Part 4
"Wee!" Primeape squealed as it landed on the field, stamping its feet in an attempt to unnerve its opponent.
"Wak!" The hot headed Marowak replied, showing no fear to Primeape's entrance.
"Marowak, let's get going with Bone Club!" Marowak's trainer shouted.
"Primeape, fight back with Brick Break!" Ash ordered.
The two Pokemon charged with a roar, engaging other at close range. Marowak swung its thick bone a Primeape wildly, but the fighting type was filled with a wealth of experience with close range combat, allowing it to successfully avoid Marowak's string of attacks. As Primeape continued to evade its attacks, Marowak became more and more frustrated, to the point where its attacks became reckless.
Spotting an opening after a Marowak threw out yet another wide swing, Primeape drove its fist into the stomach of the ground type, forcing it to hunch over with a gasp of pain. From there, Primeape dropped its hand onto the back of Marowak's head, sending it to the ground with a hard thud.
"Primeape, no holding back, Seismic Toss!" Ash ordered, but Marowak was too stubborn to give up the momentum. Before Primeape could grab a hold of its opponent, Marowak lashed out with its club at Primeape's ankles, sweeping it off its feet as the fighting type howled in pain as it landed on its side, allowing Marowak to rise up above Primeape. Marowak didn't pass off on this opportunity to look down at Primeape with a look of superiority, something that didn't sit well with it.
"Marowak, Bulldoze!" Its trainer shouted. Marowak rose one foot and stomped the ground, causing the ground to shake violently. Primeape was rattled around for a bit while Marowak looked down at it with a satisfied smirk, until Primeape grabbed its leg and ripped it from the ground.
Marowak landed on its back with a thud, getting a cheer from the crowd for its endurance. The moment the rumbling of the field came to a stop, Primeape jumped onto Marowak, raising a glowing fist to attack. There was a moment of silence after Primeape had driven its fist into Marowak's protective skull, but Primeape seemed to have gotten the short end of the stick as it held on its hand with a squeal of pain.
'Aww crap, Primeape's going off on its own.' Ash muttered since it had already used Mega Punch without his command, and that had clearly backfired since it punched the one spot on a Marowak it should never go for.
"Marowak, knock it off with Bone Club!" Marowak swung its club at Primeape, hitting it clean across the face which sent it tumbling away. Ash's jaw tightened, this match was going to go back and forth like this unless someone seized the momentum. Primeape held its nose as it rose up, its face becoming dark red as it prepared to rush at Marowak once again.
"Primeape, calm down if you plan on winning." Ash called out, drawing the attention of his Pokemon. Primeape's anger faded away as it fur returned to its usual color, getting a small grin. "Alright, if you want to win this battle, you have to take it one step at a time. So let's start with Focus Blast!"
"Wee!" Primeape gave another war cry before clapping its hands together. Its two large hands gained a bright glow for a few moments before it thrusted them forward, launching the gathered energy toward Marowak in the shape of a sphere.
"Marowak, knock it away with Bone Club!" Its trainer ordered as the attack neared his Pokemon. Marowak raised its club as though it were a baseball bat, taking a sharp swing at the approaching Focus Blast. With a shout, Marowak slapped it high into the air over the battle field where the orb burst into a dazzling display of light, much to the delight of the crowd. Fortunately for Ash and Primeape, the explosion of Focus Blast had gained the attention of everyone, leaving Primeape with an easy opening to attack since it had been moving as the shadow of the attack. This was a basic strategy. Use a flashy move to gain the attention of your opponent, and then use the opening to attack.
Marowak's eyes widened as it saw Primeape approaching with its arm reeled back to throw out a haymaker at it. With just enough space to throw itself down to the ground, Marowak avoided the attack although it was clearly irritated with Primeape for going for a knockout with that punch. Jumping back to its feet, Marowak took a reckless swign at Marowak's face with a shout.
Primeape ducked below the attack with ease, creating a large opening for attack on Marowak although Primeape had already decided exactly where it would hit Marowak regardless of what kind of openings it created. The perfect spot to hit it to pay it back for all of the hits it had landed so far. Primeape took a quick step toward Marowak, closing whatever distance remained between them before throwing a sharp uppercut to the one unprotected area on Marowak's head. Its chin.
