Chapter eleven takes you to heaven... nevermind, that was bad...
This chapter will depict the Celadon Tournament, and may also have a few surprises kicked in.
This tournament will be MUCH tougher for Ash than the last one.
Everyone ready? Good!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN POKEMON!
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As Ash flew through the bright morning skies on Charizard's back, he paid attention to the sights and happenings on the ground. He didn't want to accidentally pass up his destination by enjoying the ride too much.
As he was just approaching the outskirts of the city, he what looked like a battle going on. There were fire and water attacks being shot off everywhere, including the sky. At this point, The young trainer decided it would be safer and somewhat entertaining to land and watch the battle.
When he got closer to the battlezone, he saw that the battle was between a Charmander and a Wartortle, and obviously, the Wartortle was winning.
The water pokemon's trainer was a young girl, a little older than himself, with green pigtails that went past her shoulders. the Charmander's trainer was an older guy with blue hair, goggles, and a pink and brown cowboy-like outfit. As Ash listened, he also noticed that the boy had an accent, among other things..
"Come on you weak, useless thing! That turtle should be easy for you to beat!"
Ash just frowned and shook his head. This kid was either stupid or ...let's just leave it at stupid.
Eventually the Charmander was predictably knocked out by a strong water gun attack, but what was not predicted was how the blue haired trainer would go off his rocker after the loss.
"You Stupid, worthless pokemon! I can't believe I put up with you!" As he was about to hit the defenseless fire-type, his fist was stopped by another hand grabbing his in a firm grip. The trainer looked up and turned to see who would dare grab him. It was another male trainer, younger than him, with a hood covering most of his face, glaring at him with menacing red eyes. The blue haired male flinched a bit at seeing those eyes, but then started glaring back. "Hey! who are you to grab me like that! You've got some nerve!"
The red eyed trainer just hardened his glare, and said in a cold voice, "you're the one that's got some nerve, blaming your pokemon for your mistake."
The older male growled, "Why you-"
"What kind of trainer would dare blame his pokemon for losing when there was such a clear disadvantage, in both type and level. Trainers like you need to have their head examined," the hooded boy said, still glaring.
The blue haired trainer glared back at him for another moment, before smirking and sticking his nose up, "you're obviously just some noob that doesn't know anything about pokemon yet. Probably here for the tournament... Well then I'll just beat your pathetic hide there, shrimp." With that, he walked away from the clearing.
Ash just stared at him until he disappeared into town, glaring knives into the boy's back. The girl that he was battling earlier walked up to him, "I'd watch myself around him if I were you.." she warned, "Damien has a pretty bad reputation.."
The hooded trainer turned to the girl and flashed a feral grin, making her step back, "so his name's Damien, huh? Thanks for the info," and with that he walked off into the brush to find his own spot to train and camp, leaving the confused and startled girl behind.
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After four days of almost non-stop training and strategizing, the day of the tournament had finally arrived. As with the last one, thirty-two trainers had signed up to compete.. or maybe it was capped.. who knows?
There was a much bigger crowd and a bigger stadium, since Celadon was obviously a larger city than Pewter. And even though the Tournament was not sponsored or controlled by the League, they were still allowed to call it the Celadon Tournament, probably for publicity reasons.
Soon, a woman, dressed in a green two piece dress suit with a giant pink flower lapel and brown hair to her shoulders, made herself visible on the stage in front of the crowd and competitors,"WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO THE 13TH ANNUAL CELADON TOURNAMENT! SPONSORED BY THE POKEMON BATTLE LOVERS CLUB! TODAY WE HAVE 32 GRAND TRAINERS WHO WILL SOON BE DUKING IT OUT FOR PRIDE, GLORY, AND THIS!" She held up a frame showing a case of TMs as well as a grass, dawn, and sun stone. " POKEMON ITEMS THAT ARE ESSENTIAL TOOLS FOR ANY TRAINER LOOKING TO MAKE A NAME FOR THEMSELVES! NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, HERE'S THE STARTING BRACKET!"
