Gin swung his neck in a gentle circle and rolled his shoulders, the tantalising aroma of freshly-roasted coffee beans wafting up through his nostrils as it spread through the spacious apartment. Like most people, he could barely function without a revitalising cup to set off the morning, but he'd never found himself able to stomach instant coffee. He'd brought his personal coffee maker from home, rather than simply buy one when he came to the island; he was more familiar with it, and it always got the taste just right.
Snatching up the steaming mug sitting on the countertop, he allowed himself another sniff before sipping it down, enjoying its taste as the warmth settled in his stomach to spread through his body. "Oh, that hits the spot…" he sighed with a smile, strolling out of the kitchen and into the lounge room.
The television was switched on, a petite-looking girl posing and gesturing in front of a map of the archipelago as she rattled off what temperature each island had to look forward to over the coming week. He was a little preoccupied with the buttons on her blouse to pay attention to what she was actually saying, but from the multitude of orange suns flashing across the green-screen behind her, he couldn't see anything worth worrying about.
"What a relief," Gin smiled, taking another deep gulp. "I'd be in a lot of trouble if I got stuck battling in the rain… I really should get myself a good Water-type one of these days…"
As the news continued to roll off the television, he turned his attention down to the coffee table, eyes twinkling at the morning newspaper lying across it. Thanks to the hotel's excellent service, the porter had delivered it to his door sometime during the wee hours after sunrise; he'd simply had to just open the door and scoop it up.
Just as he reached forward to peruse the pages, the loud buzz of the telephone grated against his ears, and his face twitched into a scowl. "Ten minutes!" he said loudly, begrudgingly pulling himself up from the couch and plodding over to answer the phone and stop the incessant ringtone. "Ten minutes of peace and quiet while I skim the paper. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so…!"
He paused just in front of the buzzing phone, taking a moment or two to calm himself, and he heard a low groan from down the hallway that told him one of the boys had finally woken up. "About time," he chuckled, shaking his head a little as he grabbed the phone and held it to his ear.
"Hello?—I'm sorry, who are you looking for?—I didn't quite catch that, could you sp—Brennen? Sorry, I don't know anyone by that name… you must have the wrong number. Whoever this Brennen person is, I'm sure you'd get in touch with them quicker by trying their cell phone," he muttered, weaving his responses in between the caller's, which seemed to be less coherent conversation than wild exclamations and insidious questions. "Alright, goodbye," he said at last, hanging up the phone with a firm jab of the thumb and nearly throwing it back down onto its cradle.
"Who you talkin' to…?" Leoric asked, shuffling into the lounge room in a set of striped, green-and-gold pyjamas.
"Just a wrong number," Gin replied, turning back to the television, and he held back a chuckle when he saw his roommate properly. The poor boy's hair gave him the look of a mad scientist, splayed out in every direction, and his slumped posture suggested he hadn't enjoyed a comfortable night's sleep. "Well, you certainly look like crap this morning. Coffee?" he asked nonchalantly, jerking a thumb over his shoulder to the machine in the kitchen.
Leoric's cheeks pushed slightly outwards, and he pressed the end of a fist against his mouth. "Please don't mention coffee…" he groaned.
"Not a fan of coffee?" Gin wondered aloud, returning to the couch and ruffling the pages of his newspaper. "How can you make it through the day?"
"'Cause I'm not an old geezer like you," Leoric retorted, now peering into the fridge for something to eat. "I notice Ash isn't up yet," he added, voice muffled by a slice of shaved ham clenched between his teeth. "What time's his battle, anyways?"
"Nine o'clock sharp," Gin answered, flicking through the headline articles. Seeing nothing but celebrity stories splashed over the first few pages, he rolled his eyes and flipped the paper upside-down; the sports sections were located at the back. "Hah, the Spartans beat the Hunters!"
Puzzled, Leoric cast his eyes over to the clock as he chewed through the slice of meat. "Has he got any Pokémon who can use Teleport…? Or… are you gonna pull that trick with your Magnemite again?" he asked curiously.
"Huh?" Gin grunted, only half-paying attention as he scanned through an article on betting scandals in Riwati, a faraway country.
