I promise I don't write this fast normally, I really don't.
Expect the updates to slow down a little bit, because man these battles take a while to map out.
Anyways, hope you enjoy!
The following day, Ash stood in the tunnel leading to the arena of Wyndon Stadium. Next to him was Pikachu, who tugged at his Trainer's leg and said, "Pika!"
"Right, Pikachu. Let's do this!"
Ash stepped out of the tunnel and into the arena, being greeted by an energized sea of spectators. Ash took a moment to scan the crowd, finding his quintet of friends on one end of the stadium, and Angie along with the Rockets on the other. Waving towards them, Ash saw that Iris was standing across the battlefield from him.
"Are you ready, Ash?"
Flashing a confident smirk her way, Ash responded, "Ready when you are, Iris!"
On his Aegislash, the referee said, "The round robin match between Ash Ketchum and Iris Amaru is about to begin! This will be a six-on-six Full Battle, both challengers being free to make substitutions as they wish. The battle will conclude when either participant no longer has any Pokémon left to battle with. Additionally, unless it is agreed upon by both Trainers, both competitors are only allowed to use one of Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, or Dynamax during this match!" Turning towards Iris, the referee asked, "Miss Amaru, do you wish to use more than one of these battle features?"
"Nope! I've got what I need right here!" Iris said as she flashed her Dynamax Band towards the referee.
Nodding, the referee turned towards Ash and asked, "What about you, Mr. Ketchum?"
Ash shook his head as he raised his left hand, showing the referee the Key Stone located in its groove on the back of his hand. "I'm fine as well!"
"Very well." Waving both his red and green flags down, the referee said, "Battle begin!"
Clicking one of his Poké Balls, Ash said, "Lycanroc, I choose you!"
"Salamence, let's go!"
Lycanroc materialized onto the field while at the same time, Salamence took to the skies. The Dragon-type glared at Lycanroc in an attempt to intimidate it, but Lycanroc simply glowered right back and howled in challenge.
"Stealth Rock!"
Lycanroc's mane glowed a brilliant white as he shook himself. From his ruff, sharp stones erupted into the air, forming a circle around Iris' side of the field before vanishing into thin air.
With a derisive snort, Salamence fired a Hydro Pump towards Lycanroc, the Rock-type bounding away from the jet of water before rearing up and slamming his front legs into the ground. From the area Lycanroc struck, stones erupted from the ground and homed in on Salamence, who flew around the Stone Edge before descending down and slamming one of his front legs in Lycanroc's direction.
However, Lycanroc had leapt backwards in anticipation of the attempted Brick Break, and he jumped back in and began roughhousing with Salamence by using Play Rough, throwing up a big cloud as he and Iris' Dragon-type brawled across the ground. Once he was done, Lycanroc kicked Salamence with both of his hind legs, sending the Dragon Pokémon careening into the wall on Iris' side of the arena.
As Salamence freed himself from the wall, Iris asked, "Salamence, are you okay?" The Dragon-type nodded and took to the skies once again. "Flamethrower all over the field!" Salamence did as his Trainer asked, and fired a continuous Flamethrower that began to heat the terrain up to uncomfortably high temperatures.
Lycanroc nervously pawed at the ground, the heat clearly beginning to get to him despite his Rock-typing. Taking his hat off for a moment to cool off, Ash said, "Lycanroc, Stone Edge once again, and climb up!" Lycanroc slammed his front legs into the ground once again, causing jagged stones to erupt from the ground. This time, however, Lycanroc hopped onto one of the rocks and as the stones began to increase in height, he climbed higher and higher until he was at about Salamence's height. Shaking his ruff once again, Lycanroc snarled and leapt forward, slamming Salamence in the jaw with Iron Tail.
Salamence, however, was almost unfazed, and clamped down on Lycanroc's now-metallic tail with Crunch.
"Brutal Swing, Salamence!" Salamence spun Lycanroc over his head a couple of times before flinging him down to the ground, smashing through some of the rocks Lycanroc had erected with Stone Edge.
