Chapter 22

Ash woke up around nine in the morning and decide to go and see who will be his opponent in the next round of the tournament. Lucario and Pikachu were with him like always.

When he was about to exit the Pokémon center Cynthia called him from behind.

"Hey Ash, where are you going," Cynthia asked?

"I'm going to see who will be my next opponent," replied Ash. "Will you come with me, you can also find out your next opponent?

"Sure, why not," Cynthia replied and the two of them left toward the main building where they can find their next opponent's.

Once they were there, Ash and Cynthia approached the attendant that is working there and Ash asked. "Hello, we are here to find who will be our next opponents!"

"Of course, come this way," the attendant replied and led them toward a fish tank in which there were a lot of Magicarp.

"Here take this fishing rod and catch one of the Magicarp's that are in the tank, after that we will see which number you are and who will be your opponent," said the attendant, and handed Ash and Cynthia two fishing rods.

"Ok," they both said and took the rods!

Just as they took rods Ritchie called them. "Hey Ash, Cynthia!"

Ash and Cynthia looked behind and saw him approaching them. "Hey Ritchie what's up, you here to draw your opponent," asked Ash?

"No, I already did that earlier," replied Ritchie. "I see you are about to do it."

"Yeah," replied Ash, and then he looked at Cynthia. "Why don't you go first Cynthia?"

"Ok," Cynthia said and then she dropped the bait in the tank while holding the rod and waited for a few seconds before she felt a pull on the rod, which made her pull it out and a Magicarp flew out of the tank, and it showed a number 10 written on it.

"Ok so you are number ten, which means number nine will be your opponent, but since number nine is not drown yet we still don't know who it is," said the attendant as she showed them the big screen that had a numbers from 1-16 and a few of them which had a picture below them that showed they were taken. Cynthia's picture appeared below number ten, and number nine is still open.

"Well I guess I'll just wait to find my opponent," sighed Cynthia. "Unless you draw number nine, Ash."

"Let's hope that doesn't happen because I would hate to battle you before the final round," said Ash with a smirk, and Cynthia smiled at him.

"And I see you are number five, Ritchie," said Ash!

"Yeah I'm," replied Ritchie.

"Ok then let's see my number," said Ash and drop his rod in the tank. A few seconds later, he pulled it out after he felt a tug from the rod, and saw a Magicarp with number six on it.

"Hm, I guess we will be battling together Ritchie," said Ash after he saw his number.

"Yeah I guess we will," Ritchie replied and then he and Ash looked at one another for a few seconds before they smiled and shook hands.

"Let's have a good battle Ash," said Ritchie!

"We will Ritchie," said Ash!

"Well see you on our match Ash, I got to go," said Ritchie and waved good bye to Cynthia and then left.

"I guess we were lucky because we don't have to fight with each other before the final fight," said Cynthia, and Ash smirked.

"We don't have to fight one another, but you will have to beat that girl that defeated Gary and then Diantha, and I will have to win against Ritchie and Tobias if we want to fight in the final round," said Ash.

"Which ones of this trainers are the two of them," asked Cynthia while looking at the screen?

"That guy on number one spot is Tobias, and Diantha is on number 13, replied Ash, and Cynthia saw their numbers and saw how the too look. Diantha looks like a normal girl about Cynthia's age with a long black hair tied in a ponytail and to bangs framing her face, bluish eyes and wears simple white shirt and white jacket. As for Tobias, he's a guy who's about 17 or 18 years old, with long blue hair that covers his left eye and wears some sort of red cloak.

"Well I guess it's better like this," Cynthia commented. "Imagine if all four of us are in the same half of the tournament."

"Yeah you are right, I don't have to fight against Tobias before semifinal and you don't have to battle Diantha until then as well," said Ash.

"Let's go, we need to make a plans for our future opponents," said Ash and the two left the building. Cynthia did not notice Diantha and Tobias who were standing on two different parts of the hall looking at their future opponents.

Ash on the other hand did notice them and before he left the building he looked at Diantha and winked at her, which made her blush a little, while he also sent the look at Tobias's direction, and Tobias smirked in return.

XXX

When Ash and Cynthia came back in the Pokémon center 10 minutes later, they encountered Misty, Brock and Leaf in the hall waiting for them.

"Hey Ash, Cynthia where were you," asked Misty, after she saw them enter the Pokémon center?

