The legendary being and the almost-legendary being clashed again and again in flashy displays of their power. Explosions of fire, draconic energy and other elements lit up the surrounding area, making it impossible for Ash to tell who was winning. The two supreme beings had been going at it for well over an hour now, and neither showed any signs of fatigue. It was kind of funny, Ash decided, how quickly the two had started fighting high above the already high Sky Pillar.
-Flashback-
"Ash, there is no need to be formal with me. Yes, that sounds great, but do you really think that just one of your Pokemon can best me?" Rayquaza challenged.
"Well, if he doesn't... It'll be one hell of a fight. Charizard, I choose you!"
With an almighty roar, Ash's fire-flying type emerged from the confines of his Pokeball. Almost instantly afterwards, Charizard locked eyes with Rayquaza and surged forwards at the lord of the skies.
Ash could've sworn that he saw Rayquaza flinch.
-Flashback End-
Ash turned his attention back towards the battle when he saw Charizard unleash a massive Fire Blast point blank into Rayquaza's side. The unexpected attack - if Rayquaza's reaction to it was any indication- knocked the humoungus legendary back a few meters before he recovered and used an attack that Ash didn't recgonize. Rayquaza's body glowed with the telltale blue of a Dragon-type attack before he shot even higher into the sky- which was saying something considering how high the duo already was.
Once Rayquaza reached the pinnacle of his height, the dragon-type came crashing down at Charizard with the force of a meteor, slamming the fire-flying type downwards towards Ash. Luckily, though, Rayquaza paused after using the attack, giving Charizard a chance to recover.
But then Rayquaza Mega-Evolved.
The sky lit up with pink energy as Rayquaza shifted forme, becoming even more powerful than he already was before the light died down and Mega Rayquaza was revealed in all of its glory.
To his credit, Charizard didn't flinch.
No, Ash's power-hungry starter simply shot a signifigant glance at Ash before nodding at the stone secured to his right arm. Instantly picking up on what he wanted, Ash grinned before raising his left arm into the sky and slapping his Key Stone.
"Charizard! MEGA-EVOLVE!" Ash bellowed.
And Mega-Evolve he did. A pink shell of energy coated Charizard before he burst through it, revealing his black X form to Rayquaza. Capitalizing on the boost he recieved from the shift, Charizard shot forwards at Rayquaza while charging a Tough Claws-boosted Dragon Claw.
Charizard's attack connected, ripping into Rayquaza's flank with deadly force and sending the serpentine pokemon sailing through the air. Then, without any order from Ash, Charizard burst towards Rayquaza, body coated in a Dragon Rush.
The battle raged for another hour after that before Charizard finally got lucky with a Dragon Rush/Flare Blitz combination, hitting Rayquaza straight in the face and knocking him through Sky Pillar and ten meters into the ground way below it. Even then, Rayquaza had managed to fire off one last Draco Meteor before falling into unconsiousness.
Now, however, Ash pocketed the Ultra Ball that housed his newest capture and turned his attention to the battle at hand - his giant Tentacruel and Xerneas. The fairy-type was trying its darndest to keep up with the collosal squid, but Tentacruel was just too durable for it to weaken.
Ash snapped himself out of his thoughts just in time to see Xerneas be squished by two tonnes of tentacle.
Ash had the decency to wince before he dug a fresh Ultra Ball out of his sack.
Earth Island -named for the ground, not the planet- was really... dry, Ash decided.
Pikachu had opted to stay behind for this one (smart mouse) and as such was probably relaxing in the lush grass back at his home island whilst snickering at Ash.
Oh, and did he mention that it was hot here?
Regardless, though, he had Pokemon to capture, and he'd be damned if a little heat stopped him.
The first Pokemon he saw was a Sandslash. The ground-type was basking in the sun, clearly resting, when its ears perked up. Without any further warning, the Sandslash shot up from the ground and entered a defensive position. Ash smiled - this would be fun.
"Alright then!" Ash called, "Leafeon, I choose you!" Without wasting any time, he added,
"Grassy Terrain!"
Nodding, Leafeon tapped one of her front paws to the ground. For a second, nothing happened, but then grass started growning all over where the two were battling. Soon after, vines sprouted from the grass and a tree of all things popped up in the middle, casting the whole battlefield in a nice shadow.
Sandslash promptly dug.
Ash and Leafeon waited, tense, for a few moments before Leafeon caught a movement to her right and sprang forwards to evade the Sandslash that had just emerged, claws coated in fire. However, Leafeon was already yards away with an Energy Ball powered in her mouth.
