Opening round, the Mega tournament

                                    

                                          
Ash had walked into the medium sized city, a massive Tower dominated the skyline and the sound of the crashing waves emanated, it was then he noticed the people in a festive mood, the streets were lined with stalls and the pokemon with their trainers were wondering through, Ash looked around to find the many food stalls selling a multitude of snacks and drinks, he looked around wondering where his new rival was hoping that she would have made it to the city, "you know buddy I think I won the race," Ash proclaimed with a smile as he looked around to see Serena participating in the festivities, "or not, I think we drew in this one," Ash whispered to his partner pokemon.
                          
Ash slowly walked through the massive crowd and approached his young rival, "now Bagon you need to behave yourself," Serena told her green dragon type pokemon.
                          
"Having trouble with your pokemon?" Ash asked after sneaking behind his rival.
                          
Serena jumped up in shock after hearing Ash's voice, she turned around to see him with his hands on his hips, "don't scare me like that!" Serena yelled out in anger. Serena turned her attention to her different colored pokemon and started to sigh, "you know Ash, I have been trying to get this Bagon to listen to me, ever since I caught it, I could never train it," Serena commented with a frown, she recalled her pokemon.
                          
Ash started to chuckle after hearing Serena's problem, "you know up until the Orange Island, I was having the same problems with one of my strongest pokemon, I think I was saying something about this a few days ago," Ash professed while Serena listened, shocked to hear that such an experienced trainer had issues with one of his partners, "that's right Serena, I was having issues with training my Charizard, eventually I saved his life and now he is one of my best pokemon," Ash explained as Serena listened with great intent, wondering how he did it, she knew that Charizard was a much bigger pokemon than her Bagon, "I had a battle against a Poliwrath, I lost my cool and called out my Charizard, he was hit by an Ice Beam, freezing him, I spent all night thawing him out," Ash told Serena the story of how he save his fire type pokemon, "but with that, my Charizard would still give me an affectionate Flamethrower to the head," Ash professed while Serena gasped at hearing the confession, she placed her hands over her mouth and leapt back.
                          
"So will Charizard be participating in the tournament?" Serena asked curiously.
                          
"Tournament?" Ash enquired unsure as to what his rival was talking about.
                          
"You see Ash, there is this tag tournament, called the Mega Tournament, trainers from all over the world come to compete, each year the winning team members will be give an item called the Mega Ring," Serena explained the Tournament to the best of her ability, "and one of the trainers in that team will be given a Lucario by the gym leader herself," Serena told Ash with a smile.
                          
"Well if that's the case you can have Lucario," Ash replied with joy.
                          
"Me, are you going to join in?" Serena asked with a surprised expression, "also will I be your teammate?" Serena questioned the trainer still unable to hide her surprise.
                          
"Yes I will be joining this tournament, and yes you will be my teammate, also I will not be using Charizard in this competition, it wouldn't be fair for everyone else," Ash replied to Serena's questions.
                          
"Come on Ash, let's put our names down, oh and return Bagon," Serena recalled her pokemon.
                          
Ash and Serena walked through the small city and towards the front counter for the tournament, Ash picked up a paper to use as a sign in, "alright Serena it seems like we only have three pokemon each, so I think I will go with Gabite, Froakie and Pyroar," Ash named his team for the tournament, Ash handed over the paper and the pen.