During the one hour break after Ash's battle with Paul, he was relaxing at the Pokémon Center in the battle stadium. He was reading magazines when he heard his name.
"Ash!" He looked up to see her come and hug him before he was ready. "You were awesome!" He chuckled.
"Thanks Dawn. I appreciate it."
"Pika." Zappy nodded.
"So, it's now you and Barry next, huh?"
"Yeah. I always beat him. Sometimes he came close, despite the training advantage, but I've always beat him. This time, however, the chips are down. For once, I don't know if I'll actually win this." He looked off into the distance in his thoughts for several seconds. Dawn and Zappy showed a slight amount of concern for him until he snapped back into reality. "Hey, I've noticed that Barry wasn't with you. Why was that?"
"He wanted to get in some last minute training. Get their focus to be as sharp as possible, I'd guess."
"That sure sounds like him. It's our most important battle ever so he's going to pull out all the stops."
"Oooooh, I don't know who to root for this time!" The researcher complained. "My best friends are facing off and of course I want to support you, but Barry may accuse and fine me for favoritism." Ash chuckled as he lightly flicked her forehead. "Hey! What was that for?" She pouted, puffing her cheeks out in annoyance.
"Don't worry about it. I don't want my wonderful girlfriend worrying her pretty little head about this. I may not know if I'll win, but that's not going to stop me from doing my absolute best. In fact..." Holding his arm up, he gestured Zappy to get onto his forearm, and the electric mouse obliged. "Why don't you take Zappy this turn? That way you have a friend with you to cheer with." Dawn was not only blushing from the pretty compliment, but gasped from his offer. "You don't mind, right Zappy.
"Pika Pi." He shook his he as he jumped onto Dawn's shoulder, and nuzzled against her. The girl giggled as she scratched under his chin, making him hum in enjoyment.
"Thanks Ash. Do your best."
"I will." He replied before they briefly kissed.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are heading towards the final stretch as we enter into the semi-finals!" The announcer stated, causing the audience to go into an uproar. "On the battlefield we have two trainers from the same town as Twinleaf, Ash Ketchum and Barry McDonald! Today's battlefield will be a rocky setting! Prepare yourselves for a heated six on six battle!"
"Come on, guys! Do your best!" Dawn cheered for her two closest friends.
"Pika Pikachu!" Zappy added in encouragement.
"So, we've made it this far on our adventure!" Barry yelled out, his face sporting a stupidly big smile.
"Yes we have." Ash replied.
"You've beaten me every time, but this will be different! Let's see who's more worthy of winning the Pokémon League! Stara, get ready!" Throwing his first Pokeball, the first on the field was his Predator Pokémon.
"Dusknoir, I choose you!"
"Ha! You think that by using Dusknoir we can't hit you?! Prepare to be taken aback! Stara, use Brave Bird!" Flying high into the air, Stara began to make her attack by being enveloped in a fiery aura.
"Endure it!" Ash requested. Dusknoir held his arms up in an X as the fiery bird swooped down and rammed herself into him. The ghost type groaned even with his supreme defenses.
"Counter with Ice Punch!" His right fist glowing light blue, he punched the bird with a chilling blow, causing her to screech in pain as she was sent into the ground. However, Barry smirked.
"Stara, return!" This sort of surprised Ash. Even though they choose to fight without substitutions, he figured his rival wouldn't change from that aspect.
"Muncher, get ready!" Replacing the bird was the half a ton Sleeping Pokémon. It landed so heavily Ash nearly fell over from the rumbling ground. Regaining his stance, he looked determined again.
"Dusknoir, use Fire Punch!" Floating to the massive normal type, he punched Muncher's gut, but it barely did anything, shocking the Gripper Pokémon. "Huh? I know snorlax have a lot of health, but shouldn't that have had more of an effect?"
"Surprise!" Barry shouted in triumph. "I secretly trained with Maylene, so now you're not the only one with stronger than average Pokémon!" For Muncher, his defenses are even stronger! Muncher, use Crunch!" Falling forward, Dusknoir tried to move away, but he wasn't fast enough to escape the falling maw as the normal type chumped down on the arm that punched it. Despite having defenses just as good as the Snorlax, due to having low endurance against super effective hits and bumping into one of the field's rocks, that crunching bite landed and was just enough for him to wail from the massive discomfort until he fell to the ground.
