Clubsplosion Time!
"Bonemerang!"
Cubone threw his bone across the practice field, striking Espeon clean in the face before flying back and landing in Cubone's grasp.
"Bone, bone!" Cubone chanted happily as Espeon collapsed to her side from exhaustion.
Professor Venom had his arms crossed, silently shaking his head as his eyes were locked on Espeon. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, a few weeks ago he'd had his class perform a mock battle against his Toxicroak and that Ketchum boy was the only one that left a mark on him. And yet here they were, everybody still approximately at the same progression but he had repeatedly lost to Gary, Giselle, Zach, and even Flash whenever he had the class pair up and battle one another. He'd seen the power that Espeon possessed first hand, there had to be a way to unlock it and control it!
"Balls!" Flash shouted out with a rather cross look as Electabuzz once again laid at Lucario's paws.
"Embarrassing performance, Ketchum." Venom coldly singled him out before turning his back to the class.
Ash grit his teeth from annoyance, not from having lost but the Professor consistently being a prick lately towards him. No wonder it was hard coming out of things with a win!
Zach placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Don't let him get to you, there's more to battles than just winning."
"Easy for you to say," Flash muttered from behind him. "I've never beaten you."
"You did great, babe." Giselle wrapped her arm around Flash and gave him a reassuring smile. "Lucario are stronger the more powerful connection they have with their trainer, and those two have known each other since they were practically babies so it's natural that they'd be difficult to beat!"
"That's right, everything's a bit fuzzy from back then but I know Lucario and I've known each other since we were babies." Lucario nodded his head in confirmation with a light growl.
"Alright class, enough chitchat." Venom silenced them as his eyes narrowed. "This weekend we're going to Castelia City but it's not your usual sort of trip you see, there's a tournament going on there for junior trainers such as yourselves and I've put some money on one of you reaching the finals and winning this thing. If one of you win... I'll throw you a pizza party."
"Wow that's oddly generous of you," Flash spoke up. "Usually you'd be all 'lose and I'll give you so much detention that you lose any sort of social life that you posses!'"
"Thank you for reminding me, fail me and... you'll regret it."
"It says here that Clubsplosions are a often recurring sight within the Unova region, they're hosted in various places and at random times throughout the region with different prizes all the time, ranging from stuff like a full set of evolution stones to... feathers, worthless prize if you ask me." Zach read from his Rotom Phone as they departed from the plane shortly upon arriving in Castelia City. "The battling system can also change from singular one on one battles, to sometimes being tag team tournament or engaging in the battling style known as Triple Battle... the heck is that?"
"Oh that reminds me, you all need to pick a tag team partner." Venom suddenly announced, causing everyone to silently glare at him. "What? You have to expect all kinds of shock and surprises as a trainer, you know."
"Yeah but you could at least have told us on the plane-"
"Not that you'd have heard him, mister Snorlax." Flash smirked at his rival in a teasing manner. "Anyways I pick Giselle cause y'know, we're dating?"
"Leaf, shall we?" Ash asked only to see her looking towards Gary.
"Hm? Oh, I'd love to Ash but Gary asked first..." Leaf did look disappointed but she wasn't about to outright decline her other best friend the chance of teaming up with her.
"Snooze you lose, sorry Ash!" Gary smirked.
"That leaves, Broc-" Ash turned only to see that Misty had beaten him to the punch.
"So Ash, wanna team up?" Zach offered his hand with a friendly smile.
Ash winded up taking it, giving his friend a light shake while forming a large grin. "Sure, let's make sure to give it our all!"
"And it'd be fun, all these Pokemon from Unova that we've never seen before... our Pokemon are the same to them, Lucario and Espeon aren't exactly common out in these parts."
"Make sure to stick together and stick with your partner at all times when traversing through the city. Castelia City is a big place and easy to get lost in!" Venom explained.
And his words would prove to be correct as upon exiting the airport a collective gasp could be heard from the group as the city was quite unlike any anyone in the class had seen before. Tall skyscrapers lined the city skylines for miles, the streets were packed with cars and the sidewalks were heavily crowded.
"Stick close, Scorbunny." Zach got a tighter grip on the Fire starter as he feared losing her within the crowd. Lucario let out a nervous growl at the sight of the crowd before edging closer to his trainer. "I don't like it either just relax, it'll be over once we get there."
"Liberate Pokemon! For too long they've been slaves for us humans and forced to engage in battles for our entertainment! But that can all come to an end, join up with Team Plasma and we can work together to liberate Pokemon and live in harmony once more!"
"What a bunch of lunes," Zach noticed a bunch of men and women dressed in strange attire that appeared to be a bit knight-like in design along with a strange P emblem across their chests.
"No sense of fashion whatsoever," Giselle added.
"Like any of us are stupid enough to fall for that garbage," Flash scoffed.
"I don't know, they talk a lot of sense to me." A trainer with long green hair appeared, his eyes locked onto the Team Plasma members. "A lot of trainers see nothing as tools," Ash immediately thought of Goh and Damien as he said that. "Or weapons to serve some higher purpose like those Team Rocket thugs. With people like that out there in the world perhaps we really ought to free Pokemon from human control."
"Oh please if it weren't for me then Scorbunny would probably have been beaten to a pulp, and Ash's Charmander would be long dead had Ash not rescued him after he was abandoned!" Zach retaliated with a light growl.
"They wouldn't even have been in those situations if it weren't for humans though," N countered resulting in Zach and Lucario's eyes narrowing to slits as they glared at him.
"Man forget this prick, let's go." Flash grabbed a hold of his rival's arm and began leading him away. "He doesn't know what he's missing, the thrill of battle is shared by both us and our Pokemon! Nobody's forcing anyone to fight here."
N watched them go, his eyes lingering on Zach and Ash for a moment before turning around and disappearing into the crowd. There was something strange about those two...
"Well here we are, Castelia Stadium. Former home of the Unova League before it moved up north to prevent even bigger crowds and to help boost the economy of towns that way."
"Venom, old chum is that really you?" The voice seemed to make Professor Venom flinch before turning around to face the newcomer as a man his age had appeared, appearing to have the same profession as he was currently donned in a lab coat. Perhaps they were former partners? He also appeared quite the opposite of him as the man looked quite friendly and his hair had a bright colorful teal look to it unlike Venom's sinister looking purple hair.
