Chapter 4:Battle
Ash paced the room the official told him to wait in while he waited for his battle with Tobias to begin. He felt the usual rush of feelings he had before a big battle, namely, excitement, anxiety and happiness.
It had been six days since he had ice-cream with Cynthia, during which he had a flash of inspiration and using that inspiration, he created the team he felt would be capable of taking down Tobias. He trained them into the ground, making sure they were ready for every possibility and he was confident they would come out on top. Now, he just had to wait for the official to tell him that the battle was about to start.
Meanwhile, Pikachu was observing his Pika Pi, who was pacing the floor with a small smile on his face. He didn't know what happened after Ash left the hotel, but whatever it was, Pikachu was glad. He remembered how Pika Pi had rushed into the room, scooped up Pikachu and hugged him, telling him how he discovered a way to Tobias' Darkrai. Pikachu had been slightly sceptical, but after hearing the plan, he had to admit it was simple yet genius, how had no-one thought of it before? Now, it was up to him and his five other team-mates to take down Tobias' team for his trainer/best friend.
Ash continued pacing the room, thinking back on the words of encouragement he had received. Brock reminded him that he and his pokemon had a habit of beating legendary pokemon. Dawn's small crush on Ash may have made her slightly biased, but she told him that he would win, no sweat. Professor Oak told him that while his plan was a bit of a gamble, Ash had proven that the odds were in his favour time and again. His mother simply told him that she knew he would win and to just have fun. But one voice seemed to rise above the others, a voice that said a single word, a word that told him exactly what to do and he promised himself that he would not let the owner of the voice down. "Win."
He knew that Brock and Dawn were in the stands waiting for him to walk out, but he wondered if Cynthia was watching too. He noticed on the way in, on the opposite side of the announcer's box, an executive box of some sort that Mr. Goodshow must of used to watch the battles and he wondered if maybe Cynthia was up there, waiting for his match to begin and hoping that his plan would work.
Ash shook his head, deciding that it was wishful thinking and that he should concentrate on his match, not Cynthia, no, definitely not Cynthia and most definitely not her eye, no, he turned his attention to the walls of the room, which were grey, like Cynthia's eye, except her eye was much more grey, a much greyer grey than grey, y'know? Ash shook his head again, violently, to clear his head of any thoughts that weren't of him kicking Tobias' ass.
Unfortunately for him, Pikachu noticed his head shaking, which probably would have been more at home at an Uxies concert. "Pika Pi, pikachu?" (Pika Pi, are you all right?)
"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, just a little impatient for the battle to start, is all,"
Impatient? That sounded more like Pika Pi. One of Pikachu's ears twitched towards the direction of the door. "Pika, pikachu chu, pika pikachu," (Well, looks like the wait is over, someone's coming,)
Another official opened the door. "Mr. Ketchum?"
"Yes?"
"Could you follow me, please? The battle is about to start."
Pikachu hopped on his shoulder as he walked out, he fingered the five pokeballs on his belt. He came to an elevator which would raise him up into the rocky field. When he heard the roar of the crowd, he thought to himself, 'I won't let you down, any of you,'
Cynthia tried to listen for the announcer to announce the beginning of Ash's battle, a difficult task seeing as half of her Elite Four were having another pointless conversation about something or other. "So, when you're about to..." Aaron, a green-haired man who appeared to be in his late teens, asked.
"Yeah, dude," Flint, a man with a red afro who looked to be around Cynthia's age, replied.
"Then you set the girl's...
"Yep!"
"On fire! Seriously?" Aaron asked, horrified.
"Seriously, then you wave your arms and shout "You don't have enough badges to train me!" Then you run out."
"Admit it, you made that up!"
"Nah, brah! 'Charizarding' look it up,"
"Bertha, what do you think about this?" Aaron asked a woman with grey hair who looked like she was in her mid-sixties.
"Charizarding, you say? The one where the man sets the woman's pubes on fire and puts it out with his jizz? Oh dearies, Michael and I invented that!"
Bertha turned to Cynthia. "Cynthia, sweetheart, what do you think of 'Charizarding'?