In the lobby of Castelia City's Pokémon Center, Georgia Langley, in the middle of watching the Masters Eight, called out, "Hey, Stephan!"
"CAN'T ANYONE- oh, you actually got it right," the Trainer in question said as he took the chair next to her. "What's up, Georgia?"
"Get a load of this!" Georgia said, pointing towards the screen. "It's Ash and Iris!"
"Oh, they're fighting in the round robin?" Stephan grinned as he watched Ash's Lycanroc pull itself out of a crater in the ground before quickly darting away from an attempted Dragon Rush by Salamence. "That's great, I was hoping they'd get at least one battle against each other since they're probably not fighting in the final bracket." Looking towards Georgia, he asked, "So who do you think is gonna win between them? As much as I'm rooting for Ash, I gotta go with our Champion on this one, she really stepped up her game after traveling through Unova with him."
"Ya think?" Georgia turned her attention back to the television, watching as Salamence used Rain Dance, flapping his wings in a rhythmic fashion to generate a rain cloud. As Lycanroc attempted to rush Salamence down with Accelerock, Georgia said, "I think it'll be Ash who wins this. Bet you 1,000 PokéDollars."
"I'll take that bet!" Stephan said, turning his attention back to the screen as Salamence fired a rain-boosted Hydro Pump.
Lycanroc managed to finally score a hit on Salamence with Accelerock, sending the Dragon-type reeling from the super effective hit. Leaping high into the air, Lycanroc attempted to use Crunch, however, Salamence drifted back a little bit and then whacked the Rock-type with Iron Tail. Landing on the ground, Salamence watched as Lycanroc slid across the floor and crashed into another remnant of Stone Edge.
As the rain raged on, Salamence carefully approached Lycanroc, readying a Hydro Pump in his mouth just in case the Wolf Pokémon was playing Linoone. However, Lycanroc slowly stepped forward and let out a piercing howl, startling Salamence and causing Hydro Pump to misfire. Lycanroc fixed his gaze onto Salamence, and the brutish Dragon-type actually backed away from him.
Lycanroc's fur, dirty and matted from the rain, drooped over his eyes for a moment, but he tossed his head aside and continued unerringly staring in Salamence's direction, his vision having gone partially red around the edges.
"Lycanroc, use Outrage!"
With Ash giving him the go-ahead, Lycanroc let out a mighty roar. Snarling, he leapt towards the startled Salamence, his entire body glowing with a red aura as he kicked, bit, and scratched in Salamence's general vicinity. With a final kick of his hind legs, Lycanroc sent the Dragon-type hurtling towards the other side of the arena, the red aura fading as his eyes visibly became blurred.
Stumbling out of the indent he made in the wall, Salamence flapped his wings one last time before collapsing, letting out a groan.
"Salamence is unable to battle, Lycanroc is the victor!"
Iris recalled her Salamence, whispering words of comfort to the Poké Ball. Taking out her next Poké Ball, Iris said, "Kingdra, come on out!"
The Water/Dragon-type emerged from her Poké Ball, swimming in a circle in a pond that had been formed thanks to Rain Dance filling in the crater Lycanroc made when Salamence smashed him into the ground. As she swam though, the Stealth Rock Lycanroc had set up earlier in the match took effect, battering Kingdra with a volley of pointed rocks before vanishing once again.
Waving down both flags, the referee said, "Battle begin!" his words being accompanied by a clap of thunder.
Hunkering down, Lycanroc used Stone Edge. Instead of erecting jagged stones from the ground, however, he surrounded himself in a veil of rocks as he cautiously walked around Kingdra's vicinity.
"Water Pulse!"
Kingdra created a blue orb of water in her mouth and fired it at Lycanroc, the projectile growing in size thanks to the rain. Lycanroc countered by firing some of his stones towards the Water Pulse, causing it to dissipate in an explosion of mist. Bounding forward with Accelerock, Lycanroc dodged past a Dragon Pulse Kingdra shot his way, but as he closed in and prepared to use Play Rough, he suddenly bashed his head into the ground, the confusion from Outrage finally catching up to him.