Quickly, Leafeon released the Energy Ball and it smashed into Sandslash, knocking him into the lone tree. Capitalizing on that, Leafeon darted over, tail glowing in a Leaf Blade, and smashed Sandslash into oblivion. One Pokeball later and Ash had himself a Sandslash.
It took Ash three hours after that to hunt down and capture a Golurk, Camerupt, Landorus and a Claydol before he realized that it had gotten hotter.
Way, way hotter.
And it didn't take long for Ash to realize the cause behind the heat either - ten feet to his left the ground disappeared into a giant lava lake. The strangest part, however, was the Groudon sitting in the middle, minding its own business as a couple of Magmar sat on the edge and splashed each other with the magma.
Finally, Groudon turned his head down towards Ash, gave a start, and promptly reverted to its Primal Form. Ash smiled - he had been hoping that Groudon was holding onto a Red Orb.
Plus, he had brought the perfect Pokemon for this.
"Alright!" He yelled, bringing his arm behind his head, "Kyogre, I choose you!"
The lord of the seas emerged from his Pokeball, reverted to his Primal form, and started a rainstorm that lasted a whole ten seconds before all parties were warped off of the island.
"Ash, what were you thinking?!" Arceus asked as the god and trainer watched the battle below them. Arceus had teleported him, Groudon, and Kyorge into a private battlefield in the Hall of Orgins for "damage control," as Arceus put it.
Ash raised his hands indignantly.
"Well, I couldn't exactly release Sharpedo into a lava lake, and that was my original plan, so I had to improvise!"
"Your way of improvising was to have the lord of the seas fight the lord of the earth on an island? With PEOPLE AND POKEMON?!"
"Well if you put it like that..."
"Whatever. Just go capture Groudon and be done with it. And please try to refrain from doing something that stupid on Flame Island, please.
'Ha... Jokes on him - I didn't even go to Flame Island!' Ash thought as he walked through the lush forest of Insect Island. So far he had battled and captured an Accelgor, Pinsir, Forretress, Ninjask, Shedninja and a Yanmega and was looking for a Genesect. Voila, the residental Hoopa-Leaguer, had been suprisingly helpful in his quest to find said legendary, even going so far as to giving him a map of the island that she had drawn a big red "X" on, on the spot that she thought Genesect would be.
Sure enough, when he got close to the X's position, he could see the ruins of a lab poking through the trees. Encouraged, he broke into a jog towards the building, startling Pikachu, who had decided to return to Ash's shoulder for this island.
When Ash walked inside, he was greeted by one large room and a large, purple legendary.
"CHOSEN ONE SPOTTED. INITIATING . POTENTIAL STRATIGIES ANALYLIZED. COUNTERS DOWNLOADED. HYDRO DRIVE ACTIVATED." Genesect intoned, crouching down into a battle position, the Chill Drive that was currently on his back changing color to a deep blue as it moved.
Well, Genesect wasn't wasting any time then.
"Okay then! Lets start! Blaziken, I choose you!"
With a roar and a flame-coated kick, Blaziken emerged from his Pokeball. With a flourish, Ash pointed at Genesect.
"Flamethrower!"
"PAIN RECEPTORS AT MAXIMUM. SHUTDOWN IMINENT. ASH IS SO COOL" Ash mocked, Pikachu almost falling off of his shoulder in laughter.
"Oh, how could I forget: 'COUNTER-COUNTER STRATIGIES DOWNLOADED." At this, Pikachu actually did fall off of his shoulder in laughter, narrowly missing a heated rock. Before he could even touch the ground, though, Ash scooped him up.
"Woah! Watch it, Pikachu. Don't wanna get burned! We'd need a HYDRO DRIVE for that!" Ash finished, breaking into laughter at the end. Indeed, Genesect had practically narrated the whole battle in his computerized, monotone voice, all the while firing off attacks from his back-cannon. Ash had found that to be the funniest thing ever, and Pikachu seemed to be of a similar mindset.
Now though, the duo was walking through one of the many caves on Flame Island, six new Pokeballs on his belt. They belonged to his new Ninetales, Arcanine, Magmortar, Delphox, Pyroar, and Flareon. He was walking though the cave on a tip that he got from Flannery - apparently she had seen a Victini fly into this cave alongside a Moltres. He wasn't sure if he wanted to challenge two of them at the same time but, hey, he'd deal with it.
Sounded promising, at least.
Soon enough, Flannery's claims were proven to be true when Ash entered a cavern and saw a rather suprised Moltres.
"Chosen One! Haven't you already done two islands?"