A man wearing a purple suit and glasses, looked up from the book in his hands. "You won't get a word out of her, she's really focused on the battle for some reason. She's not listening to a word you're saying,"
Oh, she was listening, all right, she was just trying her hardest to ignore them. Why was it, that out of all the specialist trainers in the Sinnoh region, she got stuck with someone who dressed like the world's nerdiest pimp, a guy who spoke like he quantum-leaped from the 1970s, whatever the hell Aaron was and an old lady who seemed to be a cross between Betty White and Lenny Bruce?
"Hmm, I wonder what's got her attention, I don't suppose it has something to do with what's in this magazine?" Aaron wondered.
That definitely got her attention. Her head snapped towards Aaron. "And just what magazine is that, Aaron?" She spoke with an underlying threat in her tone. It was a well-known fact among the Four that Cynthia loathed tabloid magazines with a passion. It seemed to her that no matter what she did, as the most well-known woman in the Sinnoh region, there was always someone who tried to make her out as some sort of horrible bitch.
"Uh, it's just the 'Sinnoh Shopper'," Aaron chuckled nervously.
Cynthia sighed in relief. At least that was one of the nicer ones. "Why, what does it say?" Bertha asked, knowing fully well, seeing as she showed the article to Aaron.
"I'll read it out, 'It seems there may be a new man, or rather boy, in Sinnoh's Champion, Cynthia Shirona's life. Shirona, 20, has recently been sighted in the company of Sinnoh League hopeful, Ash Ketchum, 16, in Roberta's Ice-Cream Emporium, where Shirona is often spotted. While it may simply be a case of a more experienced trainer giving some advice, the deep, meaningful look the two shared suggests otherwise. Is it possible that Cynthia, who famously, has never been romantically linked to anybody during her five-year reign as Champion, has finally found someone to tame her heart, despite the age difference?' Well, is it, Cyn-Cyn?" Aaron teased.
Cynthia felt her cheeks heat up for some reason. 'Why? It's not as if I'm embarrassed to be seen with Ash' she thought. "First of all, it's tauros crap, we just talked, had ice-cream and left, secondly, how many times have I told you not to call me Cyn-Cyn, damn it!"
"Cynthia, Aaron's just teasing, but I can understand if you want to keep your love affair with a 16-year-old a secret from the media, you wouldn't want people to know you were getting rammed by a kid," Bertha said, in her mind, at least, reassuringly. Aaron and Flint burst out laughing and Lucian sniggered.
"He isn't "ramming" me! We're friends!" Cynthia hissed. I mean the idea that she and Ash would do something like...that!
"Oh, I see, you're just fuck-buddies, then?" She nodded understandingly.
"NO!" Whenever Bertha said things like that, which was 98% of the time, it really made Cynthia want to strangle the old dear.
Just as Cynthia was about to protest that she and Ash were absolutely, positively not in a relationship, Bertha turned to the battlefield. "Oh look, I think it's starting," Bertha announced as if she hadn't just accused Cynthia of being in a carnal relationship with someone who was technically a minor.
Her anger suddenly gone, Cynthia watched Ash with a small smile on her face, which Bertha noticed, but wisely decided not to mention.
"He's confident," Lucian noted. As a psychic specialist, Lucian knew that no dark-type was unbeatable, but wondered if this Ketchum guy could pull it off.
"He's cocky, that Tobias dude is pretty tough, Cynthia's guy needs to have something special up his sleeve," Flint stated.
"He's cute," Bertha muttered, but that was more to Cynthia than the group.
"True, but he's got like, no ass," Aaron finished.
"Cynthia? Your thoughts?" Lucian asked.
"Ash'll win, I have no doubt," Cynthia said, certain that no matter what Tobias threw at him, Ash would pull through.
"This is a battle between Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town and Tobias. Six on six, no substitutions." The referee announced. "Green trainer ready?" Tobias nodded. "Red trainer ready?" Ash nodded as well. "Green trainer, call out your first pokemon," Tobias took a pokeball from his belt and threw it and to the field, revealing the form of the Pitch-Black pokemon, Darkrai. "Darkrai!
"Red trainer, call out your first pokemon," Ash threw a pokeball and on the field, appeared a pokemon with sand coloured fur, large boxing glove shaped fists and a pig-like nose. "Primeape!"