The MegaScreen behind her quickly showed the pictures of all 32 trainers in the tournament. As Ash looked at the pics and around the crowd, he noted that the competition looked to be a lot more steep, as these trainers looked more seasoned and experienced. One particular trainer that caught his eye was one standing in the shadows. Like his own, this figure's face was covered by a hood, only the person also worse a sash of some type that he or she could use to cover their mouth.
Another trainer that caught his eye was the arrogant blue haired trainer, who he learned was named Damien. As he looked to the brackets, he smirked. That asshole would be his first opponent. He stared at the blue haired boy from across the field. As soon as they made eye contact, the hooded trainer cracked his knuckles and flexed his arms, making Damien flinch slight, before glaring back at him.
While the two trainers were staring each other down, no one noticed a figure in the corner dressed in a brown overcoat staring at the competitors, especially at the hooded trainer with supposedly red eyes.
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"This will be a two on two battle between Damien Diablo and Ashura Ravensong. A winner will be announced once both pokemon of either side is knocked out. We will now see which side will go first with a coin flip!"
Damien won the coin flip and smirked, "well go on, send out your weak pokemon so we can get this over with!"
Ash just shook his head and rubbed his brow, "whatever shuts you up. Your voice gives me a headache!" he said, making some of the crown chuckle. In a flash, Golbat appeared, ready to fight. Damien just laughed, "that's it? your weaker than I thought. Golem, show this wimp who's boss!"
With that, the Megaton Pokemon made its appearance. From what Ash could tell from its size and color, Damien had more than likely evolved it too quickly, and it definitely didn't appear very healthy. However, the idiotic trainer didn't see any of that, and said, "tell you what, I'll let you have the first move, then I'll finish you off quick. How does that sound?"
Ash just shrugged and said, "Your funeral," then looked up at Golbat, who was glaring daggers at the rock type, "Golbat, use supersonic!"
Golbat released a set of very loud and high pitched sound waves, causing the rock type to cover the sides of his head. Damien growled, "Ignore that! Use smack down! NOW!"
Golem struggled through the continuing sound waves long enough to pick up a large rock and fling it at Golbat. "Dodge!" the poison type heard, and was able to avoid a direct hit, but was still clipped on his wing, causing him to almost drop to the ground before righting himself. It also caused him to stop his attack.
Damien smirked, "now while it's down, use rollout!" At his trainer's command, The giant rock ball retracted his head, arms and legs into himself and began to roll towards the injured bat pokemon.
But Ash wasn't just going to let his friend get flattened, "Confuse ray, then up in the air! quickly!" Golbat shot off what looked like a series of glowing orbs at the rolling rock type, which hit their mark. As soon as the attack landed, Golbat flapped his wings harder to try and get airborne again, only to get receive another, albeit minor injury from the rolling pokemon.
Seeing that this was going nowhere, the hooded trainer recalled the poison type, "Golbat, return for now! I'll need you later!" He then brought out another ball, "Onix! to the battlefront!"
In a flash, the giant Rock Snake Pokemon appeared, roaring its name to the heavens and displaying its strength to the crowd. Under his trainer's hardcore, and at times radical, training methods, the rock type's strength and speed had increased immensely.
Damien just snorted and laughed at the giant pokemon, "hahaha! OOooh, I'm shaking, the weakling has an overgrown pile of pebbles going against me!" He then turned to his Golem, who was trying to snap out of his confusion, "Golem, show'em a real rock pokemon! Use Earthquake!" Golem slowly responded by stamping both feet on the ground, causing it to shake uncontrollably. Onix roared in pain as he took double damage from the attack.
"ONix, please! Just hang in there!" Ash yelled to his pokemon, "knock him off his feet with DragonBreath!" Onix managed to hang tough an released a torrent of green, fire-like energy from his mouth.