"Marowak!" Its trainer yelled. Marowak was rattled from this attack as it stumbled backward, unable to find any sort of way to keep itself steady. Primeape pursued, using this opportunity to land several punishing hits to the body of Marowak, each hit landing with a deafening thud.
"Nice Primeape! Let's keep it up with Mega Punch, but no head shots!" Ash commanded. Primeape's hands began to glow, much to the disdain of Marowak's trainer. They were certainly going for the finish now, and Marowak was still dazed and unable to handle the situation on its own.
"Marowak, use Dig to get away for a bit!" He ordered. Marowak stumbled around for a bit before it looked down at the ground with its unfocused vision, recognizing it as the haven its trainer wanted to it to head into to rest for a little while. Marowak leapt into the air before taking a nose dive into the ground to escape Primeape, but before it could even begin to burrow into the field, and hand had grabbed onto its tail.
"You rock Primeape!" Ash shouted as his Pokemon hoisted Marowak out of the ground before it could truly disappear into the field. Primeape wasn't going to let this battle extend any farther. Primeape spun around and slammed Marowak into the ground, getting a groan from the ground type Pokemon. "Now let's wrap this up with Seismic Toss!"
Primeape slammed Marowak onto the field once more, allowing it to rest of the soil as Primeape grabbed it by its armpits. With one large leap, Primeape and Marowak were sailing high in the air over the field where the two of them began to spin rapidly for just a few moments. Ash felt as though his heart was going to burst out of his chest as he watched Primeape and Marowak come crashing back down to the field, earning a gasp from the fans. 'We can do this.'
No one could see the result for a moment since the landing had kicked up a dust cloud, but as it cleared away, Ash could see a shadow moving within it.
Marowak was tossed out of the cloud, landing on the ground in a heap followed by Primeape who exited the cloud with its hands above its head. The ref took a moment to examine Marowak before raising one flag to point at Ash. 'We can do this!'
"Marowak is unable to battle, Primeape is the winner!"
The arena roared as Ash ran over to Primeape, greeting it with a high five for a job well done. In the end Ash found himself being held in a headlock by Primeape as it celebrated.
Returning to the inside of the stadium to make room for the next battle to take place, Ash couldn't suppress the wide smile on his face. They had done it. They won a battle at the Conference level, and would be able to continue participating in the Indigo Conference.
The people inhabiting the stands of the stadium had dwindled down to nothing now that the day was over. The sun was setting of Indigo Plateau as everyone returned to their hotel rooms, but for Ash, it was just the beginning of his day. He had spent the rest of the day observing possible opponents, and a number of people had stood out to him. But the first thing he had to focus right now was deciding on who would replace Ivysaur in his rotation.
Without Ivysaur, he would be changing his sixth choice frequently, not that he really mind. But with a smaller rotation, Ash couldn't help but feel as though he was missing a spot in his team.
Ash had taken it upon himself to find an area to do some late evening training with all of his Pokemon, but he was shocked to discover that ever open space was cluttered with the advancing trainers practicing to make sure they were fully prepared for what lay ahead. Soon enough though, he found an empty clearing where he and all ten of his remaining Pokemon could practice together. But this proved to be far from easy since what happened to Ivysaur was the main subject within his team.
They were all fired up now, and this was exactly what he would need from all from all of them right now.
"Snor!" The roar from Snorlax drew Ash's attention to a scene that he had yet to see since he had captured Snorlax. It was resting on its back, looking up at its opponent who had knocked it over. Charizard exhaled quite loudly, letting loose a small breath of flames as it looked down at Snorlax.
Ash tilted his head as he observed the duo that constantly engaged each other in push matches, or rather Charizard would challenge Snorlax. Charizard had lost every time against Snorlax, until now.
