Disclaimer: I would be a millionaire if I owned pokemon so no I don't own it.
Alright. Let's start working on this chapter that I hopefully finish before 21st, so it will be released on this story's 4 year anniversary. Now this is probably again going to be a shorter chapter compared to some of the other chapters there. But I hope you'll enjoy it the same way. I do this so I can update this story somewhat even though I have largely lost interest. Personally my interest for Pokemon is just lower than it was back in 2017-2018. Nowadays I prefer the game side of Pokemon when compared to the Anime side. Which is if I were to make a new Pokemon fanfic, it would be either Kris' journey in Johto written by me or more likely an OC's journey in Johto with a large twist. Anyway now that this wall of text is over let's head to the story shall we?
The next week and a half was almost exclusively spent on training Sandile on my part. I had to get him to catch up with the rest of my team. And besides he is going to be my secret weapon against Elesa. So he needs to be as strong as possible for the match.
And when me and Hilda aren't training for the match, we are planning on the strategy for the match. Due to Emolgas being flying type, Sandile will go against the Zebstrika. Pikachu will go against the Emolgas, especially since them being part flying type meant his attacks are neutral against them. Now the 3rd pokemon was going to be a hard choice. Charizard was an instant no no. His disobeying has cost me two matches already.
Which left Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Pidgeotto. Bulbasaurs attacks didn't do much damage to Emolga and he has a type weakness. Squitles damage is neutral but he has a type weakness. Pidgeottos non flying type attacks are neutral but he also has a type weakness. In the end it was a choice between squirtle and pidgeotto and I ended up choosing pidgeotto, due to him being evolved.
"Alright Ash third time is the charm." Hilda said prepping me for this match. I got myself emotionally pumped up before I even entered the gym. This time I won't lose. I told myself.
Entering the gym with my new found confidence, I was prepared to challenge and win this match. Elesa noticed me as soon as I stepped a foot into the gym.
"You again." She sighed almost insulting me. "If you want the Nimbasa badge, you probably should start to step on it. And same goes to the girl next to you, she should challenge me as soon as possible." She says and points at Hilda.
"Why do we need to win so quickly?" Hilda asks nervous. As much as I'm struggling to train for this match, Hilda feels that she has no chance against Elesa.
"You see in a week my fashion tour starts." She explains.
"And how long does this tour take?" I ask her feeling my chance to get the badge slipping, if I were to lose this.
She responds by looking at the sealing and counting fingers, obviously starting to count. "3 months." She finishes her counting leaving me and Hilda stunned.
3 months? You have to be kidding me. If we don't beat her in a week, we might as well move on to an another gym.
Gulping a little due to my new found reality, I prepare to challenge her. "Well looks like the only thing I can do is to challenge you." I respond to her.
She motions us to head to the battle arena. "Right this way." She says as she heads to the arena on her end, while I go to my end of the arena. Hilda goes to the spectator area, watching the match for the third time. Hopefully I can help her to find the strategy to defeat Elesa.
"Let's start shall we. Go Emolga." She exclaims and starts off with her first Emolga.
I look at Pikachu and nod. "Alright I'll start with you Pikachu!" I exclaim and Pikachu jumps off my shoulder.
"Let the fight between gym leader Elesa and pokemon trainer Ash begin!" The referee announces.
The fight between Pikachu and the Emolgas was going to be all about speed. Pikachus had the right moves to prepare for that. "Pikachu use agility to gain speed!" I ordered Pikachu to get him to be faster than the Emolga.
"Emolga hit it with a quick attack!" Elesa ordered. Pikachu was able to gain some speed but not enough because Emolga managed to hit him. Hopefully Pikachu had gained enough speed to be faster than the Emolga.
"Alright Pikachu use quick attack!" I ordered him.
"Quick attack in return!" Elesa ordered.
Both went for the same attack and now was the question who was faster. And to my delight it was Pikachu that landed first. Looks like my training is paying off.
"Hit it with an another quick attack!" Elesa ordered.
"Pikachu dodge it and use thundershock!" I ordered in return.
Emolga tried to hit Pikachu but thanks to his new found speed he was barely able to dodge it. As Emolga flew past Pikachu, he shot the thundershock at the Emolga and it managed to land.
I could see the worry that was spreading at Elesa's face. It clear that she's going to use volt switch sure so I need to attack Emolga as quick as possible.
