Awakening
Chapter 37: The Indigo League (Part 1)
Ashimi couldn't contain her excitement as the helicopter flew from Mount Silver to Viridian City. "The Indigo League may disappoint you," Giovanni warned.
His words took Ashimi by surprise. "The Indigo League is every trainer's dream. It's the most famous of all the regional pokemon leagues, how can it disappoint me?"
"No battle royales, minimal unexpected tricks, lots of rules. It won't be like our battle and pulling a stunt like what you did at Cinnabar Island would just get you disqualified." Giovanni was referring to her rampage rather than the badge battle.
Ashimi laughed nervously, "I'll be careful." When the helicopter landed, Ashimi's friends were waiting for her. She had gotten used to her link with Zero and the distance had been no problem, though it was still relatively short. She started telling them about the battle, not skipping a single detail.
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The remaining days were spent both training and relaxing, though there didn't have time to do too much before it was time to head to the Indigo Plateau. Her friends were allowed to tag along and they all rode on a large comfortable helicopter with two propellers. Though the transport was able to move fast, it chose to move slowly through the sky, alongside several small helicopter pods carrying cameras from various channels. They were all moving at the same pace as the people below, who were traveling on foot, following the trainer holding the torch.
The last stretch of the road was reached and the boy carrying the torch handed it over to a girl with lavender hair. "Doesn't she look kind of familiar?" Jonathan asked.
"You're right..." Volt looked at the TV rather than the window to get a closer look when the camera zoomed in. The camera focused on the girl and he recognized her. "It's that girl from the Vulpix contest. If not for Johnny she might have won or tied with Ashimi."
"Don't remind me," Jonathan groaned.
"I wasn't paying attention to the details at the time because I was focused on the contest, and everyone looked different with all that makeup on anyway. But now I feel like I've seen her face somewhere other than the contest," Ashimi voiced in thought.
A silent pause passed before Zero suggested, "Daala?" They all stared at the TV waiting for the aerial view to switch to a close up again.
Then they finally saw it, she had changed her hair, but she was the same person. "Why is Daala carrying the torch?" Dorme inquired, though she didn't expect anyone to know the answer.
"Looks like the Indigo League might be more exciting than we thought," Ashimi mused aloud.
"In any case, we'll have to watch our backs," Volt cautioned.
"Right, we won't let Daala ruin the Indigo League!" Jonathan agreed.
"Does that mean you're going to use that sword you're carrying?" Dorme half joked.
Jonathan retrieved the sword, pulling it out over his shoulder from the sheath on his back. "If I have to."
"It is a cool new sword," Volt observed the shiny weapon. "A replica of the Master Sword, right?"
"It is more than just cool," Jonathan grinned, "and yes, I always wanted a legendary video game sword and last year I got it."
"Last year?" Dorme blinked in surprise. "How come I haven't see you with it if you've had it for that long? Did you forget it at the bottom of your locker or something?"
"I had my reasons not to take it with me right away..." Jonathan vaguely replied.
"It's because he could barely lift it when he got it," Ashimi revealed.
"Hey, this thing's heavy!" Jonathan pouted, "besides, I can use it just fine now," he defended.
"Can I?" Jonathan handed the sword to Volt, who started making heroic poses with it. "It's not really heavy."
"You don't think anything is heavy," Jonathan grumbled.
"I'll have to agree with Johnny on this one," Dorme nodded. "Which is why you're so good to have around in shopping trips."
"That's an inconvenient... compliment?" Volt breathed unsure.
"It's pretty convenient to me," Dorme smiled.
They finally made it to the stadium and remained in the air. They gathered around a glass floor panel and watched as Daala lit an arrow, the archer, a boy around her age, shot the arrow into the large torch that ignited with the fire that signified the start of the Indigo League. The crowd cheered and music played and several people put on a show in the stadium. The helicopter landed and Ashimi went to join the other trainers to march through the stadium in a few minutes, while her friends and family went to take their seats.