Up in the stands, where Brock and Dawn were watching, "Wow, I haven't seen that Primeape in years!" Brock told Dawn.
"I didn't know Ash had a pokemon like that, where did he get it?"
"It was one of the first pokemon Ash caught, back in the Kanto region, but last I saw it, he left it to fight in the P1 Pokemon Fighting Championships. It must be pretty powerful after all these years,"
Back in the box, Flint was whooping. "What's gotten into you?" Aaron asked. "That Primeape is the four-year running champion of the P1 Pokemon Fighting Championships! I had no idea it's trainer was that Ketchum kid!"
"Is it good?"
"Good? It's great! It took on five Machamp at once and came out without a scratch!"
"Ready? Begin!"
Darkrai, use Dark Void!" Tobias called out.
"What's he doing?" Bertha asked. "He is hasn't even told Primeape to dodge, it's just standing there,"
Ash just smiled as Primeape was hit by the Dark Void and collapsed to the ground, snoring.
Tobias smirked. Now he just needed to wait for Nightmare to finish the job. But instead of Primeape writhing in pain, nothing happened. "What! Why isn't it working?"
Now it was Ash's turn to smirk. "Well, I think that for it to work, Primeape needs to be asleep. Primeape, stop messing around!"
"Primeape, prime prime primeape," (Sorry, I got bored waiting for this pansy to make a move,)
"How is Primeape still awake?" Tobias demanded.
"Simple, since you like to use Darkrai's Nightmare ability, I thought I'd use Primeape's Vital Spirit ability, which stops him from being put asleep,"
"Not bad, I thought using a pokemon's natural ability in battle was Gym Leader level?" Aaron asked.
"Not if you do your research, still, it's not general knowledge," Lucian responded.
Cynthia's smile widened. 'So that was your plan, huh? Clever, Ash, but how will you beat that Darkrai?'
"Now, Primeape, use Close Combat!" Primeape shot forward and unleashed a barrage of powerful kicks and punches on Darkrai. Darkrai flew back from the force behind the hits and crashed into the ground. It floated back into the air, trembling slightly. Tobias narrowed his eyes. It had been a long time since Darkrai took a hit like that. It had been a long time since Darkrai took a hit, period.
"Darkrai, use Dark Pulse on Primeape!"
A beam of pure darkness was fired toward Primeape who barely dodged in time. "Again!"
"Primeape, dodge again and use Ice Punch Uppercut!" Primeape rushed forward with his fist coated in ice and hit Darkrai in the chest, launching it into the air. "Now, jump up and use Thunder Punch to slam it into the ground!"
With two hands crackling with electricity, Primeape followed Darkrai, using the boulders to leap high into the air. He tried to bring both hands down on Darkrai's head, but Tobias ordered Darkrai to grab Primeape's arms. "Now, spin around and hit it with Shadow Ball!"
Primeape was struck with a sphere of pure darkness and slammed into the ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust.
"Primeape, hit Darkrai with Karate Chop!" Primeape leapt out of the dust cloud, with his arm raised, but Tobias countered him.
"Darkrai, use Psychic to throw Primeape!" Primeape was lifted by Darkrai's telekinetic power and was launched behind Darkrai.
But Ash seemed to be expecting that.
"Primeape, Cross Chop!" Primeape brought his arms down on Darkrai's back, sending it back to the ground again.
"Darkrai, use Psychic again and slam Primeape into the ground!"
Darkrai lifted Primeape again, weakly, it struggled to hold Primeape in the air, before it collapsed, unconscious. "What! How did you...?"
"Simple. When Primeape hit Darkrai with Close Combat, he threw in a few Poison Jabs as well, fast enough so that you wouldn't notice," Ash smiled.
"Darkrai is unable to battle, green trainer, reveal your next pokemon!"
"He beat Darkrai fairly easily, but the battle is far from over," Aaron said to Cynthia and the other Elite Four.
'Not bad, Ash, you did what no-one else did, but can you keep it up?' Cynthia thought.
"Go, Latios!"
A Latios similar to the one Ash met on Alto Mare, appeared on the field, but he looked different to the one he met, instead of being blue and white with a red triangle on his chest, he was green and white with an orange triangle.
