"Ninetales is unable to battle, so the winner of this round is Alcremie!" announced the referee and a smug twinkle flashed in Opal's eye. Her challenger instead exclaimed, "Ninetales, back!" and the white, Ice-type Pokemon returned to her Pokeball.
Then the challenger threw another ball in the air and exclaimed, "Lucario, I choose you!" and Aura Pokemon appeared in front of her, grunting. Opal smirked and leaned on her parasol and said, "Let's move on then. Alcremie, use Dazzling Gleam!"
"Cremie!" exclaimed Alcremie and sent her attack on the challenger Lucario. However, the challenger was not frightening, but exclaimed, "Dodge it and use the Aura Sphere!" and Lucario growled and did as its trainer had commanded.
In the stands, Lucario tensed when he saw Opal's challenger's Lucario. His fists tensed instinctively and he glanced at Braixen, sitting next to the Master's girlfriend. If that newcomer tries something with Braixen, I'm not responsible for my actions, he thought sourly, gritting his teeth. As if that frog didn't have enough resistance.
The "Master's Girlfriend," or Serena, was also a little tensed, but for a completely different reason than Lucario. She had figured out who the girl who had challenged Opal was.
She was the girl she had come across at the kitchen door.
As Serena stared at Opal's challenger, Ash stared at Opal's Pokemon, which she had called Alcremie. He had never seen such a Pokemon before, and he dug the Rotom out of his pocket and scanned the Pokemon with it:
"Alcremie, Cream Pokemon and an evolved form of Milcery. Fairy-type. When Alcremie is content, the cream it secretes from its hands becomes sweeter and richer."
"Oh, that kind of Pokemon then," he muttered as he put his Rotom away and suddenly felt Serena move beside him somehow in a strangely. He turned his gaze from the match on the field and Alcremie to his girlfriend and saw this staring Opal's challenger in a very focused manner.
"Serena, what now?" he asked a little puzzled and Serena slowly turned her gaze to him and said, "Ash, it's her! The girl I came across there at the kitchen!" She pointed to the Opal's challenger who had just ordered her Lucario to make a Quick Attack.
Ash looked a little amazed, but then grinned and said, "Really? We need to get to know her better once her match is over," and Serena nodded.
She was just saying something about it when Opal suddenly exclaimed, "This match needs some pink. Alcremie, wouldn't you add that to it!?" And then she called her Pokemon back to its ball, touched the bracelet on her wrist, making Alcremie's Pokeball grow bigger.
Serena already knew what it was all about. She had thought Opal could Gigantamax her Pokemon, so she wasn't surprised when Opal threw Alcremie's Pokeball into the air and a huge Pokemon appeared in front of her.
Alcremie's Gigantamax form resembled a huge cake. It erupted cream and various berries and shone the same strange fuchsia light as previous Gigantamax Pokemon. Fuchsia clouds also hovered around its head, which was somewhere near the roof, and when it shouted its name, its sound sounded a thousand times lower than normal.
However, the Opal's Challenger did not seem to be startled by this. Instead, she told Lucario to prepare and Lucario nodded.
Opal instead hummed and said, "Alcremie, show them a little pink. Use the G-max Finale!"
"Crem!" exclaimed Alcremie in her low voice and sent her move towards Lucario.
However, Lucario's trainer did not remain inactive, but exclaimed, "Lucario, dodge it and use the Meteor Mash!" and Lucario growled and swayed towards Alcremie, while dodging the drops of cream dripping from the sky, which were apparently part of Alcremie's move.
After that, everything went quickly. Lucario dodged Alcremie's attacks on the field while its trainer gave it instructions and Opal told Alcremie to do the G-max Finale two more times. Then Alcremie returned to her normal form and Lucario managed to handle it in a few minutes.
Soon Alcremie was lying on the ground with the familiar spirals on her eyes and the referee declared Opal's challenger the winner of the battle. This and her Lucario hit a high five and at the same time, Opal returned Alcremie back to its ball.
In the stands, Serena rose quickly after the match ended and started running towards the field. Ash and Gou glanced at each other and hurried after her and Lucario followed them, gritting his teeth.
"That was awesome! You're good at battling!" Serena exclaimed as she ran to the girl and this raised her gaze from the badge Opal had just given her. She spotted Serena and said with a smile, "Thanks." Then she seemed to recognize Serena and exclaimed, "Hey, you're the girl I came across there at the kitchen!"
"Yep, and I'm by the way Serena," Serena said with a smile, then nodded toward Braixen, standing beside her. "And this is Braixen, she's one of my Pokemon"
"Braix!" said Braixen happily and the girl nodded. "Hi, Braixen," she said, then noticed Ash, Gou, Lucario, and Pikachu behind Serena and asked, "Are they your friends?"
"Yep. Or really, Ash is my boyfriend too, but they're still my friends," Serena said, and Ash confirmed it by grabbing Serena by the hand and pressing a light kiss to the girl's cheek. Serena blushed slightly and Gou grinned.
