A random but necessary chapter
"Serperior, Leaf Blade!"
"Breloom, Fire Punch."
Trip had gotten worse.
Indeed, if there was one thing Ash learned from systematically taking down his team without receiving any damage in return was that Trip had not only not improved, he had actually managed to get worse. It might have been the fact that he used the same team that he used against Ash in the Unova League- bar one evolution (Frillish to Jellicent)- and so Ash knew their counters, but his battling was just sloppy.
And so with a slew of elemental punches, Ash had systematically worked his way through Trip's entire team, ending with Serperior who Breloom was juuuust about to pun-
And then the Fire Punch connected with Serperior's face and slammed the Unovan grass starter into a wall.
And Ketchum wins yet again!
A couple hours later, Ash and co were back on the islands. Ash had already left behind his oddly-colored Druddigon along with Steelix, Glalie, and Tyranitar to guard camp while he has gone.
Snapping himself out of his thoughts, Ash unceremoniously dumped the contents of his Pokeball compartment of his bag onto the ground and turned away as everyone's Pokeball burst into red light at the same time.
A couple seconds later, Ash looked back towards his team and started talking.
"Alright! So today, we're hitting up Spooky Isla-"
His X-Transceiver started ringing.
Hitting the button to accept the call, he was surprised to see the face of Brock staring back at him.
"Hey!" Ash started, "What's up Brocko? How's Jhoto?"
"Hey Ash!" Brock smiled. "Jhoto's fine, but I'm back on the islands for a break. I was just digging around with a couple of my Pokemon when I came across what I think is a Mega Stone. It looks like Mewtwo's, but instead of it being pink or blue in the middle, it's black. I'm sending Aerodactyl over now so you can pick it up, since you'll probably see Mewtwo before I do." He paused for a second, thinking. After a moment though, he continued. "Well, I think that that's it. Oh!" He said, remembering something, "Steven wanted to talk to you. Something about a Pokemon that he'd never heard of before?"
A Pokemon that Steven had never heard of before?
Ash tuned back into the call just in time to catch Brock's goodbye.
"Thanks Brock, see ya!" Ash replied, then hung up.
A few moments later Ash was alerted by Venusaur that Brock's Aerodactyl had just landed on the training field. Thanking the starter, he allowed himself to be picked up and set onto the massive grass-type's flower to be taken over to the new arrival.
Once Ash and Venusaur made it to where Brock's Aerodactyl stood conversing with Ash's Aerodactyl, Ash noticed that a ring of his Pokemon had formed around the newcomer. Apparently, this was of high interest to his Pokemon, too, since some of Ash's Ice-Types had decided to emerge from their cave in the lake.
Once Brock's Aerodactyl saw Ash, he turned away from Ash's rock-flying type and held out a leg. Ash, seeing a package tied to it, hopped off of Venusaur and untied it from the prehistoric pokemon's leg with a pat on the head and a thank you.
Once Ash had gotten it off and backed up, Brock's Aerodactyl wasted no time in launching itself into the air and starting the flight back towards Brock's island. With the stranger gone, Ash's Pokemon crowded in closer to Ash, trying to get a glimpse of whatever was in the package.
But of all the things that Ash had expected to happen when he unwrapped the package, getting teleported to the middle of a cave wasn't one of them.
Turning around, he saw a familiar face standing in the middle of the cavern.
Mewtwo.
Without any preface, Mewtwo levitated the stone out of Ash's hands and attached it to a metal gauntlet on his arm. Nodding in satisfaction, Mewtwo held a finger on the black stone and proceeded to Mega-Evolve. However, instead of the familiar pink bubble that always accompanied the feat, Mewtwo started to glow a shadowy-purple. Ash saw Mewtwo Mega Evolve into his X-form, but then his skin turned black and with an roar, orange crystals sprouted from his shoulders. With another roar, a line ripped through Mewtwo's skin down to his legs. Finally, the purple glow died down and the line erupted into the same tainted orange as the crystals on his shoulder.
Ash inwardly cursed. All his Pokemon were back at the island, bar Pikachu who was - as always - sitting on his shoulder, but Ash had faith in his little mouse.
After all, he was trained by Arceus.
So with a smirk that looked more like a grimace, Ash turned his hat backwards and shouted,
"Pikachu! I choose you!"
Ash didn't wait for Mewtwo to make a move before he yelled, "Thunderbolt!" Instantly, Pikachu let loose a thick stream of yellow electricity that soared towards Mewtwo at astonishing speeds. Mewtwo didn't even move, instead opting to punch through the electricity, negating the attack. With that, Mewtwo shot forwards and - paw cloaked in shadowy energy - punched Pikachu into the cave wall behind Ash.
