A few notes: this is a revival of an old fanfic on an account I can no longer access. It is a 4th Generation pokemon story. The older chapters are here: they will make this make a lot more sense: s/6734569/1/Pokemon-Saiko-Championships
"Aww man, aww man- two days, two days!"
Ash was chewing his fingernails and marching to and fro in the living room of the flat. In the dark. At one in the morning. His vivid memories of Chazo's victory some hours before had previously filled him with admiration, but now were making him unbearably anxious: it had finally struck him how high the standard was in the Saiko Championships.
"Two days!" he yelled, slumping dejectedly onto one of the sofas.
"Go. To. Sleep!" came Dawn's disgruntled shout from her room.
"Sorry," whispered Ash.
After sitting in nervous silence in the dark for several minutes, Ash heard the click of a door and Tyn and Chazo emerged from the bedroom that they and Ash shared. Sitting either side of him, they glanced at each other and then patted Ash on each shoulder.
"So it's nerve-racking," said Tyn, "so what?"
In response to this, Ash made a distressed sort of gurgling noise. Tyn glanced behind Ash's bowed head and raised his eyebrows at Chazo.
"Okay, stop panicking and listen," Chazo said in a reassuring voice. "The Primo rounds are tough, but so are you: it all comes down to picking the right pokemon. So come on."
Ash looked up, confused, to see that both Tyn and Chazo were fully dressed. They got up and led Ash out of the room and down the stairs of the Sandstone Lodge to the atrium, where the trio look a right turn and entered a sort of internet café full of PCs and pokemon exchange machines.
As they wandered over to a free computer (they weren't the only trainers staying up late), Chazo continued: "See, you need endurance, but that doesn't mean you can discount power. All that really leaves is speed- which, to be honest, isn't a huge priority at this point in the championship. Take Phantom: sure, he's slow, but he had the bulk to tough out the five rounds."
"But this is where the potential problem for you is," explained Tyn, seating a dazed-looking Ash at a modern-looking computer and drawing up two chairs for himself and Chazo, "because…well, me and Chazo have both researched your files and you are very speed focused."
"That's right," replied Chazo, sitting down, "see, a pokemon like Pikachu, or Infernape, will get ground down too easily in the Primo rounds."
"And that's why," Tyn continued, turning the computer on, "you need to show us any durable, powerful pokemon that you have in storage."
As the computer hummed into life, Ash seemed to come out of his shock, and spoke: "What about Torterra?" he asked, "Surely it fits the bill perfectly?"
Chazo paused, and looked at Tyn, before delivering some rather bad news: "Well, yes and no. In any normal battle, Torterra would be fine, but in the Primo rounds a pokemon that is weak to as many types at Torterra is likely to take a beating. Fire, Flying, Bug- not to mention Ice types are bound to crop up as one, if not more, of your five opponents."
"But don't despair," chipped in Tyn cheerfully, "because I bet you you have something else tucked away in here," he tapped the monitor of the PC that had now sparked into life.
A few hours later, Ash and his friends had narrowed it down to just three pokemon.
"So," said Chazo, tapping a pen on the scrawled-on page of the ledger in his hands, "Tauros, Snorlax or Muk. Tauros has power, but not as much defensive capability as Muk or Snorlax. Muk can debilitate other pokemon by smothering them, but it can't Rest like Snorlax…what do you think Tyn?"
Tyn had removed his ever-present beanie hat to scratch his head thoughtfully: "Muk or Snorlax are you best options mate," he concluded, patting Ash on the shoulder.
"Well, I have two days- I may as well try them both out," Ash grinned, pressing a few buttons on the PC and then rushing over to the nearest transfer machine where two pokeballs had just appeared. Picking them up, Ash admired them: pleased that he now had the beginnings of a plan for his Primo round in two days.
"Awesome," said Tyn, stifling a yawn, "now, lets get to bed."
Jazol woke late, and lazily checked his phone to confirm that it really was the 9th. Getting out of bed he walked into the on-suite of his single room and showered, before throwing on his dressing gown and wandering out to get breakfast.
Upon leaving the confines of his room, he was struck by a truly delicious smell. Brock was cooking bacon, sausages, eggs and beans, while Dawn was compiling a tower of buttered toast.
"Morning," said Dawn chirpily, "so you got up late too?"
"Um," replied Jazol, unsure of what to say, "yeah."
Before things got really awkward, Brock turned from the cooker and said: "Hey, Jazol, get those three up will ya?" He nodded at the closed door of Ash, Chazo and Tyn's room.
Jazol crossed the living room and opened the door, to find the triple bunk-bed empty.
"They're not here…" he informed Brock.
"That's strange," Brock mused, "it's not like Ash to get up early."
"I wonder where they are?" Dawn said, looking puzzled.
Suddenly, a faint boom shook the windows of the flat, and, running to the window closest to the noise, Brock, Dawn and Jazol saw a slither of smoke rising from the woods near the Sandstone Lodge.
"Pyro, use Flamethrower!" yelled Tyn, and his Charmeleon dutifully unleashed a torrent of fire upon Muk. The conflagration obscured the slimy purple pokemon from view, whilst frazzling the surrounding grass and leaves.
Ash was about to respond to the fiery assault when he heard more bad news.
"Phantom, phase in and use Ice Punch!"
Chazo's Dusknoir appeared out of thin air behind Snorlax, before sinking it's brightly glowing first into the large pokemon's chubby back. There was an explosion of mist and a layer of frost spread across the surrounding trees.
Ash gasped, before composing himself and speaking: "Muk! Use Sludge Bomb on Pyro! Snorlax use Ice Punch right back!"