"Well, it's already a couple of minutes past seven o'clock," he noted, with an upward bob of the head. "So, he'd still have to get up and get dressed, go to the Pokémon Center to pick his team for the battle, and… given how far it is from here to the stadium…"
Gin considered the point Leoric was trying to make. After a few moments deep in thought, he gave a resentful moan and threw the paper down onto the lounge seat next to him, the pages' corners fluttering about in a puff of air. "Goddammit… you two had better not make a routine out of this," he grumbled, storming past Leoric in a huff.
In one swift motion, he mashed a hand against the door handle near the end of the hallway and threw open the door to Ash's bedroom. Pikachu, who had been snoozing peacefully at the foot of his Trainer's bed, was startled awake by the sound of the door slamming against the wall. Frightened and drowsy, the poor mouse leapt onto all fours and growled menacingly, his fur bristling and sparks of lightning bursting from his cheeks and onto the floor.
"Yeah, whatever," he muttered, turning his focus to a loudly snoring Ash. "Ash!" he barked, ripping the sheets away from on top of the boy's body, but the latter simply rolled over on the mattress and curled up into a ball.
"No more pancakes, Mom…" he slurred, eyes still shut. "We need another bottle of syrup…!"
"Get out of bed, you little whinger!" Gin snapped, hand ripping forwards and closing around Ash's ankle.
The youngster's eyes snapped wide open as he felt the sturdy grip, and he bolted upright with a loud shriek. "Cut it out, Brock!" he yelped, his feet kicking about and breaking free of Gin's hand, but his flailing legs sent Pikachu tumbling off the end of the bed in a sprawled mess, the mouse giving a feeble squeak as he landed flat on his face.
"Pikaa…"
"Brock? Who the hell is Brock?" Gin grunted, rubbing his wrist where Ash's foot had lashed out. As Ash looked bemusedly in his direction, he gave a dissenting shake of the head and stormed off, muttering under his breath. "Damn kids… can't understand w…"
As his voice trailed off down the hallway, Ash gave another frightened yelp as the digital clock on his bedside table clicked over another minute. "Seven-oh-eight?" he exclaimed, all weariness instantly discarded as he threw the bed-sheets off his body with one violent shove. "I can't believe this! That's two days in a row I've slept in past the alarm! This is not good…" he groaned, shedding his pyjamas so quickly that his pants were barely past his knees as he tried to sprint for the dresser, ending up with him collapsing to the floor like a felled tree.
A splitting pain tearing through his skull, Ash's hand clutched at the sides of his head as he gingerly clambered up. "Owwie…!" he hissed, but he froze as something popped into his mind. "Pikachu?" he called out, looking around for a sign of the Pokémon. He saw the familiar zig-zag of Pikachu's tail poking out from underneath the quilt tossed on the floor, and lifted the latter up onto the bed. "Come on, Pikachu!" he said loudly, seeing Pikachu lying placidly on the ground with a large red mark on his forehead. "This is no time to be lying around!"
With his mind moving a million miles a second, Ash was too busy pulling clothes out of the dresser to notice the decidedly unamused expression that his Pokémon had adopted. Items of clothing were sent flying through the air with abandon, and before Pikachu had time to hop up from the floor, he was hit across the face by a pair of underpants.
"Pii pika pikachu!" he growled, shaking the garment off his head, but Ash disappeared from view down the hallway, sprinting towards the lounge room.
"Thanks for waking me up, Gin," he said, throwing a thumbs-up in the man's direction. Gin, however, was preoccupied with the newscast on the television again, this time covering some sort of prison outbreak on the other side of the world. "Hey! Gin!" he called out, louder this time.
Realising that ignoring the boy would get him nowhere, Gin turned his head back down the hallway, only to recoil an instant later. "For the love of—put some clothes on, you darn fool!" he roared, whipping back around to continue watching the news, and Ash's face grew extremely red with embarrassment as he remembered that he was dressed only in the previous night's underpants.
"Sorry…!" he said sheepishly, slinking back into his bedroom. "Still, I owe you one!" he added loudly in passing, darting through the hallway and into the bathroom with a change of clothes stuffed into his hands.