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Ashimi had filled the moment with excitement in her mind, so walking across the stadium felt like so much more than a simple motion. She was filled with joy, as if she had been born for that very moment, until... 'A victory shall be claimed.' It was that voice again. That ominous echoing voice in her head spoke to her again after a long silence. It was evil and mocking, she knew right away it wasn't saying she would win the Indigo League.
Ashimi felt that the victory it mentioned would be her loss. 'Legend...' She tried to stay focused and follow the pace of the people around her. 'I won't let you ruin this for me. I won't let you win!' Darkness enveloped her and she knew nothing of the world as her senses faded away.
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Ashimi felt as if she had fainted, but when she woke up, she wasn't on a bed in her assigned room at the plateau or in the infirmary, or anywhere where she could have been placed to rest. She was standing in the trainer's platform across from an impatient boy and the announcer told her to call out her first pokemon. She didn't know how she got there and it worried her that she couldn't remember.
She knew that the crowds' eyes were on her as she tried to regain her bearings, but one gaze stood apart from the others. Despite the distance Ashimi found herself staring into her father's eyes. She forced a smile and tried to pass her odd behavior as nerves. All her pokemon were in their pokeballs, the rules didn't allow trainers to march with their pokemon during the opening ceremony ever since a battle broke loose a few years ago. Without any time to give it any further thought, Ashimi called out a pokemon. "Wartortle, I choose you!" That made sense to her, since her opponent's pokemon was a Magmar. Yet it didn't excuse why she took that long to make such an obvious choice.
"Finally!" The boy huffed. Ashimi finally took a moment to recognize him and noticed he was the one who shot the arrow earlier. He must be a talented trainer, so type advantage aside, this was no time to space out. She didn't know his name, she assumed that the announcer must have introduced them, but she wasn't quite there to hear it.
The archer said something, but his voice came out distorted to Ashimi and she didn't understand. Then something very unusual occurred. Magmar began to wave a pair of fluffy pon-pons around like a cheerleader. Ashimi stared in confusion, when did Magmar even get the pon-pons? She was sure she didn't have them a few seconds ago. Wartortle was looking uncomfortable and covering his face. "Wartortle, hydro pump!"
The water pokemon obeyed, but the attack didn't have as much of an effect as Ashimi hoped. The announcer was saying something, but she couldn't make out the words. The voices of the crowd mixed into disruptive murmurs that were both loud and impossible to decipher. When Ashimi tried to focus, one thing stood out to her, Magmar was attacking with seeds. How was that even possible?
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In one of the private VIP balconies, Giovanni was throwing a fit, yelling at several people through his ear piece. "Do we have an intruder? Sabrina? Anyone suspicious at all?"
"No sir, nothing to report," Comet's voice replied.
"Nothing on my end either," Pixel added.
"Check the equipment," Giovanni insisted. "Something is definitely wrong with her but nothing is touching her, this has to be some kind of psychic attack!" He looked at the trainer's platform where Ashimi stood. Jessie and James were inspecting the area surrounding the base of the platform, but they didn't look like they found any sort of suspicious device that could be interfering with their psychic sensors. Sabrina could stay hidden if she kept her power suppressed, but not if she was using it on Ashimi. Jessie and James made a final check of the area and went back inside the round stadium building to search the rest of the surrounding areas along with many other Rockets.
"No..." Ash gasped. Misty, Delia, Jonathan, Dorme, Volt and Zero stared at him expectantly. "The attack is coming from the inside. This doesn't make sense, the earrings should have protected her. What could be strong enough to get through? This is... What is this?!" His senses felt clouded, drowned in darkness.
"Ashimi, I'm coming!" Zero began to concentrate, surrounded by a blue light.
'Be careful, aniki!' Nidorino called out as Zero reverted to his default form and began to fade, until he was gone completely. He didn't return to the data crystal though, instead he followed the link of energy straight to Ashimi.
"What's that little glitch doing?" Giovanni growled impatiently.
