This one originally had 1201 words, now it has 2923 words.
Anyway, this one here is dedicated to [gibble] because he understood a reference I was making.
Enjoy this, and have a good day.
And don't forget to leave a good review; I like to read them to boost my ego.
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With that last blow, Ash defeated another new strong rival in Tyson and successfully reached the semi-finals.
There are now two more battles left before he can earn his second consecutive Championship trophy. Just as Ash and Tyson were preparing to go to the Pokémon Center to get their Pokémon healed, Tobias came to see Ash again.
"Ash, I'm looking forward to battling with you! Please, my only wish for this is that you add Latios to your finals team!" With only these words being said, he turned and left, not even waiting for Ash's reply.
"He's such a… unique character…" Ash muttered wryly. Even with everything going on, he couldn't see or even get the slightest of ideas of what kind of Trainer Tobias really was.
"You can say that again," Tyson smiled at this, feeling a little better at seeing Ash being this bewildered.
There is something about Tobias off, but Ash just didn't know what it was.
Something that neither Ash nor the participants of the tournament knew was that if it weren't for him, Tobias wouldn't even have come to the Hoenn Region from the distant Sinnoh Region in the North.
He came to attend this Evergrande Conference just for Ash and his Latios, to challenge it, the only Legendary he officially showed to the world.
If only the poor little emo boy saw that the amount of Legendary Pokémon's in Ash's hands now was already enough to be able to form a full team, and even have some reserve members left out.
Additionally, among them were some of the strongest members of the Legendary category in Rayquaza and Groudon, though they were both on the younger side of their respective species.
Tobias also had something in his files, he did not travel around the Hoenn Region to collect the required eight official Badges. Like what happened during the Indigo Plateau Conference, there was more than just one way to participate in the actual conference.
Each famous school and most Professors under the Regional League can directly recommend a place for participation for individuals who have met some kind of requirement, like graduating or rare Pokémon. There is also an exam called the Pokémon Certification Test, which the past version of Ash also took, but obviously did not pass.
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[Who's that Pokémon?]
Ciel said excitedly, appearing in front of a tv in the middle of the void.
[That's right! It's Jigglypuff—from above!]
And she was promptly kicked out for breaking the 4th wall.
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Tobias got a spot from one of the said academies to participate directly, and that obviously meant he graduated early, in fact, much earlier to leave a record in that place.
Like Ash and quite a few other people guessed, the Pokémon he has in his team were only some random ones he caught while he was coming here to participate, so after he graduated.
He caught the strongest ones in the areas he moved over, which included ones that were actually far more stronger than the average Ace of the Trainers here.
A Pokémon that was the true Boss of the entire mountain range it came from, to overlords in their areas, he caught the strongest ones he saw.
All so to fight against Ash!
A dedicated opponent indeed, an overly dedicated one if Ash had to say so
What Tobias truly pursued on his journey of life was the mystery of Legendary Pokémon, and he won't stop no matter what to know what these said creatures were capable of, and why they were as powerful as they were.
He will do whatever it takes to find the truth, even if he has to dig into the taboo—joining forces with criminals to reach his goals.
That's how his "real" Pokémon's came to be.
Real but also very fake.
Now, he counts and waits a single more moment to have his battle with Ash, the only Trainer in the world he feels is worthy of facing them.
However, it would be an understatement to say that he wasn't jealous of Ash…
Ash had a genuine, real Latios that he didn't have…
A real one that he'll never have…
He'll only have the fake ones around him, the ones that can never reach their original counterparts…
They were fakers like himself… their Trainer…
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Back to Ash; the semi-finals that he was now in.
The match was just as he had expected it to be, Ash easily won the semi-finals with some more of his newly revealed Pokemon's and stood on the eve of the final stage.
Now, looking at the mysterious young man in front of him who always wore that damaged cloak of his, Ash, once again, really couldn't see what he was thinking off.
This dude who talked with him at the beginning, and now was standing before him in the finals, was more mysterious than even him.
Or that's what Ash believed it to be.
Judging from the past Pokémon he sent, they were not as good as Tyson's ones, even more than a notch lover.
But this only indicated that his Trainer level was much higher, otherwise he would never be able to make it all the way to the finals of a major regional event like the Ever Grande Conference.
In order to avoid a hardening like capsizing and ensure that he would win the championship in this year's Ever Grande Conference, Ash followed his opponent's only request and added his Latios to his team roster for the finals.
Not only that, because Tyranitar was temporarily in charge of training the "baby" Groudon along with his Rhyperior, Ash simply decided it was time to summon his good old friend Charizard back.
