Hello All sorry for the long delay but stuff was going on IRL that pretty much sapped my creativity. I should upload a little more now but still not to the degree I had before. Hope you enjoy
Ash, AJ, Samurai, and Hop all sat in silence. Marnie went to go help with healing Hop's Pokemon while the rest went to eat, though all Hop did was poke at his food. Hop was not taking his defeat well at all and the entire table could feel it. Ash decided to break the silence.
"So ah, your first try was not all bad. Did better than me!" He recalled his first fight with Brock he failed to beat Onyx.
No response.
"My first gym battle went poorly also. In fact ah opted not to fight again till ah got one hundred wins." Aj said.
He started to poke his potato.
"I did win my first, but I only won by the skin of my teeth. Your first gym battle is always pretty rough." Samurai said.
Hop sighed. "Look guys Thanks for trying but, I'm Leon's little brother. He is the number one ranked trainer in the world and the Galar Champion. But I lost my first gym battle and badly. How do I break that to him? He's undefeated."
The others looked at one another trying to think of a response to it. They really had none as that was a lot of pressure on someone. The little brother of an undefeated champion was pretty heavy. Luckily Roark walked up to offer a distraction.
"Hello everyone! How are you all doing?" He quickly read the table and decided to move on. "I wanted to let you all know I can battle all three of you tomorrow."
Samurai looked up. "Really now? Do explain."
"Well with the League reopened off-season I was left understaffed, only gyms that operate another business are still fully staffed after all. One of the staff I need is a nurse for between fighters. In this region, it's required. Since I had to use the Pokemon Center I could only do one battle a day by the rules. But my nurse showed up today. She's setting up for now but she will be ready tomorrow."
"Alright! Ah can do my fight tomorrow!" AJ said thrilled.
"So see all of you tomorrow! Just come a few hours earlier Ash. Now just need to find Wes and let him know also..." Roark said as he walked off.
Marnie walked up shortly after he left with three Pokeballs.
"Your Pokemon are good to go Hop!" she said as she set them down.
"Oh, thanks. I need some alone time. I'll be there for your battle tomorrow Ash." he took his Pokeballs and left.
"His defeat still heavy on his mind?" she asked as she sat down.
"Yeah, poor guy," AJ said.
"At least he is still coming," Ash said as he resumed eating.
No one spoke for a bit. Till Pikachu jumped up from where he was eating.
"PIKA PIKA! Pikachu! PI PI PIIII!" The little mouse said to ash while looking like it was pumping him up.
Ash smiled. "Your right buddy. Okay, tomorrow I will put on a show to get him out of his funk!"
The other two nodded.
"Agreed! Perhaps we can help him also!" Samurai said.
Marnie giggled at them. "That little Pikachu knows what to do huh?"
Ash nodded as he pet Pikachu. "He is my best buddy."
"Okay! So you and Pikachu will put on a show?"
Pikachu all of a sudden crossed his arms in a "no" sign and gave a sharp "PIKA!".
"Heh, Pikachu has a bit of a disadvantage against two of his three," Ash said. "Even if I could replicate what I did when I went against Brock I think that would make things worst as I would be showing I could do what he tried to do but better."
"It is good to see you using your head now." Aj teased.
"So you're using the other three? Two of them do have a slight disadvantage also." Marnie Reminded him as Muk had very few moves that were very effective and Murkrow had a disadvantage to rock types.
"Trust me I can think up of a few ways to win. Come on buddy!" Ash and Pikachu got up and ran to their room.
"Ah think I will go plan a bit also," AJ said as he left
"Agreed! I must prepare!" Samurai then took his leave also.
Marnie sighed and let out her Pokemon. "Come on let's get some exercise."
It was early the next morning as Ash, Pikachu, and Marnie entered the Gym. He was greeted by Samurai who arrived already and AJ met up with them shortly after. Soon Ash's name was called and he made his way to the arena. Pikachu stayed with Marnie as he would be sitting out this fight. Hop showed up right as the rules were being told.
"I thought you were not going to show up," Samurai said.