"Rollout to dodge and hit that thing head on!" Damien yelled
Ash retaliated, "redirect your dragon breath to the ground in front of him!"
Golem rolled into a ball and tore across the field, successfully dodging the initial attack. Onix, however, followed Ash's orders and reshot dragon breath at the ground right in front of the rolling rock ball. This not only caused damage to the Pokémon, but also caused it to fly backwards in the Air. Damien grit his teeth at the turn of events. "GET UP!" he yelled as Golem landed, "I will not tolerate defeat!"
Golem, though struggling slightly, did manage to stand again, looking slightly winded. He and Onix stared each other down, growling their names at each other.
Ash decided to take the initiative this time, "Onix, use rock tomb! Then follow up with Dragon Breath!"
Onix powered up as his body shone with a weird light, then all at once, 5 large stones erupted from the ground, surrounding and trapping Golem in a tight rocky squeeze. As Golem was visibly struggling against, Onix prepared to let loose another round of green energy.
Damien audibly growl, "come on stupid! Use rollout to break free!" At that, Golem rolled into a ball and started to spin at an accelerated rate, until suddenly, he launched himself into the sky...
...right in the path of Onix's DragonBreath.
The blast sent the magnitude Pokémon barreling into the ground and sliding back to its trainer. Once the dust cleared, it was obvious that Golem was knocked out cold.
"Golem is Unable to Battle! Onix Wins!"
Damien growled and muttered under his breath as he returned his battered Pokémon, "piece of garbage.. I'll deal with you later," he said soft enough so no one would supposedly hear, then plucked another ball from his belt.
Ash took this time to speak up, "I hope that's not all you got.. I was hoping that someone that would use such harsh words and tactics with his Pokémon would have the strength to back them up," he said, tauntingly.
Damien's growl resembled that of an Arcanine with rabies. "SHUT UP! I'M GONNA MOP THE FLOOR WITH YOU! MEET MY STRONGEST POKEMON!" With that, he threw the pokeball, releasing a large, purple beast of a Pokémon, which roared to the heavens as it was released.
'NIIIIIDOOOOO!"
Ash looked over the large poison type with a calculated gaze. Despite its immense size, it was actually smaller than he expected, which told him that his idiotic trainer probably evolved him right away without proper training. He also seemed to have a wild look in his eye, Telling Ash that he may not listen to Damien's commands sometimes, or may even go on a rampage if it got that far. He would definitely have to be careful with this one. He then turned to his Pokémon, "Onix, can you keep going?" The Rock type nodded, although he did take a fair amount of damage from that earthquake.
Damien smirked, "scared, newbie? You should be. Nidoking's never been beaten in battle. Let me show you why. Nidoking, Earth Power!"
With that command, Nidoking roared and stamped a single foot to the ground, causing the terrain around Onix to glow, tremble and erupt. Onix roared in pain from the ground type attack and curled its body up as a weak defense. Ash growled, "Don't give up, Onix, you can do this! Use rock tomb again!" Even though Ash knew the chances of Onix winning this one were slim, he still needed to weaken Nidoking to a point where golbat would be able to finish it off.
The Rock snake roared out in defiance of the attack and began to glow with a dim light again, and not a moment afterwards, Nidoking was surrounded by 5 huge, pillar like rocks.
Ash smiled, "now dragon breath!"
Damien countered, "HyperBeam! NOW!"
As Onix was was exhausted from the earlier pats of the battle, and Nidoking needed a moment to charge, both attacks were fired at the same time. As Onix's Dragon Breath went low, Nidoking's HyperBeam went high, resulting in both attacks hitting their target. The Poison type roared in pain as he was blasted back by the attack, but held his own. Onix however, was not so lucky, as the Hyperbeam was enough to send to Rock and ground type to the ground.
"Onix is unable to Battle! Nidoking wins!"
Damien put on a cruel smirk as Ash returned his pokemon, giving him a thanks for his hard work. The hooded trainer then once again released Golbat, who appeared to be refreshed and recovered from his last bout. Damien just let out a mocking laugh, "you really think you can beat me with that pathetic rat with wings? You might as well just give up now."