"We haven't been introduced," he said to the girl, shifting his gaze away from Ash and Serena. "I'm Gou, and this charmer is Ash. That grumpy Lucario is Ash's and Pikachu, too. But who are you?"
"I'm Astra," the girl said, and then nodded Lucario. "And that is my Lucario"
Lucario grunted and stared very focused at Ash's Lucario. However, this did not even notice it, for he was so focused on observing Braixen. Try something on her and you're dead, he thought bitterly, but Ash didn't even notice the whole thing.
"Cool! Lucario, you might want to meet Astra's Lucario better, I'm sure that you will get along fine with each other!" he exclaimed and Lucario gave him a descending look.
"I don't spend time with enemies," he growled and Ash stared at him.
"Enemies? What are you explaining, just introduce yourself to Astra's Lucario," he said briskly and then he pushed Lucario to Astras's Lucario. Lucario sighed submissively and allowed his Master to push him to Astra's Lucario.
He raised his eyebrow, grunting, to Astra's Lucario, and waited for this to do something similar. Instead, he didn't expect what Astra's Lucario did next.
It winked an eye to him.
Lucario hadn't expected it. No way. His mouth snapped open in amazement and Astra's Lucario grinned at his expression, hands on its hips. Greninja, who had appeared out of his Pokeball, instead realized the situation quickly and burst into a hysterical laugh when he saw Lucario's look.
They looked at Greninja twisting in the ground, Lucario furious and the others confused. Astra instead smirked and said, "I guess it come as a surprise, right?" As Ash and his partners still looked confused, she continued, snickering a little, "You see, my Lucario is a girl. Your Lucario didn't seem to expect it."
"No," Ash said, scratching his head and watching Greninja roll around the ground in front of them. Pikachu shook his head on Ash's shoulder and Lucario gave Greninja a contemptuous look.
"I thought you were willing to challenge Opal to the battle," he told Ash, watching Greninja wipe away the tears of laughter from his eyes. He snorted and shifted his gaze away from him, only to find that Astra's Lucario grinned at him. Trying to look everywhere but her, he continued, "So, why aren't you already on the field doing that?"
"Oh yeah," Ash said, then blinked around looking for Opal with his gaze so he could challenge her to the match. "Where's Opal anyway? I'd like to challenge her to match"
"I'm behind you, boy," come a voice from behind them and they turned to look. They saw Opal standing behind them, leaning on her parasol and her wide hat shading her face. She had spoken to her employee while the trio had become acquainted with Astra. "And I guess you're the one who wants to challenge me to the match."
"Yup!" said Ash resolutely and raised his fist in the air. Pikachu on his shoulder did the same and said, "Pika!" "I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town from Kanto and I want to challenge you, Opal, Gym battle!"
"Won't work. My Pokemon need treatment and it's going to take a little while," said Opal, and Ash's eager look stretched. However, Opal didn't look worried, but pointed with her parasol behind them and said, "But don't worry, you'll get your battle. Even though I can't be your opponent, he can."
They turned in the direction indicated by Opal and saw someone in a pink coat coming to the field, browsing Rotom. Serena thought that there was something familiar in the person, but she didn't get her head on why, and it annoyed her.
The person was wearing a bright pink, long coat that reached up to his knees. He had white, short and curly hair, very pale skin and purple eyes. He wore something that looked like white tights and as a shoe he wore white, pink and black sneakers.
"Hey, boy! Come here, I have something for you!" shouted Opal to the person in the pink coat and this one looked up from his Rotom. His gaze shifted alternately to everyone standing on the edge of the field and eventually stopped at Opal.
"What?" he asked, a little irritated as he walked over to the crowd with Rotom still in his hand. However, Opal didn't answer him right away, but said, "This is Bede. He's here as my student. He can act as your opponent."
"Cool! Let's start then!" exclaimed Ash without asking for more, but Bede instead rolled his eyes and raised his Rotom back to the level of his face.
"I can't, I have to do one thing with Chairman Rose," he said, turning away from them and tapping something on his Rotom. Opal, on the other hand, did not like his response, but her piercing blue eyes ignited an ominous gloss and she puckered up her lips.
"Oh yes you can, unless you want me to tell Chairman Rose that it was you who destroyed that mural there in Stow-on-Side," she said calmly and yet very dangerously. Bede's Rotom's tapping ended like in the wall and he seemed to pale even more. Serena, on the other hand, gasped, for she had finally figured out where she had seen Bede; he was the boy Officer Jenny had dragged away from the mural in Stow-on-Side!
"You couldn't do that!" Bede exclaimed, turning back to Opal, but this one just looked at him with her blue eyes. "The Chairman would be angry and I would lose everything!"