"I lost track of time. I still want to support Ash." He said as he looked out.
"Alright, Ash! You know the rules, three on three!" Roark said.
"You got it," Ash responded.
The two drew their Pokeballs and threw them out. Roark sent out Graveler like before, still looking ready to go. Ash however had sent out Murkrow first. Hop looked at the flying type with confusion.
"What is he doing? Murkrow is weak to rock types." Hop said confused.
"Ash is aware of that," Marnie said. "Maybe he has a plan?"
"When I was doing my one hundred fights ah had my Pokemon fight things with a type advantage and still came out the victor," AJ said. "There is more to battles than type advantage."
Graveler opened with Stone Edge firing shards of rock at him. With Ash's command, Murkrow flew around using its speed to avoid the attack and hit it with a Feint Attack. Using his Speed and the fact that Graveler was grounded Murkrow used a lot of hit and run attacks on it. Although it still got its hits in Murkrow was clearly the one dominating the fight. At one point it tried to use Defense curl in hopes of a powered up roll out but a Taunt from Murkrow shut that down.
"Amazing! Using its speed to outmaneuver it!" Hops eyes glued on the fight.
"It is something to see how much he has changed," AJ said.
Murkrow landed a final hit on Graveler knocking it to the ground. The referee looked at the rock type before declaring it could not fight anymore. Pikachu let out a small cheer as Ash called by the now tired Murkrow.
"Wow, you have got a lot better sense before Ash," Roark said grabbing his next Pokemon. "Let's see what else you got."
Ash drew his next Pokemon. "You are in for a show! I'm just getting fired up!"
Muk was sent out next as Roark sent out Onyx. Onyx opened with a Slam attack. To his surprise, the attack seemed to not really phase Muk at all. It next went for rockslide and while was slightly more effective it still hardly seemed bothered by the attack.
"I see, your Muk favors defense." he observed. "Hit it hard with Earthquake!"
"Disable Muk!" Ash responded.
Onyx went to slam its tail into the ground but stopped as Muk's eyes got a blue glow to them.
"Use Sludge Bomb!"
The Pokemon responded by firing sludge balls at the rock snake. After the dust cleared the Pokemon looked like it had been poisoned and was slowly losing its strength. It tried to use Bind on it to maybe get some chip damage in but Muk just slid out of its tail thanks to it being an amorphous blob.
"Now Muk Venoshock!"
Muk fired off a strange-looking poison at Onyx. It roared in pain as the poison gained extra power from Onyx due to it being poisoned. Worried for his Pokemons wellbeing and seeing that this fight was not going well he opted to recall his Pokemon.
"Well, Ash I am very impressed! Though you know what's coming next."
Ash chuckled. "Of course! Muk, come back!"
Ash recalled his Muk knowing that a hit from any attack from his next Pokemon would be too much even for him. Luckily conditions were ideal for his last Pokemon, Snivy. Since the other two already too out Snivy was in her prime and ready to go. He sent the grass snake out to battle.
"A grass type! I see he saved the one with the type advantage for last!" Samurai observed.
"So it would be completely ready to battle!" Marnie said as Pikachu cheer on her lap.
"Still, using such a different style for that fight with Onyx. Ah am mighty impressed." AJ said.
"Yeah, there is a lot to battles," Hop said.
"He uses what he feels is best for the situation. Impressive."
Everyone looked over to see that Wes was now watching.
"H-how long were you sitting there?" Asked Marnie.
"Since the battle started." His female companion said cheerfully.
Rampardos was sent out last. The pokemon let out a mighty roar and focused its sights on the small grass snake. Roark commanded a headbutt from it and it charged. Due to her small size, she found it easy to dodge the attacks. This went on for a bit as Ash stood and watched things intently.
"What is he doing? Shouldn't one grass attack be enough to beat it?" Hop asked.
Wes responded before anyone else could open their mouth. "That's a very shallow view on battles. It might survive the attack and they might be left open for an attack. It should be clear what he is doing."
