I'm back, with a chapter containing a Pokemon battle. Only one though.
Caught up with the current animes here and there. Sengoku Basara 2 is awesome!
Primo
5:00 PM
Unknown Location
5.50%
"What the hell, Old Man!" Ash shouted, after being forcefully taken away from the city streets of Indigo Plateau. "I thought he wasn't supposed to show his face in public! I'm going to lose my temper every time I see his face, and I don't want to go berserk again! What's the police doing?" claimed the young man while walking towards the old man with the long white beard.
"It's not the first time, you know. You just haven't been out of the mountains enough, Ash." Calmly replied the bearded person while turning around to see Ash. A badge could be seen pinned on his lab coat, with "Dr. Raito" in scripted on it.
"What? The terms of release specifically said for him not to go out in public for five years, it's only been 4 years!" Ash walked to a nearby stool, and sat on it with his Pikachu on his shoulder. "Pika!" his Pokémon agreed.
"Formalities. We have a lot of money, and where there's money, there's always the good ol' 'under-the-table' method. That meeting was just for the publicity. The officials didn't want the Police to lose face, so they had that meeting set up. I'm sure this case has been forgotten by the Police, not even a trace of documents left about this." Said Dr. Raito while taking sips from his coffee mug. He stood up, approaching a table close to Ash. He turned on the coffee machine for a refill. "Coffee?"
"No, thanks. Do you have tea, old man?" Ash asked.
"Yeah." The older man took a tea bag and placed it in a mug, filling it with hot water. "Sugar?"
"Sure."
"Thanks." Ash said. Dr. Raito took a tea-spoon full of sugar and placed it in the cup. He stirred it, and then gave it to Ash.
"... Darn it." The young man said before taking his sip. "Those corrupted officials. They only care about money." He stated.
"Not only that, Cyrus was very convincing when he negotiated. He's very smart. He made a 15 years sentence into a 15 minutes wait. He's darn rich, and with Galaxy's cover business, he made an unbelievable amount of money."
The older person explained. He had just finished his coffee, and was walking back to his desk. "Just concentrate on winning the conference. There are a lot of notable trainers this time. Contest winners, top notch league contenders, gym leaders, champions, you name it. This conference's the ultimate challenge for trainers. The winner of the conference will be marked the strongest. Strongest." He explained. "You think you can win?" the Doctor asked with a sarcastic tone.
"I know who they are. I've seen them battle. They're very strong alright." Ash said, still in his dark-blue overcoat. He stood up and petted his Pikachu on the forehead. He proceeded to look at the Doctor. "But not strong enough." Said the young man with a bright smile.
"Of course, you're my number one man for hire! Hahaha!" the Doctor claimed cheerfully.
"Speaking of my number one man.. I've said this, but I'm going to warn you again. I've told the higher ups about you, Thanatos. Including Cyrus. And with all those feats you accomplished for us, you've grasped most of the commanders' trusts. Mars and Jupiter didn't see that attack coming at all. They know about your participation in the conference, and they expect you to win, even though they've never met you. They figured you must be loyal to me, and I'm loyal to the organization. You do the math." He explained.
"Heh. Idiots in their idiotic ways have their own idiotic worries. So from here, me and Jupiter is going to participate, correct?" Ash asked.
"Yeah."
"I'm going to see her sometime in the competition, see if she can recognize me. By the way, I like the adjustments this time around, old man. It's working smoothly, no problems so far." Ash stated, showing him his right metallic arm.
"Of course, who do you think I am?" Dr. Raito said jokingly.
Ash gave a light laugh, and then headed for the door. "Don't worry. I'll win. I have to win. Got a lot on the line these times around. Heh." He picked up his gloves, wearing them. He opened the door, and proceeded to exit the room, but stopping before he was completely out. "Say, Old man."
"Hmm?"
"I'll definitely win. I'm going to get you out of Team Galactic once I get rid of Cyrus, just like I said when we first met." Said the young man.
The doctor smiled at this statement, and gave the young man a pat on his shoulder.
"I never doubted you, not even once."
Ash got out of the room and started to walk to the elevator. He passed some more Galactic members, and pressed the arrow-shaped button pointing up. A blue light emanated surrounding the button. After a long, silent minute, the elevator arrived, opening the door. Ash proceeded to enter the empty elevator.
He skimmed over the choices to finally land on one button with 'L' in scripted on it. The door closed, and the elevator headed up.
