Ash got to go first by virtue of being the first one to speak up. This time we got to stand on Blaine's side of the arena. We'd expected some sort of secret base, but it was just a straightforward corridor and a bit of a green room leading out to the platform where he'd stood during our fight. It was different than we'd remembered. Where before had stood a simple stone platform, now there was a high tech booth, with a console to manipulate the sound system to the challenger's booth and the arena. A quick check with our senses showed the protective glass, or whatever the transparent material was, was about thirty centimeters thick, and the platform itself had been heavily reinforced.

Holy shit. Old man had gone all out. Could this be the start of a big return for Gym Leader Blaine? He typed a few things into his console, and then the computerized voice we'd grown so used to when we challenged a gym announced the match.

"Pokemon Trainer Ketchum challenges Gym Leader Blaine for the Volcano Badge. This will be a one on six match with substitutions allowed." Screens lit up on the sides of the volcano's interior, showing their photos, a golden pokeball and five empty circles under Blaine's, and six pokeballs on Ash's side. "Please select your pokemon."

"Go, Charizard!" Blaine threw out his big mean fire dragon. The thing was as magnificent as we remembered, and its roar still shook loose stones around us.

"Go, Muk, Sludge Bomb!" Ash opened with a good choice. Muk was a tough pokemon, and if he managed to poison Charizard he might have a chance at winning. Might. It all depended on how strong his team was. Charizard countered by jumping back and taking to the air, then blasting the Muk with a stream of fire.

"Keep using Sludge Bomb!"

If Muk had been a bit faster on the attack, he might have managed to land a hit. As things stood, Charizard bombarded it with Fire Blasts until it started slowing down, before diving down in a ball of fire, crushing and burning it.

"Muk is unable to battle, please send out your next pokemon."

"Return. Go, Wartortle, Hydro Pump!" Ash's turtle pokemon was of a respectable size, but the torrent of water it spit out was very impressive. Charizard dodged, but Wartortle tracked him with its attack and drenched the pseudo dragon. It lasted for all of a second before Charizard countered with a Flamethrower that punched through the water in a cloud of vapor and knocked Wartortle to the edge of the arena. "Blizzard!"

An odd choice, but not a bad one. The mass of freezing air buffeted Charizard and caused it to crash back down into the arena, where the turtle pressed the advantage and launched another Hydro Pump. Then Charizard got really angry, rushing through the water until grabbed Wartortle by its shell and repeatedly slammed it into the ground, then threw it against the wall of the volcano. An effort of will grabbed it out of the air before it fell too long and deposited the unconscious turtle on the arena.

"Wartortle is unable battle, please send out your next pokemon."

"Go, Charizard, Take Down!" Ash's Charizard was still very young, and barely reached up to neck height on Blaine's, but we had vague memories of it eventually turning into an unstoppable engine of fuck your teams, capable of beating legendaries. For now, it'd have to satisfy itself with surviving Blaine's. Credit where it's due, however, it didn't even hesitate in charging a much bigger opponent. That's where the credit ended, because Blaine's Charizard grabbed it by the neck and its right side, then rotated and threw it at the wall. It hit with a meaty thud and fell for a couple seconds before spreading its wings and flying back up to the platform.

At which point it had to start dodging frantically to avoid a barrage of Fire Blasts. It managed, before dive bombing Blaine's Charizard and picking it up for a Seismic Toss. Surprisingly, it actually succeeded in lifting it up in the opening moves of the attack, right up until the bigger Charizard flexed its wings, grabbed Ash's Charizard, and reversed the hold. Blaine's fire dragon slammed Ash's into the platform with a thunderous crash. A roar shook the arena again, a clear display of dominance over the smaller dragon. Rivulets of blood trickled down the side of Blaine's Charizard's neck. A last ditch Crunch or Bite. Thing had spirit.

"Charizard in unable to battle, please send out your next pokemon."

"Go, Ivysaur, Leech Seed and be ready to dodge!"

The seeds dug into Charizard's skin and exploded into a frenzy of vines. Charizard simply flexed and snapped the majority and spat a Fire Blast at the plant pokemon, which it managed to mostly dodge, ending with scorches along its right side.

"Razor Leaves, target its wings!"

Well. That was positively ruthless! Ashy boy was learning! Charizard responded by tucking them close to its body and dodging like crazy and staying firmly on the ground.

"Use your Vine Whips to move around faster, Ivysaur!" Charizard didn't respond well to that, launching Flamethrowers all over, trying to hit the plant dinosaur.

Blaine spoke for the first time during the battle, keying his microphone.