"Latios, use Luster Purge then Psychic!" A blinding flash of white light blinded Ash and Primeape. Ash blinked rapidly, only to see Primeape being launched into the air by Psychic. "Now hit it with Steel Wing!"
"Primeape counter with Ice Punch!" Ash shouted. Both attacks hit the other at the same time, but unfortunately, Primeape was already hurt from his battle with Darkrai and crashed into the ground along with Latios, who managed to stay conscious.
"Primeape is unable to battle, red trainer, reveal your next pokemon!"
"Primeape, return," Ash cursed under his breath. "You did great Primeape, with Darkrai down, this battle will be a lot easier, especially since I have the perfect pokemon for his Latios'
"Go, Glalie!
"Gla? glalie glalie gla, gla lie?" (What? My turn already? Was Mr. Primeape beaten?) Asked a pokemon that looked like a frozen cat face.
"Yep, it's up to you now, Glalie. Use Ice Beam on Latios's wings!" Glalie launched an ice white beam at Latios.
"Latios, fly up and dodge it!" Latios flew up into the air.
"Follow him and hit him with Iron Head and follow it up with Crunch on his wing!" Glalie chased after Latios and crashed into his side and latched onto his wing. "Drag him to the ground!"
"Knock Glalie off with Dragon Pulse!"
"Glalie, let go and use Blizzard!"
Before Latios could fire off Dragon Pulse, a wall of snow and ice crashed into them both. Out of the miniature snowstorm, Glalie and a frozen Latios flew through the air towards the ground. "Finish him with Dark Pulse!"
A beam of dark energy hit Latios from above speeding up his decent. An even bigger cloud of dust than the one Primeape made was formed. Glalie floated back over to Ash's side of the field and once the dust cleared up, it revealed a half-frozen Latios with swirly eyes. "Latios is unable to battle, green trainer, reveal your next pokemon!"
"He's good, maybe he can do it," Bertha said.
"He's only won on type advantage so far," Lucian responded.
"Lucian dear, you and I both know that type advantage means nothing,"
"Yes, well, we'll see,"
"Articuno!" Tobias called out a magnificent blue bird to the field.
"Another legendary!" Dawn gasped. "How many does this guy have?"
"Glalie! Glalie Glalie lie!" (Wow! I can't believe I'm floating in front of an Articuno! It's an honour, Miss Articuno!)
Glalie shouted.
'Wow, who knew Glalie was a fanboy?' Ash sweatdropped.
The Articuno cawwed in confusion. (Um, yes, thank you,)
"Articuno, use Ancient Power!" Tobias called. Huge boulders were torn out of the field and hit Glalie dead on.
"Now, use Water Pulse!"
"Dodge it and use Dark Pulse!"
"Ice Beam!"
"Match it with your own!" The two beams of icy energy fought against each other, neither appearing to be gaining the upper-hand, but Tobias, growing tired of the stalemate called out, "Blizzard!"
Another Blizzard, significantly larger than Glalie's own, engulfed Glalie, but when it cleared, instead of seeing a knocked-out Glalie, like Tobias, and most of the crowd, had been expecting, he saw Glalie, looking as if he had just enjoyed an invigorating ice-bath. "That should have taken down any pokemon, regardless of type! So why didn't it?" Tobias asked.
"That would be another one of my pokemon's abilities, Ice Body, which means instead of being hurt by ice-type moves, Glalie is healed by them," Ash answered.
Tobias gritted his teeth. This kid was keeping Articuno from using most of it's moves. He'd have to end this quickly. "Keep using Ancient Power, keep it on the defensive!"
A barrage of boulders attacked Glalie, who barely managed to avoid them. Ash had to think quickly, Glalie couldn't keep dodging forever. It would only take a couple of solid hits to take Glalie out, so this next attack needed to count "Blast through the boulders with Iron Head and hit Articuno!"
"Articuno, Water Pulse!" The blast of water struck Glalie dead-on and Glalie suddenly stopped in mid-air with a vacant look in his eyes.
'He's confused! Now Tobias had all the time he needs to take out Glalie and even us up, unless...' Ash narrowed his eyes. 'I didn't want to use this move so early, but it looks like I have no choice,'
"Glalie, use Sheer Cold!"