"He's... He's connected to Ashimi somehow," Ash couldn't really explain it, but if there was one thing he realized, it was that there was a lot his daughter needed to tell him. "He's trying to help her... I think he's taking over so she can focus her energy at a subconscious level and fight whatever it is that's attacking her."
"Possession?" Giovanni didn't like the sound of that. "Can a program even do that?"
"He's not just a program..." Ash whispered. "But I didn't expect something like this. It's because her energy extends out and links to him that this is possible. What I can't explain is how Ashimi even did that. Not even I can link myself to another living creature for an extended period of time, certainly not one as different as Zero."
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Ashimi suddenly went limp and looked as if she would fall over. She slowly lifted her head and blinked her eyes into focus, except it wasn't she who was doing any of that. "Wartortle, use hydro pump gently, straight up." It was Ashimi's voice, as it was her vocal cords that were in use, but it wasn't she who was speaking at all. She moved somewhat stiffly, as if on puppet strings, like a possessed doll, or as being possessed by a doll. The water went up softly and showered down on Wartortle. 'That should wash off some of the stun spores from before,' Zero thought.
Wartortle looked up at the platform with concern. "It'll be okay," Zero assured. The water pokemon knew this wasn't his trainer, the look in the eyes was so different, but the turtle also knew who it was that stepped in, someone he could trust. Zero could see the truth, as the attack to the senses was only reaching Ashimi. Wartortle's opponent was Jumpluff. "Jumpluff, use poison powder!" The archer called out.
"Wartortle, rain dance!" The move wouldn't be very effective against Jumpluff, but it would help wash away the spores in the air, now that Wartortle had recovered enough mobility to do the dance. 'He's using long range attacks because he knows Wartortle is stronger, it's time to charge in,' Zero thought.
"Jumpluff, energy ball!" The grass pokemon began to form a powerful sphere of concentrated energy, ready to fire it in a split second.
"Withdraw and hydro pump, charge in!" Just as Jumpluff released the energy ball, Wartortle retreated into his shell and shot his hydro pump at the grassy ground of the arena. He shot into the air, but Jumpluff was quick to avoid the collision.
Now that they were face to face at close range, the archer immediately tried to recover the distance between them. "Solar beam!"
"Iron defense and brick break!" Wartortle charged in, he was hit by Jumpluff's attack, but delivered a devastating blow and Jumpluff fainted.
The announcer attributed the round to Ashimi. The rules of the Indigo League varied over the years and sometimes they came up with special rules to keep things interesting. This year the trainers battled with four pokemon each, with a fifth pokemon to be called out only in the case of a draw. Once a pokemon was recalled, it couldn't be called out until the next battle. However, if a pokemon was knocked out, it couldn't be called out for the remainder of the league. Ashimi didn't like to catch more pokemon than she could carry because of her concern for pokemon being abandoned and forgotten in suspended animation in a digital storage.
Ashimi could send her pokemon to Gary, but he already had his hands full trying to give Team Rocket's pokemon a chance to go outside, run and play every now and then, and those were a lot of pokemon to take turns visiting him. Ashimi wasn't even sure how many Team Rocket kept in storage, and how many were not even allowed to visit Gary, but she wasn't about to add to those numbers. She could only hope the dream world project was completed soon, so that pokemon could interact with each other and their trainers in a digital world, rather than remain in a frozen dreamless coma.
This year's rules were not favorable to Ashimi, but she was still determined to do her best. She reasoned that if her pokemon started to look tired, all she had to do was recall them before they fainted and she could send them out to battle again in the next round after they recovered. For the trainers that adopted that careful strategy, it technically meant that they would be down one pokemon as well, albeit they could still use it in the future. It made for an interesting twist and the opportunity to come back from behind.
The archer recalled Jumpluff and called out his next pokemon. "I won't underestimate you again, go Dragonite!"
