"The battle between Koga and Ash will now begin!"

"Go, Tentacruel."

"Pikachu I choose you, start off with thunderbolt."

It was the day after Ash had successfully beaten Will and he was now facing the second Johto Elite four member, Koga. Ash was currently at a slight disadvantage, since the poison type user was keeping a sharp eye out for Ash performing mega evolution with one of his pokemon. The challenger noticed this so he chose to begin with a Pokemon who couldn't mega evolve, but still had an advantage over the opponent's pokemon. Whilst Brock was loyally cheering for Pikachu at home, Misty was feeling rather conflicted in the audience as tentacruel happened to be one of her favourite species of pokemon but she wanted to remain on Ash's side as well. After yesterday's intense match Ash decided to let his pokemon rest from any sparring, but he did exercise and check on their moves a couple of times just to be safe. For the majority of the evening however, he took a lot of time to work on potential ideas for new songs and just chatting with his friends. He was particularly motivated today because Brock actually left to return to his family back in Pewter city, since there were only a few days until Christmas and he really wanted to spend those few days with them. Of course, the Pokemon breeder was still watching his closest friend on television with his parents and siblings. Ash could vividly remember how worried Brock was about being with his family on Christmas at the beginning of their journey in Johto; how himself and Misty were comforting their apprehensive friend about the fact that they would all arrive home in time. They did but Brock wanted to leave early just to be safe, which was totally understandable. Naturally Ash had also asked Misty if she wanted to go along with Brock to her hometown Cerulean city, but she insisted that she would rather stay with Ash and that just wasn't something that he could complain about. Brock promised that he would meet up with the trainer again in Hoenn, which was the next region Ash was eager to travel.

"Toxic spikes."

"Iron tail."

Since Tentacruel was a speedy pokemon on the battlefield, he was able to dodge Pikachu's first attack. However, the electric mouse did manage to land a hit on Tentacruel with a very strong iron tail. The water type was sent backwards by the force of the move, which provided enough time for Pikachu to strike again.

"Use electroweb and iron tail again."

"Fight back with wrap and poison jab."

"Try to escape with thunderbolt."

"Gain some energy back with giga drain."

Pikachu failed to capture Tentacruel inside the electroweb for a long time, but he did land another strong iron tail onto his opponent. Thankfully the electric type hadn't been poisoned by poison jab, but he was trapped in the water type's tentacles and he got a lot of his energy stolen by the grass type move.

"Thunderbolt again, then dig."

"Sludge wave."

"As you come up, use double team and volt tackle."

This time, Pikachu was able to break free by distracting his opponent and going underground quickly. However Tentacruel put the electric type in a sticky situation as the battlefield was now a swamp filled with sludge, which has a chance of poisoning Pikachu. The volt tackle did hurt Tentacruel because the double team helped Pikachu land the move onto him. In return, Pikachu was poisoned by the sludge and Ash knew that his partner wouldn't have that much time before fainting. Luckily, the poison wasn't as strong as the poison from the move toxic would be.

"Giga drain again."

"Avoid it with agility, then rain dance and thunder."

"Facade."

Pikachu couldn't dodge the giga drain or the facade, but the thunder did have a much higher chance in landing on Tentacruel due to him creating rain. As a result the first battle ended in a draw and Ash was wondering if he could actually leave the stadium with a win or not.

"Both Pokemon are unable to battle, making it a draw. Please send out your next Pokemon."

"Well done Tentacruel, rest now," Koga then released his next pokemon. "Go, Ariados."

Ash picked Pikachu up and grabbed the next pokeball, "Thank you, Pikachu. Typhlosion, I choose you!"

"Begin with infestation."

"Rock slide, then earthquake and flame charge."

Typhlosion made a strong start to her battle against Ariados with three super effective attacks. On the other hand Ariados herself appeared to be approaching the match slightly more gradually, which is something that Ash was worrying about. He was smart enough to realise that bug type pokemon were vulnerable to other pokemon, but he figured out that they can also be extremely powerful if they use the correct moves. Ash knew that he had to keep a very close eye on Ariados and Koga if he ever wanted a chance to win against him.

"Toxic thread."

"Wil-o-wisp, then aerial ace."

Both Pokemon were now suffering from a status condition, but Typhlosion's speed was also lowered by the toxic thread.

"Spider web."

The trainer frowned, 'Great, now I can't switch pokemon .'

"Sunny day, then flamethrower."

"Sticky web."

'He's trying to lower Typhlosion's speed a lot,' Ash noticed. 'I can't understand why though, so I'll have to be careful.'

"Bulldoze."

"Sucker punch and shadow sneak."

"Flame charge, then facade."

"Stomping tantrum."

In attempt to decrease Ariados' speed back, Typhlosion used bulldoze. However Koga countered that strategy by using sucker punch, which was a move that always seemed to go first. In order to increase her speed again, Typhlosion used flame charge. Because Typhlosion was naturally a much faster pokemon than her opponent, her moves landed before Ariados could use shadow sneak. Therefore she ended up using stomping tantrum instead, which was a super effective move that doubled in power if the previous move had failed. Typhlosion's health was now low because she was suffering from poison and the infestation was slowly sapping her energy away. Although Ariados had been burned, she wasn't as tired as Typhlosion was at the moment. Then again she had done more damage to the poison type than the moves she had taken, so the match was still fairly even.

Choosing to risk it all, Ash became reckless, "Blast burn."

'Bad decision, Ash,' Koga shook his head. 'Typhlosion won't be able to move for a while after using that move, meaning that I can use as many moves as I want until she can move again. Eruption would've been a much better move, even if it would be slightly lower in power.'

"Avoid the move with dig," Koga commanded. "Then use swords dance, night slash, cross poison and facade."

Sadly Ash wasn't fast enough to call Typhlosion to use protect or substitute, so he lost the match. It was a shame because he could've very easily won he match, but he lost only because he made a single mistake.

"Typhlosion is unable to battle, so Ariados has won this match. Please send out your next pokemon."

Koga returned Ariados to his pokeball, "Good job, Ariados. Rest for now, because I'll need you later. Go, Weezing."

"You did well Typhlosion, so have lots of rest," Ash petted her head. "Latias, I choose you!"

Koga's eyes widened, 'No way... somehow I doubt that he has any more legendary pokemon. If that's the case, then I should probably take her out quickly.'

"Use explosion."

Ash raised an eyebrow at this move choice, 'Was he trying to take Latias down straight away? He should've known that it would never have been that easy.'

"Weezing is unable to battle, so Latias wins. Please send out your next pokemon."

Latias was struggling, but this was nothing that she couldn't handle. Ash chose to let her carry on with the battle, even though she had taken a lot of damage. He could sense that she didn't want to return yet and he couldn't go against the dragon type's determination, so he didn't put her back. She had been hurt by the toxic spikes as well, but once again that wasn't going to stop her.

"Go, Ariados," Koga threw the pokeball. "Foul play."

...

Author's notes:

Happy new year! :)