Tobias began to sweat, if this attack hit, Articuno was gone, he needed to take advantage of Glalie's confused state and hope that either Sheer Cold missed or this next attack hit.
"Articuno, one last Ancient Power!"
Just as a maelstrom of frost and hail hit Articuno, a boulder managed to strike Glalie. In his confused state, he was unable to dodge and was taken to the ground. "Both pokemon are unable to battle, trainers, reveal your next pokemon!"
"Glalie, return. Thanks, Glalie, I wasn't expecting you to take out two legendary pokemon, but you've surprised me. Now, take a good, long rest,"
"It looks like this battle could still go either way, but I'm putting my money on Ketchum. I mean if Cynthia has so much faith in him than he must be something special," Aaron whispered to Bertha.
Bertha smirked. "Of course he is, if he wasn't she wouldn't have that look on her face,"
Aaron looked at Cynthia and saw the almost calculating look she was giving Ash, who was throwing his next pokeball. "What's she thinking about, Bertha?"
"Oh, don't worry, dear-heart, I think we'll find out soon enough," she chuckled.
"Go, Sceptile!"
"Heatran!"
A green bi-pedal reptile with a large, tree-like tail was summoned to the field along with a four-legged pokemon, which looked like it was made of molten lava and had a metal face and feet.
"Sceptile tile, scep ?" (Are you sure this is a good idea, Ash?)
Ash chuckled. "Sorry, I didn't know he had a Heatran, just try your best to bring knock it out, okay? Now, start off with Night Slash!" Sceptile nodded.
The leaves on Sceptile's arms grew and took on a pitch-black aura as he rushed towards Heatran.
"Heatran, Earth Power," As soon as he called the move, lava erupted from the earth like mini volcanoes. Sceptile was hit by some of the lava and had to abort his attack to avoid being burnt to a crisp.
'Hmm, so it looks like a head-on approach isn't going to work, I'll have to keep this long-range,'
"Sceptile, hit it with Leaf Blade-Night Blade combo!" Now, Sceptile wasn't an idiot, he knew that with such a big, slow-looking pokemon, there had to be a good few powerful close-range attacks up it's sleeve to make up for that lack of speed. Then again, it was clearly a fire-type, which meant devastating long-range attacks too.
So, either way, unless Ash had something planned with this suicidal charge, he was screwed. But he decided to trust his trainer. The leaves on his arms grew again, taking on a more leafy look before being imbued with the essence of darkness.
He charged.
Tobias frowned, surely, Ash couldn't be planning to do the same thing that just failed? Still, he had better play it safe, he didn't want to lose another pokemon because Ketchum surprised him again. "Eart..." He started, but was interrupted by Ash's shouting.
"Cancel it and slide under Heatran, use rapid-fire Energy Ball!"
Sceptile slid across the field charging an Energy Ball, he fired a barrage of them into Heatran's steel-plated underside, doing some damage, but clearly not enough. He came out the other side of Heatran and used his Night-Leaf Blade combo.
"Heatran, Lava Plume!"
At least ten balls of lava flew towards Sceptile, who barely managed to evade them. Sure, he was Ash's fastest pokemon, but speed didn't really mean much if he couldn't land a decent hit. Ash would have to use Sceptile's most powerful move to even hope of putting a dent in Heatran. "Sceptile, Leaf Storm!"
"Magma Storm!"
Sceptile's attack was quickly swallowed up by Heatran's and knocked Sceptile out.
"Sceptile is unable to battle! Since both trainers have three remaining pokemon, we will take a ten minute break." The referee announced.
Back in their private box, Cynthia turned to the Elite Four. "So, what do you think?" It was obvious who she was talking about.
"He's not bad, he managed to find a way around Darkrai's Dark Void and easily beat it," Bertha began. "He took down Latios with no problems, although, he struggled slightly towards the end of the battle with Articuno and throughout the battle with Heatran, but his Sceptile put up a valiant effort, all in all, he's good and he'll most likely win," The rest of the Four nodded their agreement.
"Yes," Cynthia whispered to herself as she turned back to the field. "He's good, but he could be great,"
The ten minute break ended and Tobias and Ash faced each other. "Go, Heatran!"
"Go, Snorlax!" A huge green and cream pokemon was called to the field.