"Now, Kingdra! Hydro Pump!"
Rearing back, Kingdra shot a powerful torrent of water that landed a direct hit on Lycanroc, disintegrating his Stone Edge veil and catapulting the Rock-type into the air. Lycanroc ended up doing a flip as he landed on the ground in a heap, his energy clearly having been spent.
Up on the big screen, Lycanroc's photo was greyed out as the referee announced the outcome of the match.
Ash recalled Lycanroc, saying, "You did great, Lycanroc, get some rest," before thinking to himself, That Kingdra wasn't moving too fast even with all this rain, which means... no Swift Swim. His decision made, Ash clicked the next Poké Ball on his person and said, "Alright Glalie, you're up!" half-relieved that Iris had gotten over her fear of Ice-type Pokémon... though he wondered if that fear had been supplanted by Fairy-types instead.
The Ice-type emerged from his Poké Ball and said to Kingdra, "It's time to put you on ice!" The Dragon-type disappointedly stared at him for a few seconds, and Glalie grumbled, "Sheesh, tough crowd," using Hail to replace the rain with a swirling blizzard. With a chuckle, Glalie disappeared into the snowscape, throwing up a layer of Spikes in the process.
"That's going to be a problem even if I can get Excadrill to use Rapid Spin," Iris realized. Pointing towards where she thought Glalie was, Iris said, "Flash Cannon!"
Kingdra began to glow silver, keeping an eye out for Glalie's shadow in the snow. Once she saw it, she fired a thin bolt of Steel-type energy into the blizzard, however, the weather parted to reveal a pulverized snowclone of Glalie before closing itself once more.
An Ice Beam shot out of the swirling snow, nailing Kingdra in her side, and Glalie's rumbling laughter faded away as the storm picked up in intensity.
"I can't do anything with all this snow... Kingdra, use Rain Dance!" Much to Iris' relief, Kingdra began swimming in a figure-eight fashion, generating rain clouds which overpowered Glalie's snowstorm and replaced it with the downpour Salamence had summoned earlier in the match.
The last of the snow faded away to reveal a very startled Glalie, who promptly got hit with Flash Cannon, pushing him further along his Trainer's side of the field.
"Glalie, use Spikes one more time, and then the field's yours!" Glalie nodded in Ash's direction, the command meaning that unless Ash needed him to do something specific, Glalie could battle as he wanted. Slamming down onto the ground, Glalie created another layer of Spikes on Iris' side of the field that promptly vanished into the earth. His horns beginning to flicker with Ice-type energy, Glalie began using Ice Beam, dodging an errant Scald attempt from Kingdra as he began to form a small flock of ice Starly.
Once he was finished, Glalie did a small flourish, and the ice Starly began to fly towards Kingdra, who began shooting Flash Cannons and Scalds in their direction. Though some of the Starly managed to hit Kingdra, most of them were either melted or shattered by Kingdra's attacks, filling its pool even further. Glalie watched as Kingdra began to charge Draco Meteor in her snout, and he muttered to himself, "This fight's just going to dragon if my plan doesn't work."
"Sis, did Glalie ever do anything like that whenever we saw him battle?" Max asked.
May shook her head, replying, "Nope. Ash must've really put in some serious training time since the last time we saw him battle with Glalie."
"Yeah, he really did," Max said as he watched Glalie create an ice sculpture of a Huntail that came to life and leapt towards Kingdra, who met it head on with Iron Head, her Draco Meteor charge remaining uninterrupted as the Huntail shattered.
Kingdra released Draco Meteor, the greenish ball of Dragon-type energy flying high into the rain clouds before exploding, sending green meteorites raining down onto the battlefield. Glalie floated through the maelstrom of meteors, shooting Shadow Balls and Water Pulses towards Kingdra's pool as he tried to dodge, but an errant meteor caught him and knocked the Face Pokémon to the ground.
Pulling himself up, Glalie noticed that the ground had become peppered with craters as a result of Draco Meteor, and from behind, Ash called out, "Start using Earthquake!"