"Dusknoir is unable to battle! The winner is Muncher!"
("That Brave Bird attack must've done a lot more damage than I thought if his Crunch finished him that quickly.") Returning his ghost type, Ash yelled, "Staraptor, I choose you!" Flying high was his own bird Pokémon. "Use Close Combat!" Getting up close, Staraptor started beating against the backside of the snorlax with wing, feet and beak. Muncher started to look really uncomfortable, but he was able to withstand it.
"Counter with Fire Punch!"
"Get away!" Due to his pitiful speed, it took a few seconds for him to get up and try to attack, but the flaming fist couldn't connect while Staraptor kept fighting him at close range until the prolonged attack was too much and he fell down again, defeated.
"Muncher is unable to battle! The winner is Staraptor!"
"Thanks Muncher. You've done your part." Barry said as he returned snorlax. "Tails, get ready!"
"Staraptor, return!" As soon as Ash has heard that name, he didn't want to take any chances since he knew it was packing with an ice type move. And knowing what other move it has, he had no choice. "Floatzel, I choose you!"
"How interesting! On the field are now two Sea Weasel Pokémon! Let's see which one is superior!" The announcer exclaimed.
"Rain Dance!" Barry ordered. Forming a light blue ball, Tails threw it into the air, thus creating clouds above them that started to rain. "Now use Waterfall!"
"Do the same!" Surrounding themselves with water, the two shot forward like geysers and splashed into each other with full force. However, Tails smirked as he managed to push Floatzel back little by little until Ash's water type was beaten out of the way, surprising Ash.
"Heh, that's what I thought. That was a test! I wanted to see what kind of Floatzel you had, and I saw when they collided a little but on my side, implying yours is a little bit faster. And given your Floatzel lost that little contest, mine is physically stronger! I've got you now! Use Dig!" Tails obeyed by burrowing into the ground, rain water filling into the hole. Remembering what Paul did, Ash smirked.
"Floatzel, rise up into the air with Waterfall!" Surrounding himself with water again, he shot up high into the rain clouds with the optical illusion of a waterfall going up.
"What is he doing?" Dawn asked her self whispering.
"Pika." Zappy said. Upon exiting from the clouds several seconds later, Floatzel zoomed out of the clouds, heading towards the ground like a comet. He splashed into the ground so hard that the rocks around were pushed away from the epicenter and created a crater in the ground, exposing Tails when the ground concaved.
"What?!" Barry cried out. "Quick, use Waterfall!" With a little bit of stumble, Barry's Sea Weasel rushed towards Floatzel, but when Ash inhaled sharply, that was the sign for the water type to inflate his inflation sac, taking the blunt force of the stronger attack, but was able to bounce him off.
"Waterfall!" With one final push Floatzel rammed his water covered body into Tails before he could react. He slammed into one of the rocks causing it to break. In the rubble, Tails was knocked out.
"Tails is unable to battle! The winner is Floatzel!"
"Now that was an excellent round! Using the same tactical maneuver Paul used the round before, Ash put a stop to the burrowing enemy and rebounded any attacks before dealing the final blow!" The announcer remarked with astonishment.
"Yeah Floatzel! You got this!" Dawn cheered.
"Tails, return. You did good out there. Thorn, get ready!" Now on the field was Barry's Roserade.
"Quick, use Dig!" Ash commanded. Floatzel nodded before digging underground himself.
"Use Toxic Spikes!" Opening the holes in his hands, Thorn shot out many neon purple needles that stuck onto Ash's side of the field before seeping in, waiting for a substitution.
"Oh no, and just like the round before, Barry used Toxic Spikes! Ash is sure in for a rough fight!" The annoucer shouted.
"Use Ice Punch from the ground!" From below Thorn, the grass type was hit under the chin with a dig assisted Ice Punch, causing him to cry out as he flew into the air and land on the rock, though not hard enough to smash it. Thorn looked really disoriented, shaking his head trying to regain focus from such a strong attack. Barry made some sort of hissing noise, which prompted Thorn to shoot green dust in Floatzel's, making him sneeze before looking drowsy.
"No!" Ash cried out as Floatzel fell asleep.
"Yeah! Now use Giga Drain!" From his flower hands, beams of green light enveloped the water type, sapping his strength. The bruise under Thorn's chin went away as he sapped away the Sea Weasel's health until the grass type stopped.