Ash merely glared at the offensive, blue haired trainer, and used the time he was taking with his gloating to attack, "Golbat, confuse ray!"
Golbat released several small balls of yellow energy at the poison type, who stumbled backwards, startled by the attack, but did not appear to take any damage. Damien just laugh again, "well that was a whole lot of nothing. Then again I should have expected a weak attack from a weak Pokémon. Nidoking, end this now! use thunderbolt!"
... Nothing happened.
Confused, The rude cowboy looked over at his Pokémon and saw that he was shaking his head around and beating himself up with his claw. Then, realization hit him ,"its confused?!"
Ash just smirked, "just because Golbat's not as physically strong as Nidoking, doesn't mean it's not smarter," he then turned to his Pokémon, "supersonic!" At his trainer's command, Golbat let out a myriad of high pitched waves of sound, causing Nidoking to roar out in pain and hold his head. The combination of confusion and supersonic was agony to the large Pokémon.
Damien, however, didn't realize this, or didn't care, "Snap out of it! Use thunderbolt like I told you to or else!" His demand fell on deaf ears. "NOW YOU STUPID POKEMON!"
Suddenly, Nidoking's eyes snapped open, showing that they were red and glazed over. He turned towards his trainer and started stomping the ground like crazy and then running uncontrollably all over the arena. The trainers and audience could only look on as the Pokémon, as Ash silently predicted, went into a rampage.
As the Rogue trainer watched the Pokémon as the ran around wildly, letting off random thunderbolts and hyperbeams non-stop, he knew that the only way to put a halt to this was for either 1. Damien to somehow recall him, which would DQ him, or 2. knock the Pokémon out, which would also knock his trainer out of the tournament. Damien seemed to realize this too, as he tried to get through to Nidoking, "Stop this stupid behavior now! I'm going to lose if you don't get your head back on!"
This turned out the be the wrong thing to say as Nidoking reared its head back and fired a large hyperbeam right at its trainer. Damien dived out the way, avoiding the initial hit, but the shockwave was enough to send him sailing. He landed on his head and was knocked out cold.
Upon seeing this, Tournament officials finally stepped in, one using an Alakazam to hold the rampaging pokemon in place, and another with a Gengar to put it to sleep with Hypnosis. As the Poison type finally dropped, everyone took a collective sigh of relief. Then an announcement was made.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, IN LIGHT OF THIS MOST RECENT BATTLE, ALL TOUNRAMENT ACTIVIES WILL BE PUT ON A TWO HOUR DELAY IN ORDER TO TEND TO THE TRAINERS, POKEMON AND FIELD! WE ARE SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE!
Ash just nodded, expecting something like that. He recalled his Golbat and moved away from the field. As he was leaving, he heard some of the official talk about Damien's attitude towards pokemon. The Rogue could only smirk. Looks like that blue haired jerk would finally get what he deserves.
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Two hours later, the Tournament was once again underway. The Announcement was made that Damien would be fine, but there was now an ongoing investigation involving him and pokemon abuse, and if anyone had information, then to come forward. Ash could only chuckle. This also meant that he would move on by default.
After Damien, Ash went up against a girl named Willow Mayson from Lumios in Kalos, who specialized in fairy type pokemon, a type that not many knew much about in Kanto. It was during this match that Ash quickly realized that he hated fairy types.
Her first pokemon... Aromatisee? ... some kind of pink, fluffy bird with eyelashes...was annoying to fight with its use of Attract and draining kiss, which almost knocked poor Haunter out. Thank goodness for Hypnosis and Lick that he was able to pull off a double knock out.
Willow's next pokemon, which looked like a..ugh..pink ribbon version of Eevee, was a total bitch to battle.
"Sylveon, use Moonblast!"