I think he's got the same idea that I do, Glalie realized. Floating back into the air, he slammed his entire body down to the ground, causing parts of the battlefield to crumble and make the craters larger. Kingdra tried to stop him with Flash Cannon blasts, but Glalie simply floated over or underneath those before slamming into the ground again, causing the craters to become even larger and spread towards Kingdra's pool.
With a final thud, Glalie floated upwards, blocking a Hydro Pump by creating a makeshift shield of ice with the detritus of his shattered Huntail. The Water-type attack splashed into the weakened earth, which caused the last bit of the ground between Kingdra's pool and the rest of the craters to break. The water level began to decrease as it spread across the humongous crater, and Kingdra looked down in alarm. Before she could use Hydro Pump to stave off the drainage though, Glalie's horns flashed white, and the entire crater was flash frozen with Freeze-Dry, imprisoning Kingdra in a scaletight prison of ice.
Glalie's horns flashed white once again, and the ice shattered, dealing massive damage to Kingdra due to its Water/Dragon-typing. Landing on the ground, Glalie tiredly watched as Kingdra wobbled for a moment before falling into a small puddle of water, clearly out for the count.
"Kingdra is unable to battle, the winner of this bout is Glalie!"
Ash watched as the rainclouds faded away, and he thought to himself, Finally, I thought that weather war was never going to end. He was snapped out of his thoughts when Iris sent Excadrill out onto the field, the Subterrene Pokémon shrugging off the Stealth Rocks with relative ease before being stabbed at by the two layers of Spikes Glalie had set up.
"Excadrill, Rapid Spin!" As the entry hazards continued to harass Excadrill, he turned into his drill form and began to spin along the ground, unearthing and destroying the caltrops while repelling the Stealth Rocks into the air, where they bounced off and disintegrated more of themselves. Once he had cleared the field of hazards, Excadrill brandished his claws in the Face Pokémon's direction and beckoned for him to bring it.
Glalie charged up a Water Pulse in his mouth and fired it at Excadrill. The Ground-type burrowed underground, the Water-type attack sailing harmlessly over the hole before he emerged aboveground and used Stone Edge, firing a volley of rocks towards Glalie. The pointed stones smashed into Glalie, sending him across the arena, and he landed on the floor, rolling into an upright position and groaning, "Glalie..."
"Wrap this up, Excadrill! Use Horn Drill!"
The drill on Excadrill's head began to elongate and glow silver, and the Subterrene Pokémon charged right at Glalie.
"Explosion!"
As Glalie began to glow, Iris blanched, exclaiming, "Crap! Excadrill, disengage and use P-!"
Glalie promptly exploded, throwing up a plume of smoke that obscured the vision of everyone in the stadium. When said cloud faded, it was revealed that Excadrill had surrounded himself with a green hexagonal barrier, coming out of the exchange completely unscathed because of Protect.
Glalie, on the other hand, was lying on the ground in a heap, completely out of it.
"Glalie can no longer battle, this match goes to Excadrill!"
Ash recalled his Glalie as the crowd came alive, whispering a word of reassurance to his Ice-type. As he was about to select his next Pokémon, however, he saw Iris recall Excadrill and send in her Dragonite, the Dragon Pokémon letting out a loud roar as he punched his fists together.
Taking note, Ash gave a grin of audacity as he sent out his next Pokémon.
Dawn watched as Charizard materialized onto the field, blowing some steam from his nostrils before roaring himself, shooting a Flamethrower skywards. Enthusiastically clapping her hands together, she said, "Ooh, this should be good, I haven't seen Charizard battle for a while now."
Serena nodded, remembering how strong of a showing Charizard had in the Lumiose Conference two years prior against Sawyer. Looking towards Dawn, she asked, "Do you think he'll Mega Evolve him again?"
"Ash's Charizard can Mega Evolve?!" May and Max both exclaimed. Pulling out his Pokédex, Max pulled up both of Charizard's Mega forms and asked, "Which one?"
