Pikachu vs Pikachu

"Volt Tackle!" Ash shouted out.

"Counter with Electroweb!" Yellow cried out.

"Pika!" Chuchu fired a string of electrified silk from her mouth which would soon take on the form of an electrified net as it flew towards Pikachu. Pikachu pressed on, golden electricity surrounded his body as he charged directly through the electrified silk, tearing it apart before he slammed into Chuchu's body!

"Chaaaa!" Chuchu cried out as Pikachu pinned her to the ground.

"And it appears that Chuchu's Electroweb was no match for Pikachu's Volt Tackle! What tactic will Yellow try next?"

"Way to go Pikachu, now let's try Splishy Splash!" Ash exclaimed with clenched fists.

"Pika!" Pikachu raised his arms as a massive wave of electrified water formed beneath him. A surfboard then appeared beneath Pikachu's feet as the wave rode towards Chuchu before crashing down on top of her. Chuchu flattened her ears before shaking herself as the attack faded away after making contact with her body.

"Pika..."

"Play Rough!"

"Pika!" Chuchu flashed Pikachu a playful smirk before springing across the field, a dust cloud soon surrounded the pair as a series of kinks and punches could be heard before Pikachu came flying out of the dust cloud.

"Pikaaaa!" Pikachu cried out before faceplanting against the ground.

"Oooh, that's got to hurt!" Gary flinched.

"Yellow taught Chuchu Play Rough? That's smart, gives her an edge against Dragon type Pokemon." Giselle remarked. "Dragon types may be rare around these parts but they're a bit easier to come by in other regions."

Pikachu uttered a faint grunt as he rose back to his feet. "Pika..."

"Pikachu let's try out Voltage Vortex!"

"Pika!" Pikachu's eyes shot a bright blue color while blue electricity crackled through his cheeks. A vortex of telekinetic energy soon formed around Pikachu and swept up the electricity, creating an electrified vortex of telekinetic energy that flew towards Chuchu before sucking her right into it.

"Chaaa!" Chuchu cried out as her body was flung and hurled about throughout the vortex before getting tossed out of it. "Pikaaaaa!" She cried out before collapsing against the battlefield floor with a loud slap. "Chaaa..."

Yellow rushed over to check on Pikachu before uttering out a sigh of relief upon seeing that her partner was okay. She gave her partner's shoulder a quick pat before springing back to her feet as she leaped a safe distance away. "Alright Chuchu, let's use Pikapika Thunder!"

"Pikachu!" Chuchu flashed her opponent's a playful smirk as electricity began crackling through her cheeks.

Ash clenched his fists as from what the announcer said, the attack never missed. He hesitated for a moment as he wasn't sure what to do.

"And here it comes folks, Pikapika Thunder! Will Pikachu be able to take the hit or will he fall down like Sceptile before him?"

Electricity surged around Chuchu's body and fired off into the air before coming down in a series of multiple thunderbolts that struck around Pikachu before soon joining together to form one massive thunderbolt that rained down upon Pikachu!

"Pikaaaa!" Pikachu cried out as the electricity rained down on him. Ash clenched his fists and slowly lowered his head as he thought that was it, Pikachu had already taken a sizeable amount of damage and Pikapika Thunder was quite a powerful attack.

"I-Incredible! It appears that Pikachu somehow survived the attack!"

"Huh?"

"Pika?" Pikachu seemed just as surprised as Ash while Yellow stared at them from across the field, her jaw dropped from shock.

"Y-Your Pikachu has the Lightning Rod ability! What luck, you know that ability is incredibly rare for Pikachu to have right?"

"Pikachu's ability is Lightning Rod?!"

"Pika pi?!" Ash and Pikachu exclaimed with shocked expressions.

"Heh, knew it." Surge remarked while crossing his arms. "There's a reason that I never used Electric type attacks on the little runt."

"Wait so that explains how Pikachu survived Stoked Sparksurfer!" Flash exclaimed before crossing his own arms as he pouted. "Man I wish I knew that..."

"Leave it to Ash to not know the abilities of his own Pokemon." Gary laughed with a light shake of his head.

"W-Well I guess that does explain some things..." Ash sweated as he thought back to his battle with Lt. Surge, Raichu's choice of attacks throughout the match were Hyper Beam and Mega Punch. Then just the other day Pikachu miraculously survived Flash's Alolan Raichu's Z-Move attack when everyone including the referee thought that the battle had come to a conclusion. "Well I guess this means that we don't have to worry so much now!"