"Dr. Yung," Venom coldly replied while giving the man a cold look. "What are you doing here? Last I heard you were on a expedition to find the mythical Mew."
"Well that sort of stuff isn't easy when you've got a son to look out for, I've been teaching him myself to make sure he gets a proper education."
Venom snarled at that before his eyes landed upon a boy Ash's age, a Sneasel draped across his shoulder not so different from the way Froakie and Scorbunny rode on their respective trainer's shoulders. The boy's skin and eye color were a perfect match for Yung's but his hair appeared to have been dyed black as a single strand of teal hair was visible in the right light. He was dressed completely in black too, having a goth vibe going as his black jacket had spikes across the shoulders.
"Chase here is going to take home the win, aren't you?"
"Whatever it takes," Chase simply replied, his expression hardly changing.
"Is that so? Well it just so happens that one of my students will win!"
"Surely not that one? No offense but he looks weak," Chase replied while pointing at Flash.
"Hey!"
"Whatever, you all better hurry up or it'd be too late."
"He has a point," Giselle pointed at the registration line where another male trainer with a strange green snake Pokemon could be seen registering while standing next to a blonde girl who appeared to be holding an orange and black pig Pokemon.
"Oh you can do it, Tepig! You're the cutest Pokemon here!" The blonde practically squealed as she held the pig closer to her chest. Her partner merely scoffed and rolled his eyes as the pair walked away.
"It takes more than just looks, you know. Alder's Pokemon aren't lookers but they're quite strong and intimidating, being 'cute' has nothing to do with it."
"Oh don't be such a sour puss, Trip. We're here to have fun!"
"I'd much prefer winning one of those eggs though, who knows what kind of Pokemon reside within!"
"Eggs...?!" That seemed to have caught Brock's attention. "I've always wanted to raise a Pokemon from an egg."
"Well maybe you'll get the chance," Misty remarked as they signed up.
And sure enough once they got to the registration point, Ash noticed a large display full of eggs of all sizes and colors.
"Wow just look at all these eggs, Espeon! I wonder what's inside,"
"Lucario knows," Zach looked at his partner who nodded in confirmation. "But I'm not going to spoil the surprise."
Venom parted ways with them as the class made their way towards the entrance to the stadium's battlefield where a man with a rather large and muscular build stood at the center of, addressing the crowd and challengers.
"Welcome one and all to yet another Clubsplosion! I'm your host, Don George and today will be different from usual as we're letting the younger generation shine here today! We'll see some bonds form and some of you will get a new member added to your team as the winners will each receive an egg of their choice from our vast selection that our local daycare was most generous to provide for the competition. Now spectators, sit back and enjoy the show, maybe even buy some snacks too for you're in for a very long show! Contestants range from our very one Castelia Academy run by Professor Juniper to Professor Oak's students at Vermilion Academy! Along with a few others like Rustboro Academy!" Ash noticed a group of trainers that appeared to be from Hoenn as there was a rather excitable looking trainer with a Beldum standing next to a much calmer looking trainer whose partner appeared to be a Meowth wearing clothes? Needless to say the competition looked quite fierce as there were a few evolved Pokemon also present like a Liepard and Cacturne.
"Each trainer will use one Pokemon in each round, you may switch in between rounds but until the battle ends you're stuck with whatever you chose. To make it interesting though, all four trainers will pick their Pokemon at once! No delaying as I want everyone to be on edge and ready for anything! And now that we've got all that out of the way, let's start off the show!" The crowd roared with excitement as the screen lit up above the battlefield, displaying the teams before shuffling them around. Ash tried paying attention to his group in the shuffle but lost it a few times, soon enough it came to a stop and he was able to get a good look at things.
"Looks like we're paired up against some girl named Iris and a bloke named Hugh."
"Well at least they're not from our school, I can't wait to see what Pokemon they will use!" Ash grinned as they made their way towards the part of the arena dedicated to their battle. It appeared Flash and Giselle had a match going on too as they walked in a different direction.
"So your our challengers?" A male trainer with hair that almost resembled a Qwilfish stood across the field, looking the two over as he kept a tight grip on a Pokeball. "Don't look that impressive to me, sorry to say."
A female trainer with a darker shade of skin stood next to him, wearing quite the unusual looking outfit with an odd purple hairstyle to match. A small dragon type Pokemon stood on her shoulder, seeming to be sizing Ash and Espeon up as his trainer let off a light smirk. "That one's just a kid!"
"What did you call me?!" Ash gritted his teeth, looking like he was about to lunge out at her for a moment before Zach grabbed his arm.
"Save it for the battle, you don't want to get us disqualified do you?"
Ash paused for a moment, knowing that his friend was right. He could easily prove Iris wrong by besting her in battle, perhaps then she'd drop that stupid childish tone of hers.
"Trainers on your mark, get set... go!"
"Scorbunny!"
"Froakie!"
"Liepard!"
"Axew!"
Scorbunny leaped from her trainer's shoulder before taking the field, giving her opponents a confident smirk before crossing her arms while Zach's eyes flickered between Liepard and Axew.
"I'll focus on Liepard, no offense to Froakie but Scorbunny's the more experienced of our team. You can handle Axew on your own?"
"Sure thing, I'd love to show her a thing or two anyhow." Ash remarked before pulling back his cap. "Froakie, use Water Pulse!"
Froakie opened his mouth before sending out a powerful blast of water flying at Axew, knocking the Dragon type back while Ash could see that Scorbunny had fired off what appeared to be an Electro Ball attack which seemed to give Hugh and Liepard as big a shock as he did upon seeing Scorbunny utilize the attack! Zach sure spent a lot of time training and teaching his Pokemon rare moves, he wondered if perhaps he could help him teach one of his Pokemon at some point. They needed something other than Return to rely upon.
Liepard recovered quick however and had began firing off a dark looking pulse of energy at Scorbunny, the rabbit proved to be too quick however as she easily ran away before coming at Liepard from behind and giving the feline a good double kicking as the feline yowled from pain.
Iris' attention flickered from the field for a second, her cocky expression vanishing as she knew her team was in trouble now.
"Dragon sneeze!"
"Huh-?"
"Axew!" Axew sneezed, green-blue flames of dragon energy came flying out towards Froakie.
"Dodge and use Ice beam!"
"Froa!"
