Chapter 6: An Unorthodox Strategy


After going past the third round, Ash realised he had a lot more free time than he imagined. Now that he thought about it, the League had 64 competitors, and even with Ash's bad maths skills he knew that it meant there'd be a lot of battles to wait on for the third round.

And it just so happened to be that during his battle was the first that day, so all in all, he had the rest of the day to himself.

Ash looked at his Pokeballs, and wondered whether he should cram in a few extra hours of training. he silently shook his head. That wasn't gonna help, it'll only tire his Pokémon out.

Ash got up, and started to pace back and forth.

"What would Clemont or Serena do, in this situation?" he wondered.

He thought about it - Clemont, as a gym leader, would be most likely to want to train his Pokémon to be the strongest, right?

But then Ash stopped. Clemont was more the kind of person to think of ways around situations that would put him at a disadvantage.

He remembered the fight of Bunnelby vs Heliolisk, when Clemont attempted to take the gym back.


"Use double team underneath the ground!" yelled Clemont. While Heliolisk was aiming its move at the hole Bunnelby was in, a swarm of Bunnelby copies bounced out of the hole. The Clembot looked befuddled, and even rebooted itself.

"Now Bunnelby, use Mud Shot!"

Bunnelby raised it's ears and threw a powerful mud projectile to hit Heliolisk, which knocked it out.

Bonnie was on the sidelines, acting as the referee. "Heliolisk is unable to battle, so Bunnelby and Clemont is the victor!"


Ash put a hand to his temples. That's one way he could go about things.

"What about Serena?" he thought.

Suddenly, a brainwave hit him. He grinned randomly. "Hey Pikachu!" He said to his partner. "How about about we try something slightly different?"

Pikachu tilted his head. "Pika?" He asked.

"Just trust me on this one. I think I have an idea."


A while later, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie came out of the gallery, after watching Tierno's successful match. "Man, that dancing was so cool!" Bonnie gushed.

Serena and Clemont nodded in agreement. "Hey," Clemont started. "Where did Ash go?"

"Probably on one of the training battlefields outside." shrugged Bonnie.

The three of them went to go look, but there was no sign of the trainer anywhere.

Serena sighed. "Clemont, I'll go look for him. He might've wandered off somewhere. Don't worry, I'll use this to message you if I find him." She pointed towards her travel guide, which happened to have a built in messaging app.

Clemont shrugged. "Alright then. Bonnie and I will wait here, in that case. We'll probably be watching Alain or Sawyer's rounds, if we're not here."

Serena nodded and left the Colosseum. She looked around, and checked her map. "Where could Ash've went?" She wondered.

Lumiose City was the biggest city in Kalos. If Ash had gotten lost, that would not be pretty.

"Alright Serena, put yourself in Ash's shoes." She told herself. "If you were him, and you wanted to sightsee around Lumiose, where would you want to head first?"

A lightbulb went off in her head. "The gym! Maybe he went to Prism Tower!"

She set off for the tower, and after a minute or so of running she reached it. Serena slowed down a bit, deciding to circle the landmark and see if she can find him. "Oh no, I hope he hasn't gotten himself into another battle! The third round is coming up soon, and he needs to take it easy until then!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a puff of smoke waft into the air. She walked towards the smoke cloud, and noticed there was a flight of stairs, with a battlefield at the bottom of them. What's more, she saw Ash!

She watched him from above. He was with Greninja and Pikachu, but then it hit her.

"Why is he wearing a tuxedo?" She questioned, incredulous. The only time she's ever seen him in anything other than his casual clothes was when he was at the Performer's Dance Party, and even then he didn't want to wear it. In fact, it was the exact same suit as he wore at the party.

Serena kept watching. "Okay Pikachu, spin and use Electro Ball! Greninja, hit it with Water Shuriken!

Pikachu leapt off of Ash's shoulders, and fired a sphere of pure electricity into the air, directly above Ash. Greninja twirled backwards, and hit Pikachu's move with a blade of water, and the collision caused an explosion of glitter to shimmer down onto the three of them. Ash hopped from one foot to another, attempting to dance as well.

Serena gaped. "What on Earth?" She thought. "Why is Ash doing a performance?!"

Ash grinned to Pikachu. "Okay!" He shouted. "Use Thunderbolt, and Greninja, use Aerial Ace!"

Ash continued to dance, although very uncoordinated, while Pikachu backflipped in front of him, and prepared a discharge of electricity, which he fired - right at Ash!

Ash panicked as the move came towards him and he staggered backwards - only for Greninja to crash right into him with Aerial Ace. Ash was thrown against a wall, dazed. Pikachu and Greninja rushed over to him.

"Pikapi?"

"Yeah, don't worry you guys, i'm doing just fine." Ash grunted, pushing himself off the wall. He turned to inspect the cracks his body's impact made on it.