Gin's eyes twitched as the bathroom door slammed shut. "Whatever…" he droned, sipping down the last dregs of coffee in his mug. "I'm too old to get paid for babysitting, but too young to enjoy it…! Oh, what a curse it is, to be middle-aged…"
Two hours later, Ash found himself standing once more in the innards of one of the spacious, open-topped stadiums dotting the eastern half of the island, his body quivering with anticipation as the steel door just in front of his nose suddenly slid away. The sunny warmth of the outdoors poured through the gap, washing pleasantly over his face, but what really made Ash grin was the mass of jubilant cheers that followed. The sound crashed into him like a tidal wave, and he felt buoyed by the support being given to him, taking a deep breath before he walked out to greet his fans.
"Let's go!" he cheered to Pikachu, who gave the air a little thump with a curled-up fist.
Together, the duo stepped onto the flat battlefield, and the ambient noise spiked significantly. Ash felt himself a little awed, even, by the sheer size of today's crowd. He must have done something right in his battle the day before, or he was about to go toe-to-toe with a very popular Trainer, because there seemed to be very few untaken seats in the stands. Moving towards the centre of the field, he saw a teenage girl with light brown hair waving in his direction from the front row, so enthusiastically that the people either side of her were in danger of having their eyes accidentally poked out, and he returned the gesture tentatively.
"At least she's on our side," he muttered quietly to Pikachu, who noticed the girl and gave a squeak of a giggle. As the roars began to quieten down, Ash became aware of the loud, feminine voice echoing through the stadium through the loudspeakers, and he turned his attention to the presiding commentator, a slender young man with a sweep of chocolate-brown hair hanging over his left eye.
"—by any means an unattractive boy, but he just doesn't do anything for me," he was saying, chin rested on an upturned palm, and an almost bored expression on his face. He blew a spurt of breath up into his hair to keep it out of his eye, adding, "Having said that, his Pikachu is certainly a cute touch. Hmm—?" a flurry of conversation erupted into the earwig he was wearing, "oh, alright… Ash made it through to today by beating the Dutch champion, Antoine Bergen, with a flawless best-of-three victory in the first round, an impressive performance, blah blah blah…"
Ash wasn't sure what to make of the man's comments, and the look of perpetual puzzlement on his face drew a chorus of raucous laughter from a large number of the spectators. Squirming a little uncomfortably on the spot, Ash was spared any further remarks as the door across the stadium opened wide. All focus in the crowd immediately shifted from one Trainer to the other, as Ash's opponent sauntered onto the field, a roaring shower of encouragement and praise being thrown down at him from up high.
"And here comes Ash's opponent for today!" shouted the commentator excitedly, apparently much more interested in proceedings now. "He's a real ladies man, if I do say so myself… what a pity he loves them as much as they love him," he added, with a wistful sigh.
"It's nice to see you, too, Troy," said the Trainer, giving the young man a curt salute from down on the field.
Troy waved dreamily back at the competitor, before a harsh burst of static in his eardrum forced him to get back to his commentary. "Yes, right—so, for those of you who, heaven forbid, don't know who the second half of this second-round battle is, allow me to introduce you to Lester Garre, one of the finest Trainers you're likely to come across, and the only one able to pull off that marvellous outfit he's currently wearing with such aplomb!"
"Somehow, I'm kind of glad that we've got that crazy girl on our side and not this Troy guy," Ash murmured under his breath, making a motion with his head halfway between a shudder and a shake.
In the meantime, Lester had finished greetings his fans, and moved to join his opponent in the centre circle. He was a white tower of a man, standing easily over six feet and dropping Ash into his steep shadow, but his frame was extremely slight; he looked as though a strong breeze would threaten to knock him over. His eyes were as gentle as his fragility might suggest, a calm brown that seemed as deep as oceans, and Ash, almost unconsciously, found himself being drawn into the endless gaze hidden within them.
"So you're Ash," he said softly, raising a hand to brush wavy, shoulder-length hair away from his eyes. He arched an eyebrow when his young opponent snapped out of his reverie and gave a quick nod, but rather than pursue the issue, he extended a white sleeve. "A pleasure."
"Right!" Ash replied, enthusiastic as he shook Lester's hand. "Nice to meet you, too!"
"I heard about your victory over Miss Bergen yesterday," Lester commented, off-handed as he dropped his arm. "I wasn't expecting an upset, but I'm certainly glad that it happened. All the more interesting the story of the tournament becomes."
"The story?" Ash echoed, not quite following.