Iris' eyes widened, the wild girl shaking for a brief second and tensing up as she saw the Ice attack coming right out of Froakie's mouth which soon went flying in Axew's direction, hitting the small dragon and encasing it in a block of ice as to the side she heard a loud thud as Scorbunny stood victoriously atop of Liepard.
Iris hung her head in shame before returning Axew to his ball. "What kind of Dragon master is afraid of Ice?" She muttered to herself.
Hugh returned Liepard to it's ball before bowing his head out of respect. "Good game,"
"Yeah, good game..." Iris muttered out in a bit of a sour tone, giving Ash a light glare before turning to walk away.
Chase had watched the battle unfold, his arms cross as he gazed at Ash's team. "Whatever it takes..."
After another two battles, Ash and Zach left the stadium in order to heal up their team. Their recent battle against another group of trainers had worn Goomy and Nidoran out so they were getting them healed up and prepared for later rounds as to not overwhelm the others with battles.
Zach was right behind Ash before Scorbunny suddenly shot out from his arms and took off running down the streets as the powerful aroma of sweets was too powerful for her to resist.
"Gah, Scorbunny get back here!"
"Carrrr!" Zach and Lucario took off running after their partner, leaving Ash behind as the raven haired boy sweated lightly and hoped that he'd be back in time for the next round.
"Hey watch where you're going!" Ash sweated nervously as he accidentally walked right into somebody.
"I'm sorry, I-"
"You!" Both him and Iris pointed at each other before glaring at one another once more.
"Haven't you humiliated me enough? Just go away!" Iris growled out.
"You're the one that called me a kid, besides you lost fair and square!"
"That's a load of Tauros, I-" Iris suddenly keeled over next to Ash as a blue shining powder appeared above the pair.
"We got them, Mr. Yung."
"Good, good... now go dispose of them."
"Y-You want us to...?"
"Kill them? No! What kind of animal do you take me for? Dump them out in the desert, make sure that they won't make it back in time. Only kill as a last resort!"
Thud!
"Skarrrr!"
"Ugh... what just happened?" Ash awoke to find himself in the middle of an large open desert and to make things worse, Castelia City was quite some distance away as the large skyscrapers looked like toy models from where he was standing.
"You!" Ash was suddenly tackled by Iris who looked quite mad and ticked off. "This is all your fault!"
"Espe!" Espeon's eyes lit up in a threatening manner while Ash growled out.
"How is this my fault? Do I look like I wanted to be stranded in the desert with you?!"
"Somebody wanted you and your teammate out of the way, no idea what happened to whatever your friend was called but they clearly mistook me for him!"
"Whoever it was wasn't that smart then, you two are clearly different in so many ways." Ash rolled his eyes, Iris scoffed before standing up. "Look regardless of how we feel about one another, we really ought to work together else we could be possibly die out here. Nobody knows we're here, they probably think we're still in the city. It's just you, me, and whatever lives out here."
Iris looked around and realized Ash was talking sense, besides he had a Water type so sticking with him was beneficial as they'd need water to stay properly hydrated.
"I guess... but once we get there, I never want to see you again. Deal?"
"Fine with me." Ash shrugged as the two began the long walk back to Castelia, not noticing the sand rising up behind them as a pair of reptilian eyes could be seen focusing on them with a battle starved expression.
"There you are, you're quite the troublemaker aren't you?" Zach picked up Scorbunny who was currently in the process of downing a Casteliacone, the Fire type having cut the long line and hopped right on up to help herself. Zach quickly bowed while tossing some money on the counter to pay for Scorbunny's mess. "So sorry about this, she's got a sweet tooth and can't help herself sometimes. Right Scorbunny?" He prompted the Fire type to apologize, the rabbit flattened her ears in shame after licking the rest of the cone before letting out a soft cry in apology.
"Thank you, I promise I'll buy you all the treats you want once we win this. Now we really ought to head back, Ash is probably wait-" Zach paused as he noticed some familiar figures as those Team Plasma lunes appeared to be surrounding somebody and looking quite intimidating despite their claims of peace. "I knew their talk was complete Tauros!" Zach growled out, making his way towards the grunts while behind him he and Lucario failed to notice a large muscular figure walking by with two human sized duffle bags draped over his shoulders as a female companion walked by his side, equally oblivious that one of their intended targets was right there. "Oi, you lot!"
"Hey isn't that one of the guys that was mocking 'our lord'? What's he want?" One of the grunts turned to him with an irritable expression.
"Some talk of peace and harmony, you've literally got this poor girl surrounded and threatening her!"
"I don't see how this is any of your business, you're not even from here. That rabbit ain't from these parts,"
"You would know, couch potato-ow!" His partner elbowed his stomach with a glare.
"Well unlike you lot, I care about Pokemon and humans. I can't stand seeing people being cruel or harming either, regardless of where they're from. I'm a good person," Zach glared at the Plasma grunts.
"Please this girl doesn't even like Pokemon, we overheard her talking with her friends."
"T-That's not true," The girl spoke up, clutching an orange chicken Pokemon close as she held it tightly. "I wasn't fond of Pokemon at first but Torchic ended up winning me over in the end and we aim to work together to accomplish our goals!"
"Torchic, tor!" Zach noticed Torchic was shaking just as much as his trainer, it was clear they had a close connection and were terrified of Team Plasma. Especially as they had her outnumbered five to one and from what he made of it? Torchic was her only Pokemon.
Zach took a deep breath before looking at Lucario. "Look I really don't want to do this but if you don't back off her, I'll be forced to have Lucario strike you all with Thunder punch!"
Lucario's paws sparked with electricity, proving Zach's threat to be all too real.
Team Plasma looked at one another, nodding their heads before sending out a bunch of Purrloin and Patrat.
"Welp, I tried warning you." Lucario swiftly struck out and took out Team Plasma's Pokemon who proved to be quite weak. "And looks like you're a bunch of hypocrites too, claiming it's 'evil' to own Pokemon yet you have some of your own." Zach shook his head before glaring at them once more. "Now get out of here! I don't want to see you lot again, you hear?"
Team Plasma gave him an evil glare before returning their Pokemon and quickly rushing off.
Zach turned to the girl before offering her his hand. "You're not from here either, I take it? I can take you back to the stadium if that's where you're going, I'm headed back there myself anyways." That and he wanted to make sure that Team Plasma didn't come back to try something.
The girl nodded while brushing her hair to the side and giving him a warm smile. "Sure thing, the name's May by the way."
