Chapter 3 – A Battle for Centuries to Come
Ash and his friends were talking amongst themselves.
"You think Red will beat Cynthia?" Dawn asked.
"I doubt it. Red is tough, but not that tough." Brock replied.
"Well, let's wait and see. The tournament begins tomorrow." Ash said. "For now, we should get some sleep."
They went to a Pokemon Center to heal Ash's Pokemon, and then sleep in, ready for what would come tomorrow.
The following day, Dawn and Brock woke up. Even Pikachu and Piplup were awake. The only one still asleep was Ash. Pikachu approached Ash with a mischievous grin on his face and shocked him wide awake. Ask woke up instantly.
"What was that for?" Ash asked.
"Pikachu." Pikachu said.
They all went to eat breakfast before heading back to the sidelines in the tournament. Red and a blonde girl in a black suit were already there. It was Cynthia! The crowd was already cheering. The field had a plains setting.
"Espeon!" called Red, sending out a pink cat-like Pokemon.
"Spiritomb, go!" Cynthia said, sending out a malicious green and purple ghost with a keystone attached to it.
"It's Kanto Champion versus Sinnoh Champion. Begin!" said the announcer.
"Hypnosis." Cynthia said.
On instinct, Espeon closed its eyes. It seemed to be clearing its mind.
"Shadow Ball!" Cynthia said.
Red waited until the black ball of energy was near Espeon before commanding it to jump. It did as it was told, and narrowly dodged it. It landed neatly on the ground and used Mud-slap, which Cynthia dodged.
"Dark Pulse!" Cynthia said.
Spiritomb let out an aura of dark energy. Red's Espeon was surrounded by a green shield. After it was gone, Cynthia ordered a Will-O-Wisp attack. Light blue flames formed around the ghost and followed Espeon.
"Substitute!" Red said.
Espeon put a Substitute in front of it and jumped out of the way of a flame.
"That won't work on me. Shadow Sneak!" Cynthia said.
Spiritomb merged with the ground and rushed towards the Substitute, while the flames were giving Espeon a run for its money. Spiritomb then appeared in front of the Substitute and attacked it, only instead of it disappearing in smoke, toxic sludge came out of it, pouring on Spiritomb.
"I knew Toxic Substitute would work. You did your job. Espeon, return." Red said, recalling it.
Before it could go back inside its ball, Spiritomb quickly approached it with great speed and hit it while the flames disappeared.
"And Red recalls Espeon, but not before it gets hit! And this time, it's no substitute!" the announcer said, causing everyone to gasp.
'I didn't expect Pursuit.' Red thought, sending out his Venusaur. "Saur!"
"Defend!" Red said, and Saur put up both Light Screen and Reflect. "Leech Seed!"
Seeds came out of Saur's bulb and headed towards Spiritomb.
"Will-O-Wisp again!" the Sinnoh Champion said.
Ignoring the pain from Toxic, Spiritomb's blue flames burned through the seeds and headed towards Saur.
"Safeguard, and then Vine Whip." Red said.
A clear beam appeared around Saur, protecting him from the flames. Then vines came out from Saur and headed towards Spiritomb, who was barely dodging each hit, thanks in part to its poisoning. Spiritomb dodged yet another hit as it approached Saur.
"Now!" Red said.
A huge beam came out of Saur's bulb and hit Spiritomb, taking it down. Cynthia was amazed; Red had used the Vine Whips to distract her while he charged up a Solar Beam. He was good, but she didn't have time to reflect on that as sharp leaves were heading towards her Pokemon.
"Dark Pulse!" She called.
Once again, Spiritomb had let out an aura of dark energy, which collided with the leaves. After that, Spiritomb winced.
"Spiritomb!" Cynthia said.
"Double Edge!" Red said, as it charged at Spiritomb.
Cynthia knew he didn't really think it would hit, so she stayed on her guard.
"Go under Venusaur and attack it from below!" Cynthia said.
Spiritomb phased through the ground and reappeared below Saur, but before it could do anything, it collapsed to the ground. The toxic poisoning must have taken its toll on the ghost/dark Pokemon.
"I can't believe it! Spiritomb is unable to battle, the winner is Venusaur!" the announcer said.
The crowd cheered, including Ash and his friends.
"I can't believe it; Red is actually doing it!" Brock said.
"I guess he's not the Kanto Champion for nothing." Dawn said.
'Hmm, I could learn a thing or two from him.' Ash thought.
Cynthia recalled Spiritomb, and sent out her Roserade. The Safeguard, along with the dual screens, were gone, so she could do pretty much anything she wanted.
"Magical Leaf." Cynthia said.
"Razor Leaf!" said Red, as the two attacks collided. Neither of them had the advantage.