"Volt switch!" Elesa ordered.
"Quick attack!" I countered it with.
Pikachu landed the quick attack but the Emolga responded with the volt switch. Luckily Pikachu had resistance to electric attacks as the quick attack hurt the Emolga way more than the volt switch hurt Pikachu.
As Elesa was about to release her second Emolga I needed to check up on Pikachu.
"Pikachu you can still go against the next one?" I asked him quite concerned. Pikachu responded to it with a determined nod. Showing he had a lot of fight in him.
Elesa released her another Emolga. An Emolga who unlike Pikachu wasn't tired.
"Pikachu use thundershock!"
"Emolga quick attack!"
The Emolga hit my Pikachu faster than the thundershock hit it. Still the Emolga couldn't avoid the electric attack. It hurt the Emolga somewhat but not enough and Pikachu was now on his last legs.
Pikachu will not be able to continue to fight against the Emolgas. I can already see that. But he needs to land his final hits to the Emolgas before he faints.
"Pikachu quick attack!" I switch the strategy to only use this specific move. The longer I could keep Pikachu in the fight, meant that Pidgeotto could more likely finish the two Emolgas. Meaning Sandile would have to only go against the Zebstrika.
Elesa responded with a quick attack as well. Pikachu hit Emolga first but Emolga hit Pikachu right back. Right now it was clear, that one more hit and Pikachu was out.
"Pikachu! Dodge Emolga's quick attack and hit it back with one!" I ordered and the tired Pikachu responded with determination. And just like I determined Elesa used quick attack again.
Pikachu barely dodged this one and before the Emolga could run, Pikachu hit it back with a quick attack.
"Emolga use volt switch!" Elesa ordered again as this current Emolga was getting tired.
"Hit it with a quick attack, before the volt switch hits you!" I ordered. Pikachu as fast as he possibly could went on to land what would become his last quick attack of this fight. Once he landed the quick attack Elesa's Emolga hit it with a the volt switch and just like that Pikachu was fainted.
I went on the middle of the arena to pick up my Pikachu. "You did good." I told him while I scratched his fur as I went back to my end of the arena. Taking Pidgeottos pokeball I prepared for the next bout.
"Go Pidgeotto!" I exclaimed as I threw the pokeball of the evolved bird pokemon.
"Emolga you can do this!" Elesa exclaimed as she threw her previous Emolga into the battle.
"Pidgeotto use quick attack!" I ordered him, as it was it's only attack the Emolga had no resistance to.
Pidgeotto went on to hit the Emolga so quickly, that Elesa couldn't even give an order for the Emolga. The already damaged Emolga looked to be on it's last legs. I just have to keep this momentum going and this match is mine.
"Use pursuit to get the Pidgeottto out quickly!" Elesa said and her voice sounded just a tiny bit desperate. Even she can see her Emolga's don't have that much long left.
The pursuit hit Pidgeotto and it did a decent amount of damage. It looked like she managed to get Pidgeotto in a state where two more electric attacks and it was done.
Ending this quickly I ordered an another quick attack. Elesa in a desperate attempt responded with a quick attack as well, but because my Pidgeotto was faster it hit the Emolga first. This hit was the finishing blow for the Emolga who now was fainted.
I silently celebrated the win, but I needed to stay focused. Looking at the audience I could see Hilda cheer this victory which made me even more motivated. I ordered Pidgeotto to come next to me so I could silently tell it the next order.
"Alright Pidgeotto. As soon as she releases her next pokemon go for a quick attack." I ordered him who gave a quick nod in return.
Elesa then proceeded to release her another Emolga who was on it's last legs. And just like ordered Pidgeotto went straight for it not even giving Elesa any chance to order anything. And that was it for the second Emolga who didn't have any chance to even do anything against the Pidgeotto.
This certainly left an impression on Elesa who by this point was stunned by the turning of the tide. She only had her Zebstrika left while I still had both Pidgeotto and off course my secret weapon Sandile.
She didn't even exclaim as she released her final pokemon.
"Zebstrika volt switch!" She ordered the move that would now act like a normal move due to her not having any pokemon left.
"Blind it with a sand attack!" I countered hoping this was enough to save Pidgeotto.
Pidgeotto flew to the arena's sand floor and got some of the sand to Zebstrika's eyes. This one in turn caused Zebstrika to miss the attack.