Muk launched a barrage of brownish globules at Pyro, which hit their mark and splattered the red lizard in foul-smelling goo whilst simultaneously sending it careering backwards through the air. Snorlax was less fortunate, as Phantom phased out, leaving the sleepy pokemon to crash into a sturdy oak and slump in a heap.
"That decides it then," Ash said, confidently, returning a battered looking Snorlax to its pokeball, "Muk is the one for the Primo rounds!"
Muk gurgled happily at this news and then promptly tried to engulf Ash. Chazo, Pyro, Phantom and Tyn all rushed forward quickly to save the struggling teenager from death by smothering.
The café in the Sandstone Lodge was crowded at lunchtime the next day. Ash was bent over a piece of A3 paper, completely ignoring his food, and scrawling anxiously alongside Tyn's scruffy handwriting. Pikachu was eagerly devouring an apple at Ash's side. Chazo sat down with a tray of food opposite the pair, before glancing at Tyn's notes and Ash's new additions.
"Nice idea on using Minimize, but you can't afford the time to set something like that into action," he said, pointing at a group of hasty paragraphs crammed into one of the corners, "but that," he continued with a more positive air, jabbing his finger at a slightly neater collection of sentences written in Ash's hand, "that could definitely work. We'll need to spend all of today practicing, but if we do then it will pay off tomorrow. I reckon-"
But suddenly Chazo cut off, glancing over Ash's shoulder at something. Ash turned his head to see Kain Zin: the tall trainer was dressed in black today, and was looking as stylish as ever. Ash could remember clearly that Kain had his eye on Chazo- and planned to beat him later in the competition.
Turning back to Chazo, Ash spoke: "His Primo round was this morning wasn't it?"
"Wuh?" murmured Chazo, seemingly a million miles away, "Oh, yeah, he did. I went to watch, that's why Tyn got his mucky paws all over this," he gestured at the A3 paper, before continuing in a whisper, "but that guy, Kain…he's insanely tough. He used a Vaporeon, and it barely got a scratch on it- five matches, and it looked virtually unscathed by the end."
Ash looked again at Kain, the uneasy feeling in his gut returned, before mentally shaking himself and turning back to his plan. After all, it was his plan that would ensure that Muk would win.
It was the 11th. The day of Ash's Primo round. The flat was empty, silent, and bright from the midday sun.
About a mile away, the air was full of cheering and whooping, and Chazo and Tyn were on tenterhooks, trying to see over the vast, tumultuous crowd.
Suddenly, a rush of air blew the cheering away, as Muk's Body Slam collided with Vigoroth's Brick Break. The two pokemon seemed frozen in collision, but then Muk's liquid-like body slid over the frantic ape and pinned in to the ground.
"And Ash from Pallet Town is the victor!" cried Gavin, his voice booming forth from megaphones all over the stadium.
Ash punched the air, safe in the knowledge that he only had one match left before he would have passed the Primo rounds.
Walking into the waiting area, Ash found Tyn and Chazo waiting to congratulate him.
"And Muk was like, pow!" enthused Tyn, mimicking the actions of Ash's pokemon, "And Vigoroth was all like, blergh!"
"Nice work," said Chazo, making an effort not to laugh at Tyn's theatrics, "that new move is really paying off."
"I know," beamed Ash, "it was worth the training for sure!"
Ash had finished his fourth round in pretty good time, and so he and Muk had 35 minutes to rest up and prepare. Then, as before, a beeping noise came from the megaphone on the wall, and Ash's fifth and final match was announced.
Walking purposefully out through the double doors of the waiting area, along a well lit underground tunnel and out into the bright sunlight of the stadium, Ash waved to the crowd. The spectators cheered, as Ash was fast becoming one of their favourites. Among the hubbub, Ash discerned the combined vocal effort of Tyn, Dawn, Brock and Chazo. Jazol, as usual, was merely watching.
Ash turned away from the crowd to face his opponent. She was a well-dressed girl of about 14, with dark hair and eyes and a hat that kept her face perpetually in the shade.
Gavin's voice burst forth, wild with exuberance. "And here we have Ash from Pallet town facing off against Sarah from Two Island! Both trainers are currently top of their Primo group, with four wins apiece! So, this is the decider! Trainers, send out your pokemon!"
Ash hurled his pokeball high into the air, and Muk burst forth, giving a cheerful burp. Meanwhile, Sarah cast a net ball forth which released a large, stocky pink pokemon with a tan-coloured belly and a crown that seemed to be some kind of shellfish.
Dawn lifted up her pokedex and scanned Sarah's pokemon. "Slowking, the Royal Pokémon and the evolved form of Slowpoke. Being bitten by a Shellder gave it intelligence comparable to that of award-winning scientists."
"Wow!" exclaimed Dawn, "it sure sounds smart!"
Down below, on the battlefield, the match began.
"Muk, use Body Slam!" cried Ash.
"Slowking, use Me First," whispered Sarah.
Even as Muk charged at it's foe, Slowking's eyes flashed brightly and it disappeared. Muk stopped charging, and looked around dumbfounded. Before Ash could yell in surprise, however, Slowking reappeared above his mystified pokemon and delivered a devastating Body Slam with spread Muk out like a pancake and shook the ground beneath Ash's feet.
"What happened?!" cried Ash.
"Me First is a move that takes the opponent's attack and then amplifies it and speeds the user up," explained Sarah, timidly.
"But…what does that mean?" stammered Ash.
"It means I can use all of your attacks on you before you can ever hit me with them," expounded Sarah, before adding meekly, "sorry."
Ash looked with horror at the pokemon that was crushing Muk, and realised that the true caliber of the Saiko Championships had just been layed bare before his eyes.
Hope you enjoyed this, consider it a revival. Please review. NB: Slowpoke can learn Me First as an egg move.