"Why, of course," he chuckled. "A stage as grand as the one we find ourselves in would provide a sorry tale, indeed, if the man thought to win was the one who walked away with the prize. Don't you think?"
"I—" Ash hesitated, giving the idea some serious thought. "I guess I hadn't really considered it like that before… I suppose you must be right! After all, if I wanted the favourite to win every battle, that would mean I'm cheering for you, wouldn't it?" he added with a wry laugh of his own.
"Don't misconstrue this as a precursor to me taking it easy on you, though," Lester warned. "You defeated your last opponent handily enough, but I'll be aiming to quash you as overwhelmingly as I can." His tone was more serious now, and Ash recognised the shift. Their eyes locked once more, and this time that relaxed gaze of Lester's had disappeared in a flash, replaced with a harsh determination that was mirrored in Ash's own stern expression.
At that point, however, the referee chose to make herself known to the competitors, seemingly popping up alongside them in a fraction of a second. Ash jumped a little in frank surprise; Pikachu, though somewhat more muted than his Trainer, had his hair standing on end by her sudden appearance. Lester, on the other hand, chose to ignore his opponents' comical reactions, his mind now set towards the battle to come.
"Mr Garre, calls heads or tails," the official instructed, displaying the coin in her open palm before tossing it high.
Lester followed the flight of the coin, waiting until it reached the very peak of its upward climb before making the call. "Heads."
"Heads is the call," she repeated, and the coin smacked into the hardened clay. "Tails is the result," she declared, after leaning in to inspect the coin, and the majority of the crowd in attendance groaned loudly in disappointment. "Mr Garre, you will be required to send your Pokémon out first for the opening battle."
"Naturally," Lester replied curtly.
Pocketing the coin, the referee pulled out the same silver type of coin that Ash had seen from his first-round battle, the numbers one and three engraved on either face. Both Trainers homed in on the coin as quickly as laser beams, bodies tensed in anticipation as the coin was launched into the air, spinning and somersaulting before dropping into her outstretched hand. "The result is one!" she announced.
Lester's face paled ever so slightly in the bright sunlight. "I see," he muttered, staring intently at the referee's hand, even as she returned the coin to its assigned pocket and marched towards the white mark next to the sideline. "As they say in Ozra… game on," he added, before swinging on one heel and returning to his end of the battlefield before Ash had a chance to even think of a response.
As the crowd began to chant, Ash felt the all-too-familiar rush that accompanied those tense few moments before battle, and he hurried along to his own Trainer's circle. "Red again," he noted with a dry smirk and a passive grunt, briefly casting an eye downward as the official cleared her throat loudly.
"This match will be a one-on-one single battle!" she shouted, making sure to lay down the match guidelines, as was required. "As such, both Trainers will summon one Pokémon each, to participate in a single round of elimination. The Trainer whose Pokémon is still standing at the end of the battle shall be declared the victor, and move onto the third round! Battle will conform to the rules set out by the International Pokémon Battling Federation. A breach of these rules in this particular battle will result in instant disqualification. Do both Trainers understand?"
"You bet!" Ash roared, and his fans cheered their approval at his spirit.
Lester simply nodded in the referee's direction, but the motion appeared to be all the confirmation she needed, and the customary twin flags were thrust towards the clouds. "Therefore, let the battle begin!"
A great, echoing roar rose from the stands as the crowd cheered the start of the showdown, drinks splashing about in their plastic cups as arms were thrown up in joy. On the battlefield, Ash waited impatiently as Lester contemplated his choice, the latter's hands drifting cautiously over the Poké Balls attached to the black suspenders strapped over his shoulders. Lester's mouth moved wordlessly as he weighed his options, pausing on a particular ball before moving onto another, but he eventually picked the ball highest on the left strap and unclipped it, to muted applause from his fans.
"To the battle," he muttered, lightly tossing the Poké Ball onto the ground in front of him.
The ball split open with a jagged flash of light, but Ash tilted his head in confusion when nothing came out, watching as it simply bounced back to its Trainer. A gentle breeze blew throughout the stadium, sending dust swirling around the Trainers' feet in wide curls. Watching the dust settle down, Ash's eyes snapped back to Lester, whose smug expression told him that something was about to happen.