"Then you kindly battle with this Ash and I forget I knew anything about the mural," Opal said calmly and Bede bit his lips. Then he finally sighed heavily and, putting his Rotom in his coat's pocket, said, "Fine, I'll do it."
"Good, let's get started then!" said Opal happily and Ash's Gym battle finally could begin.
"This is a four vs four Gym battle between challenger Ash Ketchum and.. uh... deputy Gym Leader Bede. The winner is the one whose last Pokemon is last upright!" announced the referee as Ash and Bede settled on both ends of the field. Serena, Gou and Astra moved on the auditorium and Opal stood on the edge of the field next to the referee. She leaned on her parasol and on her face had a very focused look. Her eyes moved alternately to both challengers and Serena wondered what she thought.
Ash and Bede, on the other hand, stared at each other, Ash determined and Bede a little irritated. Then the referee announced, "Battlers, please choose your first Pokemon!" and Bede lazily dug one Pokeball out of his pocket and magnified it.
"Mawile, showtime," he said and Mawile appeared in front of him. Ash looked at it for a moment and then looked at Lucario standing next to him.
"Lucario, would you like to battle a little?" he asked this and Lucario grunted and formed a blue Aura stick in his paw. "Gladly, Master," he said and stepped on the field, squeezing his Aura stick, and settled exactly opposite Mawile. Bede raised his eyebrows slightly at Lucario, but said nothing. The referee instead looked at both Pokemon and then exclaimed, "Let the battle begin!"
"Lucario, use Aura Sphere!" exclaimed Ash and Lucario growled and formed a blue Aura Ball with his left paw. Then he threw it in the air and hit it with his stick towards Mawile.
"Dodge it," Bede said, and Mawile jumped agilely out of the way of Lucario's move. Then Bede held out his hand in front of him and said, "Use Iron Head!"
"Wile!" said Mawile and her body began to glow white. Then she rushed towards Lucario and Ash exclaimed, "Dodge it!"
Lucario growled and jumped out of Mawile's way. "Use Aura Sphere again!" Ash shouted and Lucario again formed the blue Aura ball with his paws and threw it towards Mawile.
It hit her in the back and caused her to fall to the ground, while exclaiming, "Maw!" She remained for a moment lying on her stomach on the ground until she slowly turned and got up to sit. And began to cry.
Lucario was completely confused by this. His hand, in which he had held his Aura stick, stopped in the middle of the movement and he remained to stare at the crying Mawile. Ash also looked confused, but in the stands, Serena noticed Bede grinning smugly. What is he plotting? she thought and squeezed her blue ribbon.
On the field, Lucario stepped cautiously toward the crying Mawile, a cautious look on his face. He didn't really know how he should have reacted to it, so he looked at Ash to get some sort of instruction from him.
Ash noticed Lucario's gaze and shrugged. He looked as confused as Lucario. Lucario turned his gaze from Ash back to Mawile and stepped a step closer to this.
But then Bede exclaimed, "Mawile, now!" and Mawile suddenly stopped crying. A cunning look appeared on her face and when Bede exclaimed, "Use Play Rough!" she jumped up from the ground and straight to Lucario.
Lucario was so surprised by this that he didn't have time to react in any way. Mawile formed a white smoke veil around them and then began hitting Lucario with her chin-thingy. Lucario tried to fight his way out of the middle of the smoke, but his attempts didn't really succeed.
As Ash watched this, his hands clenched into fists. Bede noticed it and he grinned smugly and said, "See, I'm nothing helpless, even though I'm not the Gym Leader..." However, Ash didn't bother to listen to him as he tried to figure out how Lucario would be able to get away from the Mawile's move.
Think Ash, think, he commanded himself and suddenly he get an idea. "Lucario, can you hear me?" he asked through Aura and Lucario grunted and replied, "Clearly. What do you have in mind, Master?"
"I figured out how to get you out of there," Ash said, explaining quickly, "When I say 'Now!' make a bubble around you from the Aura that protects you. Also try to make Mawile faint with it."
"All right, Master," Lucario said, closing the Aura connection. Then Ash waited a moment until he exclaimed, "Now, Lucario!" and Lucario acted.
He slapped his paws together and created a blue Aura bubble around him. It surprised Mawile and also hit her. The bubble made her fly into the air and then fall, slamming into the ground.
"Mawile!" she exclaimed and Bede's smug look disappeared. Ash, on the other hand, smiled contentedly and watched as Lucario removed the bubble around him. Then he flashed Bede a wide smile and said, "See, we're nothing helpless either."
Bede's eyes narrowed and he told Mawile to get up. As she did so, Astra looked impressed in the auditorium and said admiringly to Serena, "Wow, Serena. Your boyfriend is very skilled!"
"Yeah, I know," Serena said proudly, looking at Ash, who had just given Lucario the next command. "He has gained experience"
"I see," Astra said, twisting the silver necklace around her neck with her fingers, which Serena had only just noticed. Then she stopped it and sighed, "I wish I had someone to love too."