'I better be careful,' Zero thought, he didn't want to let any of Ashimi's pokemon faint. "Well done Wartortle, you can rest now, return!" After recalling Wartortle, he called out the next pokemon, the best choice he could think off to face a Dragonite, especially that Dragonite. Even if it might be a bit mean, he couldn't let Ashimi lose. "Chari, I choose you!"
The Dragonite growled in recognition, while Chari huffed as if proudly justifying herself. The Dragonite was missing an antennae from the last encounter with the fierce fire pokemon. The dragon had lived with Gary for a while, who received a visit from Lance and the dragon trainer had taken an interest in the Dragonite. Gary had contacted Ashimi about it and she said to go ahead and give the Dragonite to Lance. This boy must be someone Lance trusted for the Dragonite to have ended up in his hands.
Then Zero remembered why the cyan haired boy looked familiar. Evazan Embo, as the announcer had called him, was known in Johto simply as Arrow and sometimes acted as a vigilante, but he was smart enough to stay away from Team Rocket. He was rumored to help pokemon in the wild too. "Chari, be careful, don't get cocky," despite the warning, the Charizard was ready to do just that.
Chari blew a smoke ring as if to show her superiority and indifference. Dragonite frowned but didn't make a move until his trainer indicated. "Dragonite, use aqua tail!" The dragon pokemon went on the offensive, swinging his tail strongly at Chari.
Chari swung her own tail recklessly, to bat away the dragon's watery tail. A veil of steam emerged from her tail and covered the arena. The fire pokemon couldn't help it but to cringe at how strong the attack was, but she fought not to show it.
"C'mon Chari, try to be careful!" Zero insisted again. Chari flew up to the trainer's platform and perched on the railing, looking into the eyes that were physically Ashimi's with a look that wasn't her own. The perceptive pokemon had realized right away who this was and assumed Zero had a good reason to possess Ashimi. She extended her claw and ruffled Ashimi's hair. "You're treating me like a little kid, aren't you?"
'It's okay chibi, I can handle this,' Chari replied before hopping back into the arena. Dragonite was waiting at the ready and received her with another aqua tail. That time Chari dodged then shot an oversized stream of flames non-stop. Dragonite was quick to get out of the way, but Chari kept up the breath of fire, trying to hit him.
"Stop showing off, you're wasting your energy!" Zero warned fruitlessly. Chari continued until she had to pause to catch her breath. Dragonite was flying overhead.
Chari growled and took to the sky, clawing and kicking in the air, but her movements were so desperate for superiority and so impatient that they came out clumsy, until Dragonite managed to knock her down. "Dragonite, use hyper beam!"
"Chari, get up! Get out of the way!" Zero prepared the pokeball, but at the last second Chari rolled out of the way, dodging the red recall beam and mostly dodging the hyper beam.
Chari didn't escape without a scratch, as her right wing was caught by the hyper beam and it was evident that she wouldn't be able to fly until she took a trip to the infirmary. 'You... you'll pay for that!' The Charizard roar ferociously.
"Chari, let's try this one more time," Zero tried to reason with her. He knew that as long as she had even an ounce of strength left, she would resist being recalled into her pokeball.
Chari nodded, 'fine, I'll listen to you this time, but you better have some good ideas, chibi.'
Zero's first idea was quite simple, yet necessary, "watch out!" Another hyper beam flew by just barely missing the target. 'Okay, so Chari can't fly and her tail flame isn't doing too great. I'll have to lure Dragonite to the ground,' Zero thought. "Use smoke screen and dig!" The smoke screen covered her retreat, as the Charizard dug into the grassy arena. She kept her injured wing flat against her back so as to not further damage it.
"Dragonite, use hurricane!" The smoke screen was easily blown away along with chunks of grass and dirt from the arena. Thankfully, Chari was buried deep enough to stay hidden. "Hiding like a coward, come out and face me!"
"Stay where you are, Chari, we don't take orders from them!" Zero hoped that she wouldn't listen to the taunts.
Seeing as there was no other choice, Arrow sent Dragonite down to the ground with a new plan of attack. "Use earthquake!"