"Snor? Snor snorlax! Lax lax snor!" (My turn? I was asleep! You said I wouldn't have to do much!) Snorlax grumbled.
"Well, you'll just have to finish this battle quickly, then you can sleep all you like,"
"Lax, snorlax, lax," (Alright then, I'll do this quickly, I'm tired,"
"Snorlax, Focus Blast!" The attack hit dead on.
"Heatran, use Earth Power!"
"Use Thunderbolt to paralyse it!" A wicked bolt of lightning came from Snorlax's hands and struck Heatran.
Tobias swore. It looked like Snorlax had some powerful moves and both were super effective against Heatran. And if this Snorlax was like the others he met, then fire-type moves would be of little use. "Heatran, use Iron Head!"
Heatran lowered it's head and charged Snorlax, but as it drew closer, Ash ordered an Earthquake. Heatran lost it's balance and fell heavily to the ground. "Finish it with Body Slam!"
"Heatran is unable to battle, green trainer, reveal your next pokemon!"
"Raikou, Thunder Fang!" Raikou charged Snorlax and with it's superior speed, Snorlax had no time to defend.
"Use Ice Beam, Snorlax!"
"Dodge and rapid-fire Thunderbolt!" About fifteen Thunderbolts hit Snorlax one after the other and knocked Snorlax onto his back.
Snorlax pushed himself back on to his feet. "Snorlax snor..." (Now I'm angry...)
"Snorlax, Giga Impact!"
"Raikou, hit Snorlax with you own Giga Impact!"
Snorlax and Raikou charged at each other and coated themselves in a purple aura. They collided in an almighty explosion.
"Snorlax is unable to battle!" The referee announced as the dust cleared.
"Red trainer, reveal your next pokemon!"
"Snorlax, return. Great job, big guy. I think it's fair to say you deserve that rest now,"
Now they were down to their last two pokemon. Tobias had Raikou and an unknown pokemon and he had Pikachu and another pokemon, one who was arguably his strongest, who only tied in power with Pikachu, one who was itching for a good fight. "Charizard, I choose you!" A large, orange, dragon-like pokemon with a flaming tail took to the field.
"Uh-oh, Tobias is really in for it now!" Brock told Dawn.
"Wow, that Charizard looks so strong!" She replied.
"He is, he's taken down pokemon that even Pikachu couldn't beat,"
"Hot damn! Look at the power rolling off of that Charizard! It has to be even stronger than Lance's, it must be as strong as your Garchomp at least!" Flint exclaimed.
Charizard turned his head towards Ash and Pikachu. ('Sup, Ash, rodent?) He growled.
"Hey, Charizard, ready to win?" Ash asked him.
Charizard cracked his long neck. (Born ready, watch closely, rodent, you might learn something,)
"Pika, pikachu pika, chu?" (Well, Charizard hasn't changed a bit, huh?)
"Charizard, hit Raikou with Dragon Pulse while it's immobile!" Ash ordered.
Charizard opened his out and unleashed a beam of pure draconic energy. Raikou could do nothing but take it. Raikou was blown back to the edge of the battlefield and stood up.
"Raikou, hit that Charizard with Thunder Fang!"
"Fly up to dodge it!"
"Use Discharge!" Raikou let loose a field of lightning, but it wasn't enough to hit Charizard, who was high in the air. Tobias knew that, so what was he up to, Ash wondered.
"Take it back in and use it to power up Thunder!" Raikou absorbed the lightning into it's body and it shot up into the air, forming a large, black cloud, crackling with electrical energy.
"Thunder!"
"Charizard, dive bomb Raikou with Flare Blitz!" Charizard tucked in his wings and shot towards the ground, barely dodging the impossibly large bolt of lightning. Blue flames surrounded his body as he closed in on Raikou.
"Counter with Giga Impact!" The two attacks created another explosion.
"Tobias is getting desperate," Aaron said.
"Yes, if he's relying on Giga Impact to take out Charizard, despite leaving it open to another attack, he must be," Lucian agreed.
"Indeed, but that Charizard of Ketchum's seems too strong to be taken out so easily, don't you thing, Cynthia?" Bertha asked.