Ash nodded.
"Then why are you here? I thought you kept it to one per trip!"
Ash shrugged. "I don't know... I just felt like getting stuff done today so here I am. Anyways, is Victini here? We could do a double battle."
In response, Victini flew out from behind Moltres and struck a pose.
"Perfect. Zapdos, Articuno, I choose you!"
The two Ultra Balls snapped open to reveal Moltres' counterparts in all their glory.
"Zapdos, Thunderbolt Moltres! Articuno, Sky Attack Victini!"
With a flash of lightning and a white glow, the four legendaries were off.
When Ash was teleported up to the Hall of Origins again, he had expected it to be about him releasing Articuno and Zapdos to fight Moltres and... Well, mainly Moltres. Victini hadn't put up much of a fight.
However, Arceus had turned a blind eye (or so it seemed) on Ash's blunder, and had actually called him up here for a completely different reason - the Leagues. Indeed, it was that time of the year on Earth, when the best trainers clashed against one another in six tournaments.
Knowing that, Ash was able to figure out what Arceus wanted without him even saying a word.
"Ash, I have called you here to-"
"Participate in a league along with a couple other islanders, probably to promote the Hoopa League?" Ash asked, eyebrow raised.
Arceus snorted indignantly and mumbled something about 'gods these days are never able to complete their sentences' before he nodded his head.
"Yes, actually. So, do you have any inkling of who you want to take on this little trip?"
Ash pondered a moment before smiling.
"Yeah. I'm taking the Indigo League, obviously, but for the rest..."
Brock would tackle the Jhoto League.
Hoenn would be systematically ripped apart by Zero.
Clemont could decimate Sinnoh's tournament.
As for Unova, Cilian would be the representative.
And for Kalos... Well, Ash thought it would be funny to see the Kalos League lose to one Pokemon. So, Alain it was.
With that all decided, Ash found himself falling through a portal courtesy of a snickering Hoopa.
"Man, Pi, it's been a long time since we've been here, hasn't it?" Ash asked his starter.
"Kachu," His starter absently replied, too busy reliving memories to fully register what Ash said.
That was fine, though, because Ash was in the same state. Silently, Ash reached into his bag and pulled out seven Pokeballs, taking the time to look at each one individually.
Bulbasaur, now Venusaur, the grass-type that enforced peace with an iron fist... er, vine.
Charizard, the reason he lost the confrence, not that he held it against the mighty fire-flying type.
Squirtle, now Blastoise, who spent more time on pranks than battling.
Pidgeotto, now a fierce Pidgeot, who was probably Ash's most conpetitive battler (bar Charizard, when he actually tried) at the time.
Kingler, who evolved in the first round to clinch the win against perhaps the weirdest opponent Ash has ever faced in a confrence.
All thirty Tauros, who have since grown to be some of Ash's most versitile Pokemon, wielding a wide varrey of elemental attacks.
Muk, who loved hugs yet didn't understand that he was made of sludge.
And Pikachu. His starter, his most faithful battler, his constant. Even before semi-evolving, Pikachu had defeated a Regice and a Latios for him and had recovered from astounding handicaps each time he entered a new region.
Those eight had taken on the Indigo Conference once and come up defeated. But not this time.
Registration was, like usual, a slow and tedious event. And apparently, news had spread of his disappearance and trainers and Nurse Joy alike were bombarding him with questions about where he'd been.
Oh, and he couldn't ignore them, either, because the conference was basically a publicity stunt for the Hoopa League, something he referenced many times in his answers to the many questions he was posed.
Finally, though, he managed to escape from the crowds and into the woods where he set up a tent, taking time to make sure that it was luxurious and Pokemon-friendly since he'd be spending most of his time here. After all, it wasn't like he'd be training...
And so he took the time he had before the opening ceremony to think.
At the end of Ash's two-hour thinking period, he had a plan. He would use one legendary - but he was unsure exactly who- in the Semifinal round. In the rounds before that, he would randomly select one Pokemon to battle for him. He'd keep backups, of course, but he doubted that he'd need them.
XX
The opening ceremony was nothing short of awesome. Ash had almost forgotten the feeling of the blood rushing through his veins that always occured when he stood in the massive stadium, surrounded by people.
People that came to see him.
...Well, not him specifically, but he was competing, and people were here watching. That was close enough for him. He drowned out Goodsho's words in favor of simply taking in the whole athmosphere. His eyes drifted in the direction of the stadiums that the preliminaries would be held in. Then they drifted over to the seats that Brock, Misty, Professor Oak, and his mom occupied on his first go-around.