"Ugh, my feet are killing me! I think I'm going to have to sit down-aaah!" Iris had attempted to sit down on a small patch of shade provided by a nearby cactus only for her waistline to sink right into the sand, getting trapped as the sand suddenly changed form and grew more solid around her. "T-This isn't funny, Ketchum!"
"What are you talking about? I didn't-" Ash turned only to notice a gang of crocodile Pokemon standing before him, stepping aside only to let who Ash could only assume was the leader through as the Sandile walked past the others and had on a rather fashionable shade of sunglasses above his snout.
"San, Sandile!" The Sandile growled out, giving Ash a hostile looking glare.
"Peon..." Espeon flattened her ears and gave Ash a worried look.
"You're kidding... we're trespassing on their land? It's miles and miles of sand, plenty of room to share! Besides we don't want to be here, we'd very much like to get back to the city and to our friends!"
"Sandile, sand!" The leader wasn't appearing to be having any of it as he chomped his fangs and shook his body in a manner that told Ash that it wanted to fight him.
"A Pokemon battle? Look Sandile normally I'd be all for it but Espeon and I are tuckere-"
"Dile!" Sandile proved to be playing dirty as he didn't even let the battle start officially, choosing to force one and make it on his own terms as he leaped up and smacked Espeon to the ground with his tail!
"Ugh, Espeon use Quick Attack!"
"Espe!" Espeon quickly charged at Sandile before slamming her body against the crocodile Pokemon. The Ground type shook it off before narrowing his eyes at Espeon and uttering a growl as he dived straight into the ground, disappearing from sight while his friends silently watched the battle unfold.
"Espeon, listen carefully and when you feel Sandile coming up... hit him with a Return!"
"Espe!" Espeon went silent afterwards, twitching her ears silently as she listened closely for the sound of shifting sand. Her eyes soon shot open as Sandile came up right at that moment, lunging right for Espeon before pausing mid-air and gazing upwards as his jaw dropped at the sight of the powerful charge Espeon was unleashing, slamming her body hard against the Sandile and causing him to blast off into the sky before falling towards the ground at a rapid speed!
Sandile laid in a defeated slump, swirls in his eyes as the wave disappeared.
Espeon looked worn out from the battle and heat as she soon collapsed to his side as well, Ash quickly releasing Froakie in order to get her some water. Sandile's eyes flickered open for a moment as he watched the scene unfold before closing them once more. After Espeon looked a bit freshened up and ready to go, Ash would stand up in order to face the Sandile. "So... are we free to go?"
The Sandile growled out aggressively at him before the leader's tail flicked to silence them as he stood up, nodding to them to let Ash pass.
"Thank you Sandile, I-"
"Sandile!" The leader suddenly spoke up, walking over to Ash before looking at his belt and then upwards at him. "Dile, Sandile!"
"Espe!" Espeon translated for him, stating that Sandile wished to go with him.
"Y-You want to come with me?"
"Sandile!"
"Alrighty then!" Ash grinned as he grabbed an empty Pokeball and proceeded to throw it at Sandile, the Ground type disappearing in a beam of red light seconds before the ball hit the sand and began shaking, chiming afterwards to reveal the successful capture!
"Alright, we just caught a Sandile!"
"Espe, Espeon!" Ash and Espeon did a pose while Iris paled lightly as a result of that, her eyes narrowed to slits.
"...Seriously?"
"There you are, come on you've gotta get moving-Where the heck is Ash?" Flash asked, looking around as if he hoped to see the raven haired trainer.
"What? I thought Ash was with you guys," Zach raised an eyebrow as he separated himself from May, the brunette having wrapped an arm around him as they'd walked back in order to feel safer.
"He was supposed to be with you, we were told to stick together not go hook up with girls!" Flash shouted but leaned forward and gave him a nudge to the side. "Seriously though, way to go man!" He said in a hushed tone so Giselle wouldn't hear.
"She's not my-"
"Yeah yeah, I believe you but seriously dude you've got to get out there teammate or not! If nobody gets out there in the next minute your team gets disqualified and I have no shot at beating you! The bro code says you don't let your best buds down, so win for me and Ash!"
"Two versus one? That sounds like a fun time!" Zach said sarcastically, taking a glance back in the hopes that Ash had chosen to reappear. "He's probably just lost, he always was terrible at directions..." He reassured himself as he started fearing that something may have happened to him.
"Good luck," May flashed Zach a warm smile as he walked by, hardly reacting to it as he walked towards the battlefield and proceeded to take a deep breath of air before stepping on out, tensing up almost immediately upon seeing his opponents as a trainer wearing a Cacturne outfit stood across the field next to a green haired trainer who wore a purple jacket.
"...Just one?" Don George gazed towards Zach who could only shrug in response, trying to keep calm and mask his fear as he knew this would be tricky having seen these two in action during a battle break. The Cacturne trainer had well, a Cacturne and that other trainer's main was a Roselia which would be fine against Scorbunny but she'd still have quite the hard time beating them both and it sure wouldn't be easy for Lucario despite him knowing Fire Punch.
Zach bit his lip before nodding at Scorbunny, the rabbit springing out onto the field as Zach's suspicions proved to be correct as out came Roselia and Cacturne.
"Stand back, Drew. Let a real man handle this," The Cacturne trainer smirked causing the green haired trainer to growl out, Zach raised his eyebrow as a result. The two may be a team but they didn't seem like teammates, he could potentially use that against them.
"Start off by firing Electro Ball at Cacturne, then use Flame Charge on Roselia!" A ball of electricity formed between Scorbunny's paws as she started summoning up the electric attack before firing it at Cacturne, knocking the Grass/Dark type back before covering her body in flames as she slammed into Roselia, causing the Pokemon to be sent flying into Cacturne's body, Roselia crying out as Cacturne's thorns impaled her.
"Hey, watch it you're hurting my precious Cacturne!" Harley complained, causing Drew's eyes to twitch.
"His body is a literal cactus, who do you think is hurting who?!" Drew shouted back resulting in the two glaring at one another.
"That's it, Needle Arm Roselia!" Harley shouted, causing Drew to be taken by surprise as Cacturne's arms glowed white before striking his opponent, causing Roselia to be sent flying away once more!
"Roselia!" Drew grit his teeth before glaring at Harley. "We're. A. Team. Petal Blizzard!"