Serena and Dawn both pointed towards Charizard's X form, and Max nodded, saying, "There's some downsides to the acquired Dragon-typing, but it's Ash, he probably can make it work."
"Charizard also has another trick up his sleeve whenever he Mega Evolves," Dawn said, a grin on her face as in front of her, Piplup began cheering for both Pokémon. "I wonder if he'll use it here."
"Start with Air Slash!"
Charizard's wings began to glow white as he took flight, sending a salvo of buzzsaws made of compressed air Dragonite's way.
A torrent of water erupted around Dragonite and he took to the air with blistering speed, smashing his way through the Air Slash. Charizard banked left, causing Aqua Jet to go wide, and he shot a Flamethrower towards Dragonite, who answered with a Flamethrower of his own. The two Fire-type attacks collided for a moment, however, Charizard's Flamethrower punched through Dragonite's and hit the Dragon-type in the gut, pushing him back.
Undeterred, Dragonite breathed out a puff of cold air, charging and firing an Ice Beam from his mouth with surprising speed. Charizard flew over the Ice-type attack before swinging an Iron Tail into Dragonite's face, causing him to decrease in altitude. Landing on the ground, Charizard thumped his tail in a rhythmic fashion, cloaking himself in a red aura as he used Dragon Dance. As he finished, however, Dragonite sped towards him using Extreme Speed, before disengaging and smacking him across the face twice with Dual Wingbeat.
As Charizard staggered, stunned, Dragonite smashed two Thunder Punches into his gut, winding him and causing him to buckle to his knees. Hefting himself back up to his feet, his claws began to glow green as he raked a Dragon Claw across Dragonite's face, who instinctively threw up his hands to assuage the worst of the damage.
Dragonite fired an Ice Beam at Charizard to force him to back off as he used Roost, surrounding himself in a veil of feathers as his entire body glowed green. His energy replenished, Dragonite took flight once again before firing a Zap Cannon at Charizard, who answered back with Focus Blast.
Neither attack hit their mark, instead flying around wildly before detonating far away from their intended targets. Trainer and Pokémon alike stared in complete befuddlement at each other, none of the parties involved being able to comprehend what had just happened.
Recovering, Ash said, "Alright, Charizard, time to show Iris what we're made of!" his Mega Glove beginning to glow. Taking a moment, Ash closed his eyes and began to think.
Charizard.
His and Charizard's relationship was tumultuous, to put it mildly. From the moment they first met, when Ash had saved him from Damian's cruelty, there was never a time where he ever stopped loving the Fire-type, even through Charmeleon's rebellious streak and later Charizard's complacency.
That fateful day in the Orange Islands changed everything.
Since that day, Charizard had been one of his strongest and most reliable Pokémon. Even when he left to get stronger in the Charicific Valley, he always came back to Ash whenever he needed him, like in Greenfield, the Johto League, and the Battle Frontier.
Even with all the ups and downs they had experienced over the years, Ash had decided that he wouldn't change a thing about his history with his beloved Fire-type.
Charizard began to glow with a multicolored light as he changed form. His body overall became bulkier and spikier, his wing membrane more saw-toothed, and flames began streaming from the sides of his mouth.
The light faded, and Mega Charizard X let out a mighty roar before taking flight once more, his now-red eyes fixing themselves onto Dragonite.
Smiling, Ash extended a hand outward and said, "Alright, Charizard! Flamethrower!"
Dragon-types are a cheat code when it comes to writing action scenes, they're too cool to not use if I'm being real. I also find listening to music while writing helps a lot when mapping these out.
Self-admittedly, I've always had a soft spot for both Georgia and Stephan, which is why both of them have a POV slot at the beginning. If I ever decide to rewrite Unova, they'll both have bigger roles here than they did in canon.
I also tried my hand at the Mega Evolution bond snippets Saphroneth did, hopefully they lived up to the standards he set.
Hope you enjoyed this, and stay tuned for the next part of this fight! This chapter was supposed to contain the full battle at first, but I realized that was too much even for me.
-Krosshair