"

"An Ariados!" Morty gagged, "She’s gonna get it!"

"She’ll do it, Morty," Yuu-Yuu tried to get him to sit, "Just trust her. She’ll be fine."

"Go, Spinne Nadel! Use your Spider Webs!" Sandy spat.

Before Eevy could issue her attack, Novo was trapped in wave after wave of Spider Webs. She couldn’t recall him now until he was knocked out.

"Spinne Nadel! Use Hidden Power!"

"Novo! Use Agility!"

Eevy could see her Vaporeon’s shadow running from the huge attack aimed at him. The Hidden Power slammed the Spider Webs, causing them to bow ever so much. Medira ducked, just in case, and the group cheering for them on the outside jumped into the way with others shoving them down and away.

"Now, Spinne Nadel! Use Sludgebomb attack!"

"Novo! Tackle!"

Novo jumped forward, trying to avoid the attack as he ran in for his Tackle, but there wasn’t enough room to maneuver with the Spider Webs in place. The Sludge slammed him back into the Webs that bowed and rubberized as he was pushed up against it. Novo stayed stuck to it and Eevy waved her Poke’Ball to symbolize that she wanted her Pokemon recalled. Sandy had Spinne Nadel recall his webs and Novo flopped backwards with poison glop covering him.

"You did really well, Novo. Return!" Eevy recalled her Vaporeon and minimized her Rain Ball, "Now which one?" she felt around her belt.

"If you use Zovo he’ll have an advantage over Ariados’ Bug- type half. If you use Sovo he’ll be at an advantage over its Poison- type half. Which one?" Medira questioned.

"I choose you! Sovo!"

"That answers my question."

"I figured I’d face a Psychic- type," Sandy snickered, "Go, Spinne Nadel!"

"Don’t try to play games with me, Sandy!" Eevy snapped, "Go, Sovo!"

"Spinne Nadel! Use a Scary Face!"

"Sovo! Use an Agility!"

Sovo tried his best to get away, but the Scary Face hit first, nearly freezing Sovo in place. Eevy inhaled a short deep breath as Spinne Nadel shot a wave of Poison Stings into Sovo’s side. The came the real hitter.

"Spinne Nadel! Night Shade!"

"No, Sovo!" Eevy wailed.

Medira jumped toward the bar as the Ghostly attack slammed into Sovo’s side and sent him flying through the air. Sovo skidded and moaned, shakily fighting the pain of his hit and the muscle tightening effects of the Scary Face. He looked to Eevy and growled once at Spinne Nadel before falling face first to the ground and whimpering.

"Oh, Sovo," Eevy muttered sadly, "I’ve only got Zovo left. Maybe I should quit while I’m ahead."

"No, Eevy," Medira jumped to look at her, "Don’t quit. Zovo can kick that six-legged wiggler into last week. Give him a chance!"

"Return, Sovo," Eevy took out her Flame Ball, "You’d better do your best. I choose you! Zovo!"

"The Flareon again? Why not just drop out?" Sandy teased, "It’d be quicker on the both of us."

"Forget it!" Medira snapped, "We’ll never quit! This is it! The fight to win! Go get ‘em, Zovo!"

"Come on, sis," Morty swallowed, "Beat her."

"You can do it, Eevy," Mizu muttered, "Don’t drop out."

"Let’s go, Zovo!" Eevy stomped angrily forward, "Fight your hardest and I’ll be proud no matter what!"

"You’ll be proud of him for losing?" Sandy snickered, "That’s sad. Go, Spinne Nadel! Show it your Psychic attack!"

"Go, Zovo! Double Team!"

Zovo duplicated himself around the right as fast as he could. Spinne Nadel stood looking back and forth in this ring of red and yellow/green fur. He used his Psychic attack to single out the real Zovo and lunged with a Fury Swipes. He caught Zovo the five times aloud, sending him in a crippled heap to the ground. The ref was raising his flag when Zovo panted to stand.

"How’s it still going?! That was a perfect hit!" Sandy stormed, "Spinne Nadel, go and use your Poison Sting!"

"Zovo, Sand Attack now!"

Zovo turned and crashed Spinne Nadel in the face with a splash of sand. The Ariados leaned back and growled, trying to contain his energy long enough to attack again. He landed on his feet and shot a Poison Sting towards Zovo’s feet. Zovo, in turn, jumped away to let the needles crash into the ground.

