Icy Battle

Well, you guys must be surprised that I have uploaded 2 chapters in two days, unusual for me, huh? I wanted this story to progress into the Sinnoh League ASAP and that's why this new chapter.

I won't waste anymore of your time in this stupid note. I hope you enjoy!

Ash stood in front of the video telephone, Porfessor Oak staring at him like a vampire. This was the first time Ash contacted Professor Oak after he talked to the Researcher in Sunyshore City and he was sure that he would be having a long lecture from him.

Professor Oak after staring at Ash for long moments finally cleared his throat. "What the hell have you been doing, Ash?" he almost screamed, eyes wide open. "What kind of Pokemon have you been catching?" he demanded out of the raven-haired young man.

Ash just waved his hand in front of his face, greeting Professor Oak. "Calm down, I can explain."

Jumping on the video telephone present at his lab, Oak glared at Ash dangerously. Ash took the queue and didn't waste any time in starting his defence. Ash calmly explained all the events that happened with him in the past two months, not leaving anything out. He told Oak his story from the moment he stepped foot in Alamos Town till he came to the Lily of the Valley island after his training.

To Ash's surprise, Professor oak took his demonstration better than he thought. Ash believed that Professor Oak would just scold him for not sending the Legendary Pokemon to the lab for research but he didn't. Instead, Oak told him that he held pride in what Ash's achievements as a trainer.

Placing a hand under his chin, Professor Oak questioned. "Ash, I would be right to assume that you will be using them in the Sinnoh League?"

"Yeah, I plan on using them. It would be a waste if I didn't and ended up losing." He chuckled. "Although, I would like to avoid using them early in the tournament."

The Pokemon Professor from Pallet looked at the ceiling, as if thinking something. After a few moments, he snapped his fingers in front of his face, completely startling Ash. "I am going to be coming to the Lily of the Valley island to see the latter part of the Sinnoh League."

Ash appeared to be overjoyed hearing the Professor. If Professor Oak would be coming to the Lily of the Valley island, there was a high chance that Delia would come along with him; and Ash wanted to see his Mom. It'd almost been a year since he last saw her.

"That's a great idea, Professor Oak." Ash beamed at the old man. "So, you'll be bringing Mom with you?"

"Yes, of course. I am sure that as soon as Delia gets the news that I will be going to watch the Sinnoh League, she would come along. After all, she hasn't seen her son in a long time now." The Professor elaborated.

"Anyways, as I told you, I'll be sending Darkrai and Heatran over to you." The boy from Pallet Town unclipped two Pokeballs from his belt and placed them in the transfer machine.

"Which Pokemon would you like to have me send over to you, young man?" Professor Oak readied his transfer machine as well, fully prepared to transfer the Pokemon Ash would want.

"I would like to have….."

Ash, Dawn and Brock sat on one of the sofas of the Pokemon Center, waiting for Ash's match to begin. His match against Marianne was scheduled for 3 in the afternoon and the time was just 12 noon. In his months training, Ash had learned to concentrate and keep himself calm even in the grimmest of situation and that would only help him in the tournament.

"Which Pokemon are you going to use in your match today Ash?" Brock turned to Ash, who sat beside him, seemingly in deep thought.

Brock's question got Ash's attention as he grinned. "It's a secret, Brock. You'll have to wait for my match to begin."

Hearing the conversation between her two friends, Dawn who was stroking Piplup's fur until now asked a query of her own. "It's a one-on-one match, right?"

"Yes, all the matches of this round will be one-on-one." Ash told her. "It would take too long if it was 3-on-3 from the very beginning, you know." Dawn nodded, taking in what Ash just said.

"The number of competitors vary in each League. This time the amount of trainers were closest to 128." Brock began his elaboration about the Pokemon League, his friends listening to him keenly. "The number of trainers participating in the Lily of the Valley Conference is 119. So, the battles will be arranged in such a way that the next round will have 64 contestants remaining. That's why, some of the trainers will get lucky and will fight directly in the Top 67."

Dawn and Ash both understood exactly what Brock tried to say. In other words, some of the trainers will have a free pass, which will directly put them in Top 64.

"What if the trainers were more than 128, say 135. Then what'll happen?" Dawn curiously stared at brock, expecting an answer like he always gave them. Ash too seemed to be interested in it, leaning forward with interest.

Brock nodded and again started explaining. "Since 135 is closest to 128, some of the trainers would have to fight twice in order to reduce the participants to 64."

"That's unfair." Dawn argued.

Ash chuckled at the serious expression on Dawn's face. He wondered why she was taking the Pokemon League rules so earnestly. "That's how it goes. If there are less trainers, then you get directly to the Top 64 but if there are more, it's only fair that some trainers might have to battle twice. In fact, I would have been happy if I got the chance to battle twice."

Dawn tilted her head in confusion as to why Ash would want to fight twice. Wouldn't it be just easy for him to have easy battles and advance as much as possible into the tournament? On the other hand, Brock snickered. He understood what Ash meant. Ash was a battle-maniac and to him, the more he battled, the more experience he would gain, turning him into a stronger trainer after each battle.

"Hey Ash!" A voice which our trio was familiar with seemed to be getting closer.

Looking straight ahead, Barry ran as fast as he could towards them and the three humans knew what was coming. But before they could move, the frantic blonde trainer crashed at Ash, hitting him on the head.

"Aaaaaaoooooo!" Barry growled in pain, having both his hands on his head. Not even a moment had passed before he made his proclamation. "What the fuck is your head made of? I am going to fine you for crashing into me!" he shouted. On his antics, everyone around, including the people nearby watching, sweat-dropped. The same greeting as usual, Barry hadn't changed even after all this time.

Ash recovered soon enough and stared at Barry, giving him an intimidating look. Even Dawn and Brock hadn't seen their friend in a state like this. But the person for whom the glare was for appeared to be sweating in fear.

The extra-energetic teen took a few steps backwards in horror, fearing for the worst. He knew that now he'd done it. He'd done this same thing too many times throughout Sinnoh and it was about time he paid for it. "Uhhh… Ash.." he stuttered to find words for his defence. "Sorry, sorry , sorry. You don't have to pay the fine."

Barry closed his eyes and crossed his arms to take the least damage from what was about to come, but the blow never came. He waited for what seemed to be the longest time but still he didn't get hit. "Huh?" he opened his eyes, noticing that was surprised at his actions.

"What's the matter, Barry?" he asked courteously. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Barry looked around him to find everyone laughing at him. His cheeks flushed from embarrassment. What the hell was he thinking being afraid of Ash like that. Ash didn't like violence and he must've been a fool to assume that he would hit him, a friend of his.

Dawn and Brock watching from beside Ash couldn't control their laughter anymore. Barry had just made a fool out of himself; something like this should've been expected from him.

"I didn't see you around Barry. Have you registered for the Sinnoh League already?" Ash came forward and asked.

Like always, it didn't take long for Barry to get his smile back as he pointed a finger in the air. "Of course, Ash!" he told him. "I came here 2 weeks earlier so I could register. Don't include me in the same category as you."

At the last statement of Barry's, an irritated expression appeared on Dawn's face. "Yeah right!" she uttered sarcastically.

The wait for Ash was over as he stood on the stadium grounds where his first battle of the Sinnoh League would be taking place. A smile on his face, his plans for the match were ready to be put into action. Everything set, he removed the Pokeball which contained the friend he would be using in the match.

On the other side of the stadium, his opponent Marianne had brown hair and wore a pink dress. She too readied her Pokeball.

The referee standing in the middle of field glanced at Ash and then at Marianne. "Are you two, ready?"

At the nodding of both the participants, the referee began the formality. "This Sinnoh League battle between Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and Marianne from Sandgem Town will now begin. It will be a 1-on-1 battle with no substitutions. The first trainer whose Pokemon can't continue will be eliminated." Raising both the flags in his hands and then swinging them down at once, he declared. "Begin!"

Ash and Marianne both threw their respective Pokeballs in the air. Snapping open, their Pokemon materialized. Surprisingly though, Ash didn't jump and throw the Pokeball like he usually did. Instead, he remained at the same place and just threw it normally, without doing anything else like he did before.

The Pokemon standing on Marianne's side of the field was a reptilian, bipedal Pokemon with membranous wings having sharply pointed ears and it's body was grey-coloured. The Pokemon appeared to have a fierce expression with intense eyes.

"Let's win, Aerodactyl!" Marianne exclaimed to her Rock-type Pokemon.

"Aeeeeee!" Aerodactyl roared, announcing its arrival.

On Ash's side was a spherical Pokemon, consisting of a black core covered by ice, which had several holes and spaces across its body.

"Aerodactyl, start with Stone Edge!" Marianne commanded, rotating around in a majestic way.

"Glalie, Use Blizzard!" Ash calmly told his Hoenn Ice-type Pokemon.

The face Pokemon made a sound, acknowledging his trainer's order.

Around Aerodactyl's body materialized a numerous sharp and pointed stones, which were aimed at Glalie. Glalie opened his mouth and from all around his face-shaped body, cold and pointed snowballs were aimed at Aerodactyl.

The Blizzard attacked sent chills throughout battlefield making bot Ash and Marianne shiver. When the two attacks met, it seemed as if they cancelled each other out.

"We're even!" Marianne announced before calling another attack. "Now get close and use Aerial Ace!"

Aerodactyl started flying at high speeds towards Glalie, surrounded by blue aura of Aerial Ace.

Ash smirked, eyes fixated on his Ice-type Pokemon. "Glalie, let's show them the results of our training. Dodge that and use Iron Head!"

As Ash told him, Glalie quite easily dodges Aerial Ace, surprising Marianne and also the spectators, who went "Oooh!" With head becoming iron hard, Glalie dashed through the air towards the immobile and unusually slow Aerodactyl and struck it, making a spanking sound. The force of the Iron Head attack sent Marianne's Aerodactyl flying into the ground as dust began to cover it.

Marianne watched the smoke in disbelief. "It's not possible. My Aerodactyl is super fast. It was moving too slow there."

"Yes, you're right. Your Aerodactyl is really fast. But look at its wings." He pointed at Aerodactyl's wings, which now became visible after the smoke clearing out. "When the Blizzard and Stone Edge crashed, the stones weren't able to completely take out the ice and then…"

"And then the remaining ice froze Aerodactyl's wings." Marianne completed, completely dumbfounded by the strategy Ash used. It was just perfect.

"I kinda borrowed this strategy from one of the Frontier Brains of the Kanto Battle Frontier. That's why I want to fight strong trainers as much as I can. Even if you lose, you'll always learn something." Ash explained as he put his hands in his pockets.

With Ash's explanation, the crowd buzzed even louder, amazed by the young man's incredibly sound plan. Only Brock had seen this strategy before. The others in the crowd appeared to be taken aback by it.

As Aerodactyl struggled to get up and Marianne was still in a bombarded state, Ash decided to make the most of the opportunity he had. "Now Glalie, finish it with Ice Beam!"

Glalie roared and created a sphere of ice energy in his mouth and prepared to fire his Ice beam. With a target unmoving, Ash's Ice-type fired the beam of ice at Aerodactyl, who upon being struck, cried in pain. It howled, its body's temperature getting lower by the second.

After taking the full brunt of the ice-type move, Aerodactyl couldn't battle anymore as it fell to the ground after a final cry.

The referee observed the Fossil Pokemon for a few moments but as it showed no signs of movement, he announced Ash's victory. "Aerodactyl is unable to continue. The winner of this Preliminary match is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town."

With that declaration, the crowd cheered loudly for the two trainers. Even though the battle was one-sided, they were shown an exhibition of a master strategist at work.

In the stands, Dawn squealed loudly at Ash's victory. "You showed her, Ash!"

The pride Brock felt at the way Ash battled was indescribable. He had seen him grow, from an impulsive little 13-year old brat to a man who knew exactly what he was doing. Not only did he take Noland's strategy, he mixed his own flair to it; you could call Ash's win a perfect victory.

Both the trainers walked to the middle of the field and shook hands.

"You're quite strong, Marianne." Ash complimented his opponent who had given him a good fight.

The said girl looked at the offered hand and accepted the handshake. "But you are totally awesome."

"Thanks!" Ash shot her a sincere smile. "I hope we can battle again."

"Me too." Marianne returned the smile.

The next day, Ash and company watched Barry's battle from the stands as his Hitmonlee went up against his opponent's Poliwrath.

"Hitmonlee, use High Jump Kick" Barry pointed his finger at his opponent's injured Poliwrath.

Jumping as high as it possibly could, Hitmonlee raised one of its legs, preparing to hit Dragonair with one of its signature move. As he descended, the Poliwrath's trainer could only watch as the kicking Pokemon landed a brutal kick on his Pokemon. When Hitmonlee jumped back towards barry, the Water-type laid unconscious with swirls in its eyes.

"No, Poliwrath!" The trainer yelled after watching his Pokemon get defeated.

The referee raised the red flag in Barry's direction. "Poliwrath is unable to continue. The winner of this match is Barry, who will advance to the next round."

The trainer from Twinleaf jumped in joy and hugged his Fighting-type Pokemon for getting him the win. "We did it Hitmonlee!"

The Kicking Pokemon took a fighting stance as it happily let out a squeal.

It was evening as Ash walked around on the Lily of the Valley island, taking in the sights of the beautiful town. After watching Barry's battles, Ash had met up with Conway and Nando, who had also won in their battles. Ash couldn't find Paul but he got the news of his victory from Barry. The Preliminary rounds would still take place the next day and the next round wouldn't be starting until another 2 days so he had at least 3 days before his next match.

After returning to the Pokemon Center, Ash had decided to roam around alone, not even taking Pikachu with him. The only Pokemon he had were the ones clipped to his belt.

Standing near the shore, Ash took in the cool evening breeze of the sea which helped him clear his thoughts and get refreshed. It wasn't like he was tired but it did give him a lot of pleasure just standing there. Who doesn't like the sea breeze?

Being too into taking in nature, Ash didn't realize that someone had been standing next to him. The girl who stood beside him didn't even make an effort to get Ash's attention. Ash looked so calm, that no one would try to disturb him, at least she wouldn't.

As he opened his eyes, he saw a shadow and immediately turned to his right. Arms behind her back, Cynthia gazed at Ash, who met her gaze. "How long have you been standing there?" The boy questioned.

The blonde Champion giggled at Ash's oblivious look. "Not too long. You know, you look cute when you are confused."

Ash scratched his cheek as he couldn't comprehend what she meant. What was he supposed to make of a statement like that? He sat down, staying still and doing nothing; getting back to enjoying the fresh ocean breeze. Cynthia followed suit, sitting next to him and doing the same thing he did. They stayed in that position for minutes, not moving even an inch until Cynthia asked him a question.

"Ash," she turned to face him.

"Hmmm?" Opening his eyes, Ash too looked towards her.

"What do you plan on doing after the Sinnoh League?"

Ash looked at the sky in thought. He hadn't exactly decided yet what he would do after the League. Every time, he always journeyed a new region after the regional Pokemon League ended and he was sure that this time would be the same as well.

"I am not sure but I'll travel around another region. When I was talking to Professor Oak the other day, he told me that the Unova region be a good place to head next," He said, laying back to the ground and using his hands as a pillow. "He told me that there are Pokemon in Unova which can't be found anywhere else."

Cynthia turned around to face Ash, moving a little closer to him. "Yeah. It's a wonderful place." She didn't know why but she just felt so good laying on the ground right then "I have a vacation home there so maybe we'll see each other there. I visit Unova quite often when I am not busy."

Seeing as Ash started to become a little uncomfortable at the position she'd put him in, she gazed at him right in the eyes again. "Do you mind if we stay like this for a while?"

Ash adjusted his body a bit, inadvertently avoiding eye contact with Cynthia. He felt a bit embarrassed at how close they were lying on the ground, but eventually nodded at the question Cynthia had asked. "Nope. Not at all."

After staying in the position for a while without even uttering a single word to each other, Ash looked at the black sky. He glanced at his watch on his left hand and couldn't believe his eyes. It was already 9 pm. He came to the shore before 6 and he was pretty sure that Dawn, Brock and Pikachu must've started to worry about him. He stared at Cynthia still on his chest. Observing her more closely, he realized that she had fallen asleep. He didn't want to wake her up. The sleeping face of Cynthia just looked too peaceful.

Cursing himself for doing this, Ash gently shook Cynthia's face a few times. "Hey Cynthia!" he tried to wake her up. "It's 9'oclock already. We better get going."

Ash's effort finally got him the desired result when Cynthia's eyes slowly started to open. Her beautiful grey pearls glanced at him and her lips twitched ever so slightly into a smile. He would be able to look at her all day but it was time to go.

"Cynthia, it's 9. Let's leave."

"Alright!" she said, a small blush began to creep up to her features. "But you know, it would've been nice if we could've stayed like that all night!"

Cynthia reluctantly got up from her new favourite resting place and wiped her eyes, yawning and stretching her arms wide. Ash stood up, dusted his clothes and offered his hand to Cynthia, who happily took it. As the teen attempted to pull her up, he didn't realize that his strength had increased a lot due to working out with his Pokemon and due to that, Cynthia was now in his arms, tugging tightly onto his body.

The close proximity between the two made both of their cheeks to get a crimson coloured hue. The position was perfect, perfect for kissing that is. Slowly, Cynthia began to close the distance between their lips; their mouths getting ever so closer to each other. Surprisingly, even Ash's face instinctively started to inch closer to her. The distance between them lessened and their lips lightly brushed against each other. But before they could move any further, a Pokemon approached them.

"Pika Pika Pikachu!" Ash's starter ran towards the two, unaware that he'd probably destroyed the best moment of his trainer's life.

As soon as they heard Pikachu, Ash and Cynthia stood up straight, their kiss remaining incomplete. And thank God that they did because running behind Pikachu were Brock and Dawn with Piplup. They all spotted Ash and Cynthia and walked to their direction.

"That just didn't happen." Ash whispered so only Cynthia could hear.

The Champion smiled, an almost devilish smile that. "What do you mean? We just kis-" She was made to stop by Ash who covered her mouth forcefully, just in time for neither Brock nor Dawn to hear anything.

"Ash!" Dawn screamed, running towards him as fast as she could. Spotting Cynthia nearby, she smelt something fishy. Even the way they were standing right now didn't seem right to her. Why in the world did Ash have his hand on Cynthia's mouth?

"Hey guys!" Ash waved to his friends, trying to act as normal as possible, which was turning out to be quite difficult. Cynthia finally managed to get Ash's hand off her mouth, lying that she couldn't breathe.

"We searched for you everywhere." Brock breathed out.

Dawn forced a smile onto her face. "And why are you with the Champion?"

The bombardment of questions froze Ash. He feared that they might have seen what happened between them. It's not like he did it on purpose, it just happened. It was done at the spur of the moment. Even though they didn't actually kiss, their lips still touched and if someone would've seen then at that moment, it would have become the headlines for the next day's newspaper.

The woman standing next to Ash grasped that Ash wasn't in the best condition to answer their question. So she chose to answer them for him. She damned these guys for interrupting at such a great moment but she understood that this was not the time. She needed to save Ash's skin right now. Besides, she could talk to him about this tomorrow and maybe even complete the thing that remained half-done.

She smiled and spoke. "I was just passing by here when I met Ash. He wanted to know about more about my Garchomp but I guess we took too long."

"It's just that he didn't even tell us where he was going so we started to get a bit worried about him." Brock simpered, pleased with the fact that they found Ash without having to search or him too long.

Just then, a growling noise came from Ash's stomach. "I haven't eaten anything since lunch so I guess I am hungry." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

Everyone laughed whole-heartedly and even Dawn forgot about the things she was thinking just a moment ago.

The morning of the last day of the Preliminary rounds went quietly as there was no one that Ash knew who had a battle on that day. One of the rare instances that they woke up late, Ash along with Dawn, Brock and Pikachu all comfortably sat in the cafeteria of the Pokemon Center, having their breakfast.

Suddenly, someone came running in towards them at a fast pace. Almost able to guess who it might be, they glanced at the direction of the noise and Barry, as expected rushed towards them. But something seemed off about him. His face held a mixture of fright, panic and anxiety. Stopping just before crashing into the group, Barry panted heavily. He appeared to have been terrified by something; something that would send shivers to the bravest of men.

"Hey guys," Barry glared at them, eyes almost popping out. "There's a trainer in the Sinnoh League who fought using a Darkrai.!"

How was the chapter? I wasn't in the mood to type fast so I just took my time with one. About 4-5 hours of typing. Of course, I was doing other things in between as well but it still took so much of my precious time so I hope you weren't too disappointed with it.

I could very well have started Ash's Top 64 battle in this chapter but then I decided not to rush too much.