The Dragonite dove to initiate the attack on the ground. "Dragonite is going towards the center of the arena!" Chari surfaced just as Dragonite approached. "Fire blast!" Before the dragon could attack, he was received by a massive blast of flames. Chari didn't have a lot of fire to waste, but this was an emergency.
Arrow made a quick change of tactics that could result fatal if Chari was hit at such a close range. "Hyper beam!"
"Fire fang!" Dragonite had backed up in reaction to the fire blast. Chari quickly pushed herself up with her tail and batted her good wing to jump before he could go further out of reach in the air. However, Dragonite was already too high up and she only managed to bite onto his tail, though it was enough to force him to land. "Dragon claw, just like you practiced!" Chari began a rapid succession of slashes, though it looked more like she was boxing while stabbing with her claws.
Arrow wasn't sure how to counter, so he called for the only attack that might be able to break through the fire pokemon's fighting style. "Dragon rage!"
'Big mistake,' Zero grinned. Dragonite had been lured into fighting how he wanted and now Chari stood on equal grounds. "Keep going Chari, concentrate on dodging and keep him busy. Don't lose the rhythm and don't get impatient, an opportunity will come up!" The exchange continued like a boxing match with claws until finally, Zero saw an opening. "Focus punch!" Chari's stance and delivery were perfect for maximum strength. She bent her knees and stretched them as she brought her fist up to Dragonite's jaw in a solid hit. The dragon staggered back dizzily as a trickle of blood went down the side of his jaw. "Finish him! Giga impact!"
Chari tackled Dragonite with everything she had. He was knocked to the ground harshly, but Chari didn't know if he was knocked out or not, she did know that she was finished, she wouldn't be able to exert herself any longer. With the last of her strength she slashed at Dragonite, too dazed, desperate and fearful of losing to realize what she was doing. There was the red beam of a pokeball, but Chari didn't know it was for Dragonite and tried to block it with her good wing, focusing on resisting it. "Chari! Chari, that's enough! Stop!"
The Charizard finally came to her senses and stumbled back in a daze. Dragonite was finally recalled and Arrow was glaring daggers. 'Is it over?' Chari breathe desperately. 'Did we win?'
"Yeah... We won, you can rest now..." Zero recalled Chari and let out a breath of relief, she was exhausted, but didn't faint, so she could be called out to battle again later. Ashimi wouldn't be happy to find she got an official warning for use of excessive force on a fainted pokemon. One more display like that and she would be disqualified. That Dragonite was certainly unfortunate.
Despite having lost two rounds, Arrow knew that he still had a chance if he won the remaining two, plus the tie breaker, but he wasn't really expecting that to happen. Even the pokemon he had borrowed from Lance failed and the experience in the league was supposed to help Dragonite adapt to battling again. Arrow felt that he had disappointed Lance, whom he had a lot of respect for and he couldn't get himself to focus on the remainder of the battle. "Go Yanmega!"
The bug pokemon buzzed around speedily and it was difficult just following his movements. "Golbat, I choose you!" At least Golbat seemed ready to listen. "Super sonic!"
"Super sonic!" Yanmega responded with the same ability and the super sonic waves seemed to cancel each other out.
"Aerial ace!" Golbat began to fly rapidly, trying hard to hit Yanmega.
"Double team!" The dragonfly's movements sped up even more, enough to create the illusion of there being two. "Quick attack!" Yanmega went on the offensive, but without his pokedex functions, Zero couldn't tell which one was real. Golbat was trying to dodge them both, but it was not easy. "Don't stop moving Golbat, use super sonic!" The waves didn't affect Yanmega too much, but the false image rippled. "Get ready to use air slash... now!" The attack hit the right target, slowing Yanmega's speedy movements and making the double disappear. "Air slash again!"
The dragonfly reacted quickly and dodged. Arrow knew he couldn't allow Golbat to continue getting ahead. "Ancient power!" Yanmega dove from the sky and flew close to the ground before pulling up in a fast fluid motion. Stones and clumps of dirt rose up from the ground after him. The earthly projectiles flew at Golbat from every direction.
