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Chapter 16

'If anyone deserves to be the Champion of the six regions, then it's him. After all, he is the first trainer that ever gave me a challenge and defeated my Darkrai. That does not mean I am going to give up. No, I will fight with all I have. All my legendries will fight today.' Those were the thoughts of the once mystery trainer Tobias about our champion Ash Ketchum. Ever since his identity had been revealed, Tobias's thoughts landed on their battle in Sinnoh league about ten years ago. It was the first time; someone had been able to defeat his Darkrai. Furthermore, his Latios also lost to Ash's Pikachu; although it was a draw, in his mind, it was a loss.

Over the years, he had seen the demerits of overdependence on the legendries. Presently, he relied on one legendary at most in most of his battles. However, today he was up against the Champion. He was going to use his full force and yet, he was not very confident of himself. It was not fear of Ash's strength or fear of his defeat. It was out of respect for the young man who had come a long way to become a well-deserved champion. Tobias was ready for his battle.

Tobias owned four Legendary Pokemon and he was using them all. He knew Ash would have guessed that but he was going to play by his strengths.

Ash was in his suite thinking about what Pokemon he was going to use against Tobias. He had done his research the previous night on Tobias and his current strategy. Sure, he had faced him once but that was ten years ago; people change a lot in ten years. He believed Tobias was going to use his legendries but his record from the past three years showed that he had relied less on his legendaries. In many battles, he did not even use his Darkrai but rotated amongst his other legendries. Still, Ash went with his guts and counter strategy for the four legendries of Tobias but took two more Pokemon with him for safe side. He was confident of winning but he did not want to break his perfect record so far.

It was 3.30 in the afternoon. Ash had his battle at 4 pm. He headed towards the Pokemon centre from their base with Serena.

"Hello, Ash." He heard someone call him from behind as he turned around to find his opponent of the day.

"Hello, Tobias. How are you doing?" Ash asked as they shook hands.

"Fine. Ready for our battle?"

"Sure. By the way, this is my wife Serena. You probably know her," said Ash introducing Serena.

"Everyone does. Nice to meet you, Mrs Ketchum." Tobias said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr Tobias," Serena replied.

"So, I will meet you on the battlefield. May the best trainer win!"

"Yeah! Good luck Tobias." Ash wished Tobias.

"You too Ash," Tobias said as he turned away. Ash and Serena went inside the Pokemon centre and then made their way to the arena.

"Has he always been this creepy?' Serena asked smiling.

"Yeah as far as I know him. He does not interact much and he is very strong with quite a few legendaries." Ash was in a serious mood.

"I know. You just go out there and win. Then, we will head for my match." Serena tried to clear his mind successfully.

"Yes ma'am." He said with a smile.

"Let the battle begin," declared the referee as Ash released his first Pokemon. He was quite sure what Tobias's first Pokemon was going to be and he chose his accordingly.

"Heracross, let's battle," Ash called out his first Pokemon.

Tobias let out his first Pokemon, which was, of course, Darkrai.

"We have been waiting for this rematch. Heracross has some old scores to settle." Ash said with a smile.

"Then let's do this," Tobias replied.

"Alright Heracross, use Pin Missile," Ash called out the first attack.

"Ice Beam," Tobias said as both the attacks negated each other.

"Aerial Ace and Megahorn." Heracross used the combination move.

"Dodge it and use Dark Void."

"About time." Ash muttered and gave his next command, "Use Protect." The Dark Void could not penetrate the Protect shield. Ash called out his attack, "Close Combat."

"Dark Pulse," Tobias said keeping his usual calm demeanour.

"Take it. Now, Megahorn." The Dark Pulse did not do much damage to the bug-fighting type Pokemon.

"Shadow Ball." Darkrai sent out its next attack.

"Knock it all." Heracross used the Megahorn to knock out the Shadow Ball as Darkrai moved up the field to close the distance between them. Tobias took advantage of this to call for the next move.

"Dark Void now." The Dark Void hit Heracross before it could react sending it to sleep. Ash decided that there was no point in just sitting around, as he knew what the next attack of Tobias was going to be. After all, a good offence is the best defence.

"Heracross Sleep Talk." Pin Missile was the attack that went towards Darkrai.

"Dodge it." Tobias did not want to waste any more time. "Dream Eater."

"Sleep Talk again," Ash shouted. To his good luck, it was Protect. He knew the next Dream Eater was on the way and it would do serious damage to his Heracross as this time it would not be Protect even if he used Sleep talk. Thus, he communicated with Heracross through his aura trying to wake it up. "Get out of it Heracross." Heracross moved a little as Ash continued. "I know you can do it."

Tobias had called for another Dream Eater as Heracross woke up and dodged it on instinct.

"Great job Heracross. Well, I have had enough. It's time to show the strength of our bond. Mega Evolve."

"Shit!" Tobias said as he quickly called for the next attack, "Darkrai, Dark Void again."