As soon as he arrived at that thought, a flurry of movement exploded in the corner of Ash's vision, and he jumped backwards in surprise, narrowly avoiding a large object as it barrelled past him. "Whoa…!" he exclaimed, clutching at his hat as it threatened to blow off in a gust of wind. By the time his focus returned to the battlefield, he saw that the object that had narrowly missed him was Lester's choice of Pokémon for the battle; it had bolted out of its Poké Ball so quickly that he hadn't been able to follow its movement until just now.
The Pokémon itself had an appearance to match its frightening agility; to Ash, it looked like a mix between a mummified corpse and a racing driver. Blue bandage-like markings covered the Pokémon's streamlined torso and stubby arms, a pair of ribbons streaming out from its back like an ornamental scarf. Its head looked at odds with the rest of its body, a pink head shaped vaguely like a motorcyclist's helmet, complete with a pair of lime-green racing stripes stretching from just above its eyes to the back of its head, which ended in a large curl. Its eyes stared out from under its brow, seemingly drawn in a permanent scowl, a feature clearly designed to intimidate its opponents as it hovered above the ground.
Ash, however, was less intimidated by this Pokémon than he was curious; he'd never encountered or seen one of its kind before. Instinctively, a hand fumbled for his Pokédex, pulling the tool out of his back pocket and training it on the new arrival, thankful that Professor Oak had performed another species upgrade prior to his trip to the island.
"Accelgor, the Shell Out Pokémon, is a Bug-type Pokémon and the evolved form of Shelmet," the Pokédex informed its Trainer. A three-dimensional image of the Accelgor appeared on the machine's display, rotating slowly to give full view of its body. "Having removed the heavy shell that it wore as a Shelmet, Accelgor has become extremely light, enabling it to fight with ninja-like movements and agility. When Accelgor's body becomes dry, its power weakens, so it wraps itself in multiple layers of thin membrane in order to avoid dehydration."
"An Accelgor, huh…" Ash repeated, looking from the virtual image, to the Pokémon across the field, and back again. A playful smile appeared on his lips, and he pocketed the Pokédex, only to pull a Poké Ball from his belt a moment later. "If this thing is a Bug-type, and it doesn't like to get dehydrated… then he's gonna love this! Infernape, I choose you!"
The Poké Ball flew high into the air, a bright flash illuminating the battlefield as it opened, and the white light pooled together on the ground into the lithe, simian form of Ash's Infernape. The Fire-type raised its head proudly, its crown of red flame burning away and lazily swinging this way and that, the golden markings on its snowy breast and limbs glinting in the ample sun. A pair of deep blue eyes stared out over the battlefield beneath its distinctive brow, and its opponent returned the gaze with fierce intent.
"It looks like Lester is putting all his hope into his powerful Accelgor!" said Troy excitedly, leaning forwards in his chair as the crowd watched the two Trainers with bated breath. "Ash has, rather predictably, gone for a Fire-type in Infernape, no doubt hoping to rely on type matchups to bash his way through the battle. Nonetheless, I'm sure it will be intriguing to watch how this battle plays out, and how Lester overcomes—I mean, fares against his opponent's, err, tactics," he added pointedly, making a nerve jump in Ash's temple.
"All right, that's about enough!" he shouted, telling himself to ignore the biased commentator from that point onward. "Infernape, it's time to kick things off! Hit Accelgor with your Flamethrower!"
Filled with pent-up enthusiasm, Infernape threw its head back and puffed out its cheeks before blasting a thick torrent of fire over the battlefield, roaring flames surging towards their target with ferocity. Unfazed, Accelgor simply turned its body and vanished into thin air, leaving Infernape's attack to fizzle away in the open, and a collective gasp ran through the stands as spectators left, right, and centre tried to find the lightning-quick Pokémon.
"Darn it…" Ash cursed, struggling like the rest to keep track of Accelgor's position, his eyes sweeping all over the arena for any sign that would give its presence away.
"Swift," said Lester calmly, his eyes sliding gently from side to side.
All at once, Ash became horribly aware of the Pokémon's location, as it tore past his own body from behind with a large, golden star spinning above its outstretched arm. A low, hissing noise came from beneath Accelgor's helm as it cocked its arm back, and in one powerful swing it sent the Swift spiralling through the air like a shuriken. Infernape heard the attack coming and twisted around with enough speed to make it appear a blur, but even that wasn't enough to give it time to dodge, and the star crashed squarely into the Fire-type's chest, exploding on contact and showering the latter with smoke and sparks of gold.