"Well, you never know what the next day will bring," Serena said with a smile and Astra nodded. Then Serena suddenly grinned a little teasingly and looked at Gou, who was browsing Rotom in complete peace. "Right, Gou? You never know when, let's see, a certain Chloe will appear in front of you."
Gou stiffened and dropped his Rotom to the floor. "What?!" he exclaimed blushing and a little stuttering and Astra, Serena and Serena's Braixen snickered into his expression. Gou, on the other hand, didn't laugh, but he looked at the girls a little sourly and lifted his Rotom off the floor.
"You know, that wasn't fun," he said grumpily, his cheeks red, but Serena just grinned knowingly, saying, "Oh yes it was. And this is revenge for all the teasing you did to me during this journey. So you get what you earned."
Gou didn't bother to answer anything to that, as his mind had just glide to a certain maroon-haired girl, and he feared that if he opened his mouth, he would blurt out something he would regret later. Instead, he focused on browsing his Rotom and closed his mind from Serena's and Astra's teasing.
"Mawile is unable to battle, so the winner of this round is Lucario!" announced the referee after Lucario had finally caused Mawile to faint with a few well-aimed Aura Spheres and with his Aura stick. He grunted in satisfaction as Mawile lay on the ground, spirals on her eyes, and Ash squaled, "Yeah!"
Opal grinned to herself from the edge of the field. There's pink in that boy, she thought and watched Bede bring Mawile back to its ball. She then watched as he dug another ball out of his pocket and threw it into the air.
"Gardevoir, it's your turn!" he exclaimed and a white-green Pokemon appeared in front of him. Its dress-like frills swayed as it stood in front of Bede and it cried in shrilly voice.
Ash looked at it for a moment and then caught Lucario's gaze. Then he grinned at Lucario and said, "Well, let's move on. Lucario, use Bone Rush!"
Lucario growled and formed a bone-shaped stick in his paw. Then he rushed towards Gardevoir, a stick raised above his head.
"Psychic, Gardevoir," Bede said lazily and Gardevoir nodded. "Voir," she said and then her eyes began to glow bright blue. Then she looked at Lucario rushing towards her and suddenly Lucario's body began to glow bright blue and rose into the air.
Lucario grunted in amazement as Gardevoir lifted him up from the ground and he couldn't affect it in any way himself. Ash realized that Gardevoir was able to control Lucario's body with the help of Psychic and he shouted to his Pokemon, "Fight it! Don't let it affect you!"
"Like I wouldn't try it already," Lucario growled through Aura to Ash and Bede snorted. "Pointless," he said smugly and nodded to his Gardevoir, who hovered Lucario in the air with her gaze. "You know what to do"
"Garde," said Gardevoir, and then she moved the stick in Lucario's paw away from his paw. Lucario tried to stop it, but failed. Gardevoir's face had a similar smug grin as Bede's face and then she moved Lucario's stick above his head and let it fall on his head. Again. And again. And yet again.
Ash had to watch Lucario being beaten almost unconscious with its own stick. His hands clenched into fists and he felt anger bubbling inside. However, he remembered where it had led in Stow-on-Side, so he told himself to calm down. You don't want to ruin this battle, he said to himself and it actually helped.
Gardevoir eventually got enough of Lucario's whacking and let him fall to the ground. Lucario fell to the ground with a nasty thump and lay down on it. For a moment, Ash feared its match was over, but then it slowly got back up and looked very angry.
Ash sensed a great opportunity in it and exclaimed, "Lucario, use Stone Edge!" Lucario didn't hesitate, but slammed both of his paws on the ground, protruding from it many large, blue boulders coming towards Gardevoir.
However, Bede didn't seem startled by this, but exclaimed, "Use Psychic yourself and jump on them!" Gardevoir nodded and her eyes glowed blue again. Then she took to the air and jumped lightly on the boulders created by Lucario.
"What!?" exclaimed as Ash saw it and Bede grinned viciously. "Now, use Dazzling Gleam!" he exclaimed and Gardevoir's body glowed for a moment in the color of a rainbow and began to glow brighter all the time.
Ash knew what was coming and quickly tried to come up with a solution. He looked at Lucario, who had again formed a stick from Aura into his hand, and suddenly he remembered that forest square and Gyarados. And then he figured out what to do.
And not a moment too early. Just then, Gardevoir sent her move toward Lucario, and Ash roared, "Use Aura and make a shield similar to the one there in the opening!" and Lucario realized.
He spread his hands in front of him and formed a shimmering blue shield with them just before Gardevoir's Dazzling Gleam was hit him. Instead, it exploded into a white light similar to that Gyarados' Hyper Beam, which had exploded and blinded everyone nearby.
When the light finally faded and their eyes saw something again, Gardevoir lay fainted on the ground, spirals in her eyes. But so did Lucario. He had used the rest of his powers on the shield and eventually his own shield had become his fate.