...
Wait.
Not only was he back on Earth, he was in Kanto.
With Professor Oak.
And his mom!
That one realization triggered a whole new round of thinking for Ash, one that kept him occupied for the entire rest of the ceremony.
After the ceremony, Ash was the first one out of the stadium. He sprinted through the roads towards the outer limits of Indigo Plateau while digging around in his bag for a Pokeball. Once he found it, he released the Pokemon inside, paying no attention to the masses of people that witnessed him release a Latios in the middle of a street.
"Latios, get us to Pallet Town!"
And he was off without another word.
Latios streaked though the sky towards Ash's hometown as said trainer berated himself mentally.
Man, how come I didn't think of mom! Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Ash was jarred from his thoughts when Latios flipped upside-down, forcing him to react or fall off (not that it was a danger, what with Latios' psychic powers, but still).
"Do I have your attention now?" Latios smirked.
Yes, he most certainly did.
"Good, because we're over Pallet Town." Latios trailed off for a second before continuing, "Ash, you've been here for a total of five hours. Three of those you spent getting ready for the League, and the other two you spent at the Opening Ceremony. Don't fell stupid because you didn't remember your mom."
Ash nodded. The mind-reader couldn't see the gesture, but he felt it, and was satisfied.
With that, Latios came to an abrupt halt before slowly descending in front of Ash's house. He didn't question how the legendary knew which one was his, though, considering he was a mind-reader.
"I do not read minds!" Latios indignantly shouted. Ash rolled his eyes before sending a playful slap at Latio's flank.
When they touched down, Ash wasted no time in recalling his legendary - after he thanked him, of course- and walking up the front porch of his house. He rung the doorbell and waited.
"Who is it?" His mom's voice rang out from inside. In response, Ash just knocked.
"Who is it?" His mom repeated, a bit louder than before.
Ash just knocked louder.
"I'm coming! Just give me a minute!" Ash waited about ten seconds before the door flew open.
"Alright, I'm here. Now what d-" It took a moment, but when Delia Ketchum realized just who was at the door, she flew at him, enveloping him in a bone-crushing hug.
"Hey mom," Ash said over her shoulder. After a minute, Delia broke off and pulled away, unshed tears glistening in her eyes.
"I've missed you," she said, "this is the longest time you've been away from me, you know."
He realized with a start that yes, it had been the longest he had ever been apart from his mom. He had never come home after the Kalos League like he had planned, and had been gone another year after that. That made two years that he hadn't seen his mom. Suddenly, Ash felt a lot more guilty about not visiting the last time he had been planetside.
However, that guily was slightly lessened when his mom led him into the living room by the hand. She sat him down on one of the couches and then immediately sat down across from him.
"So tell me about this mysterious challenge that Arcues and Hoopa presented you"
Ash spent a total of three hours with his mom before heading over to Professor Oaks with the promise that he would pick her up and take her back to the League. After all, he had Pokemon large enough to take three people, and he didn't really care if the world knew he had a Zekrom.
After all, he was strong enough to defend it, and already Lysandre and Cyrus knew that.
When he finally got to the top of Professor Oak's staircase - seriously, why did he need that many steps- he knocked on the door and patiently waited. Almost instantly, he heard shuffling from behind the door. When the door opened, he expected to come face-to-face with the professor.
However, the startled face of Gary Oak greeted him instead. His once-rival didn't even agknowledge him as he turned around and shouted into the lab.
"Hey Gramps, we have a visitor!"
With that, his rival finally adressed him.
"Damn, Ash, you've grown. I can see it - you've become strong." With that, Gary led him into the parlor where Professor Oak was hunched over some papers on a table. Gary let out an exasperated sigh before saying,
"Gramps, usually when someone says 'we have a visitor,' you come to the door."
At that, Professor Oak looked up, but whatever he had to say was cut off by him noticing Ash.
After a moment, though, he started talking.
"Ash? Is that you?"
Ash smiled and nodded. However, instead of standing up and smiling like he expected, Professor Oak suddenly gained a determined expression.
"Perfect. Now, would you mind explaining some of your recent captures to me? Say... Oh, I don't know... RAYQUAZA?! DIALGA?! MOLTRES?! YOU HAVE TO LET ME EXAMINE THEM!" Professor Oak actually shouted, gripping Ash's hands.
So Ash's captures had been showing up on his trainer's profile. He'd been wondering about that.
Ash could understand his exitement, though; it was every Professor's dream to be able to study a legendary Pokemon.
Ash chuckled before reaching into his bag and releasing Victini.