Roselia stood up dazed and confused for a moment before whipping up a storm of petals and casting it upon Cacturne!
"I think we've sat aside long enough, Scorbunny use Embe-" Scorbunny listened but appeared to be doing a completely different and new attack, seeming to have replaced Ember as she slammed her hand into the ground causing large pillars of fire to erupt and rush her opponents, forming a ring of pillars around Roselia and Cacturne before forming one giant pillar of fire which engulfed the pair of Grass types as they cried out in pain and agony from the attack.
"No way, is that-?" Giselle's eyes widened.
"Incredible folks, it appears that Scorbunny has learned the move Fire Pledge in an effort to take home the win for her trainer but has she succeeded?!" The fire soon faded to reveal a soot covered Cacturne and Roselia standing upwards, their faces expressionless for a brief moment before they let out a cough and fell backwards in defeat.
"Well folks it looks like Zach managed to save his team's bacon and help them advance to the next round! His luck can't hold forever though so hopefully his teammate returns tomorrow when we continue this amazing Clubsplosion and near the ending!"
"Good job Scor-" Zach congratulated his Fire type only to sweat as she'd collapsed as a result of having put as much power to the attack as she could. Zach merely picked her up before stroking her head gently as he looked towards the stadium's exit and wondered where Ash could be.
Out in the Unova desert an excavation team was set up outside some newly discovered ruins, several objects had been extracted and were in the process of getting prepared for transport to museums and research facilities spread throughout the region. One man in particular was overseeing the operation, one Cedric Juniper the father of Professor Juniper.
"Sir, you're gonna want to see this!" One of the crew members exited from the ruins, holding up a circular black stone that looked quite ancient and seemed to have a powerful aura radiating off of it.
Cedric's eyes widened as a huge grin appeared on his face. "I knew it! This is such a marvelous discovery, we must get it to the Castelia Museum so the whole world can see and appreciate this treasure! Just think perhaps somebody we might even get lucky enough to see the legendary Pokemon within return!" Castelia City had top of the line security so there was no risk of having it out in the open, it was basically useless anyways without the proper Hero being around to awaken the beast sealed within. "I'm going to transport this there right away, this is too remarkable of a discovery to sit on!"
"Sir, we've found a couple of kids who have wandered onto the site, they claim to have be lost and are asking for a lift back to Castelia." Another member of the crew entered the ruins and motioned towards the excavation site where upon exiting Cedric spotted two trainers who appeared to be quite young for being out this far in the desert, the former Professor shook his head and couldn't help but wonder if the two fell for a dare of some kind or perhaps thought it was a cool idea for a date, people that age could be quite stupid sometimes after all.
Cedric held the dark stone close to his chest as he walked towards the trainers. "So I heard that you two need a lift back to civilization?" He asked, not bothering to ask how or why they were even out there.
"Yes please, it's so hot out and we're practically out of water!" Iris practically begged, her face drenched in sweat as Juniper looked over her before shaking his head lightly.
"Luckily for you two I'm about to head back to Castelia, so I'm more than willing to give you a ride back. So I take it you're my daughter's students?" He recalled her mentioning one of her students had an Axew at one point.
"She is, I'm just here for the junior Clubsplosion tournament which I'm currently missing." Ash sweated.
Cedric raised an eyebrow, finding it quite strange that he was out in the desert if he was scheduled to compete. "So Castelia Tournament? Got it, I'll take the two of you there. Just hop in the back and feel free to help yourselves to water from the cooler."
Cedric opened up the passenger side door and placed the dark stone carefully onto the seat, Ash and Iris finally taking notice of the strange object. Iris' eyes widened from recognition while Ash merely tilted his head as he had no knowledge of the Unova myths and legends.
"Is that what I think it is?!" Iris practically squealed out, taking Cedric by surprise before he let out a light chuckle.
"It's the dark stone, yes."
"C-Can I touch it?!" Iris was literally shaking from excitement as her eyes were set on the stone. "I-It's my dream to become a Dragon master you see and I've always dreamed that I'd get to see a legendary dragon someday!"
Cedric thought for a moment before shrugging as he gave the okay. "I don't see why not,"
Iris immediately reached out only for the excitement to quickly fade from her face as it didn't react to her touch. "I guess I'm not the one..."
Ash gave the stone a slight poke with similar results as the stone remained unphased.
"Well the Hero might not even be around in our lifetime, though I do admit that it would be quite marvelous to see the legendary Zekrom in person!"
"Zekrom? Hero...?"
"Oh Arceus, you're such a ki-" Iris stopped herself before explaining as they got into the back of Cedric's jeep. "There's an old legend you see about a dragon, not much is really known about it's true form but something resulted in it splitting into three halves. The legendary Pokemon Reshiram and Zekrom, nobody knows anything about the third half or where it got to. But according to legends, the hero of Ideals got corrupt by the power Reshiram provided him so he ended up taking over the region and became a tyrant. One day his brother, the hero of truth had escaped from the prison that he was trapped in and with the help of Zekrom along with some rebel allies, they were able to overthrow the hero of truth. Unfortunately both heroes fell that day and the dragons were sealed away with them, hidden away and will only rise again when the time is right."
"Hopefully in time we'll find more ruins and tablets displaying the ancient tale, this happened thousands of years ago so of course our knowledge isn't exactly complete yet." Cedric spoke.
Ash looked towards the dark stone. "Zekrom... it'd be nice to meet you someday and perhaps even battle you! I can't be a Pokemon master without battling strong Pokemon like you!"
"Espeon!"
Iris shook her head lightly but had a faint smile across her face as she also hoped that they'd be able to meet Zekrom someday.
"Ugh, I can't catch a break!" Flash groaned out while Giselle pat his shoulder reassuringly. "How did he beat both of us at once?!"
"He's beaten us both before," Giselle reminded him as she kissed his cheek. "He knows us well enough to make the proper strategy."
"I just caught a lucky break had it been anyone else I'd probably have lost," Zach stated with a slightly annoyed look. "I hope Ash gets here soon cause I'm not sure I can handle those Unova trainers on my own,"
The group sat at a diner on the outskirts of the stadium as they ate some lunch, May was with them as she asked if she go with them which Zach was thankful for as he felt awkward sitting alone with only a couple as company. May had seen first hand during the recent fights just how strong the bond Zach shared with Lucario and Scorbunny, greatly admiring it and hoping that she'd have one like that with her Torchic someday. It also got her thinking about her own goal.
