Here is the fourteenth Supplement for the Heart in 'Winning Takes Heart', released at the right moment in the story. This is the second of two Supplements released at the same time as they occurred simultaneously with different characters so y'all get the fun of two for the price of one. As with the Supplement before, this one occurs between Parts CXXIV and CXXV and is another OC development one. With the other things I need to say already said in the preceding Supplement, this is all the administrative stuff I have and as there were no questions to answer or guest reviews to respond to after the last Supplement I will end it this note here. That means that it is time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the Winning's Fourteenth Supplement For the Heart: Meanwhile, in Density.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.
Meanwhile, in Density
"Thanks for doing this Ash." Adam said from the other side of the Pokémon Center's battlefield. "It will help me a lot."
"No worries, same here." Ash said. "The tournament is unique and sounds fun, but we can't let our skills in normal battles atrophy. Plus, the training we've all done will help as well I feel as you never know what could be useful in battle."
It was a few days after Ash and his lot had reached the town where the fighting tournament was being held and met up with Adam and Emily again. For the last few days they had all be doing individual training with their fighting types and their teams who were helping their teammates prepare for the upcoming tournament. However, the tournament was about pure fighting power, no moves, so their training was more strength, power, footwork, and maximizing what their Pokémon were good at be it punching, kicking, headbutting, or other fighting techniques like throws and grapples.
As such they hadn't been having any training battles with each other as they were currently focused on the tournament that all but Emily were entering as she was the only one without a fighting type. That had changed that morning when Adam had asked the others if he could fight all of their fighting types under normal battle conditions to test his Pokémon against their, practice in general, and learn from them. This made sense as between Ash, Dawn, May, and Serena they had 6 fighting types on them and none of them were ones that Adam owned.
Naturally Ash had agreed at once as his three fighting types could use the practice in an actual battle. May, Serena, and Dawn had all agreed shortly afterwards. The one strange thing was that with the girls, Adam had said that he wanted their Pokémon to face specific ones of his own.
He wanted May's Blaziken to face his Poliwrath as it was a punching specialist against a more kick focused Pokémon like Blaziken. With Serena he'd asked that she face his Makuhita more due to the similar size to her Pancham but also to give his starter a chance to face a more graceful opponent like Pancham as Serena's was the nimblest fighting type there due to his Showcase training. With Dawn he'd asked to that her Machamp face his Medicham as it was about raw power verses her psychic type and more focused strength.
All the girls had agreed to it. Both May and Dawn understood that this was a good chance to test against a type their Pokémon were weak against in battle while Serena got a chance to see how Pancham's style worked in general battle rather than a Contest one. That had left Ash's trio against the remaining 3 that Adam had on him, those being Scrafty, Pangoro, and Hitmonlee and neither boy knew what the other would use at the start. They were also to go first in the battles as they had the most so would take the longest of all the battles.
There was one more thing to the battles though that had been unexpected. Nurse Joy had to be present for it and Wigglytuff was under orders to use Dazzling Gleam should the fight Ash was in get out of hand by her standards. This was because Ash's name was now on a list of trainers who were on battle probation at Pokémon Centers throughout Kalos for excessive destruction in Pokémon Center battles and as such had to be monitored by the Nurse Joy and her Wigglytuff when engaging in them until the probation was lifted.
Ash didn't really have a defense for it either. He had destroyed the entire battlefield, all the rear windows, and damage the actual building of the Geosenge Pokémon Center when Mega Charizard threw Mega Alakazam into the ground with Seismic Toss that was accelerated with a Dragon Tail to beat Kenny in their full battle a few months back. If Mega Alakazam had been heavier then Ash could have caused even more damage than what he did, which included injuring Dawn, Serena, May, Adam, Emily, Drew, and Brianna in that final matchup with most still bearing scars from it.
Then, only a week or so ago, Ash had once again used Mega Charizard in a battle with the Alolans they'd met when they'd run into Iris in his battle against Kiawe. It was right at the end after he'd defeated Sophocles during the battle and Kiawe had resorted to using a Z-Move to try and win that Ash Mega Evolved Charizard to match the Alolan's power. Charizard survived and used a Dragon Tail to put Kiawe's Turtonator several feet into the ground after first sending it through a stone wall.
Both instances now had Ash flagged as being excessive and reckless which meant that Nurse Joys had to watch his battles. He was also to not Mega Evolve around them though with Charizard and Pidgeot back in Lumiose City Ash couldn't do that. Still, he knew he would have to be careful or else he might be banned from battling in Pokémon Centers all together.