Extending a hand toward Snorlax, Charizard helped it rise back to its feet before it turned away. It was then Ash got a look at the flame on its tail. It was twice as large as it normally was which peaked Ash's curiosity. He could tell that Charizard was frustrated over what happened to Ivysaur, but he had no idea its anger could have such a large effect on its strength. But at the same time Charizard was a bit of a hot head a majority of the time, so what made this different?
He would have to look into this further, but for now practice was their top priority.
"Pidgeot, I want you and Charizard to have an aerial battle. Don't go overboard with your attacks, it's just a spar!" Ash called out to the large bird who gave him a nod. Charizard eyed its next partner before spreading its wings to rise into to the air, calling for Pidgeot to hurry up. Ash then directed his attention to those remained, watching as they all straightened up. "Now between all of, I want you to pair off with your usual partner and practice. Like I said before, go easy on each other. We don't want any injuries now that the tournament has started."
They all gave him a collective nod before pairing off to begin their training, and the shouting soon followed. Primeape and Tauros roared at the other as they engaged each other in pushing match similar to Charizard and Snorlax, but to a lesser extent. Unfortunately between the two of them, neither was willing to hold back any of their strength. This was probably the only match up Ash was fine with this since they were both incredibly resilient. They would tough it out if they had to.
Pikachu and Mr Mime was Ash's favorite match up to watch. Next to Ivysaur, this pair was incredibly clever when they battled. They were both more than capable of neutralizing numerous attacks with their current move set, and they were adept at following quick, timely orders from Ash who battled on the fly.
Haunter and Muk were trouble makers whether they were on or off the battlefield. As an opponent, Muk was just hard to deal with since it was capable of absorbing blows from a physical standpoint. And Haunter was just a menace regardless of its opponent because it was trickster, and Ash just loved that about his ghost type. It was solid Pokemon to have for his particular style of battling.
Since Ivysaur wasn't present, Wartortle found itself looking up at Snorlax with a nervous grin, trying to figure out how it could overcome such a huge mismatch. Raising a hand, Wartortle drove it into Snorlax's stomach using Rock Smash, only to be sent tumbling backward when Snorlax inhaled, expanding its stomach. Ash snorted at this before setting Wartortle back on its feet, gaining a thanks from the Pokemon. It would be pretty difficult to find Wartortle a practice partner now since Ivysaur would been out for a bit.
"Pidgeot!" The squawk caused Ash to throw his head up where he saw the flaming bird come crashing into the ground with a thud.
"Wartortle, put it out!" Ash shouted, pointing at Pidgeot who's feathers were slowly burning away. Wartortle drenched Pidgeot in water, putting out the flames with ease which allowed Ash to examine it himself. "Are you okay Pidgeot?"
It gave him a nod in reply as it rose up to its feet, examining the feathers that had turned black from the fire. Ash looked up into the skies where he saw Charizard hovering over them with a defiant expression.
"Charizard, get down here now!" Ash shouted, stomping his foot as he pointed at the ground. It was rare that he would yell at them like this, but Charizard was clearly following its own rules. The fire type obeyed, coming to a soft landing in front of Ash where he started off by scolding the Pokemon before motioning for it to lower its head so that he could be on eye level with it. "I know you're upset after what happened to Ivysaur, but you can't go around acting like a baby. Take some time to cool your head."
Ash raised its Pokeball, calling it back into the spherical device to avoid having any more accidents today. Ivysaur had already been injured the last thing he needed now was someone else being knocked out of his rotation.
May 15th
Main Stadium
Charles Goodshow demonstrated the power of his status by simply raising one hand to silence the crowd. Standing at the center of the single battlefield, he became the center of attention as he raised the microphone he held to his mouth.
"Yesterday was certainly an exciting first day wasn't it?" He asked. The crowd responded by coursing their cheers together. "I'm glad you all enjoyed it, but I'm sure you'll enjoy the next two weeks' worth of battling even more as we head on to the tournament round."
Ash stood in the stands with the stands since the battlefield of the largest stadium would not be used during this round. From this point on, for the next four to six days the tournament would been split up among the three small stadiums as all of the remaining one hundred and twenty eight competitors would duke it out with each other in blocks of four. Each trainer was set to battle each other once, and who ever had the most wins at the end of the round would advance to the final rounds.