"Not so fast, I still have Play Rough!" Yellow shouted while throwing out her arm.

"Pika!" Chuchu sprang forward and leaped towards Pikachu.

Ash quickly examined the situation as Chuchu flew towards Pikachu. He noticed that Chucchu was visibly bruised from the earlier Volt Tackle as there was still a light scorch mark from where Pikachu had slammed into her, indicating that while his Pikachu may have the Lightning Rod ability hers did not!

"Pikachu let's finish this with Thunderbolt!"

"Pikachuuuu!" Electricity crackled through the forming dust cloud as Chuchu could be heard punching and kicking at her opponent. An electrical bolt fired through the smoke and soon made contact with Chuchu causing the female Pikachu to cry out in pain as electricity surged through her body.

"Pikaaaaa!" She cried out as the dust faded away, providing a good view of her collapsing against the field as swirls began to form within her eyes. "Chaaaa!"

Silence echoed throughout the stadium before a collective cheer echoed throughout it as the announcer made the call. "Yellow's Pikachu, Chuchu is unable to continue battling which means that Ash's Pikachu wins! Ash wins the finals and the Indigo League as a whole!"

"Oh wow, he actually did it!" Giselle gasped out.

"Heh, it'd be different if it was me out there. He'd have lost." Gary remarked with a cocky smirk.

"I'm so proud of him!" Delia gushed while eagerly snapping pictures.

"Me too." Chloe beamed while excitedly clapping her hands before shouting out as loud as she could. "Way to go Ash, I knew you could do it!"

Ash heard her cry though he couldn't make out the words due to the loud cheers, he smiled as he turned to give his girlfriend and friends a wave before turning his attention back towards the field as he wondered where Rex was. It was tradition that the champions of a region hand the trophy over to the winner of the regional Pokemon League while allowing them to select a time and place where they could face off against the Elite Four in order to earn the right to face the champion themselves, but there was no sign of Rex or even his second in command Lance.

"What's going on...?"

"Pika..?"

"Huh, that's weird. I wonder what's going on?" Brock motioned towards the champion box where Rose could be seen looking visibly distressed.

"What do you mean you can't get a hold of Bruno?! Who cares about that, get your butt back here and onto the field pronto! I don't care if your fiancée is pregnant, you've got a duty to perform as Rex has gone dark!" Rose shouted into his Rotom Phone causing Bede to give him a frightened look. "No I have no idea where Rex is, he just took off and Agatha and Bruno disappeared not long after. Get over now... please! You need to stall while I look into thing-Hold up, I've got another call." Rose pulled the Rotom Phone away to answer the other call. "Hello?" His face turned pale not long after he picked up.

Ash stood on the field for a good five minutes before a familiar roar could be heard. The crowd looked up as a Dragonite could be seen swooping down onto the battlefield with Lance soon hopping off it's back, landing on the field next to his Pokemon with a golden Pokeball shaped trophy in his arms. The Elite Four member turned towards Yellow who blushed and quickly shook her head before quietly pointing towards Ash, indicating that he was the winner. Lance performed a double take and raised his eyebrow before quickly shrugging it off as he approached Ash, his free hand extended while the trophy remained gripped within his other arm.

"Congratulations on your victory here, Ketchum. I must say that I'm surprised, I honestly expected Yellow to win." Lance admitted with a light laugh.

"Don't worry about it, I'm just as surprised as you are." Ash lightly chucked. while rubbing the back of his neck. "So uh... where's Rex?"

"He's... preoccupied, something came up." Truthfully Lance didn't know, he didn't see the harm in telling a small lie though as chances are Rex was busy with something. 'Hopefully it's important, whatever it is.' "So as his second in command, it's my duty to hand off the Indigo League trophy to you and to set up an appointment so that you can start fighting through us Elite Four members." Lance held the trophy out towards Ash, the crowd cheered loudly and bright white flashes filled the stadium as people snapped pictures with their cameras and phones.

Ash glanced towards the champion box and noticed Agatha, Lorelei and Bruno were all missing. The public wasn't made aware of Lorelei's pregnancy yet so it was a mystery to him as to where she had gone. "So I can challenge any one of you whenever I please? Whichever of you I feel like starting with?" He questioned, wanting to make sure that he understood the rules correctly.