"Alright, this three-on-three practice battle between Ash from Pallet Town and Adam from Dewford Town is about to begin." May said from the ref spot as she'd volunteered to take the job of officiating Ash's battle. "Each trainer has the use of three Pokémon so long as they are fighting types and the winner is the one who knocks out all of the opponent's Pokémon. Also, substitutions will be allowed. I will be the final judge when it comes to knocked out Pokémon. Understood?"
Ash and Adam nodded at this. Usually, Dawn would ref one of Ash's battles as she knew the most experience officiating a regular battle between the girls, but she was going last today. She'd told May and Serena that she needed this time to talk to Emily as the girl was not watching due to it being feeding time for her recently hatched Alolan Vulpix, so Dawn was helping her while also catching up with her friend. As such, May was refereeing while Serena watched, her back to a wall just to be safe, with Pancham in her lap so he could study the match as well in preparation for his own one.
"Alight then begin." May said starting the battle.
"Scrafty, time to fight!" Adam said tossing his Poke Ball.
"Lucario, I choose you." Ash said throwing out his own Poke Ball. "Time to see how your new moves we've worked on stack up in an actually battle."
"I still can't believe your Riolu evolved, you two have to be really close for that to happen." Adam said excitedly. "Lucario is like the pinnacle of fighting types, but it has to resonate with a trainer's fighting spirit to bond with one, something to do with passive aura or something like that I think but I'm no expert on that. Alas, I've never gotten the chance to find one that is for me."
"I was lucky with mine." Ash admitted. "Lucario here wouldn't hatch in Sinnoh so Cynthia took it as an egg to the Indigo Conference to see if it would be good for me as someone knowledgeable in the area and who'd met me once when I was in Sinnoh suggested that she try me as he recalled my own connection with a Riolu there."
"Woah so cool." Adam said sounding jealous. "You have to tell me more sometime; I want to hear your Lucario's full story."
"Sure, though I'll admit, it's been a while since I've seen a Scrafty, and I don't think I've ever faced one in battle so time to check it out again." Ash said pulling out his Pokedex and scanning it. "I have a Scraggy back home that I got as an egg when I was in Unova, but he hasn't evolved."
"Scrafty, the Hoodlum Pokémon and the evolved form of Scraggy." The Pokedex chimed as it scanned the orange Pokémon with a mohawk that looked like it was holding up a pair of pants with a tail that was actually its skin. "It pulls up its shed skin to protect itself while it kicks. The bigger the crest, the more respected it is."
"Well, it's crest looks pretty big, but I only seen one other Scrafty before back when I was in Unova." Ash said putting the Pokedex away. "That was a wild adventure if I recall correctly, I've had a fair few of those in my time."
"I haven't seen many, I got mine as a Scraggy that had challenged its pack leader and failed so it was banished." Adam said with a shrug. "I saw the loss and realized it had potential so I trained with it so that it could win its place in the pack back but instead Scraggy decided to join me and my team. It evolved in a Battle Club tournament final I was in around the time of that Junior Cup that Unova had, and that evolution helped me win. My prize was a choice of Evolutionary Stones. That's how I got the Water Stone to evolve my Poliwhirl into a Poliwrath."
"That's pretty useful." Ash said. "Then again that is often how evolution works."
"If you two are done chatting, you are in a battle." May pointed out while Scrafty and Lucario grunted in agreement. "Can you start?"
"Right sorry." Ash said. "Lucario, Aura Sphere."
"Brace Scrafty, that can't be dodged so go forward until it is about to hit you to get as close as possible to Lucario." Adam said. "Then counter with Payback. Lucario is part steel type so one move you know won't work but that won't stop us."
"Your Scrafty knows a poison type move?" Ash asked confused as Lucario formed the blue ball of fighting type power between his paws. "I didn't know one could learn a move from that type."
"I didn't either until I checked but it can learn a few so I taught mine Sludge Bomb." Adam said as Scrafty began to run at Lucario as fast as it could. "Scrafty's typing is great against psychic type attacks but terrible against fairy type ones and the type in general is resistant to most of its moves. A poison type move is my counter to fairy types that don't have a steel type like Klefki or Mawile. All my Pokémon know at least one move that is super effective against a type that is super effective against them."
"Clever." Ash said knowing that he'd done exactly the same with several of his own Pokémon over the years.
As they were talking the Aura Sphere reached Scrafty who had stopped and lowered his head to take it on his crest. The impact send him skidding back a few paces creating a shallow furrow in the ground and it was super effective thanks to his dark type, but he grit his teeth and pushed through it as Lucario was also weak against fighting type moves so both of them were weak to one of their own types. The attack also had one advantage by causing an explosion that obscured him long enough to leap through it and hit Lucario with his Payback, using his crest to deliver the move to Lucario's chest.