Scorbunny was happily gorging on sweets while Lucario nervously watched his teammate and shook his head.
"I'm sure you'll be fine," May flashed her friend an assuring smile. "You're a great battler, you shouldn't underestimate your skills!"
Zach paused for a moment as he turned to look at May, a smile forming across his face. "Thank you, May! I really appreciate that," He still didn't feel comfortable advancing on his own but May's words did wonders for his spirit.
Flash looked between the two, eyebrow raised and a smirk crossing his face. Thankfully they were spared him saying anything as at that moment a jeep pulled up to the curve with Ash and Iris hopping on out. Zach noticed Iris exiting with Ash and narrowed his eyes suspiciously for a brief moment, wondering if Ash had ditched him to go on a date with the Unovan girl. However that thought soon vanished as he remembered she was being a massive jerk to Ash earlier, no way that had happened.
"There you are, what happe-?" Zach got up to greet his teammate only for Ash to stop him.
"I honestly don't know but there's no time for that right now, are we still...?" Ash asked, raising his eyebrow with a hopeful expression as he was eager to do more battles.
"We're still in, yeah." Ash noticed his teammate sounded annoyed and felt bad despite it not being his fault.
"Well let's get to winning this thing then!" Ash held out his hand, Zach hesitated for a moment before shaking it.
"Good luck, Ash!" Cedric called out as he started up his jeep and continued on his way to the museum, unaware that the dark stone was glowing a bright electric blue coloring for a brief second.
"Alright trainers, Zach's teammate has finally graced us with his return so the solo act is over! However taking on three teams of two on his own proved to be quite a challenge to overcome, will the other teams even stand a chance now that it's a duo again?!"
The opponents looked quite the opposite from one another, the first was a rather chirpy looking blonde girl who practically bounced in place and could be heard squealing from excitement at the battle that was to come. Her teammate on the other hand had a more serious look as he eyed the enemy team, his eyes locked on Espeon in particular.
"Bianca and Trip, are you two ready?!"
"Ready!" Bianca shouted out in an excited tone.
"Alright then, trainers... let the battle begin!"
"Tepig, I choose you cutie pie!" Bianca threw forward a ball, releasing an orange and black pig Pokemon that snorted out flames from his snout as he appeared on the battlefield.
"Servine, you're up!" Trip released the grass snake that Ash saw earlier on when he was registering for the tournament, only it looked different... it was taller and looked stronger than before, clearly it had evolved during one of Trip's matches.
"Rockruff, let's go!"
"Espeon I choose you!"
"Espe!" Espeon leaped out onto the field as Rockruff appeared next to her, the rock puppy letting out an adorable bark as she panted while staring down her opponent's.
"The Espeon trainer's mine," Trip informed Bianca. "There's something about that Espeon..."
"Sure thing, Tepig and I will handle that cute puppy!"
Trip rolled his eyes before throwing out his arm. "Servine use Leaf Tornado!"
Servine jumped up and began spinning on her head, her body spinning around as a green twister began forming at the end of her tail before gradually growing bigger with each second before she released her grasp on it, sending the large twister flying towards Espeon and engulfing him within the tornado, Ash could hear his partner crying out from within before being sent straight into the air, soon falling towards the ground before Rockruff summoned up a large rock pillar to soften the fall and allow Espeon to land the rest safely.
"Rockruff use Rock Slide!" Rockruff let out a loud howl as rocks appeared from the sky and began falling down upon the opposite team, Tepig was instantly knocked out cold but Servine was able to tank it due to the type advantage and being stronger than the Tepig.
"End this with Return!" Espeon blasted off like a rocket, quickly slamming her body up against Servine's and causing the Grass starter to go blasting off before slamming into the wall behind him! Servine slid down before coming to a collapse as his eyes swirled to signify his defeat!
"You did great, Espeon!" Ash lifted up his partner Pokemon into his arms, bringing his partner Pokemon into an embrace while Trip stared wide eyed at the defeated Servine, unable to mouth a single word.
Don George seemed in a similar boat for a moment as he stared at Ash and Espeon with a mixture of shock and impression.
"Well folks, it appears two attacks was all it took for Ash and Zach to seize victory! Great strength and strategy will definitely take both trainers far in their careers! We've still got one round left though and these trainers will be quite challenging to beat!"
Trip returned Servine before glaring at Ash. "Things will be different next time," He vowed before turning his back and leaving, Bianca right on his tail as she held onto and comforted her Tepig.
Chase soon stepped onto the field in their place, his eyes narrowed from annoyance while a blonde girl dressed in black stood next to him. She was quite attractive Ash had to admit but there was something a bit off about her. The blonde girl let out a light giggle, pig tails bouncing as she gave a flirty look and waved at her opponents.
"Hello boys!" Zach seemed unphased by that, Ash on the other hand couldn't help but blush lightly from the attention the girl was giving him.
"Focus on the battle, she's clearly trying to use her looks to distract us." Zach informed.
"Espeon..."
Ash shook his head before petting Espeon's head. "You're right, sorry Espeon."
"Trainers Ash, Zach, Chase and Domino; on my ready we'll get the battle started! Three... two... one, begin!"
"Sneasel!" Sneasel leaped from Chase's shoulder and thrusted out his arms as he let out a fierce battle cry!
"Roserade!" Domino released the evolved form of Roselia, it looked more battle ready than Drew's Roselia aside from just the evolution.
"Scorbunny!"
"Espeon!"
Espeon and Scorbunny stood side by side, their eyes meeting for a second before high fiving one another and focusing on their opponents.
"Blizzard!" Chase threw out his arm and a sudden chill filled the stadium as a cold wind breezed through the air, sending snow and ice pelting down upon their opponents!
"Fire Pledge!" Scorbunny slammed down her paw, causing massive fire pillars to rise up around her and Espeon which protected the two from the fierce cold until the attack wore out, allowing for the fire pledge to continue as it blasted across the field before surrounding Roserade and Sneasel, encasing them in a large flame as they soon let out a painful cry!
"Follow up with Confusion!" Espeon's eyes glowed blue as she tried using the Psychic attack before letting out a frustrated growl as the flames died down they could see that Sneasel had dug his team an escape with Dig!
