"Fearow, Drill Peck!" The Beak Pokémon flew down before twisting into a corkscrew formation.
"Nidoking, use Ice Beam!" Gary countered. The male Drill Pokémon created an icy orb before firing a three arc bolts towards the Normal/Flying type, freezing the bird whole. Fearow, now frozen, fell to the ground and defeated.
"Fearow is unable to battle! Nidoking is the winner!"
On the rock field, Gary was in the middle of the battle for his fourth preliminary round. Gary would have been in a better if he had not been down to his last Pokémon. His opponent had used an Electabuzz and the Fearow. His previous Pokémon, Dodrio and Pinsir had fallen to the two Pokémon with Nidoking ending the current match.
Now all that is left is the last Pokémon.
In the stands, Ash and his friends watched. Ketchum, for one, was starting to lose his cool. Gary's opponent was just someone who he didn't want to never see again.
"Go, Golem!" Damian said. The Megaton Pokémon roared as he appeared, "Gol!"
Gary started the fight, ready to win, "Nidoking, use Earth Power!"
The Poison/Ground type punched the ground, creating crevices that shook the Ground/Rock type.
"Stone Edge!" Golem punched the ground himself, creating glowing blue stone spires that socked Nidoking in the chin. The male saurian clearly grew agitated but was tired from the previous battle with Fearow. Gary also knew this, so he wanted to end this fight quickly.
"Nidoking, use Double Kick!" Despite his size, the male saurian Pokémon leaped into the air and dropped with foot forward.
"Seismic Toss!" The rock-shelled tortoise grabbed the foot before leaping up and slamming the purple saurian into the ground. Nidoking struggled to rise and got to his knees before falling down, his eyes now swirly.
"Nidoking is unable to battle, Nidoking is the winner! Therefore, Damian is the winner!"
"What a turn of events! It seems the famous grandson of Oak is now out of the league! But Damian will move on!"
Damian returned his Megaton Pokémon, satisfied with his work. "Don't sell yourself short," the blue-haired taunted, "You couldn't beat me even if you tried."
Gary fell to his knees, unable to comprehended he had lost during his fourth preliminary match.
"No! Gary lost!" His cheerleaders cried out with anime tears running down their faces.
"I don't believe it..." Misty whispered.
"Yeah. Who would have see that coming..." Brock added.
Meanwhile, Ash kept his thoughts to himself. To see his rival knocked out like that truly surprised him. But the real issue was Damian. Seeing that 'trainer' return made Ketchum's anger reach heights that not even Gary reached. If anything, Ash would rather battle Gary than Damian.
And now Charizard's former trainer was competing in the league. If Ash battled him...
He would show that jerk what the abandoned Pokémon is truly capable of.
But first, he had to see if his rival was okay.
Gary Oak was about to head in his car with his cheerleader entourage, still crying at the loss, when Ash found him.
"Gary!"
The Oak turned his head towards his rival. "Hey..."
Ash could tell the defeat had hurt him deeply. To lose during the preliminaries must have damped his spirit, "Are you OK?"
"Yeah, yeah. I just got a bit distracted with the sun in my eyes. Plus, I'm sure there is was a cute girl in the audience blowing kisses at me," Oak played off before addressing his rival, "Ash... all of Pallet Town is counting on you, so don't even think about losing got it?"
Ash was shocked to hear now all of the pressure was on him for representing Pallet Town.
"Don't let my loss go to your head. I'm still better than you and when we battle, I will win," Gary said before waving away, "Later... Ash." With that the grandson of Oak left, leaving Ketchum to ponder his rival's words.
Finally, Ash made a promise to prove Gary wrong, defeat Damian and win the Indigo League.
"Welcome to the Grass Field everyone! We have our last match of the preliminaries here and we couldn't be more interested to see who will enter the official rounds of the league!" the announcer said to the audience.
"On the green side, we have Ash Ketchum! A trainer who has yet to lose a single Pokémon and a League favorite!" Ash enters the field from his side with a stoic demeanor. The thought of Pallet Town rallying beside him was pressuring but he steeled his resolve. He had to.
"And on the red side is Jeanette Fisher!" At the entrance, a red carpet rolled out before cherry blossom petals were slowly falling and revealed Ash's opponent: a girl with dark purple hair in an orange traditional kimono. The crowd erupted with cheer at the mention of the red trainer's name.
"It is an honor to battle you," she said with a kind smile.
Ash nodded back, "The honor is mine."
Jeanette was revealed to have cheerleaders, "Jeanette! Jeanette! She's the greatest trainer yet! Jeanette! Jeanette! She's the greatest you can get!"
"Yeah, maybe Ash should throw the match~" Brock said in a lovesick manner before Misty pulled his ear, "You're cheering Ash and that's final!"
"You should know the rules by now. Trainers select your first Pokémon!" the referee said.
Jeanette pulled out her first Pokeball, "My Pokémon will create quite the buzz. Go, Beedrill!" Out came the Poison Bee Pokémon. "Bzzzz!"
"Bulbasaur." On Ash's side, the former defender of the Hidden Village appeared. "Bulba!"
"Battle begin!"
"Beedrill, start with Poison Sting!" The bee Pokémon fired several poisonous needles from his stingers.
"Dodge," Ash said and the Seed Pokémon avoided each of the needles. "Seed Bomb." Bulbasaur pointed his bulb and fired large seeds at the bug.
"Dodge then use Twineddle!" Beedrill avoided the explosive seeds, hovered in and glowed green before thrusting forward.
"Vine Whip to jump then Sunny Day." The Kanto Grass starter slammed his vines onto the ground, giving an extra boost to his jump. He pointed his bulb upward and let loose a miniature sun that began to cast harshly.
"What an incredible use of Vine Whip from Ash! But what is the Sunny Day for?" the announcer spoke.
"A little weather change won't deter us! Use Poison Jab!" Jeanette commanded. The Poison Bee Pokémon flew in with his stinger, doused in poisonous energy before thrusting it.
"Bulbasaur, use Weather Ball!" The plant-toad hybrid released an orb of fiery energy that hit the bee dead center. "BZZZ!"
"Beedrill, no!" Jeanette cried in worry of her Pokémon.
"Ouch! That's got to sting!" the announcer joked.
"Weather Ball?" Misty asked Brock who answered, "It's a Normal-type move but it changes typing depending on the weather. And since was used after Sunny Day, it became a Fire-type move."
"Wow, that's a clever tactic," Waterflower commented.
Beedrill flew back to his side, damaged from the unsuspected Weather Ball. "Hang in there, use Poison Sting again!"
"Solar Beam," Ash said, wrapping this up. The Seed Pokémon nodded and instantly fired a beam of solar energy, striking the Poison Bee Pokémon in abdomen, KOing the pollinator as it did.
"Beedrill is unable to battle, Bulbasaur is the winner!"
Ash returned Bulbasaur, "Great job out there." He selected his new one, ready to go. "Go, Vileplume."
The Flower Pokémon appeared, having a cheerful attitude upon being sent out, "Vil!"
Jeanette praised her fallen Pokémon before using her next one, "Go, Scyther!" The green Mantis Pokémon flew out before swiping his scythes for intimidation. "Scy!"
"Fury Cutter!" Scyther's scythes turned red before flying straight towards Vileplume.
"Dodge." In an instant, the Flower Pokémon sped out of the way. Scyther went wide-eye at the sight and his trainer echoed his manners, "What?/Scy?!"
Ash began to explain, "Vileplume's ability is Chlorophyll which doubles the user's speed during Sunny Day. One of the two reasons I had Bulbasaur use Sunny Day."
"Unbelievable, folks! Ash has yet again used his Pokémon's abilities to the max! Even planning in advance with the use of Sunny Day!" the announcer spoke.
'I-I don't believe it,' Jeanette thought before addressing her Pokémon, "Night Slash!"
The Mantis Pokémon's scythes turned dark as said bug flew in, primed to strike the sentient flower.
"Use Reflect!" The Flower Pokémon summoned a wall of light that defended her from the Dark-type attack. "Now, Toxic!" From the stigma, Vileplume spewed a stream of poison directly at the Scyther, which hit and now had a faint purple tint of his face.
"Scy..." the mantis cried before purple bubbles popped in front of his face.
"Looks like Scyther shouldn't have sniffed this flower!" the announcer joked, "Scyther is now on the clock! Can it defeat Vileplume in time?"
Ash gave a small glance to the sun, the effects of Sunny Day almost up. He mentally frowned. As much as he wanted to use Sunny Day again, he knew he would just make the most the time he had.
"Maybe not but we'll still try!" Jeanette said, "Use Wing Attack!" Scyther flew with glowing wings, prepared to strike.
"Vileplume, restrain with Grass Knot!" Vileplume's eyes glowed green, causing a small cluster of grass to rise and snare the Bug/Flying-type's leg. The Grass-type move made the mantis jerk forward.
"Venoshock!" Ash shouted.
Jeanette hurriedly made her next move, "Slice yourself free with Fury Cutter!"
The Mantis Pokémon sliced the Grass Knot before avoided the green poison globs coming his way. Vileplume puffed up in anger at the miss of Venoshock.
"Calm yourself, Vileplume," Ash spoke which eased the Flower Pokémon's frustrations.
"Double Team!" Jeanette called for. Scyther glowed white before sending multiple copies to circle the Grass/Poison type.
Ash scanned them all before deducing which was the real one, "Venoshock on the real one."
The sentient flower focused before firing green globs of poison again, hitting the one from behind. The Venoshock caused Scyther to cry out in pain due to the double damage of being poisoned.
"Scyther!" the kimono wearing girl said in worry.
"Time to wrap this up, Petal Blizzard." The Flower Pokémon stirred a pink tornado of petals before sending towards the Mantis Pokémon. The Bug/Flying type could only gawk before receiving the flower storm and getting knocked out.
"Scyther is unable to battle, Vileplume is the winner!"
"And once again, Ash's Pokémon are untouchable! Jeanette's on the ropes right now but will she be able to bounce back?" The announcer said.
"Jeanette! Jeanette! Yes, she can! Jeanette! Jeanette! Go beat this man!" the cheerleaders shouted as an attempt to boost the kimono-wearing girl's morale.
She picked her last Pokémon, whispering, "It is time," before throwing out her choice, "Go, Bellsprout!"
The basic stage Flower Pokémon appeared on the field and let out cry, "Bell!"
"This looks like a desperate move on Jeanette's half," the announcer claimed.
Ash made his usual play, "Return, Vileplume." The fully evolved Flower Pokémon returned her Pokeball. Ketchum begin to eye the thin stem Pokémon.
'A Bellsprout? An interesting choice,' he mused in his head. He wasn't one to doubt a basic stage Pokémon seeing as some of his still had yet to evolve and proved to be compatible of battling. He then made his choice.
"Go, Muk," Ash said and sent out the Sludge Pokémon.
"Mukkkkkk!"
"And Ash sends out his Muk! What is Ash thinking?" the announcer said.
"Wait, Muk?" Misty said, seeing it as an odd choice for the Poison-type to appear.
"Yeah. It's an odd choice to see Muk here," Brock commented, "But Ash must have a plan for Muk." Misty could only nodded in both confusion and acceptance.
'Muk isn't what I expected to be the last one. I was hoping Bulbasuar would reappear but I'll make do,' Jeannette thought before taking action, "Bellsprout! Slam!"
The basic stage Flower Pokémon ran up to the living sludge before slamming his foot into the mass. It proved ineffective as the pure Poison-type shrugged off the move.
"What?/Bell?!" Both red side trainer and Pokémon recoiled in shock as the move did nothing to the Sludge Pokémon.
"Sorry, Jeannette," Ash said, "But Muk is practically impervious to your attacks."
"We'll see about that. Bellsprout, continue with Slam!"
"Muk, Poison Jab."
The yellow Flower Pokémon repeated the same action but Muk's hand turned a dark purple before jabbing the incoming Bellsprout. In a surprise turn of events, Bellsprout maneuvered out of the way before repeatedly kicking the sentient sludge's body but still no damage was done.
"Unexpected. I'll give you that," Ash complimented.
"Uh... T-thanks," Jeanette stuttered before slightly blushing at her opponent's compliment. Bellsprout continued to attack with Slam with no damage to the slime's physiology. The yellow Flower Pokémon grew frustrated as the Sludge Pokémon still resisted his attacks before taking the arm, lifting Muk, and slammed the puddle into the ground. But Muk reformed, undamaged as Jeanette's Pokémon face was flabbergasted.
Ash inwardly chuckled at the Bellsprout's display but was proud of Muk. He recalled learning about how Muk is impervious to most attacks so using this fact, the sludge was mostly invulnerable as of right now. Ash decided that he had humored Bellsprout and went for the finishing blow.
"Body Slam." Muk lurched forward, Bellsprout backing in fear before firing Razor Leaf in an effort to halt the Poison-type. The attacks bounced off and Muk put his full weight and crushed the basic stage Flower Pokémon. The Sludge Pokémon moved himself off and revealed the pre-evolved form of the Flycatcher Pokémon with swirly eyes.
"Bellsprout is unable to battle, Muk is the winner! Therefore, Ash is the winner!" the ref declared.
The crowd cheered as Ash returned Muk, praising him for his efforts today. Jeanette did the same before the two trainers met in the middle and shook hands for their match. Fisher's cheerleaders were crying like Gary's when he lost his match.
"That was a great match," Ash said which made Jeanette blushed.
"You aren't too bad yourself," she replied while hiding the red on her face.
"And there you have it folks! Ash Ketchum will be moving on to the main stadium!" the announcer exclaimed.
Ash grew a smile at the mention of the main stadium. Now he was qualified for the victory tournament. He still had a few more battles to go but he was more than ready. Pallet Town supported him and he was going to win the Indigo League.