The dark type move staggered Lucario a few paces as he hadn't seen it coming through the smoke and he snarled in frustration at that. The dark type attack was doubled thanks to the Aura Sphere landing but with Lucario's resistance to the type it was only average effectiveness, so he was fine.
He also kept his center of gravity low, so he wasn't moved much by the hit. That had been a byproduct of his recent conditioning training for the coming tournament that he, Hawlucha, and Conkeldurr were entering and competing with each other for the honor of winning it for Ash. The fact that Lucario was still standing was something that Ash noticed and capitalized on.
"Bone Rush." Ash ordered before Scrafty had even landed on the ground as he pressed his sudden advantage and used one of the two new moves that Lucario had learned over the last few weeks. "Show Scrafty what you can do with that move Lucario."
Lucario barked in agreement at the choice as Ash's passive aura filled him through their connection and he created the bone of aura in his paws the way he'd seen that impressive Lucario he'd fought when he'd evolved used. He then spun it and struck Scrafty before it could react or defend against his move.
The move itself was a ground type attack and didn't do much damage on its own, though Scrafty was neither weak nor resistant to the type, but it did strike more than once. In this instance it struck 4 times as Lucario swung the bone first into the side of Scrafty's head just as it landed on the ground, then it's neck as it spun around with Lucario pressing forward for a third sweep of the bone that caught Scrafty in the shoulder before the final blow came down onto Scrafty's head right next to his crest and brought it to its knees as the bone vanished to signal the end of the move.
Scrafty was still in the battle though as he cried out to his trainer to let him know that he could still fight. Clearly Adam heard this and acted on it, using the close quarters that usually occurred when two fighting types went at it to his advantage in his counter attack.
"High Jump Kick." Adam yelled out.
"Brace and use Reversal as soon as it lands." Ash said seeing his chance to hopefully end this fight if Lucario could withstand the High Jump Kick. "It's too close to dodge but I know you can take it Lucario. Remember our training for fighting like this without moves, use it with Reversal."
Lucario barked in agreement as Scrafty pulled its skin up and leapt with a round house kick aimed at Lucario's head. However, thanks to training, especially with Hawlucha who liked to use similar jumping kicks when they had sparred, Lucario got his right arm up and too the blow on his forearm, leaning into it to steady himself and pushing through the pain he felt from the super effective attack.
He was fully feeling his aura connection with Ash and that fueled him to maintain his brace through the kick and then when it was over he countered. There was no way for Scrafty to avoid what happened next. He'd trained with Hawlucha to block a similar kick attack and counter with a palm heal strike.
All he had to change now was to add his Reversal to it. This was the weakest his Reversal had ever been, Ash had previously used it at when Lucario was on his last legs in order to win a battle not knowing that Lucario was only still standing thanks to Ash's battle aura in him, and thus his Reversal was at its strongest as he was at his weakest but now that he didn't know Counter anymore he had to use Reversal whenever it was convenient.
That didn't mean it was weak by any measure. Lucario had lost a decent chunk of health thanks to a Payback that did average damage due to being after he'd hit Scrafty with Aura Sphere and a High Jump Kick that was Super Effective, so his Reversal was still going to hurt his opponent a lot. He put it all into it, drawing on Ash's aura as well, to land a series of rapid-fire palm heal strikes to Scrafty's head and chest in the all-out attack before the last one struck the Hoodlum Pokémon in the center of its chest and blasted it back hard.
Lucario held the pose of his right forepaw out as Scrafty hit the ground hard on his trainer's side of the battlefield and bounce a few times before it rolled across the battlefield until it came to a stop at its human's feet. Only then did Lucario breath out and return to a ready stance as Scrafty lay one its back, bruised, battered and with swirls for eyes. The super effective and above average powered Reversal had been the last straw for it, and it had been out before it hit the ground.
"Scrafty is unable to battle." May declared raising a hand to Ash's side of the battlefield. "Lucario is the winner."
"Scrafty return." Adam said recalling his Pokémon and looking at the Poke Ball in his hand. "You did great my friend. That match was tough to begin with given the types at play, though we were even with fighting type attacks, and that Aura Sphere was a great start by them. Ash's Lucario has really improved since I saw it as a Riolu a few months ago so don't feel bad. You got a few good hits in, and we know what to work on from that both for the tournament and other gym battles."
