Hey People. I found that some people think this is quite ironic. Well I decided Ash needs some down time fulfilling his champion duties and not just hunting for Team Rocket. But the serious stuff will be beginning soon. All the business with Espeon being captured and saving Lugia is small compared to what I have in mind for the second half of dealing with Team Rocket in this story. Let's press on.
Chapter 29: Trainers
The Pokémon world tournament junior cup was now underway with half of the first round now complete. The remaining four trainers to battle were currently awaiting turns as the next battle was just completed. There was a break currently due to being half way through round one. So far there were trainers that Ash had yet to recognise. He was currently in a hallway with Pikachu and Espeon speaking to Iris who he finally got a chance to talk to. Ash
"So Iris, it is great to see little Axew is now a big strong Haxorus it really does suit him". The dragon gym leader smiled to him "Yeah he evolved into Haxorus nearly a year ago. At first he was reluctant to evolve but he was happy to after. It has been a big change for him". Pikachu smiled happily to this "Well he sure has grown up towards this". Iris however not understanding him said "I see though Pikachu has not changed one bit since Unova".
The young Champion amused by this comment said "Maybe but he is stronger than ever now" The mouse Pokémon help an arm up and happily said "You got that right Ash. We are the team" He said this towards Ash who happily shared a calm high five with him before he spoke up "Right I better head back into the stadium for the last battle before we ready up for the second round. I don't want to miss the rest of this. I will catch up with you later".
The trio said their farewells and went on their way to the destinations they were headed for. Espeon looked up to Ash and smiled "She seems nice". The young Champion nodded towards this and smiled "Yeah, we go back to the Unova region. She travelled with me on my first visit there".
After manoeuvring his way through the stadium he arrived back in the main arena and made his way to his chair alongside commentator Daniel Trek who spoke up "Glad to have you back Ash. Ready for the last battles of today". Ash nodded his head quickly to the commentator "Of course. I wouldn't miss it for anything today" Pikachu continued to sit on his shoulder while Espeon sat beside his chair to look at the battlefield.
He looked back behind him up to the private viewing area where he saw Latias in her human disguise nodded to him before he looked back in front of him. Daniel now stood up "And now ladies and gentlemen onto the next match the last two now".
Once the applause was over Daniel begun the next introductions "And now on the right box we have a trainer with a fierce passions to excel. Tim". Another round of applause came out as the name ringed a bell towards Ash as he looked to the boy stepping onto the right corner of the battlefield.
He looked closely to see it was a fourteen year old boy and Ash immediately recognised him "Ah I know him. He is the kid who battled me months ago at the school I went to. So I could help some of the pre-trainers learn and he battled me. I wonder how much he has changed". He watched as the boy stood on the position as Daniel spoke up "And on our right we have a trainer with a fiery spirit. Ryan".
The second trainer stepped out onto the battlefield and he took his position. Daniel now stood up again "Now trainers select your Pokémon". Ryan was the first to throw his poke ball out "Golduck let's go". The poke ball materialised the blue duck onto the battlefield who stood up. Tim threw his poke ball straight after "Rhydon your up". His poke ball opened up and formed together a Rhydon onto the battlefield.
Ash was curious about this battle "Hmm, his Rhyhorn has evolved but quite an interesting choice for his Pokémon with a disadvantage. I wonder how he will play this out". The Referee held up his arm and shouted "Alright battle begin". Ryan took to the offensive first "Here we go Golduck, use Water gun".
The duck Pokémon tensed up and fired a small volley of water heading straight for his opponent. "Dodge it Rhydon and use Rock blast". The horned Pokémon immediately shifted to the right just avoiding the attack and threw his hands together to create a massive rock sphere and fired it towards the duck Pokémon.
"Jump over it" Golduck easily jumped over the attack but it landed him in close proximity to Rhydon "Now use Mega horn Rhydon" The horned Pokémon's main drill spinned and green energy surrounded it and he leaped forward and striked the attack straight into Golduck's stomach sending him crashing down onto his back.
The very powerful attack was devastating to Golduck but he slowly surfaced to his feet clearly suffering from the attack. Tim smiled while Ryan grunted towards this "Golduck use Zen headbutt". Golduck's head was enshrouded in blue energy and flew right at Rhydon and hitting into him. Rhydon wasn't too affected and held his ground.
Tim smiled as if he had planned it "Now Mega punch". Rhydon's first became consumed in orange energy and he leaped up in the air. Golduck and Ryan looked shocked by how quick the Rhydon move who effortlessly smashed the attack straight across Golduck's face sending him crashing down on his side.