"Infernape!" Ash cried out in alarm, as Infernape stumbled from the cloud of smoke and fell clumsily onto the ground. "Come on, get up!" he yelled, and his Pokémon quickly found its feet again, pushing itself upright and howling with rage at its opponent, fists raised in defiance of the lucky shot.
Lester smirked at the display; clearly, his opponent and his Pokémon had plenty of fighting spirit within them. "Accelgor, shower them with a Sludge Bomb."
"Ksel!" hissed Accelgor, and a ball of brown slime shot out from the tiny spot of black in the centre of its face. It was quickly followed by another, and then another, until a volley of slimy gobs were raining down on Infernape like mortar shells, but Infernape was equal to the task. Eager to reaffirm the reality of its own speed and agility, Infernape ducked and wove between the incoming projectiles, leaving them to splash harmlessly against the ground as it went about dodging the next batch. By the time Accelgor had exhausted its entire salvo, Infernape stood untouched amidst a pool of brown sludge, its eyes glinting mischievously as though daring its fellow speedster to another round of cat-and-mouse.
"Head underground with Dig, Infernape!" Ash ordered, recognising that sparkle in its eyes. Dutifully, Infernape's hands scraped against the ground, tearing out large chunks of earth until it had disappeared well below the battlefield, the small hole near the arena's centre the only hint that it had been above the surface at all.
Lester scanned the field for a hint of where the Fire-type would pop up and try to attack his Accelgor; finding nothing, he turned his gaze to Ash, but, like his Pokémon, the Trainer was giving nothing away, his face impassive. "Impressive," he murmured, folding his arms. "Accelgor, come back in front of me!" he barked, and Accelgor darted over the smooth ground, returning to its master in the blink of an eye, its makeshift scarf fluttering gently in the tiny breeze that rippled through the stadium.
Seconds began to crawl by as the three figures on the field waited, their patience lasting longer than that of the crowd, who muttered restlessly amongst themselves, eager for the action that they had paid for. Ash, though, wasn't to be pressured into rushing himself or Infernape, and remained steadfast, his feet planted firmly on the ground as though rooted to the spot.
"What are you up to, boy…?" Lester pondered aloud, lowering a hand to his hip and shifting his weight onto one leg.
"Flare Blitz!" Ash roared suddenly, eyes shooting wide.
Accelgor turned its head, sensing its opponent drawing closer from underground, but it was little preparation as Infernape burst forth from the ground in a furious storm of powdered rubble and blue flame. Mouth drawn open in a feral scream, the Fire-type rocketed forwards and crashed into its opponent with overwhelming force. As Accelgor was swallowed up by the attack, Infernape's flames shot through the air and caused a massive explosion, the ground below the pair cracking from the shockwave that coursed outwards from the point of impact, a dense plume of smoke hiding the two combatants from view.
Although neither Trainer could see head or tail of their Pokémon within the cloud, Lester gave a piercing laugh when a loud popping noise echoed out from the smoke, followed closely by a sharp grunt of surprise. "Sludge Bomb!" he barked.
"Say what?" Ash growled.
The cloud of smoke quickly faded away, the crowd leaping to their feet as the scene revealed Infernape standing quite alone on the battlefield, crimson sparks branching over its body as it felt the repercussions of its attack. A dark flicker burst out of the hole near the Fire-type's feet, and Accelgor suddenly appeared high in the sky above its opponent. Eyes narrowed, Accelgor blasted another barrage of sludge down at its foe, and every last brown gob hit its mark with chilling precision, battering Infernape with impact after impact until it was forced onto the ground in submission.
"Infernape!" Ash shouted, watching his Pokémon's arms shake as it tried to push itself upright underneath a thick coat of slime. 'What just happened…?' he wondered, not quite able to believe his eyes. 'Infernape's Flare Blitz was a direct hit! No matter how powerful that Accelgor might be, it should have at least left some kind of mark on it—but it doesn't even seem to be scratched!'
"Surprised?" Lester called out, as if reading Ash's mind. "I can't blame you. It's easy for the mind to play tricks when it doesn't comprehend what it sees."