"Lucario return." Ash said recalling Lucario at the same time Adam recalled Scrafty and looking at Lucario's Poke Ball. "You were great my friend but take a break. I want all 3 of you to get experience today so you can rest until I need you again if one of the others fall."
"Thank you." Adam said and Ash looked up to see that the Hoenn boy had heard him and now had a fresh Poke Ball in his hand having put away Scrafty's while Ash had been speaking to Lucario. "I was hoping to face all three of your fighting types, but I wasn't sure I could beat two of your Pokémon, so this is good."
"Well, I know from experience and watching many battles that anything can happen in one, but I want all my Pokémon to get experience, so this is best." Ash said pulling out his second Poke Ball. "So, time for my second. Conkeldurr, I choose you."
"Hitmonlee, time to fight." Adam said throwing out his Poke Ball a second after Ash's. "I've faced a few Conkeldurrs back when I was in Unova, so I am looking forward to facing another one."
The balls burst open at almost the same time and a moment later Conkeldurr found himself opposite a strong looking fighting type he'd never seen before. The Pokémon was about a meter and a half tall and an off brown with angry eyes and corded, light brown muscles on its legs and forearms. It had three fingers and toes with odd yellow patches for heels. However, the strangest thing to Conkeldurr was that it had no mouth to at all, but it still spoke somehow as it growled a challenge at him. Whatever the case, this was clearly a strong fighting type who could use its legs so a worthy foe for Conkeldurr to face.
"What is that Pokémon?" Serena asked as her and Pancham looked at it as she pulled out her Pokedex to find out more about whatever a Hitmonlee was. "I've never seen one of those before."
"It's a Kanto fighting type, I've seen and faced a few in my time." Ash said. "Though I'm not sure how you got one Adam."
"Interestingly I didn't get it in Kanto, but Unova as it was a gift as an egg from Marshal, he's one of their Elite Four members." Adam said. "I got him as an egg that hatched into a Tyrogue shortly before I left Unova for Kanto. I wasn't sure which of the three evolutions he'd take but I am more than happy it was Hitmonlee when he evolved in Saffron City last year as it gave me a whole new style of fighting to work with."
"Hitmonlee, the Kicking Pokémon." Serena's Pokedex chimed bringing their attention back to her and as it gave a description of it for them all to hear. "The legs freely contract and stretch. The stretchy legs allow it to hit a distant foe with a rising kick."
"Last time I saw one was in the Saffron Dojo I think." May said as she finally placed the Pokémon before her with her memories of her past travels with Ash. "Remember, it was around the time I compete in the Saffron Contest when we had that little adventure."
"Oh yeah that was interesting, I used the Master's Hitmonlee in fact." Ash said recalling the side adventure there that involved the old sensei of the dojo trying to give it to his son but the son wanting to be a noodle maker and some other student wanting to take over to keep the dojo alive with it all working out in the end if Ash was remembering correctly. "All three Tyrogue evolutions were involved in that adventure. It was a good time."
"I spent several months at that dojo last year training hard to master the type with Master Terri there, she really helped me a lot though I could never best her Hitmontop." Adam said. "As well as some dude called Anthony who helped some though he has a Hitmonchan not a Hitmonlee which meant that all 3 of us had the three evolutions which made for some fun sparring matches. There was also a woman called Sabi who would come by every week with a really strong Gallade to train together who taught me a lot."
"I remember Anthony, he trained my Primeape for me for many years." Ash said. "Ran into him last year by accident as he was on his way to Saffron while we were heading to Celadon. That's how I got Primeape back as he recognized me in some random roadside diner that Dawn, and I had stopped in. I think he was heading to the dojo in fact."
"Wait that champion Primeape that Anthony kept raving about was your?" Adam asked his eyes wide in shock. "He said it was one of the strongest fighting types he'd ever seen in terms of raw strength, and he made it into an unbeatable champion on the P1 circuit out there. Shame I never got to face it as he said he'd run into Primeape's trainer on his was to Saffron the first time I met him and returned it at last."
"Yup that was me." Ash said with a nod. "Primeape finally returned, and he helped me win my full battle with Erika by taking out her Bellossom and Vileplume with the latter being for the win and he was in my last 16 match with Conway in the Indigo Conference."
"Oh yeah I remember that one, I didn't realize that was the Primeape that Anthony had raved about, but you were using it in a proper battle not a P1 match, so it didn't register with me." Adam said. "It was really good though, took out that Lickilicky with a clever use of its tongue as part of that Seismic Toss, a tactic I'd never seen before. Shame Conway subbed so fast and used Hypno to his advantage there to knock Primeape out."