"Alright pidgeotto doing good!" I encouraged the bird pokemon. "Now use quick attack!" I ordered Pidgeotto the all familiar move.
"Zebstrika flame charge to get rid of that sand!" Elesa ordered.
Pidgeotto like always managed to use the speed of the quick attack and hit the Zebstrika. However the Zebstrika came chasing back using the flame charge and the sound aroudn it was starting to go off. Now fully aware of it's surroundings the Zebstrika caught up to my Pidgeotto and hit it with the flame type move. The move ended up being so devastating, Pidgeotto almost fainted from the attack.
"Pidgeotto sand attack again!"
"Zebstrika use spark!"
Pidgeotto like last time threw the arena's sand straight at Zebstrika. Now all I had to hope that it blinded it enough to miss it's attack. I hoped and hoped but no. Zebstrika even with the sand blocking some of it's view was able to spot my Pidgeotto and hit it square in the body.
The electric move proved to be the final straw for the Pidgeotto who was free falling towards the arena floor. Quickly I pulled his pokeball and returned it before he hit the floor.
The referee seemed to be confused by my pull back. But after a slight hicup they came to the obvious decision. "Pidgeotto cannot continue anymore. The challenger has one more pokemon left!" The referee announced.
I took the newest pokeball out of my pokebelt. I better hope I have trained the Sandile enough.
"Go Sandile!" I exclaimed as the ground type reptile appeared.
If Elesa was concerned she certainly didn't show it. Let's hope she doesn't have something hidden in her sleeve. "use quick attack!" she ordered.
"Mud slap!" I responded with knowing Sandile cannot outspeed the Zebstrika. Rather continuing the strategy I used with Pidgeotto with the sand attacks. Lower Zebstrika's accuracy until it cannot hit it anymore. And mud slap was an even better move than sand attack.
Zebstrika obviously hit the Sandile first but as it was turning around it got mud thrown straight to it's face.
"Flame charge now!" Elesa ordered knowing full well if she wants to win, she needs to end this quickly.
"Dodge and hit it with an another mud slap!"
The culmination of the sand attack and the mud slap caused the Zebstrika to miss completely, allowing Sandile to worsen the situation with the second mud slap attack.
"Do an another one!" Elesa ordered.
"Assurance!" I countered moving to the heavy hitter move. It might have not been a ground type move like sand tomb, but it had the advantage of not trapping the Zebstika. And my whole strategy relied on that.
Zebstrika missed the flame charge again. And just like last time Sandile made sure to take advantage of this with the assurance move.
"An another one!" Elesa ordered as that was really the only thing she could do. But the electric Rapidash had so much mud and sand on it's face, it just wouldn't go away. And all Elesa can hope, is that the Zebstrika can land a hit. And just like last two attacks, the Zebstrika missed.
But I had to make sure that would never happen. As the final step of my strategy would begin now.
"Sandile use swagger!" I exclaimed excited that this might be it.
"Use quick attack instead!" Elesa ordered, which was an even bigger mistake.
My attack enraged the Zebstrika and also made it even stronger. But because of all the mud and sand on it's face plus now being confused. Even without mentioning the speed it's going, the Zebstrika simply had no chance to hit Sandile.
Instead full speed the Zebstrika ran straight towards the arena wall at my side of the arena. In fact the Zebstrika nearly crashed into me, but luckily I dodged it.
Causing a large dent to appear on the wall, Zebstrika fell down as soon as it hit the wall, fainting in the process.
"Zebstrika cannot continue! Ash Ketchum wins the battle!" The referee announced as Hilda broke into cheers and Elesa approached me clapping along the way.
She handed me the badge, which I happily took with me. "Good job kid. It was pleasure to see you improve." Elesa says and gives me a handshake as I leave the arena.
Once I make it out of the arena, Hilda runs straight at me, pulling me into an embrace.
"You did it!" She exclaims.
"I sure did it." I respond happy at this moment.
Aaandd done. Yes! I kept my promise. Two chapters for this anniversary and we finally moved on from the Nimbasa arc. Now for future chapters I want to focus more on Ash's and Hilda's relationship and let the gyms take a bit of a backseat. I don't want to turn this into a pokemon battle simulator, which I partly feel this has become. Anyway that's all I really have to say. Thank you who have stuck around for this story, even though I don't really update much, due to just liking my other stories more. See you on next anniversary or who knows maybe sooner.
Viva out