"We went to find out our next opponents," replied Ash.

"And have you found them," asked Brock?

"Yeah, I'm fighting against Ritchie, and we don't know who Cynthia's opponent is since it's still not decided," replied Ash.

"So you are with Ritchie," commented Brock. "It's a shame you have to battle him this early."

"It is a shame, but this is how we both have drown and there is nothing we can do to change it," said Ash. "Besides, both me and Cynthia have evaded Tobias and Diantha and won't have to fight them before semifinal."

"That's good," commented Misty. "And who will go on whom?"

"It will be Ash and Tobias and me against Diantha," replied Cynthia. "That is, if we all get to the semifinal."

"I'm sure you will, I don't really know how good Ritchie is but I doubt that he can defeat Ash, and the same goes for you and your opponents," said Brock.

"Let's go and see what Ritchie's got," said Ash and confused them slightly.

"What do you mean," asked Misty?

"There is a computer in my room that I can use to find information on trainers," replied Ash.

"Oh, I didn't know that," said Cynthia. "Well then let's go."

The seven of them, including Lucario and Pikachu, then went at Ash's room.

Ten minutes later, and they were all looking at Ritchie's profile.

"It appears that Ritchie doesn't prefer one type specifically and has a little of everything," commented Brock.

"Yes, and trainers like that are very troublesome because it is hard to guess which Pokémon they will use," said Misty.

"Well this will be a three-on-three battle and I'm sure he will use his strongest Pokémon," said Ash.

"I agree, but which ones are his strongest," asked Leaf?

"Hmm, let's see, he has a Pikachu, Charmeleon, Butterfree, Fearow, Tentacool, Ponyta, Eevee and a few others but I'm sure he will use three of those I just said," said Ash.

"He will probably use Pikachu since it appears that it's his most trusted Pokémon, then he might use Charmeleon, since it looks like it one of his strongest along with Pikachu, as for the last one, I don't know, it might be Butterfree but it's only a guess," said Brock.

"So which Pokémon will you use," asked Misty?

"I can carry 12 Pokémon with me at all time, 13 if Mewtwo is part if the group, so I'll just have one of each type so no matter what he chooses I can have something prepared," replied Ash.

"That's a good idea," sad Leaf and the others agreed.

"Well, now that that is settled, let's see what that girl Melissa that beat Gary has," said Ash, and searched for her profile.

"Why are you interested in her," asked Misty?

"When Cynthia wins her first match she might battle against Melissa if she also wins her first match, so it might be a good idea to see what she has," replied Ash. "And we can also look at Diantha's profile since we don't know which Pokémon she has."

"You are right, it's better to know at least something about your opponent, then nothing," said Brock and then they looked at Melissa's profile. "She also appears to have a lot of different types just as Ritchie so it won't be easy to guess which ones she will use."

After few minutes of looking at Melissa's profile Ash changed it to Diantha's profile.

"Well it sure looks like she has some strong Pokémon," commented Ash while looking at Diantha's profile.

"She sure does," agreed Brock. "And it looks like they are all fully evolved Pokémon."

"That doesn't mean that they are strong, but since she appears to be a strong trainer then it's most likely that they are strong," said Ash, and everyone agreed.

"But which ones will she use against Cynthia in a semifinal," asked Misty? "Since it will be six Pokémon and she probably knows how strong Cynthia is she will probably use her strongest."

"Let's see, she has Hawlucha, Tyrantrum, Aurorus, Gourgeist, Goodra, Gardevoir, and a few others, but those six appear to be her strongest so she will probably use them," said Ash.

"She has a few duel-types which can prove to be a challenge, but that Goodra will probably be the strongest since its Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon," said Cynthia.

"Yeah, I agree, but don't dismiss the other Pokémon just because Goodra is Pseudo-Legendary," said Ash. "I have a Dragonair who is also Pseudo-Legendary and he is not my strongest Pokémon."

"Don't worry Ash, I'm not a person who underestimates her opponents and their Pokémon," said Cynthia, and Ash just smiled.

"That's good to know," said Ash.

"Well, now that this is over, what are we going to do for the rest of the day since there are no battles today," asked Leaf?

"I don't know," replied Ash. "What do you want to do?"

"I guess we can hang around the Village, it's not like we can do anything else," replied Leaf, and the others all agreed.