"Well, that is how a battle should work, I can't fault Conway for using good tactics against me despite my victory in the end." Ash said with a shrug. "But let's continue ours, shall we. Conkeldurr, start with Fling."
"Dodge and counter with Rolling Kick." Adam said as Conkeldurr hefted his pillars to throw them at Hitmonlee. "Get in close before it can retrieve them."
Hitmonlee nodded as he ran as the first pillar was thrown and leapt high into the air to avoid it, using his strong leg muscles to get clear of it. Conkeldurr had expected this after seeing his opponent's impressive looking leg muscles and remembering Hawlucha doing something similar, so he had sent the second pillar higher.
However, he'd underestimated how high Hitmonlee could jump. Rather than slam into Hitmonlee's chest as planned, the tip of the pillar only clipped the other fighting type's feet. Hitmonlee rolled with the hit that wasn't very effective thanks to his resistance to dark type attacks, and the fact that it was only a glancing blow, as he spun forward to bring his feet to bear on a surprised Conkeldurr.
In fact, the attack had been perfect for Hitmonlee as Rolling Kick involved spinning as part of the move and Conkeldurr had put him into a spin inadvertently that helped him increase the speed of the attack. He used that to his advantage as he brought his heel down, spinning faster than usual with the move, right onto Conkeldurr's head before landing in front of Conkeldurr on the balls of his feet.
Conkeldurr wailed in pain from the attack and fell to his knees from the force of the blow. However, Hitmonlee was still close, and Ash wasn't out of this fight yet. It had devolved to close quarters as expected in a fighting type brawl that was heavy on the fighting type attacks and Conkeldurr had the perfect move to get back into it.
"Drain Punch." Ash ordered.
"Dodge and counter with Blaze Kick." Adam said as Conkeldurr balled his right hand into a fist ready to punch his foe and get some health back.
As Conkeldurr punched, Hitmonlee showed his agility by leaping up with one leg and avoiding it. As he was in the aid, he spun his body, his right leg out and the foot on fire to strike Conkeldurr across the cheek with his blazing foot.
Conkeldurr roared in pain from the blow that was a critical one and pushed him further down on health as Hitmonlee landed again in front of him. However, Ash had seen this and given an order as soon as he'd realized that Drain Punch had missed so that this time the attack came as Hitmonlee landed and couldn't avoid it even if he wanted to.
"Chip Away." Ash called out. "Find that opening."
Conkeldurr roared and punched out at Hitmonlee as he recovered from the second hit he'd taken and glad that the Blaze Kick hadn't burned him. This time he struck before Hitmonlee could move, his punch hitting it in the gut, well what Conkeldurr thought was Hitmonlee's gut anyway, and sending it back as he found the opening and landed the attack this time doing the standard amount of damage against his fellow fighting type.
Hitmonlee let out a grown as he was thrown back by the force of the blow and flipped to land a few feet away. Already though his trainer had seen what was going on and was ready to win this with just the move before Conkeldurr could get up and possibly avoid the attack.
"Jump Kick." Adam ordered. "Don't miss."
"Dodge." Ash called out as Conkeldurr tried to get to his feet. "Then counter with Hammer Arm before Hitmonlee can get up."
Alas it was too little too late as Hitmonlee was already in the air with his right leg out by the time that Ash had spoken. Before Conkeldurr could fully get up the lunging kick struck him in the chest and Hitmonlee rode him down ground before leaping off with a forward flip and twist so that he was standing and facing Conkeldurr in a ready position in case the Muscular Pokémon was still in the fight.
However, that was not necessary. The Jump Kick had been the last straw for Conkeldurr, and he had been forced past his limit and fainted before he'd landed on the ground. He just lay there on his back, arms splayed and swirls for eyes.
"Conkeldurr is unable to battle." May declared raising an arm to Adam's side as Hitmonlee bowed to his opponent and headed back to Adam. "Hitmonlee is the winner."
"Conkeldurr return." Ash said recalling his Pokémon, the concrete pillars getting recalled as well as they were technically held items by Conkeldurr. "That was more than we expected for sure my friend. That Hitmonlee is exceptionally flexible, and its kicks are really good, he's been trained well for sure. Don't feel bad, we'll practice on defending against that and how to use your own muscles to counter kicks in the future."
"Stay in Hitmonlee." Adam said as Ash put Conkeldurr away and pulled out his third Poke Ball of the battle. "I think I know who Ash will use next and I want you to get some practice against it as it is a tough opponent for you but will test your accuracy so we can't pass this up."
"Hitmonlee." Hitmonlee said with a nod of its body.