"Overheat." And his Charizard exploded in an inferno of fire that filled the chamber and threw Ivysaur off the platform, cooking the ground under it until it was a molten dark red. The Ivysaur caught itself on the chains that suspended the platform near Ash's side. It hauled itself back up, spat a cloud of powder at Charizard from its bulb, and collapsed. Charizard sneezed.

"Ivysaur is unable to battle, please send out your next pokemon."

"Go, Pidgeot, Air Slash, keep moving!" The fuckhuge bird was blidningly fast, and was opening bleeding cuts all over Charizard's skin. "Hurricane!"

"Overheat."

"Fly out, then Sky Attack!" Pidgeot outflew the wall of fire that rushed out of the volcano's mouth and then came crashing back down like a fucking meteor into the Charizard. When the glare faded, it revealed Charizard with a broken and torn wing, as well as a deep wound in its side. The Pidgeot lay at its feet, out cold.

"Pidgeot is unable to battle, please send out your next pokemon."

"Go, Pikachu, win this! Thunder!"

The best contender for strongest Pikachu in the history of the species let loose an enormous bolt of lightning that crashed into Charizard like a fucking locomotive, and didn't stop. Charizard spat a Fire Blast through the lightning. It detonated right on Pikachu, ragdolling it through the air much like sis had, except with a lot more in the way of serious burns and not just the trauma from the shockwave. The electric mouse bounced off the glass protecting Ash's booth and landed back on the platform, surprisingly still conscious, if only long enough to launch another Thunder at Charizard before collapsing.

"Pikachu is unable to battle. Winner: Gym Leader Blaine."

Ash had come amazingly close to beating Blaine's challenge, especially with how woozy Charizard looked. A sentiment that was reinforced when the fire dragon tilted over and caught itself on its less injured side before being lit up by recall light. We floated Pikachu over to Ash, where he sprang into action along with Brock, applying Potions and Burn Heal. Our opinion of them rose even higher. They were very prepared. This Ash was going places, no way he was going to be the eternal loser we remembered from our memories. Well, unless Gary had improved even more than he had.

We took a step and we were in their booth, the smell of burned hair and flesh strong in the air. Bad burns, but nothing a couple hours in a Pokemon Center wouldn't cure.

"Well fought, Ash. We're… impressed. You did much… better than we expected. You're… further along than we remembered you'd… be at this point." Stealth mode disengaged, and fucking everyone jumped at the sound of our voice. We actually got a yelp from Misty.

"How did you get here so fast?!" We had found a noble pursuit to accompany Oak Baiting: Misty Trolling. A smug grin appeared on my face. There was really only only one answer we could give to such a question. Deep breaths.

"Fuck you, that's how." Her indignant squawk was a thing of beauty.

"But we lost, Azula, and Pikachu got hurt because we weren't good enough."

"Few in the continent could have… challenged that Charizard… with a full team. That you almost… won is a credit to your and… your pokemon's talents."

"You beat him!"

"We've been training… nearly since we were… born. Sis is older… than me."

"Wait, the jacket Ralts is ten years old? Shouldn't she have evolved at least once already?" Brock was, understandably, a tad puzzled and a little annoyed. Not often you get reminded about the dangers of assuming things twice by the same people over the same thing, months apart.

"Ralts."

"You want a better challenge." Now he was incredulous.

"She did beat my other Champion." Blaine walked into the booth, a Volcano Badge held in his right hand. "This is yours, Trainer Ketchum. You and your team earned it."

"I… Thank you, Leader Blaine. We'll beat you one day."

"Hahahaha. That's the spirit boy. Go get your team to the Pokemon Center. I have another match to fight." He left for his side of the platform with a spring in his step and a wolfish smile on his face, Ash and his party following him out. Getting back into battling was good for him.

"Ready for a taste… of the big leagues, nephew?" He gave us a look. It wasn't a very good look. He just didn't have enough intimidation factor yet. Maybe after puberty. Likely not until his twenties. "We think you got the tougher opponent. His… Magmortar is nasty. Almost… killed our Starmie."

"Gee, thanks 'Zula, that makes me feel so much better."

"You're welcome!" We answered as brightly as we could. He glowered at us. We smiled. He ignored us and slotted his pokedex into the console. Heh.

"Pokemon Trainer Blue challenges Gym Leader Blaine for the Volcano Badge. This will be a one on six match with substitutions allowed." The screens on the sides lit up again, Gary's photo appearing where Ash's had been. The golden pokeball of Blaine's last Champion lit up under his picture, and a full team under Gary's. "Please select your pokemon."

"Don't you worry little aunt," He gave us a confident grin, the legendary Oak charm positively radiating from him.

The future surged and we Saw him a little older, walking out into an arena, confident, ready to win. The crowds watching went wild. He stopped on his side of the field, a pokeball in hand. A voice announced "Pokemon Trainer Blue challenges Champion-"

"I got this."