Ash hadn't the chance to call him over during the battles in the Johto Region Silver Conference, making Charizard a little happy for a while, becoming one of those tsunderes.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen—I don't know if you can tell, but I'm VERY EXCITED for this year's finals of the Pokémon Hoenn Alliance Ever Grande Conference! This final as we all know will be a battle between Trainer Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and Trainer Tobias from the distant Sinnoh Region. Now we await their battle that will decide who the champion of this exciting tournament will be~!"
The commentator's words ignited the passion of the audience, which was already more than hot enough, according to the resident smart kid—Max.
Tobias was a participant that most people did not pay much attention to during the tournament, most people only remember him for two things.
He looks edgy, especially with that cloak of his covering most of his body, and his long hair covering one of his eyes.
And the other smaller one being that it always seemed that he was only able to narrowly defeat his opponents. It happened every time, it looks to be that he was relying half on the strength of his commands and his Pokémon's, and the other half on his decent luck to temporarily hold his opponent off.
But when it comes to Ash, it was a different story altogether. In fact, it was a difference that belonged in two separate universes. They had all seen Ash's battles, and many also saw his past recordings from the Johto Regions Silver Conference and some clips still circulating from his battles at LaRousse City.
Every battle he's been part of showed a really powerful side of him, just like the Aggron that evolved mid battle and had a stunning list of victories. Just that one battle was enough to show the skill and power of Ash and his Pokémon's.
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"The first half of the finals has been decided to be held at the Rock Field!"
It was still the same rocky place that many wonderful battles took place in. Ash nodded at Tobias, and he did the same, and also decided to take the lead in sending out Pokémon, "Lets go, Steelix!"
Another Steelix Ash to defeat, but this Steelix was definitely more than a little stronger than the one Morrison trained up.
This was something that even ordinary people could see, this Steelix of his definitely far stronger than any of the Pokémon Tobias used previously in his matches. This one was fit to be a ruler in its territory in the wild.
But even so, Ash could see that this one too was just recently caught like the rest of the earlier ones Tobias used previously, no real bond in sight.
Meaning Tobias was still hiding his real strength behind a facade.
"I see, stand by for battle, Swampert!" As before, Ash sent out a powerful member of the Hoenn Region Royal Starters.
The whole stadium was in an uproar from this showcase, and everyone, which consisted of mostly happy Hoenn natives, who were interested in Ash had discovered something about him. Ash sent out all three members from the Hoenn Region Royal Starters, one after another. And he also had many other Royal Starters from the other regions he's been to.
Seeing Ash sending out that hulking behemoth of a Swampert, Tobias nodded his head in delight, "Steelix, use Dig!"
Steelix slammed its massive head on the ground and burrowed into the ground like a hot knife going through butter. This was the Steelix species strongest specialty other than their ridiculously high Physical Defense, and this was a Steelix above average in terms of strength. Steelix instinctively makes sure to temper their bodies at all times, and when being underground where the soil quality is high, this process becomes even better.
Many Trainers, especially beginners and with some experience, will immediately begin to panic when facing Pokémon that leave their sight, but for Ash this was such a simple matter that he didn't even need to use his Aura Force's detection ability.
What's more, Swampert was a powerful Ground-type Pokémon with a move that perfectly suited his current circumstances, "Earthquake!"
For Pokémon that hide under the ground to sneak attack at a later time, the most effective moves to deal with them are Earthquake and Magnitude. No matter how strong this Steelix is, it was all but sure that he was about to get absolutely crushed.
And it sure wasn't a surprise when Steelix rose from the ground, all battared, only to fall down in defeat the moment it looked at Ash's Swampert with something akin to fearful respect.
Ash didn't say anything, as it looked like he and Tobias had reached a tacit agreement to take back the Pokémon they used in this round before the battle even began.
"It's time for you to come to use, Tyranitar! Dark Pulse!"
Seeing this Johto Region Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon, Ash frowned. He could see it again, this powerful Tyranitar, like Steelix and all the previous ones, sent by Tobias was yet again another one he had just caught recently with no bond in sight—only that of begrudging respect and acceptance from Tyranitar.
Since Tobias had recently caught a Tyranitar strong enough to rule an entire mountain range, it obviously meant he had a far more stronger Pokémon at the back… waiting for its turn.
And Ash wasn't going to let it wait much longer.
The commentator again decided to show his face, like once in a blue moon, "Like that Steelix, this very rare Tyranitar's level is much higher than any of the previous Pokemon's he showcased before! Has Tobias really been hiding his true strength the whole time? And only now showed them because he believes Ash to be the perfect opponent? Hmmnnmm!?!"
Ash knew this for a fact, he and Tobias had the tacit understanding that the battle will be full one, six against six, but the first four would just be considered the appetizers for the real match.