"Hawlucha, I choose you." Ash said throwing out his third and final fighting type. "Let's see how Hitmonlee's mobility stacks up to yours."
The ball burst open and Ash's fighting and flying type appeared before him, wings splayed and ready to fight. He'd been eager for a good battle for a while as he hadn't had a fight since he'd lost to that Machoke.
All this training for the tournament had him eager for battle as he prepared for it and to win it for Ash. The three fighting types were competing with each other as well. They all wanted the honor of winning the tournament both for themselves, for Ash and to see who was the strongest of them without moves. Conkeldurr had told him of how the ranks back at the ranch worked, as had Pikachu and Charizard, and Hawlucha was looking forward to a big win to take home and show it off to the other fighting types when he finally met them.
"As I expected, it's time to face Hawlucha." Adam said. "Ok Hitmonlee, as this is some really good training for us, we are going to go for it. Jump Kick again. Don't miss, show off your mobility."
"Hawlucha, dodge that and then counter with Flying Press." Ash said. "If I remember correctly, that move has a nasty side effect if it misses though I am not sure what it is."
Hawlucha just nodded as he began running at his opponent who had already begun running at him. Then, at the last moment, right as Hitmonlee jumped at him, he leapt into the air and spread his wings to catch the wind currents. He'd been training with Fletchinder, and when he was present Charizard, to glide better and now he was going to show that as he turned his wings such that with his flat speed he shot upwards just as the jumping kick reached him so that Hitmonlee soared under him, eyes wide, as he missed.
Hitmonlee was too shocked by the miss to register the crash that happened when he hit the ground and rolled over, losing half his health as his attack had missed. As this was happening, Hawlucha backflipped and spun to face the heap that was Hitmonlee. Then he tucked his arms in and corkscrewed down to the grown while glowing with fighting type power. At the last moment, and before Hitmonlee could get up or his trainer could react, he opened his wings and landed on the still downed fighting type.
There was a loud crash followed by a plume of dust shooting into the air. When it cleared Hawlucha was standing, one foot on Hitmonlee, looking to the sky as he made a pose with his arms to show his victory off to all those watching. Under him was the battered body of Hitmonlee that lay there with swirls for eyes.
"Hitmonlee is unable to battle." May declared raising an arm to Ash's side as Hawlucha hopped off Hitmonlee and backed up to Ash though he never stopped looking at the trainer his was facing. "Hawlucha is the winner."
"Hitmonlee return." Adam said recalling his Pokémon and looking at the Poke Ball. "Well done, you scored my first ever battle win over Ash by beating his Conkeldurr, a strong fighting type and one you should be proud that you bested. That Hawlucha is just faster than you because of its flying type so don't feel bad for losing that my friend. Once you missed with that Jump Kick you lost a lot of health, a Flying Press like that would be too much for you to handle right now. We will get stronger though."
"So that's what happens when a Jump Kick misses, it reduces health." Ash said keeping Hawlucha in for the experience. "I knew something happened but wasn't sure what it was."
"Yeah it's a rare move that causes damage to the Pokémon if it misses though nothing if it hits so it's not classified as a recoil attack." Adam said putting the Poke Ball away and pulling out his third one of the battle. "Hitmonlee lost about half his health or so and then that Flying Press was impressive, we weren't dodging that one. It's Hawlucha's signature move, no other Pokémon can learn it and as your Hawlucha is the first of its kind that I've ever faced so I had no idea what to expect. It's made me want to catch one even more."
"Huh I didn't know that." Ash said though now that he thought on it it did make sense as the move was an aerial fighting type move that required wings to perform it seemed and as Hawlucha was the only flying and fighting type that Ash had ever heard of it had to be unique to him. "Well, stay in Hawlucha. Let's see Adam's last Pokémon off together."
"Hawlucha." Hawlucha said with a nod ready to score another victory for himself and Ash against whoever this other human sent at him.
"I don't know, he recently evolved and is eager for more experience." Adam said as he threw out the ball. "Pangoro, time to fight."
The ball burst open to reveal Pancham's evolved form to Ash for the first time. It looked like a much bigger, meaner, hairier version of Pancham with white fur on its belly, a fur cloak on its back, and a leaf in its mouth. Ash had to pull out his Pokedex to scan it and find out more about it.
"Pangoro, the Daunting Pokémon and the evolved form of Pancham." The Pokedex chimed once it identified Pangoro. "Although it possesses a violent temperament, it won't put up with bullying. It uses the leaf in its mouth to sense the movements of its enemies. It should be noted that Pancham can only evolve into Pangoro if the trainer has a dark type Pokémon on them at the same time. The reason for this phenomenon is still unknown beyond the fact that it is required but the fact that Pangoro adds a dark type to its fighting type upon evolution could be part of it."
