Mark stepped out into the stadium and shielded his eyes from the glare. Across the stadium, in the ring, stood Professor Flamenco, his opponent. He could hear the crowd cheering and yelling as he stepped up to center of the stadium. This was it, their chance to shine.

The announcer called out their names, the crowd cheered and the battle began. Professor Flamenco brought his pokemon out first. A Geodude. Mark took a deep breath.

"GO FLOPPY!" He yelled, and out of the pokeball came a magikarp. Floppy flopped on the ground for a few moments as the crowd went silent. A low murmerming buzzed, then a row of loud guffaws of laughter. Mark held his head up high, he knew the reputation of the magickarp, but he had faith in his pokemon. People often laughed when he told them he collected only magikarp, but now was his chance to prove them wrong.

Geodude looked amused at his opponent as she flopped on the ground, harmlessly.

"Rock attack!" Yelled Professor Flamenco, and the geodude darted forward. Mark yelled out instantly,

"Jump, Floppy!" and Floppy jumped. It was an amazing jump, and the crowd went silent with awe as Floppy flew almost 50 feet into the air, evading the rock attack completely.

Geodude and the Professor looked completely bewildered. How could a magickarp do that??!!

Mark smirked. He knew that the magikarp weren't useless pokemon. He knew their potential. He imagined the look on everyone's face when a magikarp won this battle, thus winning the tournament. Then they would understand as well.

Lost in his thoughts, Mark was a second too late when Geodude attacked next.

"Geodude, Earthquake!!" And the ground shook. Mark looked at Floppy in terror as she writhed in pain, unable to do anything. Mark could see that Floppy was quickly weakened, and as soon as the attack stopped, he called her back.

Cradling poor Floppy in his arms, Mark could feel tears coming to his eyes. She tried so hard, and trained for so long to be weakened by this. Floppy looked up at Mark wearily and Mark hugged her close.

(flashback)

Floppy had been his first pokemon. Mark was younger then, and had very little interest in the goings on of pokemon masters and training. He was more interested in adventuring and finding new places to explore. One day while wandering in the woods he came across a river. On the other side of the river he could see some berry bushes, and decided to go pick some berries, for lunch, and then explore the other side of the river.

He found a vine long enough for him to swing across the river on, and he took a running start in order to make it. Unfortunately, the vine broke!! Into the water Mark fell, and the current took him quickly down the river. Mark struggled to stay afloat, and swim, but he just couldn't keep from sinking down.

Looking up ahead, Mark was alarmed to see a waterfall! He was going to go over it!! He kicked and flailed, but to no avail for he quickly sped towards the drop.

Suddenly, he felt himself being pulled backwards. he couldn't turn to look to see what was happening, but he soon found himself safely on shore. In the water were three magickarps. One large male, one large female and one young female. The young female magicarp flapped her tail excitedly.

"You saved me! Thank you!" Mark cried, happily.

Suddenly a shadow loomed over him, and Mark turned around to see a large, mean, angry Machomp!! He froze in terror.

The two older magikarp (the parents of the young one) jumped up, and what they did surprised Mark more than anything. A powerful surf attack burst forth and the Machomp was knocked out completely. Mark stared at the magickarp in disbelief. There was no way that they could perform that, was there? He had thought all that magickarp could do was flop around...

"That's twice you saved my life... Thank you so much. That was amazing!!" He cried happily to the magickarp who beamed back at him (as well as they could beam).

Mark spent a few hours playing with the magikarp, and then told them that he had to return home. As he walked away, the small magikarp flopped after him.

"No, little magikarp, you have to stay with your parents." he told it gently. It insisted on following him, so he picked it up and brought it back to the river.

"Stay here, little magikarp." But as he left he was stopped by the look in the magikarps eyes. The parents had a look of acceptance and approval, while the little magikarp was determined.

"You want me to take you with me?" The magikarp nodded. Mark looked at the parents who nodded as well.

"You will be my first pokemon... I don't know how good of a trainer I will be..." Mark told it. The magikarp just gave him a look saying that they would be fine.

"Alright!" Mark cried, happily. "Me and you will show the world that Magikarp are just as good as every other pokemon!" and the small magiikarp, soon to be named Floppy, flopped in agreement.

(end flashback)

"It looks like Mark might be out of the fight!" Cried the announcer.

Mark narrowed his eyes, and Floppy nodded with determination. They weren't through yet!

"FLOPPY! SURF ATTACK!" And a giant wave, bigger than Floppy had ever done, larger than had ever been performed in that stadium and many stadiums elsewhere came forth and struck the Geodude down.

Professor Flamenco dashed forward and retrieved his pokemon, returning the fainted Geodude to his pokeball. Then he turned to Mark and nodded, calling out; "That's some magikarp you got there."

Mark beamed with pride, and Floppy flopped with happiness. The crowd around them cheered "Magikarp! Magikarp!"

And if you were to look carefully enough, you could see two older Magikarp in the crowd with tears of joy and pride in their eyes for their daughter, Floppy.