"Floatzel is unale to battle! Floatzel is the winner!"
"Ha! Even with that clever Ice Punch + Dig combo, it wasn't enough to defeat Thorn!" Barry boasted while laughing to himself. The rain started to subside, letting sunlight light up the ground.
"Floatzel, return. Thanks buddy. You did good against Tails." Swapping the Net Ball for an Ultra ball, Ash threw it out yelling, "Mamoswine, I choose you!" Upon being summoned, she roared with determination, only to growl from poison again entering her body. "Sorry Mamoswine, but we need your strength to full this off." Ash assured her.
"Oh, I'll help her out there." Barry chuckled with hidden intent. "Thorn, return! Infernape, get ready!" Ash became visibly worried, seeing the fire starter come out to yell his name and beat his chest. "Use Flair Blitz!" Using the fire coming from his head, the Flame Pokémon surrounded himself in a great amount of fire before rushing at Mamoswine, hopping from rock to rock.
"Counter with Giga Impact!" Charging forward like Infernape, the Twin Tusk Pokémon surrounded herself within a purple orb surrounded by orange streaks as she smashed through the rocks in her way. Once they collided, there was a flash of blinding light as the opposing energies tried to overpower one over the other, until the two attacks exploded with enough force to launch Ash, Barry and the referee away, shocking the whole audience. Even Cynthia was stupefied by how much power that clash had, only ever seeing an explosion like that from something like Hyper Beam hitting another like it.
Ash felt that same ringing in his ears he experienced from that battle with Candice, but much worse as he couldn't hear much else. Looking at where the explosion happened in front of him, the entire battle field was gone except for the corners. In the epicenter when the dust cleared, both Mamoswine and Infernape were knocked out.
"I-I don't know what to say." The announcer uttered, unable to believe what he witnessed as his overly dramatic tone was dropped. "In all my years of being a commenter for these battles, I've never seen a head on collision of that magnitude. Somebody get the medics!" Within that minute, staff members tried to help up the startled trainers and unconscious referee and lead them to the medical wing, but the two boys shrugged them off once on their feet.
"Pikachu!" Zappy cried out in worry, shaking Dawn from her mortified stupor.
"A-Ash!" Dawn shouted worriedly.
"Wait." Cynthia put hand on the announcer's shoulders. He looked at her confused when she said, "Let them continue." He gasped from hearing such a notion before speaking,
"U-unbelievable, folks! Despite what has happened, Cynthia has vouched that Ash and Barry are well enough to continue their epic match! Unfortunately, our regular announcer, Tristan Parson, is unable to referee. As of now, Ash and Barry have three Pokémon left. How will they end this exceptional semi-finals?!"
Ash and Barry returned their Pokémon, and held up their next selection, nodding at each other. Neither said a word as Ash summoned his Torterra and Barry with his Staraptor. With Ash's side of the field destroyed, Torterra suffered no poison. With no command, just the understanding of visual communication, Stara started to fly fast like before, enveloping herself in a fiery aura with Brave Bird and rammed into Torterra's head, creating an explosion with the powerful super effective move. Stara flew back only to suffer from the recoil. With a stomp from Ash's side, orbs of white glowed from within the smoke until the rocks of Stone Edge flew out smashing into the flying bird, screeching until she landed on the ground, defeated. Returned, Barry sent out Thorn, and with him pushing his arms out, the Bouquet Pokémon shot out from his hands brown sludge that landed onto the shell of the grass starter, which started to steam. Torterra roared and reared back until he crashed into the ground, fainted. Returned, Ash threw out the Pokeball that held his own Predator Pokémon, whom immediately started with his own Brave Bird, moving too fast for Thorn to counter and was struck by a move he stood no chance against. Crashing into a sloping wall of the crater he was in, he was knocked out. Staraptor as well was suffering from the recoil of the move. Seeing the opportunity, Barry sent his last Pokémon, Heracross. Sensing his master's wish, Heracross formed white orbs around himself as they turned into rocks, and shot them surprisingly fast at Staraptor, landing the super effective blow. The flying type fell onto the ground. Ash returned him and sent out his last contender, Luxray. He growled at Heracross to be intimidating. Looking back at their trainers, Ash clawed and Barry pointed. Nodding, the horn on Heracross's head glowed white while Luxray's paws glowed with electricity as they rushed at each other, ready to end this. The moment they clashed, the beetle and the lion stopped each other dead in their tracks, horn stopping a thunderous claw. However, had his other claw and slashed it into the bug type's chest, making him hiss and wince. Each jumping back to disengage, there were black lines on Heracross's midsection. He tried to move, but static electricity kept him in his place. Seeing his chance, Luxray pounced with another ready Thunder Claw, and delivered the final blow against the Single Horn Pokémon. He fell onto his back, defeated. This all took place in just under a minute.