"Stand tough, Nidorino! "
The battered poison type was barely able to stand up to the powerful blast of mysterious energy. He panted heavily as he looked over at the offending fairy type.
Willow smirk, "now Sylveon! finish this with Draining kiss!"
As the Eevee evolution went in for the kill, Ash growled, "we're not giving up! use Toxic!"
Nidorino made a direct hit as Sylveon didn't have time to dodge. The poison set into its system, making it stagger back, a purple sheen now noticeable over its skin. Willow looked on it horror, "oh no it's been poisoned!"
Ash however just blinked at how well that went. Were fairy types possibly weak to poison? He smirked as he realized that he may still have a chance, "Ok Nidorino, time to turn this around. Focus energy!"
The poison type, sensing what his trainer wanted, smirked, then focused his energy and charged for the still staggering Sylveon. "Now," Ash yelled, "Horn attack! full power!"
Nidorino's attack, combined with Focus energy, sent the fairy type flying backwards, letting out a high pitched yelp of pain. After its painful landing, Sylveon struggled to stand back up. She stared at Nidorino for a moment, who stared right back at her, and both were panting heavily. Then, Sylveon staggered as the poison hit her again, and dropped to the floor.
"Sylveon is unable to battle! Nidorino wins! The victory goes to Ashura Ravensong!"
Ash couldn't help but smile, "great job buddy!" he said as he returned his pokemon.
He then looked over at Willow, who was cradling her defeated pokemon. She looked over at him, glared, and ran out of the stadium. Ash just sweatdropped. While he understood she was angry about the wellbeing of her pokemon, there was no need to be a sore loser.
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Soon, the final battle was finally about to start.
As Ash looked over at his opponent, he noticed that it was the mysterious hooded person he saw earlier. Now with a better view, he could tell that it was a male. He was dressed in a long, black cloak, and his face was almost completely covered with a hood, black sash and sunglasses. This caused Ash to raise an eyebrow. Sure, his own outfit served the purpose of making sure he wasn't recognized, but this guy's went above and beyond, so much that it looked suspicious.
"The final Battle between Ashura Ravensong and the Black Sage will now begin! Each trainer will use up to three Pokémon, one at a time. When all three of either side's Pokémon is knocked out, the winner will then be announced. Understand?"
As both trainer's nodded, then Referee continued, "trainers, please release your Pokémon!"
Ash was first to grab a ball. He could tell this guy was no joke from his previous battles, needing only a Magmortar to defeat the other competitors.
'Gyarados! Let's do this.!" The Rogue trainer yelled as, in a flash, the giant serpentine water type made its appearance. As it landed on the field, it roared out its dominance for the entire crowd.
His masked opponent merely pull out a pokeball and released his Magmortar, who looked fired up and ready. It released a flamethrower to the sky before glaring at his oversized opponent.
Ash decided not to take any chances, "Gyarados, lets strike first! Hydropump!" At his trainers command, the water type unleashed a huge geyser of water from his mouth. At his opponent's side, no words were said, though Ash could've sworn he saw the fire type smirk.
The next thing he saw was a huge flurry of flames come out of Magmortar's mouth and meet the Hydropump head on. The surprising part was, they were evenly matched, with neither side giving an inch! The result was a huge cloud of steam that enveloped the entire field.
"Keep your guard up, Gyarados!" Ash yelled to his pokmemon, "Use all of your senses to try and find it!"
Gyarados lightly nodded as he looked through the dense fog, searching for any sign of the large fire type...
...He then saw a ball of light to the side of him...
...before getting a massive star shaped flame attack to the face.
The water type roared in pain as the Fire Blast scorched his face and whiskers. He then was suddenly engulfed in a brief flurry of flames, signaling that he had been burned.
"Damnit!" Ash growled, this was not going his way, "We need to get rid of this fog! Gyarados, use surf on the whole battlefield!" The Water Serpent roared out and glowed blue for a moment. The next thing anyone saw was a huge wave of water come out of nowhere and flood the whole battlefield.