"Ash!"

Ash turned around. It was Serena's voice. When she saw him hit the wall, she flew down the stairs to see if he was okay.

Ash blushed heavily. "Oh, hey Serena. You, uh, didn't see any of that, right?"

Serena pushed her index fingers together, going slightly red. "Uh, maybe a little?"

"Oh man, how much?" He winced.

"Um, most of it, actually."

Ash groaned. "Oh man..."

"What were you doing, anyway?" Serena asked, staring at him quizzically. Ash put his cap back on, which he had taken off during his 'performance'.

"Well, you see, I was worried that my opponent would do something I didn't expect. Basically, I didn't want to get trapped in the mindset that I was in after I lost to Wulfric."

Serena understood what he meant. Ash continued. "I thought, maybe if i look at battling from a different perspective, perhaps i'll be able to think of workarounds, or perhaps my own unorthodox tactic. So I tried to do what you did."

Serena smiled.

"So Serena, what do you do in order to prepare for Showcases?"

"Hmm..." she pondered. "Well, everything I do in my performances has been inspired by stuff that's happened on our journey. Whether that's watching you battle, or any situations we've been in, be it good or bad... That's where all my ideas come from."

Ash stayed silent.

"Like that time I saw Eevee dance for the first time... I wanted to make it a part of our routine, so I made a performance based around that."

Ash grinned. "I getcha. I guess it is kinda like battling, in a sense."

Serena looked at him. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well," Ash explained, "When I battle, i generally work from what I know, but then when I see someone else battle, I have to figure them out to catch them off guard, which is what I train my Pokemon for."

They continued to talk for a while, and then for several moments they stayed silent, just basking in each other's company.

"Hey Serena, what's most important to you when you perform?"

"What's most important to me? Well, my goal is to make my audience feel happy, to make them smile." She explained.

Ash nodded and went quiet again as he thought to himself.

After a few seconds, he sighed. "When I first started out on my journey, the only thing that I wanted to do was win. I wanted to train my Pokemon well, so that we could win battles, and win the League. That's all I thought that being a Pokemon Master was all about." He paused, as Serena stayed silent. "Didn't really work out for me."

He chuckled. "In fact, you wouldn't be able to tell now, but Pikachu used to hate me when we first met." Serena did indeed look quite surprised to hear this, but Pikachu nodded intently, confirming what Ash had told her.

"As I met more people and Pokemon, and travelled with different people, each of them having different, and sometimes even changing dreams. I know now that my idea of a Pokemon Master is someone who is knowledgable about Pokemon, knows how to befriend Pokemon, so that they can battle alongside them, and form a bond because of it."

Serena agreed. "That's right! It's similar with performing. You'll never be able to do a good job if you weren't in sync with your partners."

Ash nodded. He hesitated, choosing his words carefully. "While travelling Sinnoh, I met this trainer named Paul. My first encounter with him is when he ordered his Chimchar to knock down a swarm of Starly, then he caught them all. When he did that, he released them all except the strongest one."

Serena cringed. "That's extremely narrow minded." She muttered.

"Every time I encountered Paul, he did something that rubbed me the wrong way. He didn't care about how his Pokemon felt, or when they got hurt during battle. In fact, he even said it himself that Pokemon would become spoiled and weak if they were treated with kindness." He stopped himself, seeing Serena look disgusted by the trainer he told her about. "One day, when Chimchar lost him a match, he went and released him."

"What?! That's terrible!" Serena almost yelled.

Ash continued. "I took his Chimchar under my wing, and trained him with my own method - by caring for him. Chimchar evolved into Monferno and then Infernape, and we finally beat Paul in the quarters of the Sinnoh League. It was only then did the guy respect me as a trainer."

Serena put a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, you don't need to earn respect from people that you don't respect yourself.

Ash grimaced. "It's more than that. I wanted to prove to him, and to myself, that I was raising my Pokemon the right way, and that he was the one in the wrong." He then hesitated. "Meeting all my rivals helped me realise everyone has their own goals, and their own methods. Paul wanted to win and nothing else, so he was cold. Tierno and his Pokémon like to dance and are energetic. Sawyer's main goal is to gain as much battling experience as he can. Alain wants to know everything about mega evolution. So where does that leave me?" He asked.

Serena smiled to him. "Well, let's see. You want to become a Pokémon Master, don't you?"

Ash faced her. "Yeah, that's been my dream from the start."

"Well, I've noticed that just like me, your Pokémon have all taken on your strong willpower and determination, as well as that persevering attitude of yours!" She grinned. Ash looks at her in awe. "You once told me, 'Nothing we ever do is a waste of time', so that must mean your main goal when battling is to take that one step closer to your goal, along with your Pokémon!"