"To all those trainers that are continuing onto the next round, I wish you the best of luck, and I hope that you are able to put on the best performance possible!"
Standing in the lobby of the southwest stadium, Ash looked up at the monitor that displayed the contestants in blocks one through twelve. He knew he was in block number four, but he wanted to see who his opponents were. Underneath block four, Ash could see his picture alongside three others. He was the only guy in the block was the first thing he had noticed along with the sigh that came from the person standing next to him.
Glancing at the person next to him, Ash felt as though he had seen them before. Then he looked up at the monitor, realizing that it was his latest opponent. She was a brown haired beauty wearing a flannel shirt with the two buttons left undone to cope with the increasing heat, and a pair of black cargo shorts that just got past her thighs. Ash raised an eyebrow at the look of disappointment on her face, wondering how she could be experiencing something like this at such an event while she noticed his stare.
"What do you want?" She asked giving Ash a narrow stare of her own, placing her hands on hips.
"Oh, well I just noticed that we're in the same block is all." Ash said, putting his hands up in defense as she leaned forward to leer at him. She spent a few moments sizing Ash up, then she extended a hand toward him. Ash wrinkled his forehead, unsure of what to do since her expression of contempt was rather unnerving. Ash shook hands with her, and she seemed to brighten up considerably after this.
"My name is Marcy Almers. I'm twenty years old and I'm from Celadon City." She said, introducing herself with a smile.
"Nice to meet you Marcy." Ash said, calming down quite a bit.
"Well?" Marcy said.
"Well what?"
"I introduced myself, now it's your turn." She said, motioning for Ash to proceed.
"Oh, sorry. I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town. I'm nineteen years old and-" Ash began.
"Ash Ketchum." Marcy interrupted. "Where have I heard that name before?"
"I don't really think you should've heard my name before. This only my first year in the professional circuit."
"No, I'm positive I have." She continued, looking down deep in thought. Soon enough she began to knock on her skull with her knuckles as if she were trying to stimulate her brain, although it seemed more painful than anything else to Ash.
"There's no need to bug yourself about it so much." Ash said, taking a hold of her wrist before she could go any further. Marcy thanked him kindly before announcement came on over the loudspeaker informing everyone that today's match ups were about to begin. "Anyway, I guess I'll be seeing you on the battlefield at some point today."
"Yup. Good luck." She said, giving him a wave as she left to follow the small crowd of trainers to the corridors that would take them deep within the stadium.
"Back at cha'." Ash hollered, although he was sure that she couldn't hear him now that she had disappeared into the sea of trainers.
Ash stood quietly in one of the rooms inside the stadium where the participating trainers were told to wait for their match number to be called. Ash would be the second match for block four while his new friend Marcy was in the first match. And since they had just called for Marcy and her opponent to enter the stadium, Ash was sure that his match would be taking place pretty soon.
Inside the room, there was a large monitor for everyone to watch the battles taking place as they waited, and Ash became interested in Marcy's match when he saw take her spot in the trainer box with a pair of large black headphones around her neck. Once the ref called for the battle to begin, she donned the headphones and she began to bounce to the beat.
The commentators began to go back and forth at the sight at Marcy, pulling up her past records and how she had done in the college circuit.
"She's a trainer that requires a rhythm in order to battle someone at her best, and whenever she can't find it she creates it by listening to music during the battle."
"It's an interesting way to make sure she's always on point."
Marcy then tossed a Pokeball onto the field, releasing the Pokemon of her choice on to the field. It was a deep yellow Pokemon that stood on all fours with incredibly spiky fur.
"Let's go Jolteon!" Marcy said as the battle began.
Ash watched the battle with growing excitement as Marcy took control of the battle. She was practically dancing as she gave Jolteon orders, snapping her fingers and occasionally twirling. Not only was Marcy fun to watch, but so was her style of battle, and it was clear that she had captured the audience as well as they cheered for her victory.
"Marcy and Jolteon are the winners!" The ref declared as he pointed his flag at the duo who jumped for joy at their latest win.