"Both Pokemon are unable to battle, so the result of this round is a draw!" declared a referee and Bede returned the fainted Gardevoir back to its ball. Ash, on the other hand, rushed to Lucario, who was lying on the field, a little worried, and squatted next to him.
"Are you okay?" he asked him, reaching out his hand to help Lucario up, but Lucario tapped Ash's hand away with his Aura stick. "I don't need your help," he grunted and got up, leaning on his stick. He then stepped off the field with a stubborn look on his face and Ash was left to look confused behind him.
Finally, however, he shrugged and sighed. He got up and stepped back into place at the end of the field. Bede, meanwhile, had already picked up his next Pokeball and spun it in his hand.
"It's your turn to pick your Pokemon first, Ketchum," he said, magnifying the ball he was holding. Ash glanced at Pikachu standing next to him and said, "What do you say, buddy? Would you like to battle a little? "
"Pika pikachu!" said Pikachu resolutely and raised his little fist in the air. Ash grinned and said, "All right! Pikachu, I choose you!"
"Pika!" exclaimed Pikachu and jumped in front of Ash to the field. Bede looked at this, raising his eyebrows, and then said, "All right. It's my turn. Sylveon, time to shine!"
He threw his ball in the air and a pink Eeveelution appeared in front of him, crying shrilly, "Veon!" In the auditorium, Astra exclaimed excitedly, "Wow, Sylveon! They're really pretty!" and Serena grinned.
"Yeah, I have one too," she said and took one of her Pokeballs from her bag. She magnified it and threw the air, and then her own Sylveon had appeared on the bench next to her.
"Syl?" it said a little confused when it saw its new surroundings and then spotted Astra. It looked at Serena a little confused and Serena smiled at her and explained, "Sylveon, here is Astra. She is our new friend. Astra, here is Sylveon"
"Hi Sylveon!" said Astra happily and Sylveon smiled broadly. "Sylveon!" she said and wrapped one of her feelers around Astra's hand. Astra giggled and Serena smiled at them.
On the field, on the other hand, neither of the battlers smiled. Instead, they looked at each other with a little grumpily and waited for the referee to declare the match to start again. And when he finally did, Ash didn't hesitate.
"Pikachu, Quick Attack!" he exclaimed and Pikachu rushed his way to Sylveon, cheeks sparkling. However, Bede did not remain speechless, but exclaimed, "Sylveon, Moonblast!" and Sylveon exclaimed again shrilly.
She spread her feelers wide and behind them formed the image of the moon. Then a pink energy ball appeared in the middle of the feelers and then Sylveon threw the ball towards Pikachu.
Ash saw the ball coming and shouted, "Jump!" Pikachu obeyed and jumped over the ball just as it was hitting him. Ash grinned in satisfaction and exclaimed, "Now, use Iron Tail!"
"Pika!" exclaimed Pikachu and his tail began to shine brightly. He aimed it at Sylveon below him, but Bede wasn't going to just let it hit.
"Sylveon, Shadow Ball!" he exclaimed and Sylveon formed a dark ball with her feelers and threw it towards Pikachu. Pikachu didn't have time to dodge it, but the ball hit it directly in the face and made it drop to the ground.
"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed as it stumbled to the ground and Ash shouted, "Pikachu, no!" However, Pikachu was not left lying on the ground, but quickly got up and watched Sylveon with his cheeks sparking.
"Tough guy," Bede muttered and looked at Pikachu appreciatively. "But let's see how tough it is after this. Sylveon, use the Light Screen!"
"Sylveon!" cried Sylveon and formed a pink, protective ball around her. Ash looked at it confused for a moment until he said, "Pikachu, Thunderbolt"
"Pika!" said Pikachu nodding and sent his familiar electric shock towards Sylveon and her ball. But instead of blowing Sylveon's bubble away, it bounced off its wall and towards Pikachu himself.
"Chuu!" Pikachu exclaimed and jumped out of the way of his own move. Sylveon, on the other hand, grinned smugly and set off circling with her ball around Pikachu and grinning smugly all the time.
Ash didn't like Sylveon's expression, so he decided to make an end of it. "Pikachu, use Iron Tail on that bubble!" he exclaimed and Pikachu nodded and jumped in the air, exclaiming, "Pika pikachu!"
His tail began to shine brightly again and he aimed his move at Sylveon's bubble. However, Bede didn't decide to let it hit, but exclaimed, "Sylveon, dodge it!" and Sylveon rolled her ball away from under Pikachu's move.
"Pika!" exclaimed Pikachu when he hit his tail on the ground instead of Sylveon's ball. "Again, Pikachu!" shouted Ash and Pikachu jumped into a new attempt. They knew Sylveon couldn't dodge Pikachu's attacks indefinitely and they were right.