Ryan was shocked by this revelation "No Golduck". It was revealed after two attacks that Golduck was confirmed to be down. The referee held up his right arm "Golduck is unable to battle. Rhydon wins and the victor is Tim". Applause flooded the stadium for Tim while Ash sat there impressed "Wow, Tim sure has improved since I last saw him. I wonder how his other Pokémon are doing. With a performance like that he will definitely go far in this tournament".
Tim thanked Rhydon and returned him to his poke ball with a smile on his face. He looked towards the commentator desk to see Ash. The young Champion made a smiled and then nodded towards him. Tim returned the smile before he turned away and left the stadium to heal Rhydon.
Once battlefield was reset for the next battle Daniel stood back up "Well done Tim that was a powerful performance. Now onto the final match of round 1. On the right side we have a trainer who has travelled here from Hoenn: Dain". A boy who looked twelve walked out with a poke ball around a necklace.
Ash saw the potential in this trainer instantly. "And to the left side, a Trainer with a fiery spirit and a veteran of the Kanto region: Damien". Another trainer who had glasses on his hair walked out looking a little smug. He looked around eighteen. He stood on his place on the battlefield and had a poke ball already on hand.
Ash was curious as something about the trainer seemed a little familiar. "Have I seen him somewhere before. His face sue does ring a bell…But where have I seen him before?" The two trainers eyed each other down a little where Damien made a bit of a snicker. Espeon looked to Ash and noticed his face "Is something wrong Ash" Pikachu now looked to Ash and nodded "Yeah Ash, I feel it too. Something is definitely familiar about him. Like we have seen him ages ago".
The young Champion looked more curiously towards the trainer as the ref held up his flags "Alright select your Pokémon". Dain threw his poke ball first "Shiftry I choose you" The poke ball opened and shot energy to form a Shiftry onto the battlefield. Damien snickered and then threw his poke ball "Go Flareon".
The second poke ball opened and a fire Eeveelution materialised onto the battlefield who had a small grin on its face. The sight of this made Espeon begun to cringe a little with wide eyes as he eyed the Flareon. The ref threw his flags down and spoke "Battle begin". Dain spoke up first and begun "Alright Shiftry use dark pulse".
The Shiftry immediately zoomed forward and built up a sphere of energy in between his leafy hands. It immediately shot the attack forward heading for his target "Dodge it Flareon". The fire type Eeveelution immediately shot to his right very quickly before the attack could even reach.
Damien smiled to this "Now use leer". His eyes flared with red for a moment before two energy spikes shot from Flaroen's eyes and they impacted Shiftry's body consuming him in red energy for a moment which was making him struggle for a moment. "Shiftry use hyper beam".
Damien eyes shifted a little after this "Use fire blast now". Flareon shot an orb out of his mouth which quickly expanded in five directions and shot forward. Shiftry finished charging and unleashed the hyper beam crashing against the fire attack. They were holding each other for a few seconds with both trainers looking confident in the manner. Ash finally realised it and he looked shocked "No wonder he looks familiar that is the same guy who was Charizard's old trainer…" Ash glared a little towards this "From the looks of it he hasn't changed a bit".
The fire blast suddenly begun pushing the hyper beam and was pushing through it bit by bit. Dain was shocked and shouted "Shiftry focus now". It was too late as the fire blast broke through and enveloped Shiftry in the powerful attack exploding. Damien smiled slyly towards this as Shiftry came out of the smoke falling down to the ground out.
Dain was heavily shocked while the ref held up the red flag "Shiftry is unable to battle, Flareon wins and the winner is Damien". The trainer smirked as Flareon went and sat beside him with a triumphant smile "Huh, no surprise there, going to win my way to the top". Ash shook his head slightly to see he did not change slightly over the years.
Daniel stood up impressed "Wow taken down with a single attack after being hit with a leer. Quite impressive". Ash nodded to him "I does see potential for this". The young Champion looked to Pikachu who was glaring a little but he then looked to Espeon who was glaring "Espeon, what's wrong…are you okay?" He said towards the sun Pokémon who looked up to him "That's him…that Flareon…he's" Espeon hesitated for a moment before he continued "That's my older brother" Ash now understood why Espeon was glaring up to the Flareon after the stories Espeon told him about his brothers' treatment of him when he lived with Amy.
Damien nodded to someone in the audience which Ash noticed was Amy who was drawing with Espeon's older sister Glaceon sitting next to her. Ash shook his head as Damien returned Flareon and left the stadium "A shame Amy has to get involved with a person like Damien, she is oblivious to how cruel he is. I hope his Pokémon are not be treated badly after what he did to Charizard years ago".
I'm going to stop there now. Sorry the chapter is short but there is nothing else to add. Anyway apologies for the hold up a little and see you next chapter. Next chapter should come quicker.