Ash bared his teeth. "What's that supposed to mean?" he snarled, furious.
On the ground in the battlefield's centre, Infernape lit its body on fire, the vortex of swirling flames burning away the slime until its fur was clean again. Now free of the restricting ooze, it leapt back to its feet, hopping on the spot with both fists raised. It, too, was unsure how its opponent had managed its disappearing act. Certainly, its Flare Blitz had made contact with Accelgor; the crunch of the impact was as clear as day. But in the midst of the smoke, it must have zipped away and made its counterattack.
"Time to get in close, Infernape!" shouted Ash, and the simian Pokémon's mouth curled into an expectant grin. "Launch into a Mach P—!"
"Uh-uh-uh! Me first!" Lester interrupted, wagging a condescending finger at his opponent.
Ignoring the opposing Trainer's taunting words, Infernape sprinted forwards, a clenched fist aglow with neon blue as it closed the distance between itself and its foe. Accelgor shifted at the same time, charging to meet the Fire-type head-on, and it, too, had cocked a shining fist backwards, the pair of combatants on a collision course. Infernape's flames soared high into the clear air, arm tensed to deliver the punishing blow.
As soon as its opponent made the movement, Accelgor suddenly put on an incredible burst of speed, disappearing in a flickering haze. Infernape's blue eyes shot wide open, pupils shrinking to the size of dots in shock, but the Bug-type returned to its field of vision in an instant, barely a hair's breadth from its own face. Accelgor's glowing arm came hooking around like a mirage, clobbering its target across the face with a merciless haymaker, and Infernape's world was thrown into chaos as it whirled around on the spot.
"No!" exclaimed Ash.
Infernape reeled backwards from the strike, staggering about like a drunkard as the numbing pain of Accelgor's attack left it in a daze. The ground rushed up to meet the simian Pokémon from an impossibly sideway angle, and it lunged out with quivering arms to keep itself from collapsing in a heap.
"Oh my, it looks like Infernape is positively punch-drunk from Accelgor's attack," Troy commented, now putting his feet up against the desk in front of him. "One has to give recognition to Ash and Infernape's efforts in the battle thus far… if Accelgor had actually been hit by that Flare Blitz instead of a cleverly-placed Substitute clone, they may well have come undone. But, true to my expectations, Lester has managed to stay at least one step ahead of his young opponent since the beginning!"
"What the heck is going on here…?" Ash whispered, his hands beginning to shake as they hung limply at his sides. 'That attack was definitely a Mach Punch, but it was quicker than anything I've ever seen before! And that power…!'
"Pii pika pi-kaa chuu pika!" Pikachu piped up, drawing Ash's attention before making gestures with his little paws.
Ash stared blankly at his Pokémon, prompting the latter to repeat his hand movements, a little more enthusiastically now in order to get the message across. This time around, he understood their meaning, and he fished his Pokédex back out of the back pocket of his jeans, training it one Accelgor one more time. Instead of checking its basic information as he had previously, Ash tapped a sequence of buttons on the lower touchscreen, and his eyes flashed as he saw the lines of text that appeared on the display.
"So that's how it managed to perform such a powerful attack…" he sighed. Accelgor's attack hadn't been a Mach Punch of its own at all; Lester had been quite literal when he had said 'me first', and the two words flashed on the Pokédex's display in capital letters, underneath the Bug-type's three other techniques. "Thanks for the hint, Pikachu," he added with a smile, patting the Pokémon on the head as he slipped the Pokédex back into his pocket.
"Pi-kachu," replied Pikachu with a modest squeak.
"You still good to go, Infernape?" Ash called out to his struggling Fire-type.
A little groggily, Infernape spun around and flashed its Trainer a confident thumbs-up, before turning back to stare Accelgor down from across the battlefield. The smarting pain in its mouth served as both an unpleasant reminder and motivation to kick its performance into the next gear.
"Alright!" he cheered, punching the air. "Use Flamethrower!"
"Ferr!" grunted Infernape, pouncing towards Accelgor with gusto. The Fire-type opened its maw wide, a dull glow emanating from the back of its throat, and a torrent of red and yellow flames speared over the ground, fanning out wide as they fed on the abundant air and made a beeline for their prey.
