Champions of Sinnoh
The story is still on with new battles. I had some free time and also this chapter wasn't that hard to write so here it is. Nothing to say except thanks for the support in my last Pokemon Movie chapter. Remember that the three Reality Dragons will be important for later.
Now let's go!
Chapter 13: Lucky Encounters
Ash and Dawn were in the training field of Pastoria City having a friendly match. It had been almost a whole month since the devastating reality-warping incident back in Alamos Town. The new addition of the Dark legend Darkrai to Dawn's team had been quite a shock to get used too at first. But once the coordinator did, she made sure her new Legendary friend became as powerful as he could. Despite having great amount of raw power compared with the average Pokemon, Darkrai still had some weak points to work up against. But with Ash's help then it was quite easy to do so. And it also offered the trainer from Kanto the chance to train his Pokemon into an entire new level of strength. Only a small group of his team had had the strength to defeat Legends in the past so with Darkrai's help it was easier to train just in case they had to encounter one in the future.
Now, however, Dawn was fighting with her Water starter Prinplup against Ash's Chimchar testing both Pokemon's abilities.
"Okay Prinplup, use Whirlpool!" Dawn comanded now. Her Water starter created the swirling tornado of water and sent it into the Fire monkey.
"Chimchar, use Dig!" Ash ordered a counter. His Fire starter from Sinnoh went inside the ground and easily avoided the water tornado.
"Metal Claw on the ground and bring him out!" Dawn ordered. Her Pokemon rose his shinning fins and was ready to slam them to bring the Pokemon out.
"Chimchar, now Fire Spin from inside the ground!" Ash ordered now. The ground suddenly bursted open and the spinning fire blast hit Prinplup head on, who backstepped in discomfort as his body kept blazing. The bluenette was left quite surprised by that strange but useful tactic.
"Nice trick, Ash" Dawn commented, now that Chimchar had returned to the surface ready to keep going. She now had a new idea for contests thanks to her boyfriend "Prinplup, Water Sport on yourself!" The Penguin Pokemon shot the water attack over himself setting the fire off showing some burns but nothing really serious to stop him.
"You know how to improvise, Dawn" Ash said with grin. He always enjoyed when his girlfriend gave him a challenge "But let's see how you take things head on. Chimchar, use Flare Blitz!" The Fire monkey yelled summoning his strength and charged with his body surrounded in blazing blue flames.
"Prinplup, Aqua Jet!" Dawn countered. Her Pokemon covered himself in the water torpedo and shot towards the incoming Fire Pokemon. The two clashed trying to overpower the other with sheer strength. Yet the moves canceled each other out, sending the Pokemon back to their respective trainers with some bruises. Chimchar's body shuddered taking the recoil damage from the Fire move.
"Okay guys, that's enough for today" Dawn said happy to see the team getting stronger. The two Pokemon sighed in content. The Aura trainer stepped closer and lifted his Chimchar in a hug.
"You did great Chimchar" Ash said proud towards his Fire starter. He knew that Paul had certainly never said a good thing to the Fire Pokemon, which had helped in bringing down Chimchar's confidence. But Ash wasn't like that idiot. The Fire starter hugged his trainer back feeling happy to be with someone, who did appreciate him.
Chimchar's body suddenly started glowing white, getting taller and heavier. Ash and Dawn's eyes widen in shock. That was certainly not expected. When the evolving light died down, Ash saw his new Pokemon. It was a bit more imposing than before with a dark red and blue fur and a long tail ended in red fire. It was the second form Monferno.
"Great job, Monferno!" Ash said rubbing his Pokemon fiery head. The Fire Pokemon started jumping in delight obviously very excited about his new achievement in power. He tested his new strength by firing a rapid succession of punches with greater speed than before. The Aura trainer checked his Pokedex and saw all the new moves his starter had learnt.
"Quite an incredible training" A man's voice stated towards the couple of Pokemon trainers "The fact your Monferno evolved after such a fight tells me you are a great trainer" Ash and Dawn sweat-dropped by the new man's bizarre attire. He had a weird mask over his face and a white cape. His torso was naked and had blue pants.
"Uh, thanks" The Aura trainer replied not sure about who the man was "And you are?" The man laughed. Where were his manners?