Not only did this cause the fog to clear for most part, but the water also seemed to sweep up Magmortar and cause significant damage. The fire type was now wet and breathing heavily. The Sage though, didn't seem worried... as far as Ash could tell since he couldn't see his face.
Magmortar suddenly started to glow in a fiery light and let loose a bright ball of light into the sky, making the little sunlight available intensify. It was at that moment that Ash realized, The heavily cloaked trainer wasn't giving any verbal commands. During the whole tournament, he hadn't said one word to his pokemon or opponents. How in the...well he could dwell on that later, right now Gyarados may be in trouble with that Sunny day.
Gyarados, this is gonna be a gamble but it's the best idea I got. Start out with Iron tail!"
Gyarados nodded and swept his glowing tail towards the fire type, who swiftly jumped into air, high enough to be even in height with the water type's head. Magmortar then formed a bright white orb in his mouth, making Ash gasp in surprise, "that's Solarbeam, and we're too close to dodge...Gyarados, Hyperbeam, quick!"
Gyarados formed his beam just as Magmortar let his loose his. The two beams met in the middle of the two pokemon, neither beam looking like it was weakening or giving an inch...
*BOOOOOOMMM!*
The two beams finally overloaded and exploded, causing a massive blast and a huge cloud of smoke to form...
Everyone in the stadium waited with baited breath for the smoke and smog to clear. Once it did, it showed Magmortar standing but on its last legs, and Gyarados..
"Gyarados is unable to battle! Magmortar wins!"
Ash sighed and returned his pokemon, "Thank you very much, you put up a hell of a fight!"
He then looked over at Magmarotar, who looked like he was gonna drop any minute, and nodded. "Tentacruel, to the battlefield!" With a flash, the jellyfish gangster appeared, glaring at the fire type.
His opponent merely nodded, and Magmortar let loose another flamethrower.
But Ash wasn't about to let his friend get hit, "Tentacruel, use mirror coat!" The water and Poison type nodded and began to shine with a reflective light, causing the flames to stop and return to sender at twice the power, making the massive fire type go down on one knee. But Ash wasn't done yet, "finish this up with Water Pulse!"
At his trainer's command, Tentacruel formed an orb of water in his beak, then launched it right at Magmortar's head, gaining a direct hit. The fire type finally had enough and fell to the ground in a heap.
"Magmortar is unable to battle, Tentacruel wins!"
Ash let out a sigh of relief as the strong fire type was recalled, but then steeled himself again as he knw this battle wasn't even close to done. The Black Sage then released his second pokemon, a huge beast with blue-ish skin, a red and yellow underbelly, and shark-like head and fins.
"GAARRRRRCHOOOOMP!"
The pseudo-legendary appeared to just be radiating power, and everyone in the stadium felt it, including Ash, who almost lost his hood as the huge dragon made its appearance. He looked at the Garchomp, then at his own Tentacruel, and knew this was gonna be a tough one. The hooded trainer took a deep breath and centered himself. He could call Tetacruel back, but he felt confident he could get a few hits in first to weaken it enough for his last pokemon, then save the water type for the Sage's last one. He then said, "Tentacruel, let's give it our all! Don't give up until the end!" Tentacruel merely roared its name in agreement.
The Black Sage merely nodded and Garchomp took off into the air like a jet plane. Ash growled. With Garchomp in the air, his options were limited. "Tentacruel, use Water Pulse back to back! I want that thing grounded!" Tentacruel nodded and began to launched orb after orb of concentrated water into the sky. This not only caused Garchomp to falter in his flying, but also made it rain for a bit, giving Tentacruel some energy back thanks to his ability, Rain Dish.
Garchomp flipped and barrel rolled through the sky to avoid the offending orbs, but was still hit by one, causing him to lose some altitude, but otherwise did little damage. The Dragon Type then turned towards the water type and let loose a large Dragon Pulse.