His Pokedex beeped suddenly in his pocket. He took the device out, opening it with his left hand, the other in his right pocket.
"Round One Preliminaries Match..." he read. "Battlefield number thirty-three, 10:00 AM... That's early." He said, while scrolling down the screen.
"Where's my opponent's info? Ah, here it is." He stopped at the sight of the trainer's picture and information. He looked at it briefly, and closed the Pokedex. The elevator arrived at the main lobby.
"What should I do after I win the match, I wonder?" He said while exiting.
Next Day, 9:50 AM
Indigo Plateau
Third Battlefield Region
Outside of Battlefield #34
7.75%
"Well that was easy!" Max stated, while rubbing his nose.
"Don't get too cocky, Max. The Preliminaries are only the first step to separate the weak ones and the noticeably strong ones." Brock explained. "I won my match too, by the way."
"Of course you did, Brock! All of us here will get through the Preliminaries with no sweat!" Dawn claimed excitedly while eating a scoop of vanilla ice cream. "It's fortunate that most of us got the morning matches. We can relax for the rest of the day!"
The group was wandering around the Third Battlefield Region, with no real destination.
"Oh yeah, when's your match, Misty?" May asked while checking her Pokedex to see if her next match was already decided.
"It's this evening, at 6:00 PM. I don't get why Gym Leaders have to participate in the Preliminaries too." Said the orange-haired young girl while checking her Pokedex also. "Many of the trainers here have already beaten Gym Leaders, so it's only logical that we participate too then." Brock answered.
"Hey look at that!" Max suddenly shouted while pointing at a nearby information stall. "That guy we met yesterday, Thanatos! He's competing in 5 minutes at thirty-three!"
"Ah, right, the guy who was recommended by the sketchy Doctor and the one with the flying Pikachu? He might be interesting to watch." Brock added. "So, you guys up for some more spectating?"
The group headed to Battlefield #33, and entered the battlegrounds. The hall was almost empty, since the trainers battling inside are not that well known. They looked for seats close to the battleground to get a good view of the battle. The referee soon entered the arena.
"This match is between Bob of Lilycove city and... Thanatos of..." the referee paused. "Sorry, where are you from, sir?" he asked.
"Not important." The young man answered. His hair was covering his face so that people could hardly make out what he looked like.
"Okay! This match will be between Bob of Lilycove city and Thanatos! Only two Pokémon will be allowed in this match. The match will be decided to be over when both Pokémon from one side is unable to battle, or the trainer forfeits. Now, begin!"
"Crush them, Golem!" Bob shouted while throwing a red and white ball. A massive circular Pokémon then appeared.
"A Golem, huh? I wonder what Pokémon Thanatos is going to choose." Max commented. "That Golem looks very strong though, it seems well trained." He added.
"Pikachu." Thanatos said to his yellow partner. The little mouse then jumped off his shoulder and positioned himself on the arena.
"His Pikachu? He's going to be in a serious type disadvantage!" Max commented. "Yeah, that's true. But if that Pikachu knows steel-type moves, then it might stand a chance. Still, I would've come up with a better choice, if I were him. That Pikachu will be overpowered." Brock answered while giving his own comment about the choice of Pokémon Thanatos decided on.
"You sure about that, man?" Bob said in an undermining tone to his opponent. "You can still change your Pokémon, I'll give you time." He shrugged to show his confidence. Thanatos just stood there, wordless. "Well then, I guess it's time to start the match! Don't hold back, Golem. Earthquake!"
The ground started shaking, along with the whole building, and the surface of the arena started to split apart in many pieces. Soon, the little Pikachu could not be seen anymore, covered with boulders that were hurled from the ground-type move.
"Hahahaha! How's that?" Bob said with excitement. He scanned the arena, only to see the Pikachu standing on his tail, unscathed. "What..? How's that possible? Golem, Rollout!" The Rock Pokémon starting rolling on one place in a high speed, then launched forward like torpedo to Pikachu.
"... Dodge it." Thanatos ordered.
The Pikachu jumped up to evade the opponent, but the Golem followed Pikachu by launching itself to the air also.
"You can't escape Golem's Rollout!" Bob explained shortly. Paying no attention to Bob's remarks, Thanatos proceeded to give Pikachu another order. "Make him go back to the ground, Pikachu."