With Marcy in his block, Ash knew now that advancing to the next round wouldn't be easy. But he wasn't going to surrender to anyone. No matter whom they were.
The ref slapped his hand onto a small button on the wall of the stadium, causing the flashing lights on the monitor above to come to a halt to show what kind of battle Ash would be taking part in. The flashing light had stopped next to the box where two Pokeballs were present, meaning it would be a two on two double battle.
"This will be a double battle between Ash Ketchum and Angie Taylor!" The ref declared. "Trainers, begin!"
Even though he wasn't planning a double battle, he knew exactly who to use in this situation. Ash selected just one Pokeball from his belt and hurled it onto the field, releasing his only Pokemon that resembled a human.
"Mr Mime." It said happily, shuffling from one foot to the other as it looked about.
"Pikachu, you're up!" Ash said, motioning for the Pokemon perched on his shoulder to join Mr Mime on the field. Pikachu leaped off of his shoulder, joining Mr Mime on the hard soil as they looked at the Pokemon released by their opponent. A Butterfree and a Persian.
"Butterfree, use Bug Buzz!" Its trainer shouted, motioning for it to attack. Butterfree began to beat its wings at an unbelievable speed, releasing several yellow sound waves that quickly traveled toward Mr Mime and Pikachu.
"Mr Mime, use Protect!" Ash called out his command. Mr Mime raised its hands, casting a protective barrier in front of itself and Pikachu which blocked out the sound waves entirely. "Now Pikachu, let's follow up with Thunderbolt!"
"Persian, deflect it away with Shadow Claw!" Angie yelled. Persian gave a soft purr as one of forelimbs was engulfed in a dark aura before it leaped at the approaching bolt of electricity. Stretching out its arm, Persian closed the claws of the attack into one specific point which it used to penetrate through the Thunderbolt with ease.
"Mr Mime, use Psybeam!" Ash ordered, seeing that Persian would continue on its course to Pikachu regardless of what it faced. Mr Mime fired off a zigzagging beam of beam of pink energy that bounced toward Persian. The feline readied its Shadow Claw to deflect this attack as well, but the Psybeam bounced out its attack before it hit before slamming into Persian's side to knock it off course.
Despite being hit, Persian rolled in the air to land on its feet, proving that a cat can always land on its feet. Mr Mime continued its Psybeam attack, sending its attack toward Persian who was still reorienting itself, but Butterfree intervene. Flying into the path of the Mr Mime's Psybeam, Butterfree began to flap its wings furiously to unleash a second Bug Buzz attack which easily disrupted the psychic attack, causing it to fall apart completely. From there the Bug Buzz attack continued on its path its opponents, hovering just a few inches above the ground.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt once more. Mr Mime, Psychic!" Ash shouted. Without even giving the order, the two of them combined their attacks. Once Pikachu let loose the Thunderbolt, Mr Mime began to manipulate the electricity through the use of Psychic, condensing the attack so that it could break through each of the sound waves with ease. The magnified Thunderbolt rushed straight into Butterfree and Persian who screeched as they were hit by the attack.
The two of them were zapped mercilessly for a few moments, then Pikachu let up allowing both of them to collapse to the ground with a bit of smoke rolling off of their bodies. They had been thoroughly cooked by Pikachu. The ref approached the two Pokemon that lay on the field, performing a quick check to see whether or not he should call the battle, but Persian began to rise to its feet with a frustrated hiss. Butterfree on the other hand, remained on the ground motionless.
"Butterfree is unable to battle!" The ref declared, but the fans didn't cheer. They had seen historic one Pokemon comebacks in double battles before. They weren't going to count their Torchic's before they hatched.
"Return Butterfree." Angie said, calling back her Pokemon to its Pokeball. She was completely overpowered in that last sequence, and she paid dearly for it. But she had also realized Ash's strategy involving Mr Mime and Pikachu. Pikachu was the center of his offense, and Mr Mime was acting as support character, providing defense when mistakes were made and enhancing Pikachu's overall strength. It was a solid tactic for someone that was so young.
But she knew how to make quick work of this. