Ash and Gary go at it one on one in an all out duel! However, every time Ash defeats one of Gary's Pokemon, Gary does the same to him!
Now Ash and Gary are even at 2 prizes each, with Gary threatening to take the lead!
Can Ash figure out Gary's strategy and win? Find out!
The Heart of the Cards, part 12: Race to the Finish!
Gary smirked as Ash selected his next Pokemon, Abra lv. 10, and attached a Psychic Energy to it. "I hammer you good with Nidorino, and you give me that puny Pokemon?"
"Abra is NOT puny!" Ash retorted. "He can take down your Nidorino easily!"
"Oh puh-lease..." Gary sighed and flicked some hair out of his face. "Aren't we the cocky duelist here...."
"Gary, Gary, he's the best! Gary will beat all the rest!" cheered Gary's cheerleaders.
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"Did you hear that? Gary just called Ash cocky!!!" Misty grumbled.
"Gary sounds like the cocky one to me..." Brock noted. "What I wish is that his personal cheerleading squad would quiet down for a moment..."
"Then, let's make up a cheer of our own next time THEY start cheering!" Misty suggested. With that, she grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil from her pack and furiously scribbled down cheer ideas.
"Yeah!" Maya agreed. "But, how can you be so certain that Ash can win against Nidorino?"
"Easy..." and Brock drew out a rough sketch of the arena floor, followed by sketches of Nidorino and Abra. "Abra uses Psyshock, and paralyzes Gary...." and he drew a picture of the Abra firing small beams at the Nidorino. "With this...Gary can't put down Nidoking. Ash evolves Abra into Kadabra..." and he drew an arrow pointing to the right, followed by a rough drawing of a Kadabra. "Kadabra uses Super Psy, and Ash becomes unstoppable!"
"Hmm...you have a point there..." Maya was about to say more when Misty ran back to the group, frantically waving a piece of paper. "What is it, Misty?" she asked, interested.
"A cheer I made for Ash!" Misty replied. "Wanna hear it?" she asked, gesturing to the paper.
"Later, okay?" Brock assured Misty as he turned his attention back to the arena. Misty settled down next to him, holding her paper until an appropriate time came...
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"Sapphire's turn!" the referee announced.
"Abra, use Psyshock!" Ash called, but his command was interuppted by the ref's whistle.
"Coin toss!" the ref called. "If heads, Ruby is paralyzed!"
"Tails, tails, we call tails!" cheered Gary's cheerleaders as the coin went up...
"Bricabraca, bricabraca, bim, boom, bah! Ash Ketchum, Ash Ketchum, rah, rah, rah!" Misty cheered over Gary's cheerleaders.
"Interesting cheer...." Ash thought as he saw an O appear on the scoreboard, making the crowd cheer. "Go, Abra!" The Abra fired a blue thunderbolt at the Nidorino, making Gary's HP drop by 20. A blue force field flew up and surrounded the Nidorino, rendering it unable to move.
"Ruby's turn!"
"Uhh..." Gary checked his next card: Not a Nidoking, but a Nidoran female! He put that on his bench, boosting his HP by 50. He then made a T with his hands. "Time out!"
"Ruby calls time out!" the ref announced.
"What is Gary calling time out for?" Ash wondered as he watched Gary flag down another official. Then, he heard Gary ask "Can I evolve a Pokemon if it is paralyzed?"
The official replied, "No, it is considered a foul if you evolve a Pokemon while paralyzed. If you do that, the evolution is declared invalid, and your HP will be reset to the pre-evolution value." Gary nodded and sighed as the time out buzzer sounded. "Stupid rules....they won't let me carry out my strategy..."
"Sapphire's turn!"
Ash looked at his next card: Kadabra lv. 38! "YES!!!" He smiled confidently as he overlaid the card over the Abra, making a Kadabra appear in its place. Next, he attached a Defender card to Kadabra. "Just in case Gary has some surprise for me..." "Kadabra, Super Psy!" he commanded. The Kadabra closed its eyes and focused a ball of blue light in its hands, then fired the light ball at the Nidorino, defeating it.
Gary looked at the scoreboard in shock and disbelief as Ash grabbed one of his two remaining prizes. "No...this can't be...I don't believe it!"
"Believe it." Ash replied. "You can't rely on brute force alone...."
"Whatever...." Gary sighed. "But I'm gonna try one more time to defeat you!" With that, he placed Wartortle lv. 22 in the arena.
"Ruby's turn!"
"Wartortle, Doubleslap!" Gary commanded, motioning to the ref for the coin toss.
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"Gary's trying to attack Ash, even though Ash has a Defender up?" Misty was shocked.
"He must be really desprate to win if he's doing that. That and asking that evolution question earlier..." Maya mused.
"It's not going to help him one bit, since Ash is poised to win here..." Brock mused as he updated his notes and tournament bracket. "Gary's going to have to do something drastic if he's going to win..."
"Yeah, where are those Legendary cards he bragged to us about?" Misty demanded as two X's appeared on the scoreboard. She flashed a wry smile as the Wartortle tried to slap the Kadabra, but was blocked by a blue shield both times. "Say goodbye, Gary..."
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Ash smiled as his Kadabra dodged Gary's attack. "After knocking out two of my best cards...." he thought as he attached a Pluspower to Kadabra. "I think it's time for a little payback..."
"Sapphire's turn!"
"Kadabra, Super Psy with Pluspower!" Ash called.
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Gary cried as another blast of blue light slammed into his Wartortle, defeating it.
"Game set! Sapphire wins!" the ref announced.
"YEAH!!!" Misty cheered.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu agreed, waving an 'ASH #1' flag.
Ash stepped down from the platform and waved to the crowd as he strolled over to the ref. Gary, on the other hand, stood in silence, apparently humbled by his loss.
"Well done, Sapphire. Take a booster pack as a reward for victory!" the ref replied as she handed a pack to Ash.
"Thank you!" Ash replied as he pocketed the booster pack, tipped his cap to the crowd, and ran over to the Ruby platform, where Gary was still sulking. Ash knelt down next to his rival and put a hand on his shoulder. "No hard feelings, okay?"
"You're apparently more stronger than I thought you would be..." Gary stood up and stretched. "but just wait until next time! I'll be more than a match for you!" With that, he stepped down from the platform and smoothed his hair back one more time. "Until then, Ash...smell ya later!" He gathered his cheerleaders behind him and walked out into the main hall. "Come on, girls...let's pay a little visit to the card shop..."
"Great job, Ash!" Maya gave Ash a huge hug. "You sure showed Gary your skills, and did well!"
"I thought you were done for when you lost Grovyle!" Misty began as she led the way out into the main hall, through the crowds of people and back to their room.
"I thought so too." Ash assured Misty. "But, thank goodness Kadabra came through for me!"
"Then, hang on to that card....you just might need it!" Maya smiled.
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"'Trainer's Log #6425: While continuing to compete in the trading card championships, we earned a Cascade Crest and the right to go on to the third round...'" Brock mused as he wrote in his diary. "Yeah, that's a good start."
"Don't forget the duel with Gary!" Ash smiled as he stretched out on his bed and flicked on the TV.
"I'm getting to that!" Brock assured him. He touched his pencil to his lips as he thought about what to put next, then wrote some more.
"Are you hungry, Togepi? Are ya? Are ya?" Misty cooed as she warmed Togepi's formula on the stove.
"Togi, gi!" Togepi chirped eagerly.
"Okay..." Misty walked over to the couch with the syringe full of formula, cradled Togepi in her arms, and offered the syringe to Togepi. "Here we go..." Togepi began to furiously drink his meal down.
"Aww...." Ash commented as he glanced over at Misty.
"Yeah..." Brock agreed. He formed a "frame" with his hands around Misty and Togepi. "It's a touching photo moment!"
Misty glanced over at the TV screen and noticed Ash was watching a science fiction adventure movie. "Interesting movie, Ash. What's it about?"
"It's about these two kids, Virgo and Gemini, who have taken shelter on this planet populated by bird creatures, since these evil aliens destroyed their home world." Ash explained as the two children and a bird creature ran down a pathway exploding with lasers. "Well, it turns out that Virgo has a special crystal the bad aliens want, so they've come to the bird-creature's planet to try and find it..."
"And if they do find it, it's "gggnnnkgh" for the birds and the kids, right?" Brock asked, drawing a finger across his neck to illustrate his point.
"Yeah..." Ash sighed. He stretched as the TV announced "'Adventure Theater' will be right back after these messages." and trudged into the kitchen. "So, where's Maya? I want her to see those pictures..."
"She'll be here soon." Misty replied. "Then we'll look at those photos together..."
What memories are captured in Misty's album? Stay tuned!