On Pikachu's third attempt, he got to hit Sylveon's bubble and it shattered into thousands of shimmering crumbs. Sylveon, on the other hand, fell to the ground but quickly rose back up, the feelers waving around her.
"Sylveon, Psyshock!" exclaimed Bede and Sylveon formed three shimmering balls with her feelers and then threw them towards Pikachu. However, Ash was awake and he exclaimed, "Pikachu, use Iron Tail and hit them back!" and Pikachu nodded.
"Pika!" he cried out and his tail began to shine once more bright. He then waited for the balls created by Sylveon to be close enough and then hit them one by one back towards Sylveon.
"Dodge them!" exclaimed Bede when he saw Pikachu's move, and Sylveon deftly dodged the first two balls. However, the third hit her in the face and caused her to fall to the ground.
"Pika?" said Pikachu questioningly and approached Sylveon cautiously. In the stands, Serena's Sylveon was tense; she did not like that Pikachu showed concern for that other Sylveon, who was even his opponent. Serena noticed her tensenes and smiled knowingly. However, she said nothing but focused on watching the match and hoping Ash would win it.
On the field, Pikachu gently sniffed Sylveon lying on the ground to examine if it had already fainted. In the stands, Serena's Sylveon sent murderous thoughts against that Sylveon and the referee was already declaring, "Sylveon is unable to continue, so the winner..." when suddenly something surprising happened.
First, Bede exclaimed, "Now!" and then Sylveon suddenly jumped up from the ground. Pikachu backed away in amazement and stumbled to his feet at the same time. Then Bede exclaimed, "Moonblast, now!" and Sylveon did not hesitate for a second.
She spread her feelers around her and then a moon image appeared behind her. She then formed a pink ball in the center of her feelers and threw it at lightning speed toward Pikachu.
"Pikachu, dodge it!" exclaimed Ash, but Pikachu didn't have time to do anything. Sylveon's move hit him with full force, and as the resulting dust clouds descended slightly, Pikachu lay faint on the ground.
It was quiet for a moment until the referee cleared his throat and announced, "Pikachu is unable to battle, so the winner of this round is Sylveon!" Bede and Sylveon grinned smugly and hit high five, and Ash walked to the field and carried the fainted Pikachu away. In the stands, Serena had to keep Sylveon so she couldn't attack into Bede's Sylveon.
"So Ash, what could be your next Pokemon?" asked Bede, raising his eyebrows as Ash had gently set the faint Pikachu on the edge of the field. He then turned back in Bede's direction and picked up one of his Pokeballs.
"She," he said, magnifying the Pokeball. Then he threw it in the air and exclaimed at the same time, "Dragonite, I choose you!"
An orange dragon-like Pokemon appeared in front of him and cried shrilly. She looked around, noticed Ash, and a wide smile spread across her face. She would finally be able to battle properly in her new form!
Bede, on the other hand, didn't smile, but looked amazed. "Dragonite," he said and exchanged glances with his Sylveon. "So you're taking a conscious risk when you send a Pokemon to the field that has a high type disadvantage over Fairy-type Pokemon?"
"Yep!" said Ash happily and raised his cap. "I know that, but it hasn't stopped me before. Type advances, hah! Skill is what decides!"
"If you say so," said Bede, and Dragonite nodded briskly. No one would underestimate her Ash, no one! Not particularly that curly head, who seemed to think too much of himself.
At the edge of the field, Opal smiled to herself. There's really pink in that boy, she thought, leaning on her parasol. Now I really want to see how this match ends.
Ash and Bede looked at each other for a moment until Ash exclaimed, "Dragonite, use Extreme Speed!" Dragonite quickly plunged into the journey and towards Bede's Sylveon.
"Sylveon, Moonblast!" said Bede calmly and Sylveon again formed a pink ball with her feelers and threw it at the Dragonite rushing towards her. She didn't have time to dodge it, but it hit her in the face and caused her to fall to the ground.
After all, it didn't take long for Sylveon to beat Dragonite. She made a few carefully considered Moonblasts, dodged the Dragonite's blows, which in any case would have done little to no harm to it, and eventually Dragonite lay on the ground spirals in her eyes. When the referee finally declared the winner of that round, Ash said nothing when returning Dragonite back to her ball.
"Well, Ash. What could be your last Pokemon?" Bede asked, raising his eyebrows and Ash grinned. Then he looked behind him and said, "Greninja, wanna battle?"
"Ninja!" said Greninja resolutely and stepped in front of Ash to the field. Lucario, who had found a chair to sit on somewhere, snorted. How does a frog manage? he thought smugly and then was left to think again of ways to win Braixen's heart for himself. And he didn't let Astra's Lucario's gazes bother him.
After Greninja had stepped opposite from Sylveon, the referee looked at them for a moment and then said, "Begin!" Bede did not hesitate, but immediately exclaimed, "Sylveon, Moonblast!" to which Ash responded by telling Greninja to dodge it and make Aerial Ace.
