The Championship Finals: Ash vs. The Mask Part 3!

"Blastoise is unable to battle!" The referee announced. Ash, who's Sceptile had just pulled off a technique similar to his battle against May's Blastoise, concealed itself in a Leaf Storm while dishing out a finishing strike to its oppoenent.

"Gyarados!" The Mask said. "Take the field!" The large serpentine Pokemon came out of the ball and went into a fit of rage.

"That is one angry Pokemon," Ash commented. "It must be pretty powerful too."

The Gyarados lunged forward colliding with Sceptile. Sceptile flew backwards landing on one knee. Lower on Gyarados's abdomen, one of Sceptile's yellow seeds from its back stuck to it and then exploded. "Nice Seed Bomb Sceptile! Let's hit him with our Dual Chop-Leaf Blade combo!"

Sceptiles leaves on its arms grew longer and glowed bright green as its hands became enveloped in a bright green light. Sceptile flew across the field and ran up Gyarados's body. While the long pokemon thrashed around in an attempt to knock Sceptile off, Sceptile was able to cling on and charge up to Gyarados's head where it hit it with a simultaneous Leaf Blade and Dual Chop. Gyarados was able to shake it off and wrap its body around Sceptile, squeezing it tightly. Sceptile was rendered immobile and Gyarados opened its mouth with a charged Hyper Beam.

"GYARADOS STOP!" The Mask called. "THAT'S TOO MUCH!" His Gyarados paused for a brief moment.

'NO!' Gyarados called back through Aura. 'I WILL DO AS I PLEASE!'

This was enough distraction for Sceptile to get one of its arms free. It managed to pull off several Seed Bombs from its back and throw them into the mouth of Gyarados when it turned back to continue its attack. Gyarados let go but not before firing off a rogue Hyper Beam towards Ash. Sceptile's eyes widened as it lunged back towards Ash, hugging his trainer, protecting him from the attack. When the attack subsided, Sceptile crumpled into Ash's arms. Gyarados then let out a loud roar as rain began to pour down from the sky.

"Sceptile is unable to battle. Ash, please choose your next pokemon."

"What the hell was that?" Ash said in an angered tone, returning his fainted Sceptile. "You could've hurt somebody bringing a strong Pokemon that doesn't obey you into battle!"

"I'm really sorry," the Mask called sincerely. "I didn't know he would be out of control like this."

"Infernape, may the Aura guide you!"

"What the shit was that!?" Ritchie said. "That Gyarados is an extremely powerful pokemon. For it to just not trust its trainer like that is absurd."

"I actually had a problem like that before," Alexa chimed in. "I got my Torracat through a trade as a Litten, so I never raised it from a young age. After a while it got pretty used to me, but there were some times where it just did whatever it wanted because its level was too high for me."

"That can't be the case, though!" May exclaimed. "The Mask is probably one of the strongest trainers in the world!"

"Well whatever's going on with that thing, Ash better find a way to get rid of it before it annihilates his team," Paul said.

"Infernape, use Flame Wheel!" Ash yelled.

"Gyarados, use Aqua Tail!" The Mask called.

Infernape broke out into a ball of fire as it began rolling. Infernape then collided into Gyarados knocking the giant serpent backwards a little. Gyarados's tail glowed blue as it whipped it around and hit Infernape, making it collapse to the ground. From the battle prior to this and its most recent damage, Infernape was close to being knocked out. That was when Infernape was reminded of everything Ash did to help him. Even though Paul released it, joining Ash was the best thing that ever happened to him. Infernape knew that he couldn't let his trainer down. The flame on Infernape's head erupted into an immense size, as its eyes glowed bright red. The rain falling from the sky evaporated around Infernape's body, due to the intense heat radiating off of it. After what the opposing Gyarados did to Sceptile, Infernape wasn't going to hold back any longer.

"Let's finish this Infernape! Use Blazing Combat!"

Infernape lit its fists on fire and darted across the field and hit Gyarados in the face with a flurry of flaming punches. Infernape let out a loud screech while its punches flew in rapid succession of each other. The Gyarados had no choice but to coil its body as a means to protect itself, but Infernape had other plans. As Infernape pummeled the large serpent, the bright orange flames on its fists turned blue in color, which caused a blue glow to illuminate the audience.

Alexa was brought to her feet by the show Infernape was putting on. The physicality that it brought to its matches was a style that could put away the toughest of opponents. When Inferape's Blaze-powered punches shifted to a blue tinge, a sudden presence came over her. Bursting out from its ball on her belt was her Riolu.

"Oh, hey Riolu," Alexa said to the tiny dog. "Did you wanna see Infernape's battle?" The Pokemon barked, pointing down at the field. "Yeah, Infernape really is something, huh!" Alexa said to her Pokemon, figuring it was inspired by the battle taking place. "Oh my God he just did a flip!" The teen said, getting caught up in the battle once again. "Let's go Ash and Infernape!"

Backflipping off of Gyarados into the air, Infernape used its Blaze Ability to rocket itself underground with Dig. Rather than jumping out to hit Gyarados (which would have been ineffective), the bright blue flames of Infernape's Flare Blitz spouted out from the ground beneath it. The Gyarados toppled over, as its body crashed onto the ground. Walking slowly towards the battered opponent, Infernape looked the Gyarados in the eyes as it fired off a final white-hot Flamethrower, which dealt the final blow. The audience sat in stunned silence for a moment, after witnessing Ash's Infernape burst out into a berzerk fit of rage. The flame atop Infernape's head retracted in size, as it turned back to its trainer and gave him a thumbs up, confirming that he was in control. This sent the audience into a loud cheer, watching the Pokemon with the severe type disadvantage come out on top.