"Dodge it." Mega Heracross was faster.

"Shadow Ball."

"Megahorn to make your way through." The barrage of Shadow Ball was knocked out of the way.

"Dark Void." Ash was not falling for the same strategy.

"Dodge it quick and Focus Punch." Mega Heracross dodged the Dark void successfully as the super-effective Focus Punch hit Darkrai.

"Ice Beam." Darkrai got up and used the move.

"End it with Close Combat." Mega Heracross went around the path of the Ice Beam and hit Darkrai with another super-effective fighting type attack. Darkrai was down but it had not surrendered yet.

"Use Dark Pulse," Tobias called tor the attack.

"Counter with Pin Missile." The Pin Missile kept the Dark Pulse occupied. Ash called the next move, "Now Focus Punch."

"Darkrai dodge it and use Dark Void." Darkrai almost dodged it but was not quick enough to avoid it completely as a part of the Focus Punch hit it sending it down again.

"Let's end this. Hyper Beam." The Hyper Beam hit perfectly as Darkrai could no longer move.

"Darkrai is unable to battle. Mega Heracross wins." The referee announced. Tobias called his Darkrai thanking it.

"You did it Heracross. You were wonderful out there. You deserve a long rest. The others will do the job." Ash recalled Heracross, who was panting after the hard-fought battle.

"Great job there, Ash. But the battle is just getting started." Tobias said calmly.

"I agree," Ash replied with a grin.

"Well then come on out." Tobias's next Pokemon was the Grass-Fighting legendary from Unova.

"Hawlucha, it's time for an appearance." Hawlucha appeared in its patent style entertaining the crowd further.

"Hawlucha sure hasn't changed," Bonnie told Serena and Clemont as Serena nodded with a smile.

"Let the battle begin," declared the referee.

"Magical Leaf," Tobias called the first attack.

"Take it and Swords Dance." Hawlucha took it head-on and used the status move.

"Sacred Sword."

"Counter with High Jump Kick." The High Jump Kick and Sacred Sword were evenly matched.

"Leaf Blade"

"High Jump Kick again." No one was backing down.

"Use Close Combat."

"Sky Attack."

"Alright Virizion, use Aerial Ace," Tobias called for the move to avoid the Sky Attack.

"Hawlucha, you too." Both the Pokemon hit each other with Aerial Ace. It did much more damage to Virizion than to Hawlucha. But Hawlucha was not unaffected either. Ash called for the next move, "Use Sky Attack now."

"Solar Beam." The sun was up and the Solar Beam did not take time to charge.

"Spin and cut through it." Hawlucha spun around itself and cut through the Solar Beam hitting its target. The flying-type attack did a lot of damage. Virizion was down but not finished. Hawlucha took some damage from the Solar Beam too.

'Still not down. Well, it is a legendary Pokemon after all.' Ash thought as he called for the next move, "Good now Aerial Ace again."

"Virizion dodge it." Dodging was not effective as Hawlucha was too fast for Virizion, who didn't have much energy now. The super-effective attack ended Virizion's strength to defend.

"Finish this with Flying Press" Hawlucha ended the battle with its copyright move.

"Virizion is unable to battle. Hawlucha wins." Ash thanked the sweating Hawlucha and recalled him.

"Good work Virizion." Tobias was now losing his confidence a bit. He called for his next Pokemon. "Come on out."

"I thought so," Ash muttered as he saw Latios. He called out his Ice-type to battle against it. "Alright, Glalie you are up."

"Start with Luster Purge."

"Ice Beam to counter it."

"Dragon Pulse."

"Ice Beam." The Ice Beam, Dragon Pulse and Luster Purge did not reach their opponents.

"Here goes nothing. Latios Mega Evolve." Latios Mega Evolved. Tobias was not going to hold back.

"We will show our power too, Glalie. Mega Evolve." Ash was planning to give his all too.

"Luster Purge."

"Glalie, Ice Beam once more." The same result. The attacks did not reach their intended targets.

"Draco Meteor." The meteors were coming down as Ash called for the next move.

"Counter it with Blizzard." The Blizzard was so strong that it froze all the meteors from the attack and affected Mega Latios

"Use Light Screen." The Light Screen was able to shield it up to some extent.

"Our turn to get on offence. Glalie. Ice Beam." Ash started with the Ice Beam.

"Dragon Pulse." The Dragon Pulse was able to stop the Ice Beam.

"Now Headbutt."

"Use Zen Headbutt." Tobias was hoping to come out on top with the physical attack but he did not know that the Headbutt was just a setup for the next move.

"Crunch, now." Mega Glalie evaded the attack and hit Mega Latios with Crunch.

"Dodge it, Latios." Mega Latios could not dodge it.

"Blizzard." The Blizzard was effective even with Light Screen.

"Luster Purge."

"Dodge it." Mega Glalie went out of the way but a part of the Luster Purge hit it. "Are you alright Glalie?" Ash asked concerned about his Pokemon.