Ash beamed. "Thanks, Serena. I really appreciate that." He says, causing the girl to blush. "You know, that's twice this week now that you've helped me pull myself together! So I owe you one!"

Serena smiled. "You can thank me by winning this Pokemon League!"

Ash stuck his hand in the air, and Serena high fived it. "Count on it!" He exclaimed. "Now let's get back to it!"

"Huh?"

"Oh, another reason I'm doing this performance is to get mine, Pikachu's and Greninja's coordination in good shape for tomorrow!"

"In that case," Serena beamed, "I'll be happy to help!"


"Now Absol, Psycho Cut!"

"Hawlucha, Flying Press!"

The Absol launched a purple blade at Hawlucha, who leapt up to dodge it, and dove straight into Absol with its signature move. The hit kicked up a cloud of dirt, and when it cleared, the Absol fell to its side, defeated.

"Absol, no!" Astrid cried, as her Pokemon reverted back to its pre-mega state.

"Absol is unable to battle! Hawlucha wins, which means the victory goes to Ash!" called the referee.

Ash and Hawlucha simutaneously punched the air in triumph. The Luchador Pokemon ran to it's trainer, who returned it happily.

"Hawlucha, you did so awesome! Have a nice rest." Ash smiled.

The commentator's voice kicked in again. "Following this win, Ash has now made it to the semifinals, along with Alain, and the winners of these next two matches!"


He headed back to the lobby, still pleased that he had made it to the semifinals, especially considering the circumstances of Mega Evolution.

While he was walking through the hallway alone, a familiar voice called out to him. "Ash!"

He turned the corner and saw his friend and rival, Sawyer, holding a notebook and smiling. "Hey, Sawyer!" Ash replied.

"The semifinals! Congratulations!" Sawyer grinned.

"Thanks! You're up pretty soon as well, aren't you?"

"That's right, and i'm gonna win it too!" He hesitated, and then remembered his last encounter with his friend before they met again at the Kalos League. "Remember when you said that we'll battle at the Kalos League? Well, I'm gotta win to keep you to that promise."

Ash grinned back at him. "Yeah, but don't get too confident! Tierno is pretty strong, you know."

Sawyer nodded. "Tierno's a friend of yours, right?" He asked. Ash nodded. "I saw his first couple of rounds, so I'll keep a heads up for any of his rhythmic strategies he tries to pull out."

"In that case, good luck!" Ash said.

"I've also got a secret weapon on my side that I might use!"

Ash's focus then drifted on to Sawyer's notebook as he chuckled, somewhat sheepishly. "By any chance, is that secret weapon you're talking about the key stone that's hanging off your book?"

Sawyer's eyes widened, and then he laughed. "Oh right, I guess it is quite obvious, huh."

"Sorry, didn't mean to be that up front about it." Ash apologised.

Sawyer shook his head. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'll hide it better next time, so just keep it a secret from everyone and i'll be golden." He chuckled. "Anyway, I'll see you in either the semifinals, or the finals!"

Ash grinned again. "You're on!"

Sawyer left to go to his match, and Ash once again left the Colosseum. He checked his map. "So Serena told me to meet her back there after my battle. Well, I guess i'll head there."

He went back to the battlefield outside of Prism Tower, and there Serena stood with Braixen, Pancham and Sylveon, wearing her performer's dress. "Serena!" Ash called.

Serena looked up. "So Ash, what do you think?"

"I can't thank you enough for all this help." He said grinning as he made his way down the stairs.

Serena took a step backwards, ready to perform. "Get ready to watch me, okay?" She told him.


"Slurpuff is unable to battle!" was the first thing that Ash and Serena heard when they re-entered the bustling stadium. Sawyer was in the battlefield, with Tierno and Blastoise on the other side. "Okay Sceptile, it's up to you!" Sawyer yelled.

Ash and Serena scanned the seats, looking for their group. Soon enough, they found Clemont and Bonnie, and to their surprise, Shauna was with them too, the three of them talking about the ongoing battle.

"Shauna!" Serena cried as she saw her friend.

"Hey, you two!" Shauna said. Shauna moved to let Ash and Serena sit down.

Clemont looked at them, exasperated. "Where did you go, Serena? You just disappeared all of a sudden after Ash's battle."

Serena chuckled nervously. "Heh, sorry. I went to help Ash out with his battle."

"That's fair enough." Clemont sighed.

"Oh yeah, he does mean a lot to you, doesn't he?" Shauna remarked, making Serena go crimson.

"W-w-well of course, he is my friend after all, and I do admire his attitude!" She exclaimed loudly, blushing in front of her crush and hoping that he didn't think she was weird.

Ash looked at Serena, expecting to hear some context to this random outburst, but shrugged it off. Bonnie and Clemont simutaneously facepalmed, for reasons Ash didn't understand. He'd noticed this happening before. "Am I just being dense and missing something really obvious?" He wondered. "Oh well. I'll worry about that next time, i guess."