Everyone looked back at the fight. Snivy kept weaving around the attacks until Roark commanded a Zen Headbutt. Ash's eyes grew wide as he commanded a Leaf Blade on its legs. After just barely dodging the attack she slashed its leg hard. After that, it went back to trying to hit the small snake but now it was moving slower and more awkwardly.
"Oh, I see! Very clever!" Samurai said as Snivy started to attack the now wounded Rampardos.
Roark however also got an opening. "Use Giga Impact!"
Rampardos mustered whatever strength it had to ignore the pain in its leg and charged at Snivy. Ash saw that there was no avoiding this attack and he had to make a split decision. If one could not avoid the attack Snivy would have to power through it. He made the command.
"SNIVY! USE COIL! QUICK!"
The grass snake quickly coiled up seconds before the attack connected. She was shot hard into the wall. While clearly taking a lot of damage she uncoiled still standing. Her opponent now needed time to recover from the attack.
"Alright Snivy! Let's end this! Leaf Blade!"
She ran up to the Pokemon and put all her might behind a final Leaf Blade. Rampardos let out one last roar before he hit the ground. The dust cleared revealing it was knocked out cold. Roark recalled it just as Ash was declared the winner.
Hop's eyes were wide after watching the fight. "Amazing! Ash is so amazing!"
Samurai chuckled. "He was not always like this. He had potential but clearly had no talent."
AJ Nodded. "Yeah Everyone has to start somewhere. Trust me when I say he has gotten a lot better."
After the fight, everyone went out to meet him and congratulate him. Pikachu hopped on his head and gave him a few Pika's. Hop stayed back for a bit watching as Samurai and AJ gave him a hard time. Marnie eventually told them to break it up and congratulate him. He finally walked up to him.
"Hey Ash, that was amazing."
Ash smiled. "Thanks, Hop. It took me a long time to get to this level of skill."
He nodded. "I see that now."
"So willing to try again?"
He shook his head. "Not yet. I think I need some time to find my style."
She nodded in understanding.
"That was impressive."
Ash looked over to see Wes. "Oh! Uh, thanks."
Wes started to walk out. "I hope to see more from you." He noticed Roark. "I will be back later when I feel it will be close to my turn."
"Ahhh okay then?" Roark said as he left. "I Will need at minimum an hour for my Pokemon to recover Samurai. Though it might take a little longer."
"Understood!" He said.
"Come on Ash let's get your Pokemon to the center. We got time!" Marnie said.
"Sounds like a good idea."
When they got back they were just in time to see Samurai's. He still only used Bug types but was able to take down Roark's team. His Butterfree had all the powders and was not afraid to use them then follow up with psychic attacks. Pincer and a Heracross brut forced anything else.
AJ was up next after another long rest. He had a pretty strong Rockruff and Victreebell. But clearly, the MVP was his Sandsllash. Ash remembered when it was just a Sandshrew and was amazed at how strong it was now. Once again AJ got a victory.
Everyone decided to watch Wes's battle. They waited for him to return and be called. They sat with his companion, who they learned was name Rui, and watched as he sent out his first Pokemon, Feraligatr. It was a very short fight however as Wes defeated all Roark's Pokemon with little trouble much to everyone's shock.
AJ was slackjawed. "So short. But how?"
Rui looked over. "I should tell you he comes from Orre."
Samurai looked at her. "Orre? Now it feels unfair..."
Ash and Marnie looked confused at this. "Whys that?"
"Orre has some of the strongest trainers in the world."
Hop's eyes were on the field. "I wonder how my brother would do against them?"
After all, was said and done Wes and Rui pretty much left right away. Everyone else decided to meet up one more time before they went to bed as all of them would leave the next day. After saying their goodbyes to Roark, as he had to start scheduling for other trainers, they went to eat.
"So Ash, me and Samurai will be going a different way," AJ said.
"Indeed. We wish to wait and see what you got at the League."
"Well, I can't wait," Ash responded.
"And you Hop. Don't give up." Aj said.
"I won't! Next time you see me I will be much better!"
With that, they spent the rest of the day enjoying one another's company.