The two Oaks nearly fainted in shock.
So, an hour later - and another promise, this time to let the Oak's study his vast array of legendary Pokemon- Ash, Delia, Gary, and Professor Oak were taking off. To the Oaks' joy, Ash had realeased Latias, Latios, Zekrom, and Zapdos for transportation. Ash was on Zekrom, his mom was on Latias - who had taken an instant shine to her- Gary was on Zapdos and his grandfather was on Latias.
Ash smirked. They'd be making one hell of an enterance back at Indigo Plateau.
When they touched down at Indigo Plateau, Ash and co were immediately swarmed by people. Apparently word about the 'trainer with a Latios' had gotten around fast, and it hadn't taken fans long to match the mysterious trainer with Ash considering the iconic hat and Pikachu on his shoulder.
Again, Ash ignored the stares and swiftly recalled his legendaries before making his way to the Pokemon Center. After all, he had to find out who he was going to battle sometime the next day.
Later that night, Ash sat in his tent, thinking about what he had learned during his trip to the Pokemon center. One, he was facing a trainer by the name of Sinon King, who apparently was a first year trainer. Ash almost felt sorry for the kid. And two, a lot of people were expecting him to use a legendary. Well, they'd go home disappointed. He had already determined who he was going to use in the first round - he stuck his hand into a backpack filled with his Pokeballs and grabbed one, and that was the Pokemon he was using.
Also, he was battling on the grass field, which was basically the neutral field. Oh, and his battle was too damn early. Eight o'clock was - in Ash's mind- an ungodly hour.
The next morning came quickly and Ash fell victim to the first Thunderbolt he had recieved in a while, after all, he hadn't had any reason to wake up early in the islands.
Rolling over, Ash checked his clock: Seven fifteen. So he got up, ate a protein bar, and grabbed his two Pokeballs. He knew that he'd only have to use the first one, but juuuust in case, he brought his Staraptor along for backup. He didn't bother with a third. Once Ash had completed his morning ritual, he poked his head into his mother's tent - which he had pitched the night before along with one for Gary and one for Professor Oak- and gently woke her up.
Half an hour later saw Ash at the check-in counter for his match where the raven-haried trainer was dodging a ton of questions both from the receptionist and some reporters about his legendaries. Yes, he told them, he would answer questions, but as for now he had a battle and he would appreciate it if everyone left him in peace.
A couple minutes later found Ash walking into the grass arena, Pokeball in hand. He waited in his locker room patiently with Pikachu on his shoulder. He sat on the bench making small talk with his starter while waiting for the announcement that would start his conquer of the Indigo League.
Soon, it came.
Would trainer Ash Ketchum please report to the field.
Ash smiled and adjusted his hat and Pikachu gave an exited squeal.
It was go time.
Alright. I know that Leafeon can't learn Grassy Terrain and Sandslash can't learn the elemental punches, but that doesn't make sense to me. So they can :) And yeah, I'm aware that I casually slipped Landorus into the list of Pokemon that Ash captured.
Also, fun fact about me: Camerupt is my all time favorite Pokemon! I caught one in Alpha Sapphire and named it Roomba :)
Aaaaand, I know being ten feet from lava would kill anyone, but, hey! Pokemon!
Just some tidbits about the chapter that occured to me when I was (am?) writing this:
One: Good lord, we're almost at the end of the islands! And you know what that means?
Tobias. Red. Blue. Green. Various other colors and precious metals.
Two: Xerneas v. Tentacruel: perhaps the most anticlimactic battle out there. But really, Tentacruel is fucking huge. It would take a lot more to damage him. Also, Team Rocket created that. And Team Rocket has access to Master Balls. So... Why not create a shitload of those massive Pokemon? Fuck legendaries, Team Rocket would be invincible!
Three: The Pokemon Ash is using in the league actually are random. I put all the types in a name generator, generated a type, and then put all of Ash's Pokemon of that type into the same generator and BAM! Pokemon. If you are wondering, here's the order.
(MINOR) SPOILER ALERT!
1) Ninjask. 2) Medicham. 3) Magmortar. 4) Vaporeon. 5) Breloom. 6) Aerodactyl. 7) Dialga.
8)... ;) I have something really special planned...
Warning, these are subject to change at my whims, so don't come yelling if in round two I use Delphox or Kingdra or someone else. Hell, I could pull out Giga Dragonite if I wanted to.
Four: The little bit after Insect Island was a really, really bad attempt at humor. I swear, I'm not usually that bad...
Well, I think that's enough rambling from me. Tada~!