"Use your limbs to dodge that!" Ash shouted as the attack came barreling down on them. Tentacruel used his tentacles to successfully dodge the direct attack, but was still pushed back by the wave of power. Neither of them noticed the Pseudo-Lengendary coming in from the opposite direct covered in a powerful, bluish-green light.
Ash's eyes widened when he saw it, "That's Dragon Rush, look out!" Tentacruel shared its trainer's look of shock as it was unable to move out the way and was hit dead on by the powerful attack. The poor water type was sent spiraling back and landed with a thud.
"Tentacruel is unable to battle! Garchomp wins!"
Ash recalled his Pokémon with a word of thanks, then literally smacked himself in the head, "idiot..," he said to himself, "I definitely could've planned that better...Come on Ash, your better than this," he berated himself with his eyes tightly shut.
'Don't be too hard on yourself, son..' A voice said in his head, causing Ash to snap out of his thoughts. He looked around and then at his opponent, who still remained unmoving. 'Give it your best shot. This is the best battle I've had in a while..'
At hearing this, Ash smirked, his head back in the game. "Right.. you got it!"
He then, pulled out his pokeball and threw it, "Charizard, to the battlefield!"
Charizard materialized with a huge roar that almost rivaled Garchomp's. Both pokemon glared at each other menacingly.
"OK Charizard, let's take it to the skies!" Ash yelled, and Charizard responded by flaring its wings and taking off, with Garchomp right behind it.
Just as Garchomp had almost caught up with Charizard, Ash yelled, "turn around and use Dragon Pulse, then follow up with Steel wing!"
Charizard turned his body and launched the orb of draconic energy, scoring a direct hit and causing a small explosion around the Pseudo-Legendary.
Charizard, taking the initiative, powered up a steel wing and headed towards the cloud...
..Only to be met with a powerful Dragon Rush attack as the cloud suddenly dispersed.
*CRRRAAASSH!*
Both Pokémon went plummeting to the ground ,though Garchomp was able to recover almost immediately. Charizard, with some effort, managed to flare his wings out and stop himself before hitting the ground full force. He landed with a heavy thud on his feet. Ash quickly analyzed his Pokémon. After that exchange, he was scratched and banged up, but still ready to go. Garchomp also looked ready, as it was stamping its foot on the ground and roared in anticipation... wait a minute... that's..
"That's sandstorm! Charizard, protect yourself with your wings! ride through it!" Charizard did just that, as it covered its face with its wings, lessening the damage it was taking from the harsh storm. Also, During this time, Ash lost sight of Garchomp, which made him nervous. He then saw a blue light just barely peaking through the storm and gasped, "Charizard! Fly straight up, now!"
Charizard, hearing his trainer's distress, quickly flapped his wing and flew straight up, just barely missing being hit with a full powered dragon rush. This also helped him escape the Sandstorm for the time being. Soon the storm died down and both Pokémon were still glaring at each other, though Charizard seemed slightly winded.
Then, the Black Sage finally moved, revealing his arm which had an arm brace with a strange looking stone on it. The mysterious trainer then pressed down on the stone, causing an unpredicted change in Garchomp. The dragon type glowed in a strange light, similar to evolution. It grew more spikes, a squared off jaw, and longer scythe looking claws.
"AMAZING! I BELEIVE WHAT WE ARE SEEING IS A NEWLY DISCOVERED PHENOMENON, CALLED MEGA-EVOLUTION, AN EVOLUTION BEYOND THE FINAL EVOLVED FORM. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THIS IS MEGA-GARCHOMP!" The announcer screamed with excitement, and the crowd went wild.
"GAAAARRCHOOOOMP!" The beast roared, even louder than before.
Ash took an involuntary step back as he felt something that he hadn't felt since he left home.. Fear.. he was feeling fear for the first time in what seemed like forever. He then looked to his pokemon who looked just as shocked as he did. The hooded trainer took several deep breaths as he calmed his nerves. He then spoke to his Pokémon in a relatively calm voice, " Ok Charizard. The odds may be against us but we're gonna give it our all! Ready?"