"Hey where are my parents and sister," asked Ash, since he didn't see them after he came back in the Pokémon center with Cynthia?

"Oh, they all went to have some fun around the village," replied Misty. "We might see them somewhere."

"Ok then let's go," said Ash, and everyone left the room and went out of the Pokémon center.

XXX

"Welcome everyone to the third battle of the fifth round of this year's Pokémon League tournament. This battle promises to be one of better in this round because of the simple fact that both competitors have won all of their matches in the preliminaries without losing even one Pokémon," said the announcer and the crowd started cheering loudly!

"On the green side of the field we have Ash Ketchum, for whom many think has the biggest chances of winning this tournament along with the mysterious Tobias who has a Darkrai, while on the red side, we have Ritchie, who has shown in the preliminaries that he is a very good trainer, since he won all of his battles easily!"

While Ash was on the field, all of his family and friends were sitting in the crowd watching the battle and cheering for Ash. Though they were all cheering, Amber was the only one who was shouting.

"Come on big brother show them who is the best and win this battle," Amber shouted, while everyone around her just laughed at her excitement!

After the announcer stopped spiking the referee asked. "Are you both ready?"

Ash and Ritchie who were standing opposite of each other nodded and the referee started the match.

"BEGIN!"

"Butterfree come on out," said Ash!

"So you have a Butterfree as well," commented Ritchie. "Well then let's see which one is better."

"Happy you are up," Ritchie called Butterfree as well!

"And it seem we will see a battle between two Butterfree's, which one will win," shouted the announcer?

"Happy use Whirlwind," said Ritchie!

"Butterfree you to use Whirlwind," said Ash!

Both Butterfree's then started flapping their wings and a gust is created from them that then went and hit one another and started pushing at each other battling to overpower the other.

After a few seconds Ash's Butterfree's Whirlwind overpowered Ritchie's and hit him straight, which then sent him flying around the field.

"Happy try to fight it and come out of that Whirlwind," Ritchie yelled, and his Butterfree tried to come out from the strong Whirlwind that was throwing him around, but was unable to and only after few more seconds of being thrown around, did Whirlwind stopped and Ritchie's Butterfree fell on the ground completely exhausted.

"Come on Happy stand up," said Ritchie, and his Pokémon tried to stand but was too exhausted and couldn't do it.

"Finish it off with Sleep Powder," said Ash!

Butterfree flew above Happy and started flapping his wings and a blue, shining powder comes out from his wings which then fall on Happy and it instantly putt him to sleep.

"Ritchie's Butterfree is unable to battle, the winner is Ash's Butterfree," said the referee!

"And that's it for Ritchie's first Pokémon in today's battle, what will he do now," said the announcer?

"Happy return," said Ritchie, and pulled out his second Poke Ball. "Come on out Zippo."

"Ritchie's second Pokémon is Charmeleon, let's see Ash choice," said the announcer!

"Butterfree return," said Ash. "Come out Flareon."

"It's the battle between two fire types' let's see how this turns out," commented the announcer!

"BEGIN!"

"Zippo use Flamethrower," said Ritchie!

"Flareon dodge," said Ash!

Charmeleon then took a deep breath and fired a relatively powerful Flamethrower at Flareon, who didn't do anything, until the attack was right in front of him, when he just moved on the side and Flamethrower missed him.

"Zippo use Flamethrower again," said Ritchie and his Pokémon then started firing Flamethrower after Flamethrower at Flareon who was just dodging them.

After few more tries that failed Ritchie stopped his Pokémon and told him. "Zippo use Smokescreen, and then follow it up with Tackle."

Charmeleon then released a large cloud of smoke from his mouth that then spread across the field and blocked the view. Then he started running to where he could smell Flareon, and tried to tackle him.

"Flareon dodge now," said Ash, and Flareon moved to the side just as Charmeleon was about to hit him, which surprised him and Ritchie because they thought that Flareon and Ash can't see him.

"Great, now use Fire Blast," said Ash.

Flareon then opened his mouth and fired a star shaped attack that went straight at Charmeleon who didn't dodge it in time and was hit head on.

"No Zippo," yelled Ritchie because he was concerned about his Pokémon who was kneeling on the ground with burns all over his body, and the only reason he wasn't knocked out is because he was fire type Pokémon and had a resistance against fire type attacks, but this one was very powerful and almost knocked him out!