"Snea!" Sneasel leaped up and began furiously swiping at Scorbunny while Roserade shot a stream of purple liquid at Espeon, her cheeks turning purple as she was given the Poisoned status. Ash clenched his fists at that as now they were on a timer, Espeon was going to go down if they didn't hurry. Clearly the other team was focusing on eliminating her first after seeing Espeon's power!
"Electro ball!" Scorbunny fired up a ball of electricity and kicked it towards Sneasel, the weasel Pokemon crying out from shock. As that was happening, Scorbunny kicked Sneasel and knocked him into Roserade, giving the grass type a shock as well. Ash then realized that Zach was helping set the stage for Espeon's special attack!
"Return!" Ash quickly called out.
Espeon blasted off and tackled into the two Pokemon, sending them flying like bowling pins as she nailed a perfect strike! Sneasel soon came rushing out however, recovering quickly and charging up a pulse of dark energy before blasting Espeon and sending the Eeveelution type flying back! The dust from Espeon's previous attack faded to reveal an unconscious Roserade causing Zach to focus his attention on Sneasel. "Double Kick!"
Scorbunny lashed out in a series of fierce kicks, temporarily stunning Sneasel before he turned around and slash Scorbunny across the face! The fire rabbit held her eyes with her paws and cried out in pain.
"Scorbunny!" Zach cried out with worry.
"Car!" Lucario looked equally concerned as he noticed blood dripping around Scorbunny's paws.
"That was low!" Ash gritted his teeth. "Going for her eyes like that..."
"Espeon!"
"Hey, whatever it takes to win I'm doing it! One of those eggs came from Mt. Silver and I'm going to ensure that it's mine!"
"Whatever it ta-You?!" Ash widened his eyes before glaring, realizing that it was likely their opponent who orchestrated his kidnapping. Chase shrugged but had a huge smirk that only aggravated Ash. "Espeon use Return, don't hold back!"
Espeon blasted off like a rocket and Sneasel quickly fired off a Dark Pulse from his hands, gritting his teeth as he put all his force into the attack! Espeon gritted her teeth as she kept on going, refusing to let go and showing just how powerful her and Ash's connection was as she managed to break through and blast Sneasel off into the air! Sneasel spiraled through the air before landing back on his feet with a growl as he locked eyes with Espeon, his breath had grown rather heavy.
"Incredible folks, it appears that Sneasel-" Sneasel collapsed midsentence, laying in a defeated heap with swirls in his eyes as Chase let out a rather loud swear. "Zach and Ash are the winners, I repeat Zach and Ash are the winners!"
The crowd roared loudly from excitement while Zach leaned down and picked up Scorbunny, hugging his partner Pokemon who was shaking and letting out whimpers. Her injury seeming to give her PTSD from when Goh had owned and constantly abused her.
"Scor..."
"You'll be okay Scorbunny, I'm getting you to the Pokemon Center right away!" Zach rushed right on out of there, leaving Ash as Don George descended onto the battlefield.
"I'll make sure he is able to claim his prize later," Don George promised before looking towards Espeon. "That is quite some Espeon you've got there, you really ought to enter another Clubsplosion when you've got the chance, I'm sure my brothers would love to see him in action!"
"Brothers..?" Ash blinked from momentary confusion before Don George waved his hand.
"Enough of that though, you deserve your prize!" Don George took Ash by the hand and guided him towards the table where the eggs sat behind a protective panel of glass. "Take your pick, whatever egg you want you'll get!"
Ash's hands roamed across the eggs for a moment, his eyes settled on a pale blue one with a white circle marking on it's lower half before his eyes wandered to the left, noticing a green egg that looked a bit reptilian in design, it was strange but Ash felt as if the egg was calling out to him.
"I choose that-"
"Hey Ketchum, how about we trade? I'll give you my Bagon if you give me that egg?" Chase requested, his finger pointing at the very same egg that Ash desired.
"I'd never make a deal with you after what you did to my friend!" Ash growled out.
Chase narrowed his eyes at Ash before turning around, giving Ash the bird as he began walking back towards Domino. "Whatever,"
Domino glared at Ash as well before wrapping her arm around Chase's as they walked on out of the stadium.
Ash looked down at the egg as he now held it within his grasp. "I wonder what you'll become..."
"Espeo..."
Zach nervously paced outside the waiting room as he awaited his partner's safe return, looking extremely worried while Lucario stood at the door and whimpered, wanting in to see his teammate.
"Is she okay?"
Zach jumped up, clearly startled as his senses were clouded with worry at the present time.
"I-I don't know, I hope so. This isn't new though, she was injured before... back when I caught her. It's been over two months since but it appears that Sneasel had cut deep enough that he was able to reopen a wound, I-"
May let out a sigh before placing her hand atop of his. "I'm here for you if you need a shoulder to cry on, you saved me and Torchic after all. It's the least I can do, besides we're friends!" May looked towards his face before tilting her head as she could tell he was trying to avoid eye contact. She took a few steps to the side before noticing that he had been crying!
"I failed her... I promised I'd never let her get hurt again and it happened!"
"You didn't, you couldn't have possibly known about how far Chase would go and if you tried to stop it... I don't want to talk about that." She looked at her feet for a moment before grabbing his hands and placing them into her own to get his attention, her eyes soon looking fully into his own. "Scorbunny loves you, I've seen how she acts. She's always by your side and seems just as close as your Lucario is to you. She isn't going to blame you for this, I know it!"
Zach's breath started calming down as he listened to May talk, a light smile formed across his face as his tears seemed to slow down. The two stood there silently for a moment as they gazed into another's eyes and after awhile May started inching closer, a warm smile forming on her face as she opened her mouth and prepared to make a move only for her movement to come to a halt as the doors opened up.
"Scorbun-" Zach was greeted to the sight of Scorbunny's evolution, looking right up at him silently with her paws hidden from view. The rabbit soon sprang up without a word and took her spot on his shoulder but seemed off from her usual self. "You evolved?! That's great!" Raboot merely nodded but didn't say a thing.
Lucario watched before letting out a worried growl for his teammate as it appeared that much like how Zach blamed himself for her injury, Raboot blamed herself for it!
"I heard all about the Clubsplosion, congrats on winning! Sorry I wasn't there to cheer you on in person!" Zach was on the hotel's video phone talking to Dawn as he held a light and pale blue egg within his grasp before passing it off to Lucario to watch over. Lucario tried offering Raboot a touch of the egg but she merely took a look at it before looking away, worried she'd break it. Lucario let out a whimper before rubbing his paws over the egg and watching over it as his trainer chatted with his friend.