Like the explosion before, everybody was stunned silent. Cynthia was flabbergasted by the communication and trust of trainer and Pokémon, knowing only a small few who can battle with no verbal command. Especially with the determination shown while suffering from possible head trauma. Returning Heracross, Barry and Ash looked at each other, somehow exhausted from that quick bout. Ash straightened up the best he could, and pounded his right hand against his chest, then gave his rival a thumbs up and a smile before falling back losing consciousness. Barry chuckled once before falling forward onto his face.
Dawn entered the room as soon as she was allowed, along with Zappy on her shoulder. She sighed in relief seeing the two boys patched up, but appeared to be none the worse for wear as they were now awake again and were talking to each other.
"Pikachu!" Zappy cried out as he hopped from Dawn's shoulder and hugged Ash tightly.
"Hey buddy. Sorry for scaring you like that." Ash apologized as he stroked the electric mouse's back.
"Oh thank goodness. You both had me worried." She told them.
"Ehhh, while I appreciate it, I was just winded is all. Ash there is the weak one." Barry tried to act all cool by placing his hands behind his head only to wince from the effort. This made Ash and Dawn chuckle until Cynthia entered the room.
"Cy-Cynthia?!" Barry sputtered in surprise.
"Pika? Zappy asked, seeing the champion for the first time.
"Oh good, you two are awake. You gave everybody quite the scare. I'm assuming you're all well and good?"
"Yeah." Ash shrugged. "Aside from a few scrapes and not remembering the second half of the battle, we're alright. Doc says we should be up and walking within an hour."
"Wonderful." The champion replied with a sincere smile. "I told the committee not to disqualify Ash unless a doctor or I said so. Whoever was first. Besides, even if you were, I would've requested a battle with you. Just not in one where I hand you the title.
"Actually, compared to when I started, I don't really need the title anymore. I'm still aiming for it, but just defeating you is enough for me either case. My friends are what really matter. And my Pokémon." Dawn felt great happiness from hearing that and kissed Ash on the cheek. Hearing that made Cynthia smile even more as she closed her eyes.
"That's beautiful to hear. Most trainers want the title of champion, but mostly for the fame, wealth, and status that comes with it. You want to battle me, even if the title and rewards are just a bonus, or aren't even part of the stakes. Those are the words of a pure Pokémon trainer." She opened her eyes again, a certain light in her eye. "Both of you. I could see the trust you had in your Pokémon, giving commands without saying a word. You are truly exceptional people." Turning her back to them, she encouraged, "I wish you luck in the finals. This last trainer is a doozy." Cynthia left the room.
"Oh yeah. That one trainer." Barry remembered. "He's going to be maximum difficulty."
"Right." Ash agreed with a serious look, making the grin on Dawn's face disappear. "Tobias Neuman."
A/N: Bum Bum BUUUUUUM! That's right, it's Ash vs Tobias, that freaking cheat from anime! So, looking at all of the lengendary Pokémon from Kanto to Hoenn(Because there's the Platinum post game stuff I'm going to focus on after the tournament) I've come up with the final six that he will use in the next chapter. Don't wait up because I'm going to put all my effort into this, and it will take a good while. Anyway, aside from that, I read one of the reviews about how the battles are fast while being calculated and brilliant, which I thank you kind reader, but do you want to know why they go so fast? It's because unlike the anime where moves deals damage but how much is only visually or verbally implied, I use the Pokémon Damage Calculator to see how much they can actually take. If the anime went by that website's calculations, the battle between Ash and Paul would be half as long at most. That's what I'd wager my Pokebike on because who needs a bike when you eventually get Fly? Tell me what you think on this chapter, and the upcoming Ash vs Tobias chapter next in the reviews below.