"Latios use Giga Impact." Tobias went for the broke.

"Wait for it." Mega Glalie did not move from its position. As the Giga Impact neared, Ash gave his next instruction, "Double Team and Ice Beam."

"Dragon Pulse on all of them." Mega Latios used Dragon Pulse on one of the incoming Ice Beam after recovering from the Giga Impact but was unable to defend itself from all of them. The Ice-type attack was super-powerful and super-effective.

"Latios is unable to battle. Glalie is the winner." The referee declared.

"That was a good battle Latios." Tobias was in deep thought as he recalled Latios.

"You did very well Glalie. You deserve a nice rest." Ash recalled Glalie and said, "That was a good battle Tobias but it will take more than that to beat me."

"I have not lost yet and here is my final Pokemon," Tobias said with a smile and released his last Pokemon. The yellow legendary bird Pokemon.

"Well, there is someone eager to battle you again and probably win this time. Come on out my friend." The dark blue pseudo-legendary Pokemon took a stance.

Now Tobias would not be able to use electric-type attacks and Ash couldn't use ground-type moves as their opponents were immune to those.

"Let's begin then. Drill Peck." Tobias started the proceedings.

"Dragon Claw." The attacks nullified the effects of each other.

"Aerial Ace."

"Use Stone Edge."

"Dodge it Zapdos." Tobias knew the Stone Edge could cause a lot of damage to Zapdos.

"Now Flamethrower." Ash used this opportunity to call the next move.

"Thunder." The two attacks negated each other.

"Garchomp, use Draco Meteor," Ash called for the next attack.

"Aerial Ace to dodge." Zapdos dodged most of them but a couple of meteors hit their target. Tobias was getting impatient now and called the next move, "Now Sky Attack."

"Intercept with Dragon Rush." Garchomp went with Dragon Rush but Ash changed the tactics just before the impact and coolly said, "Stone Edge"

"Zapdos get out of there." Zapdos was too near to dodge the attack as it flinched in pain.

"Stone Edge once more to end it." Before Zapdos could recover, Garchomp hit it with another Stone Edge head-on, as Zapdos went down. It got up but winced in pain. Zapdos had taken a lot of damage. It was struggling to stand, let alone battle its opponent.

"That's it Zapdos. You have done enough. Take a good rest." Tobias said as he recalled his final Pokemon. The crowd was shocked as Tobias surrendered but Ash knew it was the right thing to do. Tobias had almost lost the battle and there was no point in letting his Pokemon get hurt.

Ash thanked and returned Garchomp as both trainers moved to the centre of the field to shake hands. Tobias congratulated Ash as both the trainers waved towards the crowd and exited from the battle arena.

"What a battle! Probably one of the most exciting battles in the tournament so far. The victory margin does not do justice to Tobias. The battle contained everything one could hope for. Four legendries, three Mega Evolutions, two world-class trainers but we have only one victor, our very own champion Ash Ketchum. He does it again without losing a single Pokemon but the battle was a lot closer than what the score-line suggests. The trainers shake their hands as a display of sportsmanship and mutual respect. Ash moves on to the next round. Hard luck for Tobias! Ladies and gentlemen, stay tuned for the next battle starting at 7 pm."

There it is, Ash vs Tobias. It is the first battle I have written that isn't against one of Ash 'old friends'. So, please give me your views on if you liked it.

I will try to justify my choice of Pokemon for both trainers. I had decided to use one of the legendary birds and one from Unova, keeping in mind that all four legendaries are from different generations. I also chose the Pokemon such that no two had a common type. That's why I didn't use one of the Tao Trio or Forces of Nature or even Lake Guardians.

Coming to Ash, I know many of you would have liked to see Sceptile and Pikachu but I thought if they were able to overcome Tobias' Pokemon 10 years ago, now it would be much easier. Also, you would have noticed I am not repeating any of Ash's Pokemon in the battles. So, I promise you will get to see them in the next round or later against tougher opponents. Now, I used Heracross, which I believe is a pretty obvious choice given it's typing and the fact that it was Ash's first choice against Darkrai in the Sinnoh League. I really like Garchomp and I wanted Ash's Gible to at least evolve into Gabite in the anime, which didn't happen. Also, it had battled against Tobias before so, why not again!

I feel Glalie is one of Ash's most underrated Pokemon as it was a powerhouse in the Ever Grande Conference. It defeated Charizard with a serious type-disadvantage. Took out Katie's two Pokemon (knocked out against Misdreavus due to Destiny Bond) as well as Tyson's Sceptile. Also, it has a type-advantage against Latios along with Mega-evolution to make it a perfect choice. For Hawlucha, I would say that I love Ash's Kalos Team the most and I am going to use all five of them in battles that I write.

Next chapter is going to be Serena vs ? ? I will leave it for you to guess (Hint: I haven't used Sylveon yet)

Thank you once again for your reviews and messages.

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