"That's alright, I'd loved to have seen you again-in person I mean!" Zach quickly added on, the two had talked every night since they'd met.
Dawn giggled from that causing Zach to noticeably blush and not attempt to hide his action. "I know what you mean, I'd have loved that too. I-Is Scorbunny okay though? I saw the match and she's not in her usual spot." She was used to the rabbit sitting on his shoulder and liking praise about how cute and strong she was along with hopping up and down for attention on occasion.
"Yeah she's-she's okay but different," He moved the monitor enough that Raboot could be seen though the rabbit Pokemon simply walked out of view and hid behind her trainer as she gazed back at the ground in shame. "Physically she's okay but she's a bit mentally scarred from the battle,"
"Poor thing," Dawn's eyes showed concern. "You don't think-she doesn't blame herself for that, do you?"
"Lucario said the same thing, I tried telling her that it wasn't her fault but she refused to listen."
"Well at least she's okay," Dawn smiled to which Zach nodded his head.
"Yeah, I don't know what I'd do if she got hurt. The same goes for you, Lucario and the rest of my team." Zach's face suddenly turned bright red as he realized what he said. "Wait I-"
Dawn let out another giggle and gave him a save by calling it. She stretched out her arms before letting out a yawn. "I think the hotel's connection must be bad, I could barely hear a word you just said there. I really ought to get some sleep though so I'll call you back tomorrow, see ya!"
"See ya!" Zach waved as the screen went black only to turn and notice Lucario looking at him with a goofy smirk. "Oh knock it off, we're just friends!"
"Carrr!"
"Say Brock, how does one care for an egg anyways?" Ash suddenly asked Brock causing him and Leaf to both face fault.
"That was one of the first things we learned, Ash! How could you possibly forget?!" Leaf asked, giving the egg a concerned look. "You know what, why don't I help you take care of it? That way nothing hap-I mean so the Pokemon comes out perfectly!" She was trying to make an excuse to spend more time with him and doing a rather poor job at it. "Er-So it's nice and strong!" She nervously laughed as they walked back towards the school.
Zach stopped and bought some sweets for Raboot and held them out for her only for the rabbit to oddly turn her back to them, thinking she didn't deserve them.
"So we lost Damien and got a new Damien," Flash commented, referring to Chase as he growled out.
"No doubt he'll be more trouble in the future but he doesn't feel like the type to go looking to cause him for the laughs like Damien." Giselle commented. "At least we don't have to see him every day."
Leaf's gaze lingered on Ash as they arrived at the steps leading up into the school. "Ash can we talk..? Alone?" She added on, motioning towards the others as they walked inside.
"Of course!" Ash grinned before stepping aside to let the others pass. Leaf watched them go before turning her gaze back to Ash.
"Listen Ash, I-Seeing you again has been so wonderful, I've never felt the way I have until I met you again. Being around you makes me so happy and warm inside, I-I lo-" Leaf's words were interrupted as Serena chose right that second to appear, staring up at Ash with a traveling bag in hand as she looked up at the two. Ash immediately took notice of her and shot forward.
"Serena, what are you doing here?!"
"I-I transferred to the school to be with yo-I mean here with you!" Serena quickly exclaimed, her face bright red as the words went right over Ash's head but Leaf wasn't so dense. The brunette narrowed her eyes at the blonde while Serena glared right back as the two stared each other down.
"And here are the Clubsplosion winners folks-" The sound of coffee being spit could be heard within a cave hideout as a cloaked figure stood next to a younger woman wearing similar attire to him, a Loudred standing next to her as she gazed towards the screen.
"Isn't that your nephew? I thought you said he died along with everyone else." The woman spoke with narrowed eyes.
"I thought he did, he won't be around long if he continues advertising himself like that though! We've got to train him." The cloaked figure's gaze lingered on Ash's face before they crushed the coffee cup, hot coffee spilt all over the figure's right arm but they showed no reaction to it. "Actually, you will train him. I'm going to keep an eye on that one!"
"Me?!" The woman let out a growl. "This better not be part of your 'repopulate' scheme, your nephew is definitely not my type!"
"I still aim to fulfill that plan, you're free to get with whoever you want though. I'm sure he already has a girlfriend anyways." The figure turned to leave but shot a glance back at her. "Oh, just in case his friend is an exact copy of his father, we're moving my nephew here as I'd like to see Ash's aura ability develop naturally and without outer influence. That Ketchum kid could be as skilled as his father"
"Seriously? They're just kids..." The woman narrowed her eyes. "And he doesn't look anything like Red is!"
"It could be an act, we'll test him. Besides I'm itching to settle a score with a Cabal member and that's the perfect way to test the boy if he meets one of them! We'll see how he handles himself against an experienced trainer that isn't willing to hold back and has every itch and desire to kill him... I won't let him harm the boy obviously, I'll kill thay pyromaniac before he lays a finger on him!"
"You're older than you were back when you lost! You can't fight him on your own, let me help!"
"Can't, this is something that I have to settle on my own. Just me and him, he'll pay for what he did to my family!"
And Unova's done... for now. Ash's egg contents should be rather obvious, location and color wise. Ash beat Trip for the first time, Iris is now his friend, he met Cedric for the first time and got Sandile, along with Domino appearing. Chase is a rival I always wanted to see, one who cheats and does low blows in order to secure victory which he failed to succeed here but who knows what the future holds!
Ash got Sandile and Don George and Team Plasma along with N have appeared, N seeming to know he shares something in common with the other two perhaps? Oh yeah and Serena appeared right as Leaf was about to confess, talk about inconvenient timing though she'd probably view it as convenient. The harem is still happening but not every girl is going to get along with the rest at first
And yes, that is the Dr. Yung from Mirage Pokemon. I always liked the character and wish they did more with him(And Brodie the Phantom Thief) so expect more of him as the plot progresses
I've grown to lose my massive dislike of Iris the past few years(Goh is far FAR worse, fucking Gary Stu...), her catchphrase is still utter garbage though so I made sure to dispose of that real quick.
Also just because a character hasn't shown up during a regional trip doesn't mean they won't appear in the future. Verity still has a shot at appearing and I simply didn't have an idea for Clemont so he was conveniently sick that day but will appear later
Hope you're all enjoying this so far