"Of course, well unless you lose to one of us in which case... you'd have to win the Silver League in order to get another shot at fighting us." Lance chuckled before forming a serious look. "Though listen, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't choose Lorelei. She's not feeling herself today and-"

"That's alright with me cause I choose you!" Ash pointed towards Lance with an excitable expression.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu clenched his fists while his tail eagerly twitched from excitement. Lance was the strongest of the Elite Four members so he most likely would have been Ash's choice regardless of the situation. What better way to test their skills than to face off against somebody that was nearly champion level himself!

Lance's eyes widened as it became clear that he hadn't been expecting Ash to choose him. "Alright sure, when would you like to-"

"My schedule's clear right now, how about yours?"

"Pi Pikachu?"

Lance nervously sweated as he'd hoped to get back to Lorelei but he wasn't going to just up and deny Ash his request. He earned it after all. "Alright, I'll give you a few minutes to heal up your team and prepare for the match. Fair warning though, I'm not holding back so bring out your big guns and a full team!" Lance advised.

"Will do!" Ash gave the experienced Elite Four member a wave before shooting off the field.

"What's this? Incredible! It appears that Ash Ketchum has wasted no time in challenging Elite Four member Lance Wataru to a match, stay tuned folks as you're about to be in for a show. How will he fare against the strongest of Kanto/Johto's Elite Four? We'll soon find out!"

"Hm..." Looker looked Agatha over as she laid in Goldenrod City's hospital. The staff quickly ushered Hitmonchan into the back and kept exposure to a minimum for the time being as an Elite Four member getting attacked and left in critical condition would surely ensue mass panic in word got out. Looker soon looked up from the hospital bed as two other figures suddenly appeared in the room. "Master Koga, hello Janine."

"Looker." Koga gave the police detective a respectful bow before turning his attention towards the unconscious Elite Four member. "Arceus above... is she alive?"

"She is, though unfortunately her body wasn't able to fully sustain the blow it was dealt. She's in a coma."

"Well that's fortunate." Janine uttered out a sigh of relief.

"That's not the reason I called you here though," Looker motioned towards some markings along Agatha's arm. "Do those look familiar to you?"

Koga's eyes widened upon getting a closer look. "Arceus... those are the same markings that we found on those kids!"

Looker nodded in response before motioning towards Hitmonchan. "And Bruno appears to have saved her, once she wakes up we'll be able to learn who did this. It's very important though that we keep her presence here a secret, not even her family can learn about it. If word gets out that increases the chance that her attacker will return to silence her. But onto more important matters, Bruno... Hitmonchan can you take Koga to where you left your master? It may not be too late to save him."

"Hitmon!" Hitmonchan eagerly motioned for Koga to follow before racing out the door. Hitmonchan led the two ninja and the detective to Ilex Forest, passing by various Grass and Bug type Pokemon before coming to a sudden pause as his eyes set upon his now deceased master. Hitmonchan raced over with a desperate expression before proceeding to shake his master in an attempt to wake him up.

Koga clenched his fists while looking around with a look of disgust. "This is definitely his work but why the six year delay? Six years and nothing but now they're back and killing more trainers? I recognize Buzz, the Azalea Town Gym Leader... that is going to be extremely troublesome." There wasn't anyone in line for ownership of the Gym other than the man's own son and he was currently too young to be a proper trainer. "No idea who the kid is, must be another rookie."

Looker walked over to Bruno and felt along his throat before regretfully shaking his head. "This isn't good, Koga. Agatha no longer has any Pokemon on her person and is in a coma for the foreseeable future, Bruno is dead and Rex is missing. And with Lorelei on maternal leave, that leaves Lance as your region's only means of defense. If something were to happen... you guys would be at their mercy."

Koga frowned as he turned his gaze towards the ground. "All that pressure will drive Lance insane, one man can't possibly run an entire League on his own."

"Then we must begin preparations for putting a new Elite Four together immediately." Looker remarked. "But first, we'll have to tell the public about Bruno."

"And we're back folks, Ash has just switched out his team and is preparing to face off against Lance! This will be a six on six Pokemon battle with the battle coming to an end as soon as one side is no longer capable of battling."