"You did superb, now, Blaziken! Get ready for a showdown!"
Seeing the decently tall Tyranitar on the opposite side, Blaziken was immediately on fire. It had wanted to challenge and defeat Ash's Tyranitar, one of his many powerful seniors, for quite a long time, and now it happened to have one to practice with, even if it's much weaker.
He was going to take his anger out on this one, for all the previous beatings he got.
"Flame Charge into Double Kick!"
Tyranitar's dual type combination gives it quite a few weaknesses for Ash to easily exploit, and he will happily do that as the strongest one of which is the Fighting-type that his Blaziken conveniently just happens to have, but even with that heavy weakness, its armor defense was extremely high and nothing to scoff at.
"Even the most effective of moves can only do so much to break through its defense!"
Now Ash and his Blaziken are going to give it something it has never seen in its life!
"Boom!"
The powerful Dark Pulse exploded right at where Blaziken was. However, by that point, Blaziken had already transformed into a fierce fireball and rushed into Tyranitar's direction.
With one solid kick, he knocked the green kaizu away.
Then Blaziken chased after him again and kicked the poor monster into the rock. He still thought that wasn't enough, so under Ash's order, the powerful ruler of a whole mountain range became Blaziken's punching/kicking bag!
This really did help in Blaziken's training. Finding such a hard thing to hit and not break is more difficult than one would think.
Soon the battle ended, with Tyranitar only managing to use one more Rock Slide, that did absolutely no damage, before being taken out.
"Tyranitar loses the ability to fight, meaning Blaziken wins this battle!"
"This is the real deal now, Ash! Soon, we'll have that Legendary battle!" Tobias didn't pay any attention to anything other than this battle now. Only the final two rounds mattered in his eyes, everything else could cease to exist and he wouldn't care. In fact so much that he didn't even think about issuing any skills that will show some semblance of a tactic, he just wanted to go through the process of the battle and reach the final two, and by this way he can see more closely how Ash commanded his Pokémon.
Because he knew that even if the new Pokémon he caught were very strong and overlords who have been controlling their own territory for some time, there was little to no way to defeat someone the likes of Ash with just them.
Tobias took back "his" Tyranitar and threw a third Poké Ball, which held a powerful Gyarados, also strong enough to carve out a territory of its own somewhere in the Hoenn waters, but it was pretty much instantly beat up by Ash's Sceptile with a combo of Leaf Blade.
In the second half, when the field was changed to the Ice field, Tobias thought it was a good idea to send out his newly caught Flygon, who like its predecessor had the strength to have territory of its own before being taken away, was also seriously injured by Ash's Dragonair's Draco Meteor the moment it landed on the cold field.
He was finished off by a Dragon Tail not even a second later.
This was the end of the appetizer battles…
Now… the real one was about to begin!
At this point in the game, the audience and commentators were completely numb by what they were seeing. Ash was casually sending out rare Pokémons like the Hoenn Regions Royal Starters and Kanto's Pseudo-Legendary.
The same can be said for Tobias, who to them, was finally using his real team.
A team of powerful and rare Pokémon like Ash was worthy to be his opponent in the finals. Even if he was getting his butt handed over to him on a silver platter.
But after this round, both Ash and Tobias went completely silent. It was not until the referee had to urge them to take out their next Pokémon did Tobias slowly and carefully take off two Poké Balls from his waist.
"Ash, the real battle I was talking about before is about to begin!" He seemed to have been very passionate about Ash, and everything he does. He was really happy to meet such an opponent to test out his 100% "real" Pokémon's.
"Don't worry, I'll wait and see what you have to offer me!" Wanting to challenge his Latios so desperately, Ash guessed that the two Poké Balls so cherished in Tobias' hands may hold some Legendary Pokémon.
Sure enough, Tobias threw one of them in pure excitement, "Come on, Moltres! Let the world see your divine presence!"
As soon as this magical flaming bird appeared, the entire world watching shook in extreme excitement.
They had just adapted to Ash and now Tobias repeatedly bringing out rare Pokémon, and were waiting for Ash to win the championship even after all the new power his opponent was using.
Unexpectedly, his opponent suddenly dropped such a massive bombshell. This was the first Legendary to ever appear in the Hoenn Region's Ever Grande Conference.
The very sacred fire of this very league competition came from a member of the Moltres family living in this region. Who would have thought that the legendary bird would suddenly appear in front of him.
"That's it! I always had the feeling that you were someone special!" Ash now understood why Tobias was so excited to meet him to battle his Legendary Latios.
"Then as for your wish, I'll grant it to you. Stand by for battle! Latios! Come to me!"