Pikachu, although noticeably injured from the high-power physical attack, got up like the trooper he was and unleashed a massive Thunder at Mewtwo. Ash raised an eyebrow at his starter's attack choice - Mewtwo would probably just punch through it like he did the Thunderbolt - but Pikachu's strategy became clear to Ash when his starter used the powerful electric attack to cloak a Volt Tackle.
Sure enough, Mewtwo punched through the Thunder again, negating it, but he wasn't prepared for the subsequent Volt Tackle that hit him right in the face. Mewtwo recovered quickly though, and lunged forward with a Shadow Punch that Pikachu parried with an Iron Tail.
And so began the highest-power clash that Ash had ever seen, even counting the fights between Charizard and Rayquaza, and Arceus versus the Creation Trio. Every time the duo lashed out, a wave of power erupted from the origin of the strike.
And then Mewtwo started to slow down.
It was slight at first - Pikachu scored a glancing blow of Mewtwo's side then immediately followed up with a kick to Mewtwo's kneecap - but it became obvious when Pikachu managed to score a Thunder - the first non-physical hit of the battle.
But even as Mewtwo was slowing down, Pikachu was speeding up, moving faster and faster as the battle went on. It seemed that the longer the battle raged, the stronger Pikachu got and the effects of this were clear to see.
Finally, Pikachu unleashed one last almighty Thunder and brought Mewtwo to his knees.
Ash blinked owlishly but was quick to snap out of it as he reached into his bag to grab an Master Ball.
Ten seconds later, Ash was retrieving the purple sphere from the center of the cavern.
"..."
Ash stared down at the ball.
"..."
Slowly, a grin spread across his face.
"Alright! We caught Mewtwo!"
"Pikapi!"
"Why are there so many Arceus-dammed psychic-type legendaries?!" Ash asked his weary starter. Since capturing Mewtwo, Ash had come across a Deoxys (which put up a hell of a fight), the entirety of Sinnoh's Lake Trio, who Pikachu took on three-on-one, a Cresselia, who almost blinded Ash with it's lunar wing, and the Mew from the Tree of Beginning, who apparently didn't have to stay there anymore.
Also, he had come across an Alakazam, Grumpig, a Gothitelle who had the audacity to try to control Pikachu, a Mega Slowbro (whom Ash and Pikachu had desperately tried not to laugh at), and a Starmie.
All in the span of two hours.
It went unsaid that the two were tired.
...
"Ash! Hey, Ash!"
Ash knew who it was before he even turned around.
"Max!" Ash said, turning to face the young trainer. "How's it going?"
Max grinned widely. "Great! You'll never guess who I caught!"
Ash raised an eyebrow. "Jirachi?"
"Jirac- Wha-! How'd you know?" Max shouted.
Ash looked at the Jirachi hovering over Max's head.
"Wild guess." He deadpanned.
Max looked up.
"Oh." He paused. "Well, anyway, do you wanna come see my building? It's a tree-house!"
"Lead the way," Ash smiled.
When Max said 'tree-house', he wasn't fucking around, Ash thought.
'Though, I think a better term would be tree mansion,' Ash thought while staring up at the three-story building in the middle of a grove of trees. The youngest member of the Hoopa League had taken Ash on a tour of the most badass tree-house he had ever seen. So far Ash had seen the kitchen, the living rooms (all ten of them) a massive training field on the top of the house, and Max's bedroom.
Currently, though, the duo had made their way back up to the top of the house and back to the training area and were making their way towards a sheltered area with a video phone.
Once they got there, Max started rapidly dialing a number. After about a second, he stopped and stepped back as the screen lit up with the faces of May and her mom.
"Max!" The two girls chorused.
"Hey guys! How's life?"
"Its been great," May responded, "I've finally been able to catch some downtime so I've been home for the last two days." She suddenly gained a mock stern expression and put her hands on her hips.
"Now do you mind telling me where and how exactly you managed to catch a Delphox?"
Max smirked. "Well the how is easy: I threw a Pokeball at it."
May raised an eyebrow and started tapping a foot.
Max paled and hastily continued, "Uh, the where is a bit more complicated. I don't know exactly where I am right now."
This is when Ash butted into the conversation.
"Really? You don't know? Well, then prepare to have your mind blown. We're not on Earth right now."
Three jaws dropped before Max composed himself and said, "Very funny Ash. Seriously, where are we?"
In response, Ash tapped the lone Pokeball on his belt. With a flash, Mewtwo appeared, much to the shock of the two women.
"I'm guessing that I am to confirm your claim?" Mewtwo asked Ash.
Ash nodded. "Yeah, that'd be great," he replied.
"Alright." Turning to face Max and the video phone, he repeated what Ash had said.