"Are you ready, Ash?" Lance called out. "And remember if this becomes too much for you, there's no shame in forfeiting. A true Pokemon Master knows when to call it quits."

"Of course, Pikachu and the rest of us are eager to battle against you!" Ash excitedly exclaimed.

"Pika pi!"

Lance flashed Ash a light smirk before tossing a Pokeball up into the air. "In that case, let's go Dragonite!"

"Dragoooo!" A Dragonite roared out as it emerged from the ball. Ash had no way of knowing which of Lance's Dragonite it was as they all looked the same to everyone else.

"We ended the last battle with you so let's start this one off with style, Pikachu I choose you!"

"Pika!" Pikachu cried out as he leaped onto the battlefield, his eyes narrowed to slits as he gazed up towards Dragonite with a look of determination.

"Dragooo." Dragonite grunted out as he flashed Pikachu a light smirk.

"Let's start off with Thunderbolt, see what we're dealing with here."

"Pika!" Pikachu's cheeks crackled and sparked shortly before an electrical bolt fired from his cheeks. The bolt soared across the field before giving Dragonite a zap as it made contact with his scaly skin.

"Dragooo." Dragonite lightly grunted out but the attack appeared to do minimal damage at best.

"Extreme Speed then follow up with Fire Punch!"

"Dragooo!" Dragonite quickly shot across the field before delivering a powerful fiery uppercut to Pikachu!

"Chaaaa!" Pikachu cried out as he was sent flying upwards before crashing back towards the ground where he laid in a defeated slump, swirls formed in his eyes.

"And Pikachu's lost already! Just goes to show that winning a Pokemon League doesn't automatically make you Elite Four level folks! These trainers are the best of the best and it took years of practice for them to get here."

"I think that's enough television for now, he obviously isn't going to win." Mewtwo flicked off the television that he and Mew were watching.

"Pikachu, you okay?" Ash questioned as he scooped his best friend up.

"Pika..." Pikachu opened his eyes and offered his trainer an apologetic smile.

"It's okay Pikachu, you tried your best. Now let's see if somebody else can take the heat, Charizard I choose you!"

"CHAR!" Charizard shot a powerful stream of fire into the air as he emerged from his Pokeball.

Lance raised an eyebrow as a look of curiosity appeared on his face. "Return." Lance returned Dragonite to his ball before tossing forward a different ball revealing his own Charizard which stood at a slightly taller level than Ash's, other than that they were nearly identical. That is until Lance retrieved and activated his Mega Ring which caused Ash to do the same.

"Charizard let's show them just how strong our bond is with Mega Evolution!"

"CHAR!" Both Charizard roared out as the pink light engulfed their bodies before they emerged as Mega Charizard X and Mega Charizard Y!

"Thunder Punch!" Lance shouted out.

"Char!" Charizard's fist crackled with electricity as he lunged forward before delivering a shocking blow to Mega Charizard Y's stomach!

"Char..." Ash's Charizard grunted out but remained able to continue.

"Alright Charizard let's counterattack with Dragon Pulse!" Ash shouted out.

"Charrr!" A green-blue pulse of dragon shaped energy shot out from Charizard's mouth and blasted the rivaling Mega Charizard X.

Mega Charizard X grunted out but shook the attack off while offering Mega Charizard Y a light glare.

"Rock Tomb!" Lance shouted out.

"Charrr!" Mega Charizard X roared out. A large barrage of boulders began raining down from the sky shortly afterwards and crashed down upon Mega Charizard Y causing him to fall towards the ground below as a bright pink light appeared around his body once more.

"And Ash's Charizard is down!"

"Oi, I know that ya can't hear me but I'll kick yer freaking ass if ya don't pick things up!" Gloria angrily shouted at the television.

"Poor Charizard..." Chloe frowned.

"Charizard return, don't worry about the loss you were great out there. We'll get him next time." Ash returned Charizard to his Pokeball before reaching out for another. "Alright let's give this one final shot, Sceptile I choose you!"

"Sceptile!" Sceptile spread out his arms as he uttered out a battle cry.

"Return." Lance swiftly returned Mega Charizard X before reaching for a third Pokeball. "Kingdra, let's do this!"

"Kingdra!" A large seahorse Pokemon that greatly resembled Seadra burst from the ball.

"Kingdra?" Ash questioned before retrieving his Rotom Phone from his jacket.