"Yeah..." Cynthia murmured while watching the battle, or more accurately, flicking her eye between the dust cloud and Ash's concerned face.
"He's certainly a strong trainer to raise such powerful pokemon,"
"Yeah..."
"There's definitely something about that Ketchum lad, eh, Cynthia?"
"Yeah..."
"Really soaks your panties, doesn't he?"
"Yeah... wait, WHAT? No! I'm not... I mean, I don't...!" She sighed. "Oh, shut up!"
The dust cleared, revealing both pokemon, Charizard looking almost unharmed, while Raikou panted heavily and stood with one of it's hind legs off the ground.
"Hit Raikou with Dragon Claw and follow it up with Shadow Claw!" Charizard rushed forward, clawing Raikou's side and then knocked it into the air with his other shadowy claw. Raikou flew into the air. "Now, Air Slash!" Charizard whipped his wings, creating a razor-sharp wind that seemed to rend the very air. Unable to dodge or defend, Raikou was hit full on. It hit the ground heavily and after such a devastating combo, it didn't get back up.
"Raikou is unable to battle, green trainer, reveal your final pokemon!"
"Go, Regice!" A pokemon made from ice came onto the field. "Hail!" A hailstorm started, obscuring Ash's and Charizard's view. "Now, Ice Beam!" The Ice Beam came out of the hail and struck Charizard, who normally would've shook it off, but with the hail constantly buffeting Charizard, it stung a little bit.
"Charizard, use Flamethrower!" A jet of fire came from Charizard's mouth. The heat cleared up the hail, turning it in to steam. "Flare Blitz!" Charizard's flame covered body hit Regice dead-on. Ash could almost taste victory, he just needed to pull off this next move. "Now grab it and use Blast Burn, point blank!" A mighty firestorm was summoned from the depths of Charizard and was unleashed on Regice who was swallowed up by the inferno.
When the flames cleared, Regice was knock out, lying on it's back. And that was when Ash heard the magic words. "Regice is unable to battle. The green trainer has no remaining pokemon, the winner is Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!"
The crowd roared and Ash had to hold himself from doing a victory dance, while Flint handed Bertha a small stack of poke. Cynthia, however, came to a conclusion about what she had been thinking about since the first time she saw Ash battle. 'Yes,' she thought, with a smile on her face. 'He'll do nicely,'
The only one upset was Pikachu. "Pikachu! Pika pikachu!" (Come on! I didn't even get to fight!)
Ash chuckled. "Next time, buddy, next time,"
The next few days passed quickly for Ash. After beating Tobias in the semi-finals, he beat a trainer who's name he couldn't remember, who frankly, was only still in the League because he hadn't faced Ash or Tobias.
The next thing he knew, he was standing on a stage with Mr. Goodshow and Cynthia, surrounded by thousands of people cheering for him. Goodshow and Cynthia gave short speeches about the bonds between trainers and pokemon and how when they come together, they can accomplish anything.
Goodshow turned to Ash. "I hereby declare Ash Ketchum the winner of the 89th annual Lilley of the Valley Conference!" He shouted as Cynthia handed the large trophy to him.
"Congratulations, I told you that you could do it," she whispered.
"Thanks, for believing in me, I mean," Ash said, scratching his cheek in embarrassment.
"Well, of course I did," she winked. Or at least, he thought she winked, she tilted her head slightly and kept her eye closed a bit longer than she would have if it had been a blink. "Listen, Ash, I have a proposition for you," she said, turning serious.
"A proposition? What is it, Cynthia?" He asked, confused.
"Not here. Here, take this," Cynthia took out a card from her coat and gave it to him.
He read the card. 'The Three Lakes Hotel' it read with 'Room 901' written in pen underneath. "Come to this hotel room tomorrow at around 3:30pm, I'll explain it all then,"
Ash pocketed the card. "Sure, Cynthia, I'll be there,"
"Good. Now, smile for the cameras," she told him. Ash turned back to the cameras to see Pikachu flex his arms. Cynthia and Ash laughed at his antics. "Oh, by the way, Goodshow will want to talk to you later,"
After having more pictures taken and an hour-long interview, Ash lay in his bed, wondering what tomorrow would bring, little did he know, a choice he would be given the next day would change everything.