"Zovo! Fire Spin attack it!"

"Spinne Nadel! Hyper Beam attack it!"

Zovo’s Fire Blast and Spinne Nadel’s Hyper Beam collided with, not an explosion, but a wave of hot air. The Beam crashed directly into the center of the Blast, shooting the gold Beam in every direction. Lance held his breath, waiting to see which trainer’s Pokemon would give way first. Will bit his bottom lip, Luri dug her nails into the armrest and Jason was on the brink of insanity. The fire and light continued traveling out into the air and smashing together. Medira, Eevy and Sandy were getting a bit tense, as you can imagine, and started shouting to their Pokemon.

"Keep going, Zovo!" Medira called.

"Shoot that fire, Zovo!" Eevy cried.

"You can do it, Spinne Nadel!" Sandy shouted.

One of the sparks of Spinne Nadel’s attack zipped off toward the metal wall and ricocheted back at him. It cracked him in the head, causing him to lose control and send his Hyper Beam up into the air behind them. Zovo’s Fire Blast crashed forward, colliding with Spinne Nadel as the Hyper Beam whipped towards the wall and shot back. Zovo heard it coming and jumped from the way. It soared past him and connected with the fire still burning on Ariados. It exploded on contact, filling the arena with smoke and heat. Lance and the Elite stood and ran to the glass to look down into the roof of the arena, but there was too much smoke. The camera’s view cleared, showing Spinne Nadel flat on the ground and Zovo panting in front of him.

"Ahh!" Sandy wailed, "Spinne Nadel! Are you all right?!" she jumped from her podium and ran out onto the Sand Field, "Oh, Spinne Nadel. You tried so hard. You’d better return and take a rest."

"Zovo!" Eevy cheered and jumped across the sand, "Zovo! You did great!" she forgot about her boots and went flying face first into the sand.

"Flare-flare!" Zovo shouted, "Flare-flare Flareon flare!"

"I’m fine," Eevy spat out some sand, "You won."

"Flare!" he said proudly and stood with perfect stance and his nose in the air before Tackling Eevy in the side, "Flare eon!"

"That was one really good battle," Sandy stepped over, "You were great."

"So were you. If Zovo hadn’t fought so hard I would never have won. Right?" Eevy looked down at her Flareon.

"Flare eon flare," Zovo nodded.

"Good luck, Eevy. I hope you can beat your last two opponents and get into the final challenge."

"Final challenge?" Eevy muttered.

"Eevy!" Morty burst through the door at the end of the arena, "Eevy, you won!"

"I noticed," she snickered as he catapulted to her.

*^~^**^~^*

"We’re all gonna melt," Jason mumbled into his pillow, "We’re all just gonna melt away and never come back again."

"Did you see the way that Flareon baked that Ariados?" Luri whimpered, "I’m gonna get scorched."

"That Umbreon’s way too fast for my Pokemon," Will pouted, "I’ll get fried crispy, I just know it!"

"How do you like your Dragons? Scorched or seared?" Lance twitched, "That Jolteon will be the end of me, I can tell."

"But can they get through the Temp?" Luri questioned.

"I don’t know," Jason sprang up, "I don’t even know what kind of Pokemon he uses any more. I didn’t know in the first place."

"It could be anything," Will nodded, "He has access to all sorts of Pokemon now that he is where he is."

"There are only a few things that scare me in this world," Luri started, "and he happens to be one of them."

"Join the club," Jason whimpered.

"Hey," Will called to Lance as he noticed he’d been silent for a few minutes, "You OK, Lance?"

"Huh?" he looked around like a dazed Pidgey, "What? Oh! Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little out of it. I’m kind of worried about the way she battles."

"I wouldn’t worry about her if I was you," Jason shook his head.

"Yeah," Luri nodded, "She did almost kill you."

"Almost!" Lance snapped, "Almost! But she didn’t, did she?"

"No," Will looked out the window, "But there are a couple things I don’t get yet."

"What’s that?" Luri questioned as she looked at his serious expression.

"Where are Raikou, Suicune and Entei and what are the Professors up to?"

Notes
So close to the end…Yet so far! Don’t worry, the climax of the League is coming. And very soon I might add. Muahaha! Err…Anyway…