"Wait that's why Pancham won't evolve?" Serena asked confused and a little surprised at the extra information the Pokedex provided. "He can only evolve if I have another dark type on me?"
"Pancham." Pancham said with a nod from her lap as he looked at his evolved form with awe at its raw power though he also didn't want to evolve into it just yet as he liked how his current size worked for what he loved doing. "Pan, Pancham, pan."
"Yeah it's an odd evolution for sure." Adam admitted as Pangoro and Hawlucha eyed each other warily the way only fighting types could. "I found that out after catching him as a Pancham shortly after we got to Kalos. Thankfully I brought Scrafty with me, he's also a dark type so that was the one in my party that allowed my Pancham to evolve when he was ready to do so."
"I didn't know that." Serena said looking down at Pancham. "Do you want to evolve Pancham?"
"Pancham." Pancham said shaking his head. "Pan, pan, Pancham."
"Alright then I won't try and catch a dark type anytime soon." Serena said simply.
"So, it's also a dark type." Ash mused as he put the Pokedex away again. "That means that it's weak to fighting type moves just like Scrafty was. Good to know. Hawlucha, start this off with High Jump Kick."
"Brace and then use Vital Throw." Adam said. "My Pangoro may be weak to his own type thanks to the type he gains upon evolution, but his moves are perfect to counter all his issues I feel and give him an edge on his greatest weakness."
"We shall see." Ash said as Hawlucha ran at Pangoro who just stood there grinning at his opponent.
At the last minute, Hawlucha leapt into the air and twisted his body, his lower right leg glowing with fighting type power as he launched a savage High Jump Kick. The blow struck Pangoro on the cheek and snapped his head to the side as he grunted in pain from the super effective attack, but he didn't move or lose his leaf. Then, as Hawlucha was falling to the ground, Pangoro grabbed the leg that had kicked him in his left hand and held in a vice like grip.
Before anyone could react, Pangoro raised Hawlucha above his head and threw the wrestling Pokémon down to the ground as hard as he could. Hawlucha hit it a split second later, the breath being driven from his lungs but thankfully his flying type mitigated the damage from the blow, so it wasn't that effective. Still, it was so strong that he bounce up off the ground from the force of the impact.
"Karate Chop." Ash said seeing the bounce and trying to capitalize on it.
"Bullet Punch." Adam said with a grin. "This is the second part of the combo we've developed, as well as my opener against a fairy type."
Before Hawlucha could use his Karate Chop, Pangoro's right fist glowed with steel type power, and he slammed it into Hawlucha's chest from above at a speed that Ash couldn't see with his naked eye. One-minute Hawlucha was in the air, the next he was driven hard into the ground with a crash that billowed enough dust into the air to cover him. Still, Ash knew that Hawlucha was in it and used that dust to his advantage. Hawlucha did have a new move and thanks to Pangoro's new dark type it was no longer resistant to it.
"X-Scissor." Ash called out. "And follow it up with Karate Chop before Pangoro can recover."
Before the dust settled, Hawlucha heard his human's order and with a cry, his used all four of his limbs to push off of the ground and arch into the air. He shot out of the dust, arms behind him, talons glowing with bug type power that he brought to bear as he slashed them in an X-shape across Pangoro's face.
Pangoro bellowed in pain as he staggered back from the attack as Hawlucha landed. He was no longer resistant to the bug type attack and as such he took the standard amount of damage from it. Hawlucha didn't care though, he was still moving forward and launched his Karate Chop as Pangoro backed up from the X-Scissor, pressing his advantage. Hawlucha's left hand became flat and glowed with fighting type power as he chopped it across Pangoro's belly, it was the nearest part of Pangoro to him and ensured he'd strike the dual type before it could get another attack off.
As soon as the fighting type move hit Pangoro he knew that it was over. The super effective attack would have pushed him to the very edge had it been normal but unbeknownst to Hawlucha it was a critical hit and that, combined with the High Jump Kick and X-Scissor was too much for the Daunting Pokémon to handle as his eyes rolled back as he kept staggering back from the follow up attack, already out cold. Rather than stop, he just fell over backwards and crashed into the ground with a loud thud and a small cloud of dust, laying there on his back with swirls for eyes as Adam stared in shock at him.