"Kingdra the Dragon Pokemon, the evolved form of Seadra upon giving one a Dragon Scale. Kingdra lives at extreme ocean depths that are otherwise uninhabited. It has long been believed that the yawning of this Pokemon creates spiraling ocean currents."

"Huh, well if I can't find a Dragon type then perhaps I ought to catch myself a Horsea or Seadra." Ash briefly thought to himself before regaining focus.

"Leaf Blade!"

"Tile!" Sceptile's arm blades turned a bright green color as he shot across the field before slashing at his opponent. Kingdra grunted out as she was knocked back but soon shook it off.

"Dra..."

"Rain Dance!"

"Kindra!" Kingdra cried out as a heavy downpour rained upon the battlefield. Ash then frowned upon noticing Kingdra's movement speed increasing as her tail twitched noticeably faster.

"Swift Swim... alright Sceptile let's fight back with Sunny Day!"

"Sceptile!"

"Laser Focus!" Lance didn't seem to be going for Ash's bait as he simply issued out another attack. Ash clenched his fist as he knew the next attack would hurt badly.

"Solar Beam!"

"Tile!" Sceptile cried out as a massive beam of solar energy shot from his mouth. The beam flew across the field before exploding upon making contact with Kingdra. The sea horse grunted out and appeared to be faintly scarred but otherwise appeared able to continue.

"Blizzard!" Lance ordered out.

"King!" A fierce blizzard of snow and ice whisked across the field, pelting Sceptile's body as the Grass type rapidly shivered.

"S-Scep... t-tile..." He groaned before collapsing onto his side, swirls formed within his eyes.

Ash looked Kingdra over before throwing up his hands as he recalled Sceptile to his ball. "I forfeit."

"Smart move, kid." Lance gave Ash a respectful nod as he returned Kingdra to her Pokeball. "I'm sure that you'll be at my level before long but until then, practice and train hard."

"I will, I plan on entering the Silver League next!" Ash gave the Elite Four member an eager grin as they shook hands.

"Pika pika!"

"The Silver League?" Lance tilted his head before quickly retrieving his Rotom Phone. "You've got about two months before then."

"I know, I'm not sure what I'll do during the wait." Ash frowned.

"Well may I make a suggestion? Not far from the Kanto region lays a group of islands referred to as the Orange Islands." Lance began only to be interrupted.

"The Orange Islands?! Todd Snap and Rita were heading there to find a 'crystal' Onix!" Ash excitedly exclaimed.

"Eh?" Lance raised an eyebrow as he'd never heard of such a creature but soon shrugged it off. "Anyways my point is that there's a minor League there referred to as the Orange League. There are four Gyms there, each specializing in a different battle style such as Sky Battles and Rotation Battles."

"Sky Battles? Rotation Battles...?" Ash tilted his head as he'd never heard of such battle styles.

"Pika...?" Pikachu tilted his head alongside his trainer.

"And whoever gathers up all four badges earns the right to face off against the Orange League's own champion! I don't mean to brag but they're not exactly as strong as a normal champion, they should still provide great practice though and learning the different battling styles will surely help you with further adventures as I hear regions such as Kalos favor Sky Battles while there is one Gym in Unova that specializes in Rotation Battles."

Ash's eyes lit up as soon as Lance mentioned there being a powerful trainer for him to face off against at the end of the small journey. He should be able to gather four badges and be back in time for the Silver League, they were just small islands after all and not far off from Kanto's coastline either. It'd be good practice to get his team into shape for the Silver League while also potentially giving him the chance to extend his current roster.

"Well then it sounds like a plan, I'll head off to the Orange Islands as soon as I can!"

"Pika pi!"

And the League is finally over, praise Arceus! Yes Ash won but that doesn't mean he's champion level yet, if he was then there wouldn't be much to say about Johto at all. He'd just clean house as he's already established to be stronger than the average trainer in that region. I can't wait to start the Orange Island arc!

More captures and team changes incoming! And yes, Yellow's team theme was her utilizing the same species of the main character's main Pokemon/best friend up to Unova. Not hinting at Eevee turning into Vaporeon, I'm still undecided on her fate! I just picked Vaporeon as I love the species, and Umbreon/Espeon will get their due in Johto. :)

Anyways next time, the Orange Islands await!