"Dodge it," said Lester dully.
Ash groaned with frustration as Accelgor glided away from the incoming blaze with almost arrogant ease, its vividly-coloured helmet the only thing he could see clearly in contrast to the dull blue metal of the boundary wall behind it. Infernape bared its teeth in unison to its Trainer's voice, eyes sliding sideward as it kept its elusive foe visible, but Accelgor turned up the throttle once more, zooming past the Fire-type before it had time to think.
As the Pokémon tore past, a powerful gust of wind roared along in its wake, forcing Infernape's arms to cross in front of its face as it was pushed back, feet and tail scraping against the rough earth. Digging down, the Flame Pokémon anchored itself in the ground and came to a stop, but when it lowered its arms, it couldn't find head or tail of the Bug-type.
"Stop dodging my attacks and fight!" Ash shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Lester.
Lester gave a booming laugh. "As you wish," he replied silkily. "Swift attack, Accelgor!"
For the second time since the battle began, Ash was forced to spin away to one side as Accelgor came racing up from behind, avoiding the latter by a foot or so this time around. "Cut that out!" he seethed, throwing an arm out in anger, but it only caught the Pokémon's afterimage, his fist passing through the hazy shape before it dissolved into the air.
Ash's eyes snapped back to the battlefield, but his outburst had cost him a precious second. By the time the thought to give an order to Infernape had crossed his mind, Accelgor had closed the distance between itself and its opponent, a pair of brilliantly golden stars spinning on their points at the end of its arms. With a nod from its Trainer, the Bug-type thrust its arms forwards, sending its attack arcing over the ground, tiny golden sparks bursting free from the twin stars.
Luckily for Infernape, the tiny cracks that sounded through the air as the Swift drew closer were loud enough to hear clearly, giving it some chance to counter. Rising on the balls of its feet, the Flame Pokémon whirled around like a blur, fists held tightly against its white chest. Infernape's eyes flashed, and it brought an arm swinging up to meet the buzzing star, delivering a powerful uppercut that shattered the latter into a million glowing pieces.
Unlike its predecessor, the second half of Accelgor's attack was unhindered, striking its target in its exposed stomach. The star split open with an eerie crack, and the blast of energy that followed brought Infernape to its knees, spit flying from its open mouth as all the wind was driven from its body. Accelgor sped past, pausing beside the Fire-type's heaving figure for the briefest of moments and regarding it with a steely-eyed stare, before returning to its Trainer's side of the battlefield, to a torrent of applause from the stands.
"I hope you're starting to get the message by now, Ash," Lester teased, watching with a hint of hostile pleasure as Infernape coughed and spluttered on the ground between the two Trainers. "Your Infernape may have the advantage of type, but my Accelgor's speed can do away with any handicaps! Just look at yourself… you haven't managed to land a single blow on my Pokémon, and I've been beating you, hands down, since the moment things got underway!"
Ash's eyes twitched violently at his opponent's jab, and Pikachu, sensing his Trainer's distress, gave him a warning pat on the back of the head. Ash opened his mouth to send a cutting retort Lester's way, but he froze before the words came out, instead rolling his shoulders and taking several deep breaths to calm himself. Falling prey to Lester's mind games wasn't going to bring him any closer to defeating his Accelgor, and Ash knew what the stakes were.
"Nice try," he said cleverly, drawing a look of surprise from his towering opponent. As the crowd looked on in anticipation, he raised a hand to his hat, spinning the brim around until it was facing backwards, and those of his fans in the know leapt upwards and screamed jubilantly, recognising the sign for what it was. "But this isn't over yet, not by a long shot!"
Welcome to the second round, everybody! Because, as you can probably tell by the chapter number, one plus one equals two... well, okay, that's just a funny coincidence, but the coincidences tend to be the most intriguing parts, don't you think?
Be sure to send in any comments or questions in a review! It can be anything, from a detailed critique for the more hardcore readers, to something like a good "can't wait for the next one"; remember, sharing is caring, haha.
Keeping the notes short this chapter. Chapter 12, "Flame Continuous", will - as you may have guessed from the title - continue the battle between Ash and Lester. What will be the result? You won't know unless you come back next week to find out, on December 13th!
So, until next time... be sure to review and, as always,
Start counting the days until Christmas!