"CHAAAAARRRRR!"
As soon as he was done, Charizard was in the air, followed closely by the Mega Garchomp. The two pokemon began to exchange attacks like crazy, dragon pulse vs dragon pulse, steel wing to dragon claw, and flamethrower to flamethrower. The two powerful Pokémon flew through the air like fighter jets in a dog fight, though it was clear that Garchomp was faster, as he managed to land a clean shot with Dragon Rush, sending Charizard spiraling to the ground.
"Charizard!" Ash yelled out in worry. His fire type managed to slow his descent, but still hit the ground with a hard thud. As he was struggling to stand up, Garchomp landed in front of his own trainer, who gave another nod. Soon, the dragon type's chest was glowing in a strange orange light, leaving Ash perplexed.
"Charizard, get ready! Stay on your guard!" The fire type wearily nodded as it stood fully, though it was obvious it was running out of steam. Then, Garchomp released a large orange orb of energy into the sky, where it burst and broke apart into several smaller yet still powerful orbs., causing Ash's wyw to once again widen, "Oh no, ...that's Draco Meteor...Charizard you have to move!"
It was too late, however, as the orange meteors fell down all over the battlefield, leaving nowhere for the Flame Pokémon to run. Another large smoke cloud filled the area as everyone, especially Ash, waited to see if Charizard was ok. Soon, as the smoke cleared, the answer was painfully clear.
"Charizard is Unable to Battle! Garchomp wins! the winner of this battle and the Tournament is Black Pseudo!"
Ash didn't hear any of that though, as he rushed out to the field to hid best friend's side.
He carefully cradled Charizard's massive head and asked, "Charizard, are you ok? Say something!"
At first there was no movement, but then the black fire type's eye slowly opened and gazed f at his trainer. Ah let out a sigh of relief and a sad smile as he patted the fire type's head, 'You were awesome, buddy. I couldn't have asked for more.."
It was then that he noticed a shadow over him, and looked up to see Sage standing there with his Garchomp, now out of Mega mode, behind him.
"Not bad kid..." the mysterious trainer said in a somewhat raspy voice, speaking for the first time since the Tournament started, "Not bad at all..." and with that, he walked away towards the stage to receive his prizes.
Ash just sighed to himself. This was his first major loss as a pokemon trainer and it hit him like a freight train. Still, considering that this was only his first year as a trainer, that's not bad at all. It was obvious that the man that had beaten him was a seasoned veteran, so it was to be expected.
Shaking himself of his thoughts, the hooded trainer returned his friend for a well deserved rest and headed towards the stage for his Second Place congrats. As he walked, it was only then that he finally noticed that he was being watched. Turning, he saw what looked like a figure in a closed, gray trench coat and sunglasses. The figure looked female, with her teal hair back in a messy ponytail, but other than that, he couldn't tell. what unnerved him was that she was staring right at him.
'Why is she just staring at me like that?' Ash thought to himself, 'what could she possibly want?'
Then, he had a thought that made his heart drop 'Is it possible that she knows who I am?'
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CUT!
CLIFFHANGER! GAAHHHH! Don't you just hate these!
I'm sorry if this is a bit cruel, but the next chapter will make up for it. And you won't have to wait a week for it.. hopefully...
So yes, Ash was not victorious this time, so those of you that think he is OP can SHUT UP! LOL
Before you ask, I used Tentacruel for a couple reasons. One, I haven't used him yet in battle. 2, I wanted to show that Ash, while powerful for a rookie, is not perfect. Besides, any Pokémon he could've used would've had the same result against a Mega Garchomp.
The Mysterious Black Sage will be making another appearance later on in the story.. I'm just not sure where yet. Oh, and he isn't just another random OC either... hint hint.
What else is there to say except.. see you next time! NO FLAMES! But if you see a problem or hole in the story I missed, let me know!