In the auditorium, Astra looked at Greninja with interest. "I haven't seen Greninja before," she said to Serena, digging a Pokedex from her pocket and pointing at Greninja:
"Greninja, Ninja Pokemon and the final evolved form of Froakie. Water- and Dark-type. It creates throwing stars out of compressed water. When it spins them and throws them at high speed, these stars can split metal in two."
"Cool!" said Astra and then Serena looked at her a little in amazement.
"Really? Haven't you really seen Greninja before?" she asked and Astra shook her head. "No. Not a single one," she said, watching Ash instruct Greninja to make Water Shuriken. "Ash's Greninja looks strong," she said suddenly and Serena smiled.
"That's right," she said, smiling with satisfaction as Greninja's shurikens hit Sylveon. "The bond between him and Ash is so strong that they can do a really cool thing with it"
"Wow, really?!" exclaimed Astra, and Serena nodded. "Yep, and if all goes well, they'll definitely do it in this match too," she said and Astra was excited to wait to see what that thing might be.
"Sylveon is unable to battle, so the winner of this round is Greninja!" declared the referee when Sylveon finally lay on the ground with spirals in her eyes. Bede called her back to her ball and Ash and Greninja hit a high five.
"Well, the last Pokemon then," Bede muttered as he dug his last Pokeball out of his pocket. He magnified it and looked at it for a moment until he threw it in the air and exclaimed, "Hatterene, it's your turn to battle!"
A Pokemon appeared in front of him, reminiscent of a slightly long-haired girl with a witch's hat on her head. Ash looked at it with interest and dug out his Rotom.
"I've never seen that Pokemon before," he said, scanning Hatterene with his Rotom:
"Hatterene, Silent Pokemon and the final Evolved form of Hatenna. Psychic- and Fairy-type. It emits Psychic power strong enough to cause headaches as a deterrent to the approach of others"
"Oh, I see," Ash said, putting his Rotom away and then looking at Greninja. "But we can beat it, can't we, Greninja?"
"Ninja!" said Greninja raising his thumbs up and Bede smirked.
"Well, we'll see it then," he said with his hands on his hips and Ash grinned at him.
"Absolutely!" he said, raising his fist resolutely to air. "Because I came here to win and that's what I'm going to do!"
Bede said nothing to this, but looked at the referee. He nodded and raised his hand up. "Begin!" he exclaimed, quickly lowering his hand back down and the final round could begin.
"Greninja, use Aerial Ace!" exclaimed Ash and Greninja's hands and feet began to shine bright. Then he rushed towards Hatterene and raised his hand over his head ready to hit Hatterene.
"Hatterene, use Dazzling Gleam!" exclaimed Bede, and Hatterene's body glowed in a rainbow for a moment. Then she sent a rainbow-colored ray towards Greninja and at the same time exclaimed shrilly, "Hatterne!"
The beam hit Greninja's body and caused him to fall to the ground. However, he quickly got up and said resolutely, "Gre!"
"Use Double Team!" exclaimed Ash and Greninja nodded and quickly duplicated himself into many copies. Hatterene looked confused by this sudden act, but Bede didn't, and he exclaimed, "Use Psybeam and destroy the copies with it!"
"Rene!" said Hatterene resolutely and began bombarding copies of Greninja with the help of Psybeam. She succeeds to destroy a few, but Ash didn't want to let it continue until the end.
"Use the Water Shuriken!" he exclaimed and Greninja and each of his copies formed shurikens with their hands and threw them towards Hatterene.
"Quickly, use Psychic to stop them!" exclaimed Bede and Hatterene's eyes began to glow blue and at the same time the shurikens had changed direction back towards Greninja and his copies. Ash had no time to instruct his Pokemon in any way after the shurikens had already hit Greninja and every copy of him.
The copies disappeared in an instant and the real Greninja slammed into the ground. "Ninja!" he exclaimed and rose quickly and looked angrily at Hatterene. Ash noticed it and grinned to himself and turned his cap.
"Okay, Greninja, let's put a little challenge on this match!" he then exclaimed and took the x-position. Greninja quickly realized what he meant and smirked resolutely.
He also took the x-position and then Ash exclaimed, "Okay, Greninja! LET'Z GO!" The blue water veil then surrounded Greninja and Ash felt how his and Greninja's minds merged. The water veil then disappeared around Greninja and formed a giant shuriken on his back.
Everyone else except Serena, Gou, Pikachu, Lucario and Braixen looked very amazed. In the auditorium, Astra looked at Greninja's new form and asked, "Is... is that the cool thing you told me about?"
"Yep," Serena said with a grin. "It's called Bond Phenomenon. It's very rare; only one person has achieved it besides Ash."
"Sounds really fascinating," Astra said and then they focused on watching the match.
Bede looked at Greninja's new form and then smiled smugly. "Well, Hatterene. Should we put a little challenge on this match too?" he asked with a grin from his Pokemon and this one nodded.