With Golem approaching, Pikachu did a summersault to hit the rock Pokémon with his tail. The electric Pokémon's tail connected, sending the opponent down to the ground in a high speed, creating a crater on the ground, making the rock Pokémon spin continuously in the crater.
"Wow! That's one strong tail! That Pikachu didn't even use Iron Tail!" Brock commented in amazement.
"Hit it one more time." Thanatos said to Pikachu. The Pikachu, still mid-air, positioned himself so he can fall down in a comfortable stance. He did two summersaults this time, hitting the opponent with a much greater force with the addition of the fall speed. The crater got even bigger, and a cloud of dust emerged from the impact.
"Urk!" Bob quickly covered his eyes with his arms and waited for the dust to calm down.
Once the field is clear, Pikachu was seen standing over the unconscious Golem.
"Golem is unable to battle! Pikachu is the winner!" the referee shouted.
"No way!" Bob said to his disbelief. "Golem, return! It's your turn, Nidoking!" said Bob as he switched his Pokémon, revealing his second one. "Horn Drill!"
"... This is boring. Let's end this, Pikachu. Thunderbolt." Said the young trainer to his partner, much to the surprise of the spectators.
"That won't have any effect at all, is he nuts?" Max commented.
"Pika... chuuu!" The yellow mouse released a ridiculous amount of electricity from his body, which can easily power ten units of intensive care machineries in a Pokémon Center. The whole arena flashed yellow, forcing the spectators to cover their eyes due to the sheer brightness of the Thunderbolt attack. Then an explosion was be heard somewhere in the fighting arena. The surge of electricity filled the whole arena, forcing the power current to overload, making the lightings and power in the whole building to go out.
With the whole arena dark, people were starting to open their eyes and tried to see what the result of the attack was. They could not see anything, only sparks of yellow from the aftermath of the Thunderbolt attack.
The arena was voiceless for a few minutes, before noises started to come from above.
The lights were starting to come back on, above the arena, the ones which are not broken. All four of them.
The square arena was lighted dimly.
Bob was kneeling, rubbing his eyes, still thinking about what happened.
Thanatos could be seen on the other side of the arena, with his Pikachu on his shoulder, looking at the Nidoking who now had swirls on its eyes.
"Ah.. Aah.. Nidoking is unable to.. Battle.. Thanatos and his Pikachu win the match.." the referee said while raising the red flag, sitting against the wall, his knees still shaking.
Thanatos quickly walked out the hall.
"... You know, that Bob guy was strong.. His Pokémon weren't weak at all. But that Thanatos made him look like a trainer just starting out on his journey!" Brock commented, breaking the silence. "The last time I saw a Thunderbolt that strong was when a Pikachu was badly overcharged. This one released that like it was an hourly routine!"
"That was completely unexpected coming from someone who was recommended by an unknown person." Max added, where everyone nodded in agreement.
11:10 AM
Indigo Plateau
Cafe de Fedde
"Well, that was too easy." Ash said while taking a sip of tea from his cup after finishing his brunch. "Pika!" his Pikachu stated in agreement while eating ketchup again. "I told you to go easy on the ketchup, pal." Said the young trainer while taking the ketchup away from his Pikachu. The little mouse quickly chased the bottle while crying anime tears. "Alright, you win, as always. Here ya' go, buddy." He gave his partner back his ketchup, while smiling at the Pokémon's behaviour. "We should get going soon, we need to rendezvous with Cynthia to get information on the Galactic posts around the city. She should be finished about half of them right about now. I guess we should join her."
He stood up, paid the bill, and went out of the cafe.
"If she went by my map, she should be here soon." The young man leaned on a wall in an alleyway, starting to wait for the Sinnoh Champion. "We should finish things soon, I think. I've got that meeting where all the First round winners have to gather." He put his hands in his pockets, where he felt something. He grabbed the object and pulled it out of the left pocket. It was a chocolate coin. He quickly glanced at Pikachu, who did the same thing as his trainer. Both stretched out their right hand, showing a fist.
"Rocks, papers, Scissors!" said the young man with auburn coloured eyes with his Pikachu. Ash held his palm out, all five fingers pointed out. Pikachu showed a 'peace' sign.
"Why do I always lose..." complained Ash with a sigh, looking at his happy Pikachu eating the chocolate. He then tied his shoulder length hair into his usual ponytail again. "Can't see with my hair like this."
A female figure entered the alleyway. She had silver eyes, and was wearing all black attire. She had unusual hair clips on. Spotting the young man, she stopped for a second, and approached him.