"Crasher Wake, Gym Leader of Pastoria City Gym" The man in the weird costume answered back.
"Really?" Ash asked surprised by his lucky shot "Because I was heading for the Gym to obtain my next badge" The man chortled in good hearts.
"Then I'll be waiting for your challenge" The Leader replied and left the scene walking away.
"That was a lucky encounter" Dawn stated, her Water starter back in his Pokeball for a rest.
A few hours later, Ash was standing against Crasher Wake ready to obtain his new Gym badge. The field was a giant pool of water with floating circle-shaped platforms. Ash had fought in similar arenas before so he knew to be careful. The referee appeared in the sideline. Dawn and Buneary were in the grades cheering for their friends.
"This is an official three-on-three Gym Battle between Pastoria City Gym Leader Crasher Wake and the challenger Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in Kanto. Only the challenger is allowed to substitute Pokemon. There's no time limit and all the other clauses apply. Trainers, send out your first Pokemon!" The referee said.
"Let's go, Pikachu!" Ash sent out his Electric Pokemon. The Electric mouse jumped from his trainer' shoulders into one of the floating circle. On the sidelines, Buneary was cheering for her mate next to her trainer, who cheered for Ash.
"Go Gyarados!" The Gym Leader send out the fully-evolved Pokemon. Ash was amazed to see the famous Sea Snake Pokemon, with its long blue-and-white-scaled body. The giant snake roared, making Pikachu flinch. That meant Pikachu's attack had dropped by the ability Intimidate. But for Ash, it wasn't going to change anything.
"Pikachu vs Gyarados, begin!" The referee said.
"Okay Pikachu, use Thunder Shock!" Ash started. As Gyarados was a Water/Flying Pokemon then Electric moves were super effective against him. Pikachu wasted no second and unleashed the yellow bolts towards his enemy.
"Block it with Dragon Rage!" Wake ordered now. The Atrocious Pokemon fired an orange orb from his mouth and cancelled the voltaic attack mid air.
"Pikachu, use Charge!" Ash ordered. Pikachu's red cheeks shone with electricity. Now any following Electric attack would be even stronger.
"Gyarados, stop him with Surf!" The gym Leader ordered. Gyarados slammed his snake tail in the water and a giant water wave went towards Pikachu.
"Pikachu, into the water!" Ash ordered now with an idea. The Electric starter dived into the water before the wave could run him over and cause damage to him "And now Thunderbolt!" The increased electricity rapidly spread through the liquid and hit Gyarados making him scream in pure agony. The Giant Snake floated on the surface with his smoking body with swirls for eyes. The Electric starter jumped in one of the platforms without any scratch.
"Gyarados is unable to battle. Pikachu wins. Gym Leader, send out your next Pokemon!" The referee said.
"Okay Quagsire, let's go!" Crasher Wake called out a bipedal Pokemon. It looked like a blue salamander. Ash knew that it was part Ground type so electricity was useless here.
"Pikachu, return!" Ash said to his Pokemon starter, who returned to his side as Ash drew another Pokeball ready to keep the fight up "Now Monferno!" The newly-evolved Fire starter appeared ready to test himself in a fight.
"Quagsire vs Monferno, begin!" The referee said.
"A weird choice, Ash" The Gym leader stated as his Pokemon had double advantage against the opponent "Quagsire, Mud shot!" The Salamander Pokemon barfed a shower of rapid mud bullets. But Ash already saw something like that happening.
"Monferno, use your new Bullet Punch to destroy the attack!" Ash countered. The Fire monkey made his fists glow blue and quickly punched the mud bullets into nothing. It was a draw. The Gym Leader grinded his teeth knowing this wasn't going to be easy.
"A great strategy my boy. I won't underestimate you" Crasher Wake stated very surprised by the counter attack "Quagsire, Bulk Up!" The Dual-type Pokemon pumped his arms increasing his attack and defence by one stage each.
"Monferno, use Flamethrower!" Ash ordered. The Fire monkey spew a torrent of flames, which swallowed Quagsire in full. But the latter received little damage and was still good to go.
"Okay Quagsire, use Shadow Ball!" The gym Leader ordered. His Pokemon cupped his hands forward and fired the purple sphere. Ash knew that a Ghost move was very effective against a Fighting Pokemon like Monferno.
