From Brags to Riches

            Ash and Pikachu are taking an early run to prepare for the qualifying rounds.  When he returns he meets up with the others.  Max is using the pokenav to keep track of stats, and Brock is recording the location of all the cute girls…  The qualifying round match ups are presented and they will all be double battles.  Ash and Morrison will both battle the first day, but Morrison’s match is earlier in the day.  His match is against a crazy body builder with a marowack and machamp.  Morrison is prepared with Gligar and growlithe.  Once again Morrison isn’t doing very well, but he isn’t giving up.

            Team Rocket is tired and taking a break outside the stadium.  Meowth is tired of it and they decide to go back to stealing Pikachu – until their boss comes in and chews them out.  They run back to selling snacks.

            Back at the battle… the match looks close, but Ash is convinced that Morrison’s determination will bring him victory.  He takes out Gavin’s (his opponent) machamp, but soon after Gavin’s marowack takes out growlithe.  Then he gets to work on gligar.  Marowack freezes one of gligar’s wings and then the pokemon face off head to head.  Gligar finishes the match with a powerful iron tail.  That leaves Ash’s match… but he’s gonna have trouble getting there since Team Rocket dug yet another pitfall.  But their boss bursts right through a wall and chases them off for being lazy bums.  Ash climbs out, and he’s a little confused.  He does make it to him match on time though.  He is facing off against a trainer named Dominic.  Ash chooses torkle and corfish, and Dominic uses trophius and swallot.  Ash starts out on the defensive, but he is forced to attack when Dominic’s pokemon prove too strong for simple defense. Seeing that one on one isn’t working well Ash decides to concentrate on just one pokemon at a time.  Fortunately the other trainer obliges…  Ash takes out trophies, but torkle gets knocked out too.  Now it’s swallot and corfish, and corfish isn’t doing well at all.  Its attacks have almost no effect. Finally Ash has corfish run tight into a shockwave and push it back toward swallot.  He throws it across the stadium and then fills it with bubble beam causing it to faint.

            Team Rocket is wiped, but their boss actually gives them a good meal and tells them to come back the next day.  They’re happy to have food – but there’s no way they’re ever working that hard again…  

            Meanwhile… Ash and Morrison are arguing over who had a lousier victory, and Max reveals that Tyson won his first match as well…

            Location: Evergrande city

            Notes: Tyson and May were made for each other…  sitting there chowing cheeseburgers they can “only get in this stadium.”  When did May develop more of an interest in food than Ash? 

                        How can Morrison possibly win?  He’s like Joey… no talent, just luck… and the writers on his side…  stupid, stupid, stupid.  I hate those writers.  They’ll let a loser like Morrison win by a hair, and then watch them turn around and make Tyson lose and Ash too… can’t Ash win just once?  It’s bad enough that he seems to lose all maturity and ability for rational thought every third episode…

                        Opposite pokemon may sound good… but you wanna bet they make them accidentally get each other…

                        You notice that solar beam seems to come fast or slow at the writers’ convenience.

                        Tyson doesn’t watch Ash’s match?  But he watched Morrison’s and he doesn’t even know him.  Maybe his match was at the same time as Ash’s…

                        Stupid how Ash barely wins…