"Use Grass Knot!" Red commanded. A knot of grass was going to tie around Roserade's foot, but it jumped in the air. It then released spores from its arms (after a command from Cynthia to use Sleep Powder). Saur ran as fast as he could towards Roserade, confusing everyone. The Sleep Powder hit the huge reptilian Pokemon, putting it to sleep.
"Do it!" Red said.
Saur immediatedly let out a huge snore, which sent Roserade flying. Cynthia was amazed for probably the third time; he taught his Venusaur some useful moves for varying situations. He clearly planned ahead, and it really showed.
"Sleep Talk!" Red said, as Saur let out a huge sludge bomb from its seed. Roserade also used a Sludge Bomb attack to collide with Saur's own attack. By the time they were finished, almost the whole stadium was coated in sludge. With both of them being part-Poison, it wasn't a problem. But it would be a problem for most of their other Pokemon. Red must have known this, because he immediately commanded Saur to use Roar, forcing Roserade back into its ball.
"And Cynthia is forced to withdraw!" the announcer said.
Unfazed, Cynthia sent out a black and blue humanoid fox-like Pokemon with yellow fur. It didn't seem to be affected by the poison, shocking Red a little.
"AND SHE SENDS OUT LUCARIO! IT DOESN'T SEEM AT ALL AFFECTED BY THE CURRENT PLAYING FIELD!"
"You seem to forget that poison doesn't affect steel." Cynthia said.
Red withdrew Saur, and smirked. "You also seem to forget…" he started, as he threw a Poke Ball, "that this won't affect Aero one bit!" Out came his Aerodactyl!
"Aero, blow it away!" Red said.
His Aero flew just outside of the field and blew the poison to Cynthia's side of the field, then commanded a Rock Slide. Rocks came raining down on the field. Of course, Lucario dodged them easily. By the time the attack was finished, the rocks all piled down in the middle of the field, ensuring that the poison would stay on her side.
"Now, use Stealth Rock." he said.
Just like in his previous match, pointed rocks floated in the air around Cynthia's chosen Pokemon, who jumped over to Red's side of the field.
"And Red not only manages to get rid of the poison, but use Stealth Rock too! This is impressive, folks!" the announcer said.
"Aura Sphere." Cynthia said calmly.
Blue aura spheres formed around Lucario's hands, and the user shot them at Aero. It was gracefully dodging them with Agility and Double Team. Lucario closed its eyes, and hit the real Aerodactyl with Aura Sphere. The clones disappeared.
"Those silly tricks won't work on me." The blonde said.
"So that's the extent of your Lucario's aura, huh?" Red said. "Aero, Agility one more time!"
It sharpened its speed and flew around the field.
"Dragon Pulse!" Cynthia said.
Right before it could execute the attack, Aero landed on the ground, slammed its tail on it, and created a huge earthquake. Lucario jumped over it, but Aero glided under it to dodge the colorful beam that came from its mouth. It did a barrel roll, but stopped halfway through, then quickly flew up to Lucario, fangs covered with flames and bit down on its arm. Lucario punched it off, but not before getting burned.
"Now!" Red said.
Aero flew way up in the air as Lucario was on its guard.
'I won't let him drag this on," Cynthia thought. "Use Aura Sphere to get it down!"
Lucario shot multiple aura spheres at the sky when a sandstorm suddenly brewed. It wouldn't affect Lucario's aura. In fact, it wouldn't affect it at all, but it would buy Red at least a few seconds. It dodged the spheres as Lucario closed its eyes.
"Lucario, can you see?" Cynthia asked.
The Pokemon gave a growl to indicate that it could battle. It started to heat up all of a sudden, throwing off Lucario's concentration a bit.
"Lucario, get rid of it!" Cynthia said.
It used Aura Spheres to blow away the sandstorm. Right when it cleared, flames the shape of an outstretched man flew towards it and hit it, engulfing it. The poison under it was bubbling.
"Lucario, no!" its owner shouted.
By the time the flames dissipated, Lucario was scorched with flames. It fell down with swirly eyes, indicating that it couldn't battle.
"Cynthis is unable to battle, the winner is Aerodactyl!" the announcer shouted.
"Great job Aerodactyl, I knew Sandstorm and Fire Blast would come in handy!" Red said, recalling it as Lucario was recalled.
"You deserve some rest." Cynthia said to her Lucario, as she called a beautiful water snake-like Pokemon. "Milotic, go!"
Milotic landed on the poison, but used Refresh to get rid of the status.
"Milotic gets rid of the poison!" the announcer said.
"Pika, it's up to you!" Red said, calling out Pika. "This should be easy!"
"IT'S RED'S TRUSTY PIKACHU TO THE RESCUE!" the announcer yelled.
"That's what you think." Cynthia responded.