"We are not on Earth right now." Then, deciding to elaborate, he continued.
"You are in the Hall of Origin." Then, not wanting to deal with the questions that would raise, he recalled himself with a smirk in Ash's direction."
"What's the Hall of Origin?"
"Was that a Mewtwo?!"
"Is Max safe?"
... Great.
Max, sensing that the topic needed to be switched, said, "Hey, Ash?"
Ash, taking the opportunity, responded, "Yeah?"
"How're the others doing in the Leagues?"
Ash took a moment to think before he responded, "Well, I'm not sure..."
Brock was having a surprisingly challenging time in the Jhoto League. His first opponent happened to specialize in water types, which he had counters for, but was a surprisingly competent trainer. He still managed to beat him fairly easily, though, so it was all okay.
And then his next opponent was one that he remembered from Ash's challenge of the Sinnoh League.
Tobias was in Jhoto.
His first Pokemon was his Darkrai, unsurprisingly, which Brock managed to take down with his Archeops. Then he released his Latios, whom he promptly Mega-Evolved.
And then a Suicune.
And then a Regigigias.
And then a Ho-Oh.
And finally he released a Pokemon that Brock had never seen before. It looked a lot like a Diancie, but it was covered in steel and wielded magic as its main weapon. Tobias called it Magearna, and it took down three of his Pokemon before Brock sent in Steelix to take it out.
In comparison, Zero was having a way easier time in the Ever Grande League. For some reason, not many trainers from outside of Hoenn challenged the League, so most of the trainers were using the same Pokemon.
Her Gardevoir was having a blast.
Well, perhaps a Moonblast was more accurate.
Clemont grit his teeth as his Luxray took another Fire Punch from the enraged Magmortar. It was the final match and both trainers were down to their last pokemon, after his opponent managed to whittle Clemont down with a Contrary Serperior.
Type resistance or no, it was pretty hard to stand up to a barrage of razor-sharp leaves that just kept getting stronger.
Finally, he saw an opening.
"Luxray! Thunder!"
And the Hoopa League chalked up its first League Championship.
XX
"Pansage, spice things up with a Bullet Seed!" Cilian cackled as his Pansage downed another trainer's Pokemon.
...Yeah, Cilian was doing fine.
XX
And, what a surprise, The announcer droned, Alain has sent out his Charizard.
The crowd groaned.
"Chaizard! Harness the power beyond evolution! Mega-Evolve!"
The crowd groaned even louder.
Up in the VIP box, though, Drasna grinned ear-to-ear and started making plans for a trip to Kanto.
"...But I'm sure that they are doing just fine," Ash finished.
Max nodded, content with the answer before he pulled out a Pokeball, a large grin on his face.
"So Ash, remember when you promised me a battle?"
Ash looked at Pikachu and grinned.
That's all, folks!
Yeah, I know: it's a shorter chapter than what I usually do. I just couldn't really think of anything to do with this chapter, and we needed to check in with the Pokemon Leagues anyway, so that's what I did.
It was a random but necessary chapter.
Speeeaking of the League, Tobias makes his first(ish) appearance, and his whole party is revealed!
Tobias:
It's always been my personal theory that Tobias was created for two reasons.
Number one was because there was no way that Ash could've realistically lost to any normal trainer in the Sinnoh League - he was waayyy too on top of his game for that. So in order to get his ass to Unova, they stuck Tobias in. (Although, they probably should've held off and re-thought their plans for Unova, because frankly, they sucked.)
The other reason is because I think they wanted to show us (the fanbase) how cheap it is to walk into the Pokemon League with a team of six legendaries, which I know we're all guilty of. I mean seriously, there's just something fun about crushing the strongest trainers in the world with virtually unstoppable Pokemon. But if you look at it from the Elite Four's perspective, it really is just cheap. I mean, legendaries only appear to those who are worthy, thus cutting off all access to every one else, and they are the physical embodiment of god-damn NATURE. And TIME. Oh, and how could I forget Arceus, who is literally GOD?
Anywho, rant over. Reviews!
MegaHeracross214: Oh, okay! Thanks for clearing that up.
Xperior: Really? I think that could go for a solid 8.1! :) Seriously, though, thanks!
butterflypuss: Thanks!
Guest: Yeah, there's something about a legendary showing up that lends credibility to most stories :)
The Creator: That was a terrible pun.
...
I LOVED IT. 1) The number three? Huh. Never would've guessed. 2) Ash doesn't have any weak Pokemon. Like, period. They're all at pretty much the same level. Sure, he doesn't use legendaries because he realizes that that would be overkill, but really, going up against his Arcanine would be almost the same as going up against his Moltres. 4) Damn right I am.
Peace!