"Be careful, Golbat, go higher!" Golbat tried to gain altitude to make the dodging easier but the rocks and dirt were coming fast from all directions and he was inevitably hit. "Golbat!" Golbat fell down to the grassy field. Zero looked down from the trainer's platform, worried that he had fainted. Golbat saw worry reflected on Ashimi's face, though because of his bond with her, he knew the consciousness wasn't her own.
The worry suddenly turned to pain as Zero felt Ashimi slipping away. He looked up just in time to see Ash exchange a few rushed words with Giovanni, Misty and Delia, before leaving the balcony, Jonathan, Dorme and Volt went after him. Zero knew that he sensed Ashimi was in danger, "she can't hold on, we need to finish this." Golbat's sensitive hearing picked up Zero's quiet words. He couldn't get knocked out.
Golbat wasn't as physically strong as Ashimi's other pokemon, but she always encouraged him to take pride in his speed. He couldn't let her down, the battle wouldn't last another round and even if she was ahead, if Ashimi was pulled out of the battle, a forfeit was still a forfeit. Golbat pulled himself off the ground and took to the air again as the announcer expressed his surprise, having initially thought the bat had fainted.
"Golbat, we need to finish this quickly, acrobatics!" Golbat pushed himself beyond the limit to fly faster. The speedy Yanmega kept up with him, but was unable to do anything other than dodge. "Toxic!" A toxic cloud began to form while Golbat continued his impressive flying. The cloud grew in size, but Golbat didn't stop.
"Yanmega!" Arrow called out to his pokemon in concern. The way Golbat attacked while moving so quickly was really something. He had heard that Ashimi never rotated her pokemon, having the same team constantly with her must have made them exceptionally strong. 'If I had known about this...' If he lost now it wouldn't matter, he would never get the chance to call out his strongest ally.
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At the entrance to the battle arena in the center of the stadium, Ash had made it past the guards with the use of his Pokemon League connections, or at least that was one theory. Jonathan, Dorme and Volt thought they were scared of his 'get out of my way or else' glare, especially since his well known massively powerful Pikachu was on his shoulder.
"Wait!" Dorme called out. "The battle is still going on. If you take Ashimi away now, she'll be disqualified!"
"She's in danger!" Ash snapped. "The thing possessing her is evil. Zero is making it so that Ashimi can focus on fighting it without worrying about consciously controlling her body or battling, but it's not enough!"
"She's possessed?" Volt and Dorme stared while Jonathan was left in silent thought. "But she worked so hard to get here and the battle is almost done," Volt pleaded.
"Step aside," Ash ordered and it took everything they had for Volt and Dorme to remain still. Ash still pushed past them though, only to find Jonathan blocking his path ahead, "move."
"No..." Jonathan refused. "A risk is better than an assured loss. I think Ashimi was talking about more than just the Indigo League. I don't know the full details, but I understand a little more now and I intend to keep my promise. Give Zero a little more time to win the battle."
"There is no time!" Ash went to push past Jonathan as well, but found himself facing Foxtrot. "Thunderbolt!" There was nowhere to run, Pikachu's immense power filled the hallway and left the Flareon barely standing. "He didn't faint right away, you've trained him well, but you can't beat me in a pokemon battle."
Foxtrot could barely stay on his feet and that was just one thunderbolt. If it had been thunder it would have been enough to make him faint. "You're right, I can't win in a pokemon battle." Jonathan recalled Foxtrot. He unsheathed his sword, holding it in front of him. "How about a sword fight instead?"
"I know you think you're helping Ashimi, but I don't have time to make you understand." Ash charged forward, light accumulating in his hand. A blade of pure blue aura with a white glow sliced the master sword replica in half, but Jonathan didn't move out of the way.
"We all trust Ashimi," Dorme stood on one side of Ash.
"And we know she can get through whatever it is that's happening to her," Volt added, standing at Ash's other side.