"Monferno, send it back with Fire Punch!" Ash countered. The Fire Pokemon made his fists glow red in blaze and punched the sphere back to its origin.
"Quagsire, jump away!" The Water/Ground Pokemon hastily jumped to dodge his own attack. But that was what Ash wanted to happen.
"Use Acrobatics!" The Aura trainer ordered another one of the new moves. Monferno jumped even higher than his opponent and plummeted with his arms stretched like a plane leaving a white Stella behind. The Flying attack landed doing some damage to the Leader's Pokemon. Quagsire landed hard on the platform not expecting a Flying move.
"And now finish him with Overheat!" Ash ordered the finishing move while Quagsire attempted to stand up. Monferno took a deep breath and spew the devastating fire blast burning the opponent down to a crisp. The Salamander Pokemon fainted covered in ashes and with swirls for eyes.
"Quagsire is unable to battle. Monferno wins. Gym Leader, send out your last Pokemon!" The referee said. Crasher Wake recalled his Pokemon proud of his powers and drew another Pokeball.
"Floatzel, off you go!" Wake sent out his fully-evolved Weasel Pokemon. It was as tall as Monferno with a flotation sack on his body.
"Okay Monferno, take a break" Ash recalled his evolved Fire Pokemon. After using Overheat, Monferno's special attack had dropped by two stages. "Let's go, Grotle!" Now the Aura trainer called out his evolved Grass starter. It stood ready to go.
"Grotle vs Floatzel, begin!" The referee said.
"Nice choice, Ash!" Crasher said knowing that Grass Pokemon were an obvious go against him. That's why he had counter measures for all of them "Floatzel, use Razor Wind!" The Weasel Pokemon focused energy on his blue forearms and sent crescent waves of razor-sharp air. They rapidly hit the Grass starter in the face. Yet Grotle was still there not affected thanks to all of his training to stand one of his main weaknesses.
"You are going to need more than that" Ash stated with a satisfied smile as he saw the leader dropping his jaw in astonishment. While Grotle had less speed than its previous form of Turtwig, it was compensated by incredible power and defence, something Ash had trained to the limit "Grotle, use Leech Seed!" The Grass Pokemon fired the brown seed from his back.
"Jump and Ice Fang!" Crasher Wake ordered. His Weasel Pokemon jumped dodging the Grass attack and fell with his fangs glowing with ice.
"Use Reflect!" Ash countered. Grotle covered himself in a defensive wall against physical attacks. The Ice move hit him but Floatzel only bounced back without doing any damage "Now Energy ball!" The Grass Pokemon charged the swirling sphere on his mouth and fired it off almost at point blank. It hit Floatzel right in the chest sending him tumbling back into another platform. Floatzel now had a lot of injuries by the powerful blast.
"Another Energy ball!" The Aura trainer ordered wanting to finish this. The Grass starter from Sinnoh delivered another Grass sphere into the enemy.
"Into the water!" Wake ordered frantically to dodge. Incredibly, Floatzel rapidly obeyed and went inside the water dodging the attack.
"Got you" Ash stated with a grin surprising everyone looking at the fight "Earthquake!" Grotle stomped on the platform and sent the shaking waves inside the water. Suddenly Floatzel bursted through the water surface after been forced out of it. His injuries had gotten a bit worse.
"Floatzel, Aqua Ring!" The Gym Leader ordered in desperation. His Pokemon started recovering his lost health. Ash shook his head. Healing a Pokemon only worked if the other Pokemon couldn't attack.
"Finish this with Leaf Storm!" Ash ordered the finishing move. Grotle growled with power and a tornado of shinning razor leafs escaped from the twin leafs on top of his yellow carapace. The barrage of grass completely overpowered Floatzel and sent him flying into a wall completely knocked out with swirls for eyes. That was when Grotle's body started shinning white.
"What the..." Ash stammered, his Grass Pokemon getting bigger and chubbier. He really wasn't expecting another evolution in one day. But he wasn't one to stop good things from happening. Now the new Pokemon had a green shell over his back with three metal spikes and one small tree. His underbelly was armored as well but in dark brown color.