"Gyarados is unable to battle! Mask, please choose your next pokemon."

"I truly apologize for my Gyarados's actions... Now I am afraid of your pissed off Infernape. Let's try this again Snorlax!" The Mask said. Snorlax stood tall over Infernape. It extended a large hand and flicked Infernape in the head with its finger. Enraged (with Blaze still activated,) Infernape let out a screech as it socked Snorlax in the jaw with a glowing fist. Snorlax fell backwards onto the ground.

"Let's teach this guy not to mess with us!" Ash exclaimed. "Use your Flame Wheel!" Infernape dove forward and began somersaulting, enveloping itself in flames. Snorlax rose back to its feet as Infernape crashed into its chest. Snorlax wrapped its arms around Infernape, pinning its arms down and constricting its body.

"Keep holding him down Snorlax!" The Mask yelled. "He'll wear himself out eventually!"

"Let's go Infernape, you know what to do!" Ash said.

Infernape's head ignited even more, letting off an intense heat, which was enough to make Snorlax wince. It loosened its grip on Infernape, allowing it to slip out of Snorlax's arms and attack its stomach with Close Combat. Snorlax then caught both of Infernape's fists, spun in a circle and threw it high into the air.

"Hyper Beam!" The Mask called.

"Flame Wheel!" Ash exclaimed.

Snorlax fired a large beam of energy into the sky, while Infernape enveloped itself in a Blaze-powered Flame Wheel. The Hyper Beam struck Infernape while it was in its Flame Wheel, but neither Pokemon would let up. Eventually Infernape broke through Snorlax's attack and smashed into its face. The only Pokemon left standing on the field was Infernape, standing on top of the fainted Snorlax. It let out a scream as the crowd roared at the spectacle they had just witnessed. Infernape had managed to take out two of the Mask's heavy hitters in only a few rounds of battling.

"Snorlax, return! Come on out Pika!"

Once again, the Mask's yellow rodent Pokemon took the field and sent a jolt of electricity down its body. In the rain, steam came off of Infernapes blazing head as it glared at its opponent with red eyes.

"Pika use Thunder!"

"Infernape use Blazing Combat!"

The Pikachu shot a single, small bolt of electricity into the rainy sky. Infernape sped across the field, igniting its fists, preparing itself to hit the Pokemon with a Close Combat. A large bolt of lightning came down from the sky before Infernape could connect with its attack, inches away from the Pikachu. Due to the damage it had previously sustained, along with the Thunder attack, Infernape was finally knocked unconscious.

"Infernape is unable to battle! Ash, please choose your next Pokemon."

"You fought valiantly, Infernape. You put in some of your best work today. Now it's your turn! Darkrai, may the Aura guide you!" Ash said, throwing out his Legendary Pokémon.

A loud thunder clap rang in the arena. It was now down to 2v2. Ash had his Darkrai and Mewtwo left, while the Mask had his Pikachu and a Pokemon that hadn't even seen battle yet.

"Darkrai, use Shadow Claw!"

"Pikachu, Quick Attack, then use Charge!"

Pikachu darted across the field and made contact with Darkrai. It then stood in one place and began absorbing energy, raising its stats. Before Darkrai could land its attack, Pikachu managed to speed out of the way, avoiding it.

"Pikachu, use Thunder several times into the sky!"

Pikachu sent several jolts of electricity into the air. Suddenly, a barrage of lightning bolts came down and began striking the field where Darkrai hovered. While Darkrai managed to maneuver around several lighting bolts, it had been struck by a total of three.

"Darkrai, sink into the ground and avoid the attack!" Darkrai phased into its shadow, but upon entering it, immediately came back out due to paralysis.

"Well that was a smart move," Ritchie said. "By putting so much electricity into the ground, it was only a matter of time before Darkrai attempted to evade an attack by phasing into and getting paralyzed."

"Ritchie, that doesn't make any sense," Alexa said. "The ground conducts electricity. Darkrai probably got paralyzed from Pikachu's Static or all those Thunder attacks."

"I guess you're right," Ritchie said. "Where'd you learn all of this stuff, huh?"

"School," Alexa said. "Ever heard of it?"

"Pika, use Volt Tackle!"

"Darkrai, use Dark Void!"

Pikachu began running forward at Ash's Pokemon, enveloping its body in electricity. Darkrai, barely able to move, managed to get its hands close enough together to where it could form a large black ball that fired and hit Pikachu directly, causing it to fall asleep.

"Now's our chance! Darkrai, use Rest." Darkrai fell asleep where it stood, simultaneously regaining its health and curing its paralysis. Then, as if out of nowhere, Darkrai pulled out a blue colored berry which it consumed, waking it up from its rest. Pika writhed in pain due to Darkrai's Bad Dreams ability.

"That's a chesto berry!" May said. "Ash must've come up with that strategy just in case he needed to heal up a Pokemon quickly.

"Since when did Ash start using items?" Paul said. "Aside from his mega stones, I didn't think he knew how to."

"Darkrai, use Ice Beam!"

The Pitch Black pokemon formed a bright blue ball in its hands as it fired it off at the sleeping Pikachu, causing it to faint. "Pikachu is unable to battle. Mask, please choose your final pokemon!" The Ref said.

"This is it guys," Alexa said. "Ash has his two Legendary Pokemon left!"

"There is no way that the Mask can win now, right?" Commented Ritchie.

"I wouldn't be too sure," Delia said. "If that last Pokemon is what I think it is, Ash will have a harder time than you might think."