"Pikachu..." Ash whispered with a tangible tinge of guilt. The yellow mouse paused for a second, but soon released his electricity, paralyzing Dorme, Volt and Jonathan with his static. Ash walked a few steps forward before Jonathan stopped him again, though he could hardly move. "You're really stubborn..." A sense of danger invaded Ash and he panicked for a second. He projected a sphere of aura to push Jonathan out of the way, sending the boy to crash against the wall, before dashing down the hallway.
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Golbat's toxic cloud covered the whole arena and the bat kept flying through it trying to hit Yanmega, they were both poisoned. "Venoshock!"
"Hidden power!" Yanmega released a mysterious power, glowing and focusing his energy despite all that was happening around him.
Golbat screeched as if in pain, though Yanmega had not physically touched him. "Use hidden power too!" Struggling to concentrate, Golbat focused on what he needed to do. He didn't want to be the first to get knocked out, he didn't want to cost time that they didn't have. He had to be strong, his trainer and friends needed him and believed in him. The glow surrounding Golbat became brighter as the toxic cloud dissipated to give way to the battle of inner strength. With a fierce battle cry, Golbat took on the form of Crobat and finally succeeded, Yanmega fainted.
"Three straight wins despite all the difficulties..." Arrow whispered under his breath. It was true what they said about Ash's daughter being in a class of her own. Most people wouldn't recognize her before this, but after the Indigo League, Arrow was sure that everyone would know who Ashley was. She wasn't like Ash though, not from Arrow's perspective anyway.
As much respect as he had for Lance, the champion was wrong about his fellow champion's daughter being a lot like her father in anything other than talent. She was cocky, he couldn't believe she was actually nervous and chose a type disadvantage on the first round by mistake, she had to be showing off. Then her Charizard was so cruel it got her an official warning. Yet her pokemon were without a doubt very strong and the final round puzzled him.
How did Golbat, now Crobat, overpower Yanmega with hidden power? The mysterious ability was something that was often claimed to be empowered by the bond between the trainer and the pokemon. Perhaps she did care about her pokemon, but maybe only her pokemon and not others.
Honey colored eyes glared suspiciously before the sixteen year old Johto vigilante exited the arena. If there was one thing Arrow knew for sure, it was that he would have to keep an eye on her.
Zero recalled Crobat, "That was amazing!" Then he whispered to the pokeball so only Crobat could hear, "Ashimi will be very proud of you." The last thing he wanted was to, on top of everything, make people think Ashimi was crazy for talking about herself in third person. Zero went down from the trainer's platform, guiding Ashimi's body to leave the stadium and saw Ash a few steps into the stadium.
Ash had rushed out and stopped cold just as Golbat used hidden power. Though she was buried in her subconscious, Ashimi somehow sensed her pokemon's unbreakable spirit at that moment and it gave her the strength to fight against the evil force possessing her. Ash let out a tired and stressed breath, then walked out of the stadium with his daughter, towards the trainers' rooms.
To be Continued
Giovanni calling Zero a glitch is a reference to Vanellope from Wreck it Ralph, since Zero was in part inspired by the Sugar Rush racers and in part by Megaman. The rules of the Indigo League were partially based on the Nuzlocke Challenge. Zero's line "finish him!" Was a reference to Mortal Kombat, since a fatality almost happened. XD I'm sure you've noticed by now, but Chari is rather sadistic.
I thought I wouldn't be making any more mini-bios, but the boy with the arrows took on a life of his own. Evazan Embo aka Arrow: A sixteen year old boy from Johto known as a vigilante in his home region. He has cyan hair and honey colored eyes. He generally avoids Team Rocket and sticks to catching small time criminals that slip under the radar, and helping pokemon in the wild as a sort of ranger. This is because he hoped that Ash's daughter would change Team Rocket for the better. He has a deep respect and admiration for Lance. Following the long standing tradition of this story, Evazan's name also comes from Star Wars. Next: Chapter 38: The Indigo League (Part 2)