It was the weirdest thing. The group upon reaching the Johto region, specifically Cianwood City, they saw a round yet clearly strong man, which they recognized as Chuck Green, fighting a Machoke on the beach, a being as large as him but more toned with its huge muscles.
"You defended yourself well Machoke!" Chuck complimented his Pokemon with a gruff voice. "Now let's try switching to offense!" And to their amazement, they watched him block and dodge the attacks of said fighting Superpower Pokemon. Sure, it likely wasn't going full power, but if a Machop can lift boulders or a 100 men, then what can a Machoke do? Even taking a karate chop to the chest only made him pause for a few seconds, complimenting its power before going for submissions. They even rolled around in a freaking wheel until he was pushed off and flew quite a few dozens meters away, landing on his back on the sand. "Ha, that was perfect!" He praised, before flinching and falling on his knees.
"Pikachu!" He heard a Pokemon cry out as he looked up and saw concerned trainers come up to him.
"Hey, are you okay Chuck?!" Ash asked the man.
"Why are you battling a Machoke?" Elaine inquired.
"I think training like that is unsafe, right?" Trace added. However, a response they weren't expecting was him crying with pride.
"I'm just... I'm just so proud in my Machoke!" He got up and praised his Pokemon. "That submission attack was absolutely perfect! Do you hear me!" Said Pokemon was also crying happily as it nodded as well, saying its name. They even went to hug each other, crying over a well done training session.
"Okay, apparently we're lost on context here." Trace determined.
"Hey, you kids!" He called out to them. "What's your names?"
"Uh, I'm Ash Ketchum."
"Trace Keen."
"Elaine Gladwin."
"What bring you here to town kids? You're Pokemon trainers, right? You wouldn't be looking for the Cianwood City gym, would ya?"
"Yeah, we are." Trace replied.
"Alright, march! Double time! Hup two three four! Hup two three four! If you want a battle start marching!" The way he aggressively ordered that made the teens quickly intimidated as they did so without further instruction, along with their Pokemon except Eevee. "Let's move out! Hup two three four!" They followed Chuck down the beach. Eventually, they made it to the fighting dojo gym where Machoke was waiting.
"Ah, I can't go on any longer." Ash panted while resting his hands on his knees.
"Me neither." Trace sighed from how far the marching was.
"Eh, not much worse than my regular jogging." Elaine shrugged. The same couldn't be said for Clefable for even though she was a battling Pokemon, she was still a short legged, round Pokemon who never had to ran that long or hard before. She was even laying on her front from how tired she was. Chuck had it the worst as he was breathing really hard and collapsed on his knees.
"What's the matter, you kids out of shape?!" He wheezed. Elaine chuckled.
"Yeah, that's right." She responded sarcastically. "We're the ones out of shape.
"You okay there?" Trace asked Chuck. Before he could reply though, many boys and fighting type Pokemon ran out, yelling,
"Welcome back Master Chuck!" Or Pokemon speech with the same amount of syllables. Chuck managed to get up well okay.
"Aha! Students, did you finish up all your training?!"
"Yes!"
"Haha, yes kids!" He turned to our heroes and posed in a martial dynamic pose. "I'm the meanest, leanest, toughest, roughest fighting Pokemon master in all of Johto! But you can call me Chuck! Now, let's eat!" Everyone got situated at a table filled with food fit for martial artists. "Let's eat eat eat so we can be strong fighting machines!" Our heroes got a big helping of mashed potatoes with peas and carrots in them.
"Well, I don't know about the fighting machine part, but so long as I get free food!" Ash started scarfing down his mashed potatoes, followed by Pikachu. Trace shrugged and ate as well while Chuck just kept saying 'eat'.
("Boys.") Elaine rolled her eyes, but did so with a smile on her face, recognizing she wasn't too feminine herself. So she ate, just with more control as to not get a hurting stomachache later or a sloppy face.
"So, you three want to battle?" A female cook asked the visiting teenagers.
"No, just one of us." Elaine told her. "We're in the World Coronation Series."
"Well, all of you shouldn't have trouble beating my flabby old husband of mine." The woman giggled.
"Hey, who are you calling flabby?!" Chuck called his wife out. "This round body is muscle, not fat!"
"Sure it is." She rolled her eyes. "I'll get the second helping."
"These mashed potatoes are delicious." Elaine told Chuck's wife.
"Clefable!" The Fairy Pokemon agreed.
"Thank you dear." She went back to the kitchen. Once the second helpings were eaten, Chuck got up full of energy.
"Alright, time to burn off those calories! Which one of you will battle me?!"
"Oh, guys, can I have this one too?!" Elaine volunteered herself. "Not only would beating Brawly's teacher would further show how far I've come, I could share with Trace of facing two gym leaders of the same type back to back! Please?! I'll let one of you two have the next one!"
"Alright, sounds fair." Trace shrugged, finishing his mashed potatoes.
"Sounds like a deal to me." Ash greed.
"Perfect, then onto the battlefield!" Chuck pointed to the next room, where the two faced off against each other. A Rotom Drone appeared.
"Welcome, welcome, welcome! You have been approved for an official Pokemon World Coronation Series Normal Class battle! The challengers here are Chuck Green from the Cianwood City gym vs Elaine Gladwin from Pallet Town! For today's battle, you can choose two Pokemon! When a Pokemon on either side are unable to battle, that side loses! Both challengers bring out your Pokemon!"
"I'll use my Hitmontop and my Hitmonchan!" Chuck sent out the latter, a brown humanoid Pokemon with boxing gloves for hands in a pink dress. "Are you ready Hitmonchan?!"
"Hitmon!" It agreed with lightning fast punches.
"Clefable, let's go for a hat trick." Elaine told her Pokemon. She smiled and nodded as she ran onto the field.