"You were waiting for me?" She asked.
"What, not surprised to see me anymore, Cynthia?" the young man replied. He got off the leaning position, and faced her. "Not surprised to see you alive anymore, but still surprised to see you popping in the strangest places." Said the Sinnoh Champion. "That's too bad. I love your out-of-the-usual expressions. They're cute." Hearing this, Cynthia's cheeks turned red for a short while, but turned around to hide it. "W-Well, you're not going to be seeing them anymore." Ash tried to move in front of her to get a good look of her face, but she went ahead and moved to the fifth Galactic post to be investigated. "Oh come on, not even a little 'look-see'?" he asked playfully. "No!" she said as she was leaving him behind.
Ash smiled and sighed at the situation, and followed her. "Looks like you're not nervous around her anymore?" Pikachu said telepathically, out of the blue.
"Not now, man!" Ash quickly replied in the same channel.
Another young man was watching the last scene in the alleyway, confused. He was with a woman with blue, shoulder length hair and green eyes.
He had spiky brown hair, black eyes, and was wearing a pendant. "That's... Sinnoh's champion. What's she doing here? And that guy in the ponytail seems familiar..." He quickly followed after them into the alleyway, into a small and empty cafe. "Let's go, Serena." Said the young man, signalling the woman.
"This cafe is pretty well kept for such a small and hidden place." Ash commented when they walked into the place. "For two, please." He said to the waiter. "This way please." They were led to their table by a male waiter, who was about to hand them the menu. He was quickly pushed away from the table by a female waiter who quickly handed out the menu instead of her colleague. While doing this, she seemed to pay extra attention to the young man with the auburn eyes. "I'll just have tea. Chrysanthemum tea." Cynthia ordered, followed by Ash who ordered the same thing. Cynthia was sitting with across Ash, with Ash having the vision of the door. He took off his right glove and placed his hand in his coat pocket.
Soon, he saw a couple enter the door.
"For two, sir." The young man said to the waiter, who was fixing his clothes. "Right this way, sir." While being led to the table, he looked at the person with the Pikachu, and he ended up sitting in a table next to him.
Ash quickly recognized the man and cursed a certain legendary Pokémon. He reached for his hair and released his ponytail. He sighed in relief when the man turned the other way.
"So..." Cynthia started speaking, opening the conversation.
"Don't say my name, don't say my name, don't say my name..." prayed the young man.
"Ash, when are you going to tell me what happened?" the champion continued.
"... Sheeiiit."
The other table heard Cynthia say his name, and the young man turned around quickly to make sure. "Ash? Ash Ketchum? Is that really you, Ash?"
"*Cough* N-No, sorry, I think you've got the wrong person. My name is Thanatos, you see."Ash answered nervously. "Oh, sorry, but I clearly heard her say Ash. I had a late friend who was called Ash, but I still can't accept what happened, you know, the usual. Is there any reason why she would call you Ash?" the spiky haired man asked a second time to cover up for his mistake. He looked at the Sinnoh Champion and saw her looking at the window, calmly drinking her tea. "... Thanatos is his business name. His real name is Ash Ketchum all right." Said the blonde woman while sipping her tea again.
"What was that for?" Ash asked Cynthia with a confused face. "For leaving me behind yesterday." She answered with an angry look. "But I had a legitimate excuse yesterday! You know what happened." "Well, then it's for teasing me just now." She took a sip from her tea again. "This isn't over, I'll get you back." Said the young trainer with the Pikachu.
"So I was right... It's really you! I knew something was off when we couldn't find your remains! Why are you here? Are you here to win the conference? No, more importantly, how are you here?" the other person said excitedly. Then he looked at the Pikachu. "Pikachu! How are you, little fella'? Still on the ketchup, eh?"
"The questions will have to wait, Gary. I've got something to do, just a little. And don't tell anyone about this. I mean anyone." Ash quickly stood up and walked in the direction of the two waiters near the bar, patting Cynthia's head on the way and placing Pikachu on her shoulder. She blushed at the gesture, and tried to cover it again by drinking her Chrysanthemum tea. Gary watched this scene, again, with confusion.