"Finish this off with Quick Attack," said Ash, and Flareon run at Charmeleon who was still kneeling on the ground and hited him in the middle of the body, which sent him backwards, where he fell unconscious.

"Charmeleon is unable to battle, the winner is Flareon," said the referee.

"And Ritchie's second Pokémon is defeated, will he lose without taking at least one of Ash's Pokémon just like the others did or will he succeed where they all failed," commented the announcer, and crowd started cheering for Ritchie, hoping he will take out some of Ash's Pokémon, so that the battle will last longer!

"Zippo return," said Ritchie, and sighed.

"I guess Ash is too powerful for me and my Pokémon right now, but I won't give up, and if I lose I will lose while fighting,"Ritchie thought!

"Sparky you are next," said Ritchie, and his Pikachu who was next to him nodded and went on the battlefield!

"Flareon return," said Ash. "Jolteon come out."

"Ritchie choses his Pikachu for his last Pokémon, while Ash switches Flareon for Jolteon," commented the announcer! "Let's see how this turns out!"

"Are you ready," asked the referee?

Ash and Ritchie nodded, and the referee started the match.

"BEGIN!"

"Sparky use Thunderbolt," said Ritchie!

"Jolteon counter it with your Thunderbolt," said Ash!

Both Pokémon then fired their own attack, but instead of meeting in the middle like this normally happens Jolteon's Thunderbolt missed Pikachu's on purpose and both attacks hit their target head on.

And while Jolteon stood there and took it like a champ, with only a little pained grimace on his face, Pikachu yelled in pain and got blown backwards toward Ritchie.

"Sparky are you Ok," asked concerned Ritchie?

Pikachu stood up half a minute later but was breathing heavily because of Jolteon's Thunderbolt.

"How can Thunderbolt hurt Pikachu this much if he is electric type Pokémon," asked Ritchie while looking at Ash?

"That is because every attack can hurt any Pokémon if that attack is powerful enough. And my Jolteon's electric attacks are much more powerful than your Pikachu, that is why it caused him so much damage," replied Ash, and Ritchie now realized how much more powerful Jolteon is compered to his Pikachu.

"I see," said Richie slowly with bowed head. "Well I guess we can at least lose while fighting!"

"Sparky use Quick Attack," said Ritchie!

Ash smiled at what Ritchie said, and called his last attack. "Jolteon use Wild Charge!"

Jolteon then surrounded himself with electricity and run straight at Pikachu, who was running at him with Quick Attack.

When they collided Pikachu yelled in pain and, was blown back and rolled on the ground several times, until he stopped in front of Ritchie passed out.

"Pikachu is unable to battle, the winner is Jolteon, and the match goes to Ash Ketchum," said the referee!

"And that's it everyone, Ash wins another round without losing even one of his Pokémon, while Ritchie has unfortunately finished his participation in this year's tournament," said the announcer!

"Sparky return," said Ritchie and called back his Pokémon, and then looked at Ash who has just patted his Jolteon and returned him as well.

Ritchie than approached Ash and put his hand forward for a handshake. "That was great battle from you Ash, I hope we can have another one, one day."

Ash took his hand and replied. "You also did well Ritchie, you just need more training."

"I will start training much harder from now on, and our next battle won't be this one sided," said Ritchie and Ash laughed and nodded, before they both turned around and left the field.

Up in the stands with the crowd, Amber was going wild, and yelling. "That's my big brother, way to go," she yelled and Red, Delia and the others stood up to go and find Ash.

"Come on, let's go and find Ash," said Delia, and everyone left the stands.

Ash's Pokémon

On Hand:

Mega Lucario, Alakazam, Pikachu, Mewtwo, Butterfree, Flareon, Jolteon;

Oak's Lab:

Crobat, Wartortle, Kingdra, Pidgeot (F), Pink Butterfree (F) Magenta, Charizard (F) Amaterasu, Charizard Ra, Gengar, Primeape, Eevee (X2 – 1F), Dragonair (F), Dragonair, Tauros, Tyrunt, Leafeon (F), Sylveon (F), Aerodactyl, Kabutops, Giant Onix, Vaporeon (F), Glaceon, Rhydon, Larvesta (F), Amaura, Electabuzz, Ivysaur, Ponyta, Muk;