"Battle Begin!"
"Clefable, use Moonblast!" Singing to form a ball of pink energy, she launched it at the Punching Pokemon.
"Come on Hitmonchan, dodge it!" Faster than Clefable's move, the fighting type leapt over it as it exploded against the ground. "Now use Comet Punch!" Coming after the fairy type, Hitmonchan delivered several concise punches against the pink Fairy Pokemon, causing her to grunt from the impacts until she rolled across the ground a few times.
"Don't give up now Clefable!" Elaine told her Pokemon, whom got up.
"Use Thunder Punch!" With cackling electrical power, Hitmonchan resumed its offense.
"Dodge then use Flamethrower!"
"Counter that with Fire Punch!" Rolling to the side to avoid another left punch to the face, she breathed fire just as the Punching Pokemon blocked it with a fist engulfed with fire just like Clefable's. However, the constant stream of fire overwhelmed Hitmonchan as it was pushed back groaning from the intense heat.
"Psychic, go!" With her glowing eyes, the Fairy Pokemon picked up the fighting type, and slammed it into the ground with enough force for her opponent to cry out in agony, before fainting. "Alright, way to go Clefable!"
"Clefable!" She cheered with her master.
"Yep, fighting types just aren't a problem for her." Ash chuckled.
"So long as Clefable is faster that is." Trace remained cautious as he said that.
"Aw, I'm so proud of you Hitmonchan!" Chuck cried as he returned his Pokemon. "I'll never forget the battle you gave me! Take your well deserved rest! Hitmontop, the time has come!" He sent out a vaguely brown, short humanoid Pokemon with a top for a head, as it spun around on it. "Now, give me your best shot!" To the teenager's surprise, Hitmontop started attacking Chuck! It used its spinning kicks to hit him at a rapid fire pace, each hit making Chuck grunt.
"What is he up to?" Ash asked, sweating a bit from this weird behavior.
"Maybe it's a way to psyche each other up? I don't know." Trace shrugged.
"Eevee." The Evolution Pokemon was timid, like she wouldn't like this kind of training even with the Eviolite. Soon though, the match resumed.
"Focus Hitmontop, use Close Combat!"
"Dodge it Clefable!" She tried to roll out of the way, but the way the Handstand Pokemon was moving prevented it from being successful for even when she got out of the way, Hitmontop merely turned direction and went the way the fairy type did and delivered a continuous beat down of spinning kicks, much to Clefable's discomfort.
"No, Clefable!" Elaine gasped.
"So she can't even get out of the way!" Ash realized.
"It appears so." Trace gulped. "Regardless if you're good at dodging, it doesn't matter if the opponent is better at movement close to you."
"Don't let up! Use Rapid Spin!"
"If we can't dodge, we'll endure it!" Elaine declared. "Block it!" Clefable put her arms up to try and reduce the damage from all those kicks. "Now use Psychic!" The Handstand Pokemon soon was lifted off the ground, making the fighting type confused until it saw the fairy type's blue glowing eyes, before it was sent flying across the field, grunting from skidding and rolling across the ground. However, that didn't seem to put the Pokemon down for the count as it stood up.
"Alright, that's how you focus! Now, use Close Combat again!"
"Counter with using Flamethrower on the ground!" Elaine ordered. Breathing fire onto the ground, it spread throughout and it eventually reached Hitmontop. This burned the Handstand Pokemon's spike on top of its head, causing it to lose focus and tumble into the fire, hurting it even more as it screamed.
"Oh no!" Chuck gasped.
"Now, use Moonblast!" Forming another pink sphere, she threw it at the off put fighting type, and the attack exploded upon impact, sending Hitmontop flying towards Chuck's feet, defeated.
"As a result of today's battle, there has been a change in the WCS rankings effective immediately!" The Rotom Drone announced.
"We did it Clefable!" She ran to her injured Pokemon and hugged her, sighing in relief.
"What an interesting way to take down Hitmontop." Ash laughed. Unbelievable."
"Pika Pika!" Pikachu agreed.
"How clever." Trace smirked. "If the power of a Pokemon comes from a single body function, it's important to take it out."
"Are you okay Hitmontop?" Chuck asked his Pokemon.
"Hitmon." The fighting type nodded sadly.
"I'm proud of you Hitmontop. You put up a great offense today! You're a champion in my book! Win or lose!" This brought up the Handstand Pokemon's confidence as it grinned proudly.
"Hitmontop!"
"And Elaine!" She turned towards him when he name was called. "I could recognize my apprentice's defensive styling there with those rolls! You did well to handle my fighting style! Even when it didn't work you figured out how to undermine my Pokemon's strength! If you were challenging me for a badge I'd certainly give it to you! There's no disgrace losing to a strong trainer like you."
"Thank you so much Chuck." Elaine smiled with a nod, showing her gratitude.
A/N: Okay, this one's short, but after a chapter like the last, it's welcoming.
Also, about the question if I'll use other tournaments from the anime like Battle Cups or the Hearthome City tournament, likely not. First off, I don't want to bog my story down with what I consider filler which involves most if not all of the anime exclusive tournaments. Maybe if there's a significant, useful award aside from ribbons or feathers I'll consider it. Also, yes, I've gotten your thing about Bea, Volkner and Marnie and where they are in the WCS. But thing is, I'm not following the anime's placement of people. Alain's not even in the Master 8 in my story, for example. Heck, I'd imagine one of our three characters will face Marnie while she's in Normal and Great class first before Ultra like some of the other characters. If you see a gym leader rank lower or higher than you're expecting, that should tell you how good or bad they are compared to the rest. After all, were you expecting Brock to be the second gym leader they'd face against if they're going by weakest to strongest? I bet you were expecting higher because he's popular, were you?