Ash got close to the two waiters who were chatting while standing by to get the finished orders to the customers, and striked them both on the neck, knocking them out. He caught the two unconscious personnel, and laid them both on the floor. He was now leaning on the bar, looking at the bartender who missed the whole scene because he was preoccupied with something. "Hey, Master, who're you trying to call? Going to report about what you heard just now?" The bartender quickly turned around and stopped dialling. "N-no, I was just about to call my bo- I mean, wife..." "Oh really?" Ash leaped over the bar, landing next to the bartender. He got into his fighting stance, and got ready for a punch. A normal punch. "N-No, wai-" He launched his left fist forward, connecting it with the bartender's stomach. The man was launched into the wall behind him. He leaped out of the bar. "He won't be waking up for 2 weeks, at least." thought the young man.
"It seems this place is only for gathering information and undercover meetings. Now that's over with, let's get on with the explanations." He walked back to the tables to find his group having no words to say after what happened. Cynthia opened the conversation.
"I... I know you were strong, but..." She stopped mid-sentence.
"Didn't you overdo it a little?" Gary asked him with a frightened face.
"The bartender? No, no. He was wearing the standard Galactic protective shirt." Ash answered him with a straight face. "Standard Galactic Shirt...?"
"Not important. Now, what were we talking about?" he replied while tying his hair into a ponytail yet again.
"Okay." The young man with the spiky brown hair said. "First things first. This is Serena, from Bomba Island in Hoenn." Gary introduced the woman with the blue, shoulder-length hair with green eyes. She used to be a teacher in judging Pokémon Battles. "Nice to meet you all." Serena bowed her head. Ash and Cynthia did the same. "Yes, I remember you, we met back when I was still traveling in Hoenn, just before I went to Mosdeep city. Your student, Jimmy, judged my match with Brock, if I remember correctly." Ash commented on his earlier meeting with Serena. "So, you quit teaching?" "Well, yes. I became interested in the field of Fossil Research, and I met Gary while travelling to gather information. It was certainly hard to leave the school though, I became quite attached to it." Serena explained. "I have been travelling with Gary since, and now we came here on an errand."
"Before we get to the main topic, can I ask you guys something?" Gary interrupted, while looking at the yellow mouse on Cynthia's shoulder, happily resting while eating his ketchup. "Are you two... dating?"
Cynthia choked a little on her tea hearing this statement, and tried to regain her composure. "W-Well, we just met again a couple of days ago, and have certainly caught up a bit with each other, b-but, d-dating is..." Her face glowed red when she tried to explain. Ash, who was now sitting, took quick notice of this and smiled. He put his arm around Cynthia, and pulled her closer to him and said, "Yes, we're dating." with a big grin on his face. "Pika!" His Pikachu said while holding a thumb-up at his statement. Cynthia, at a loss for words, just nodded along while drinking more tea to hide her smile.
"I.. I see." Gary answered, still looking confused. "Okay then. Let's move on to the main topic. How did you survive that incident?"
Ash gulped his tea quickly before he started his explanation. "Okay, I'm going to skip the part where I fall down the bottomless pit like a certain popular internet meme." He refilled his tea, and continued.
"Jumping to the part where I regain consciousness. I was in a laboratory. I saw an old man with a thick beard. He sure was scary." He took another sip from his cup. "I looked over to my right hand, I thought something was strange. I thought I had lost my arm from the incident, but I felt that I was moving my hand, like normal. Once my vision cleared, I saw that I had a metallic arm. Then, the nice scary old man explained where I was and that he found me and brought me to his laboratory. And that's how I survived the time after I endured the fall. How I stayed alive after the fall, however, is a different story, which I will tell you sometime later, but she gets to hear it first." Again, Ash patted Cynthia's head. "But I believe we have something to do now, right, Cynthia?" Ash stood once more, offering a hand to Cynthia, which she accepted.
"Wait a minute, Ashy boy. Before you go, I believe we should have a little contest first. It has been four years." Said his former rival, stopping him. Ash smiled at his friend.
"Okay. But you'll lose, though." Ash commented confidently. "We'll see about that. Let's go find a battlefield. Let's go, Serena." Both Gary and Serena exited the little cafe first, and started to look for an appropriate field.
Ash and Cynthia, who were still holding hands, started to head for the exit too, before Ash suddenly stopped.
"So, now we're dating right?" asked the young man.
"Of course, you idiot." Answered the blonde trainer while pulling him to the exit, still with the Pikachu on her shoulder.
Not long enough, but had to cut it here.
That's about it for this chapter, the next one will start with Ash vs. Gary!
Serena isn't an OC btw.
And Cynthia is a tsundere!
Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'll be back next week with some more!