Meanwhile, the battle between Sceptile and Blastoise was raging on. "Sceptile, use Leaf Blade!" shouted Sawyer.

The leaves on Sceptile's arms glowed bright green, and the leaves became sharper. Sceptile used this to land a hit on Blastoise.

"Blastoise!" Tierno yelled. The turtle shook itself and brushed off the pain. "Alright! That Sceptile may be fast, but it's not beating your strength! Let's use Skull Bash!"

Blastoise dashed straight at Sceptile, steeling its head for impact.

However, Sawyer had other plans. "Sceptile, quick, Frenzy Plant!"

Sceptile pummelled the ground, and a huge vine stopped Blastoise in its tracks, hoisting it several feet into the air.

"No!" Tierno yelled. "Blastoise, Rain Dance!"

As the Blastoise fell, it summoned a group of rainclouds, just like how Ludicolo had done. Blastoise hit the floor and fainted.

"Blastoise is unable to battle!"

Tierno sighed and returned Blastoise. "You did really well, now have a good rest." he said. He grabbed Raichu's Pokeball and did a quick handstand, before throwing the ball. "Go Raichu!"

Raichu appeared yet again, and now with Slurpuff defeated, the Attract was no more, and Raichu was back to normal. "Rai rai!"

Serena looked confused. "Hmm... I wonder why he used Rain Dance? It's not as if Raichu knows any water moves, and even if he did, they wouldn't be effective on Sceptile, would they?"

Clemont nodded, and watched Raichu and Tierno carefully.

"Raichu, rock it with Thunder!"

Clemont smashed his fist against his other palm as the penny dropped for him. "That's it! He used Rain Dance because all of Raichu's electric attacks will be 100% accurate in the rain!"

Ash's eyes widened. "Man, that's clever!"

Raichu's body became laced with electricity, and it prepared to launch its unmissable lightning strike at the Sceptile.

Sawyer stared at his notebook. "Guess there's no point in holding back. I've battled a lot to get to this point, and now it's time to finally do this!"

He grabbed the bookmark. A key stone hung at the edge of it. As Sawyer's fingers touched the stone, it began to glow brightly. "Mega evolve!" Sawyer yelled.

The stone interacted with sceptile's scarf, and several light bonds connected the two items together. Sceptile's body begin to transform.

"Wow!" screamed the commentator. "Now Sawyer's Sceptile has become a mega Sceptile!"

Tierno grimaced. "It mega evolved?! No matter, Raichu, do it!"

Raichu's buildup of electricity came to breaking point, and it unleashed the attack on sceptile. The clouds absorbed the electricity, and sure enough, the attack landed on Sceptile, who braved it completely. When the electricity died out, Tierno realised the attack did nothing.

"You what?!" He shouted.

"Sceptile's ability changes to Lightning Rod when it mega evolves! So all of your electric attacks are void!" Sawyer explained with a hint of smug in his voice. "And now, mega Sceptile, use Dragon Claw!"

"Focus Blast, now!" Tierno growled.

Sceptile charged at Raichu, its claw glowing a bright green. Raichu summoned a ball of energy and lobbed it at Sceptile, but the gecko proceeded to tear right through the attack!

Raichu made to dodge, but couldn't move out in time. "Raichu!" Tierno cried.

Raichu was hit and sent reeling - it hit the ground hard, and was knocked out.

"Raichu is unable to battle! Sceptile wins, and Sawyer is the victor!"

The commentator burst out in speech again. "Wow! With an amazing show of quick thinking, Sawyer and his mega evolving Sceptile will be moving on to the semifinals with Remo, Alain and Ash!"

Tierno sighed, disappointed, and returned Raichu. He stared at the Pokeball with a sad smile. "Listen Raichu, you battled awesomely. But now we gotta cheer for the winner!" He walked over to Sawyer. "Congratulations, pal! Takes a lot to beat me!" He grinned.

Sawyer smiled, and stuck out his hand. "Thanks!" He replied, as Tierno accepted the handshake.

"And with that," The announcer continued, "The two semifinal battles have been decided! The first battle will be Alain versus Remo, and then the next is Ash versus Sawyer, coming up tomorrow!"

Ash looked at Sawyer from his seat, and when Sawyer caught his eye, the two grinned at each other.

It was finally coming time for the battle the two had long awaited.


And for now, that is that! The next two episodes will be the semis and the finals.

Thank you for reading - It's only now that I've realised just how difficult coming up with and writing battles is. I'll stop giving the Pokemon anime any hatred for it, because just writing it is a struggle, to think they've had to write, animate, redo several times. I've also had to redo this quite a few times, because I wanted a bit of amourshipping filler haha.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. See you next chapter!