"Okay then. Hatterene, Gigantamax time!" he shouted and called Hatterene back to her ball. He then touched his wristband, causing Hatterene's Pokeball to grow larger, and then Bede threw it into the air.
Gigantamaxed Hatterene appeared in front of him and at the same time thumped the Gym's floor. It cried in her low voice and Ash and Greninja looked at it with interest.
Hatterene's Gigantamax form did not differ much from its usual form. It had only grown much bigger and shone that same fuchsia light as the other Gigantamax Pokemon. Admittedly, it had gotten some sort of hands and above it hovered fuchsia clouds.
Ash looked at it for a moment until he glanced at Greninja and grinned. "Well, that brings a little more challenge, but we're doing well," he said and Greninja nodded. "And to prove it, let's get started. Greninja, use Cut!"
"Ninja!" exclaimed Greninja and formed a glowing needle in his hands. Then it rushed towards Hatterene, ready to hit with it.
"Use G-max Smite!" cried Bede and Hatterene cried in her low voice. She then formed above her huge, yellow stars that set out to fall at an accelerating pace towards Greninja.
"Dodge them!" shouted Ash and Greninja dodged the stars that fell around it. He managed to dodge them without even touching them and soon he was at Hatterene.
"Use Double Team!" shouted Ash and Greninja jumped in the air and duplicated himself again into many copies. The hands and feet of each copy glowed bright and then each of them struck them at Hatterene.
Hatterene roared and Bede clenched his fist. "G-max Smite, again!" he exclaimed and Hatterene roared again. She again formed yellow, big stars that set out to fall towards Greninja.
"Jump on them!" shouted Ash as he got a great idea. Greninja obeyed and set out to jump upwards with the help of the stars.
"What?!" shouted Bede, but Ash didn't care about him, but shouted to Greninja, who had now reached the top star, "Jump and use the shuriken on your back!"
"Ninjaa!" shouted Greninja loudly and jumped high into the air. He snatched his giant shuriken from his back and then threw it towards Hatterene.
Bede tried to shout something at Hatterene, but didn't have time to do anything. Greninja's shuriken had already hit Hatterene and made her roar.
Hatterene began to fall and at the same time shrank to her normal form. Soon she lay on the ground and familiar spirals appeared in her eyes.
It was quiet for a moment until the referee cleared his throat and said in a clear voice, "Hatterene is unable to battle, so the winner of this round is Greninja. That, in turn, means that the victory of this Gym battle will go to challenger Ash!"
"Yeah! We did it!" shouted Ash, raising his fist up to indicate victory and Greninja did the same. Sitting on the edge of the field, Pikachu raised his hand in the air and exclaimed happily, "Pika pikachu!" Then Serena, Gou, and Astra rushed out of the stands to them and Lucario allowed himself a small smile.
"Ash, that was awesome!" exclaimed Serena and wrapped her arms around Ash. She hugged this tightly until she loosened her grip and pressed her lips to Ash's lips.
"Thanks, Sere," Ash said with a wide smile as Serena finally disengaged from the kiss. Serena's cheeks were once again red and Gou and Astra grinned at each other.
"It was a good match. You're good to battle," said Bede, who had just returned the faint Hatterene back to its ball, and who now walked up to them. The crowd turned to look at him and Ash, who was holding Serena's hand, said with a smile, "Thanks. You're not bad either." Bede grinned at this and then they heard another voice behind them.
They all turned to look and saw Opal coming to them, leaning on her parasol. There was a small smile on her face and one of the Gym employees walked beside her.
"Quite of battle, I can't say anything else," she said contentedly as she reached them and Ash smiled broadly. "Thank you, Opal," he said and then Opal picked up something small.
"Here. Fairy Badge. You deserved it," she said and was about to hand it to Ash. Then she suddenly seemed to change her mind and looked at Bede. "Or really, you should give this to Ash. You battle with him."
She gave the badge to Bede and this one accepted it a little confused. "Oh. Okay," he said and then turned to look at Ash.
"Ash, as Opal said, you deserve this," he said with a smile and handed a small, metallic badge to Ash. This one received it with a smile and then lifted it into the air.
"I just got Fairy Badge!" he exclaimed and Pikachu also jumped in the air and exclaimed, "Pika chuu!" Then Ash put the badge on its case and muttered, "Five collected, three left"
Then he turned to look at others and was just saying something when suddenly his stomach growled loudly. He scratched his neck a little embarrassed and said, "The match seems to make me a little hungry. Would we go eat something?"
"Sure," Serena said, giggling and grabbing Ash's hand. Then they went hand in hand for a walk towards the Gym's front door and Pikachu jumped back on Ash's shoulder. Gou and Astra followed them and were followed by Lucario and Greninja, who had once again started arguing about something, and Bede and Opal stayed to watch with a smile after them.