"Pangoro is unable to battle." May said raising her hand to Ash's side as Hawlucha panted, surprised that he'd won but glad that he had. "Hawlucha is the winner. Adam is out of Pokémon in this battle. That means that the winner is Ash."
"Way to go Hawlucha." Ash said with a smile as Hawlucha turned to run back to him to celebrate. "You were great."
"Hawlucha." Hawlucha said as he leapt into Ash's arms for a hug, he'd earned it after back-to-back wins, though he'd have to thank whoever on his team had caused his first opponent enough damage to ensure that his Flying Press defeated it.
"Pikachu." Pikachu said encouragingly, praising his teammate's victor. "Pi, Pikachu."
"Pangoro, return." Adam said recalling the Pokémon. "I guess that Karate Chop was a critical hit if it caused you to go down at the end like that, it does have a better than normal ratio in battle similar to Hitmonlee's Blaze Kick. You were still great in that battle though and that combo worked perfectly. If you had survived I know that we would have had that Hawlucha."
"Really?" Ash asked as he recalled Hawlucha. "Are you sure?"
"I think so." Adam said looking up at Ash as he put away Pangoro's ball. "Pangoro's moves are balanced to counter a good few of his weaknesses. The Bullet Punch is steel so works great against fairy types, he's a dark type so psychic moves don't work on him, but he knows Payback for psychic types to ensure victory over them, and he knows Aerial Ace for fighting types."
"That is a good range of moves for Pangoro to know." Ash admitted. "Pretty balanced for sure."
"Thanks." Adam said. "I was going to use the last one if he was still standing as flying types aren't resistant to their own type and then follow it up with another Bullet Punch for the win if need be. Bullet Punch is a priority move, only a move like Fake Out or Protect is faster that I know of, so I use it either to open against a fairy type or as a follow up attack should I need to press a situation."
"That probably would have done it for Hawlucha." Ash admitted. "And that explains why you hit that Bullet Punch right after the Vital Throw."
"Yes, that's actually part of a special combo I use with Pangoro now that he knows those moves." Adam said. "Vital Throw is a low priority move, it will always go second in a battle, but it won't miss so Pangoro takes the hit and then uses it. Then, on the bounce as we have trained, he uses Bullet Punch to turn the tables on his opponent. Unfortunately, you are better and showed it there. X-Scissor is a bug type move that I was not expecting at all and Pangoro lost his resistance to it upon evolving so it did a standard amount of damage. You then capitalized by pressing that advantage."
"It was what worked." Ash said with a shrug. "Not sure if it will again but I'm glad it did when I needed it to do so."
"Well, it certainly showed me how much more I have to go to be at your level Ash." Adam said with a bow of his head. "So, thank you for the battle."
"It was my pleasure; I had a lot of fun and learned a few things from it." Ash said with a smile. "But let's move on. May, Serena, who's next?"
"I'll go next." May said. "You're better at this refereeing thing than I am so you can take over for me and Serena. Well and Dawn whenever she returns from her chat with Emily."
"Sounds good." Ash said as he and Pikachu headed to the ref spot while May made her way to the box Ash had just vacated, pulling a Poke Ball out as she walked.
"Works for me." Adam said as Ash reached his spot. "I don't mind the order, I'm just eager for the next battle."
"Alright same rules as with my match with Adam as this is a standard battle." Ash said once he was ready. "However, it is a one-on-one battle so only one Pokémon each before we have a winner of this battle. Understood?"
"Yup, let's do this." May said as Adam pulled out his Poke Ball and nodded.
"Ok, then begin." Ash said starting the match between May and Adam.
"Poliwrath, time to fight!" Adam said throwing out his Poke Ball.
"Blaziken, on stage." May said throwing out her Poke Ball. "Start with…"
Ah I can't resist a good old-fashioned cliffhanger, and this was too perfect to pass up. I will leave it up to y'all's imaginations to determine who won the other battles that occurred. Only real big thing to note is that the mention of Anthony is actually a reference to the 10th Supplement to Dreams where Anthony and Ash's discussion that led to Primeape's return occurred (it was the first of so far 3 retroactive Supplements in this series). In that conversation Anthony actually makes a reference to Adam though not by name, he simply refers to him as a fighting specialist from Hoenn with an encyclopedic knowledge about Pokémon as Anthony hadn't met Adam yet and this is the first reference to Adam. Also yes, the Sabi referred to in both this Supplement and the other one that was released today is Sabrina and her Gallade who debuted in Angie I in Problems of the Heart. However, that is all I have for now so I will leave this Supplement off here. As always please continue favorite and follow both me and this story to keep abreast with new releases and keep the reviews coming. Until next time.
Stringdog