"Amazing, you evolved into Torterra!" Ash said proudly to his new fully-evolved Grass Pokemon. The evolved Pokemon roared with twice his previous bulk and a lot more strength for sure. The Aura trainer scanned his Pokedex finding some new interesting moves that Torterra had learnt.
"Floatzel is unable to battle. Torterra wins. The winner of the match is Ash Ketchum!" The referee said. The Aura trainer recalled his fully-evolved Grass starter from Sinnoh as the Gym leader strode towards him.
"Well Ash, that battle showed me that you deserve my Fen Badge" The Gym leader stated handing his blue-colored Gym symbol. Ash took it and placed it on his badge case.
"Thanks Wake" The teenager thanked his rival and walked outside holding hands with his girlfriend while Pikachu did the same with Buneary.
Another one bites the dust.
The couple were now inside a restaurant of Pastoria city, having a nice dinner after a harsh day of training for battles and contests. The next Pokemon contest would be held in a month and Dawn didn't want to lose her experience. She still didn't know how to use Darkrai in contests though. Her Legend was strong, no doubt there if he had dared to take Dialga, Palkia and Giratina head on. But that same power could be too much for the other coordinators. So Dawn had decided to save Darkrai for the Sinnoh Festival. That way no one could accuse her of cheating.
Though technically using legends wasn't illegal but the bluenette did want to give her other Pokemon some challenges. Otherwise there was no fun.
"It's nice to not be the ones who need to cook" Dawn stated now taking a nice bite on her dinner. Not that Ash's cuisine was bad. Finding a man, who could properly cook was the real hard thing. Luckily she had found Ash in time.
"Well, you are not exactly a proper chef, are you?" Ash teased now remembering some encounters with Dawn's attempts at cooking. She had ended up burning water. How logics worked there was a mystery only Arceus could answer.
"Brat" Dawn playfully stated. Ash received the trademark nudge in the arm from his lady.
Ash and Dawn suddenly heard some turmoil coming from the kitchen. The door opened and the chef was chasing something.
"Hey, stop him!" The apparent chef of the restaurant yelled running after a small furry thing, who was eating fruits. The small Pokemon ran towards Dawn and hid behind her leg shaking in fear.
"A Swinub" The petite bluenette said, looking at the small furry Pokemon checking her Pokedex for information about the species.
"Okay, kids. Hand the Swinub over. He has been stealing a lot of my food supply in the last couple of days" The chef said to the teens. But the small Pokemon was obviously shaking in fear and didn't want to leave his safe place behind Dawn.
"Look, why don't we just take him away so you don't have any more trouble?" Ash suggested. He really didn't want trouble but he didn't know what could happen to the poor Swinub if he was left alone with angry people.
"Fine, but I don't want to see him again!" The chief replied. Dawn couldn't help but notice that the small Pokemon was rubbing against her leg in affection. It was obviously showing his appreciation after been saved from the mob.
"Ash, do you think I should catch him?" The coordinator asked towards her boyfriend.
"Well, he does seem to like you" The Pokemon trainer replied rubbing the small furry animal in affection, who nuzzled under his touch "Besides he is an Ice/Ground Pokemon. That means Amaura will have a new friend" Dawn couldn't argue with her boyfriend's train of thoughts.
The bluenette coordinator quickly catched the small Pokemon touching him with one of her empty Pokeballs. The round object didn't struggle at all in the process.
The couple left the restaurant a few minutes later towards the Pokemon Center. They had to properly rest before going on their journey.
Notes from Chapter 14:
Monferno and Torterra appear earlier than expected. That's because Torterra didn't have quite a lot of good moments except against Team Rocket. Really how could he lost against an Electric Gym Leader? I know Electivire used Ice Punch but one alone shouldn't have been that useful considering what Paul's Torterra explained.
Dawn captured her new Ice Pokemon. Most of her Pokemon do know Ice attacks. Including Darkrai and her future legend.
Yes, for those who didn't get the message above, Dawn will capture a second legend in this story. And Ash won't. Deal with it.
There wasn't much change from the Anime episode except that Ash doesn't have Buizel. I don't like that Pokemon a lot. I prefer Corphish.
So a new gym badge has been earn along with many new Pokemon. See next chapter!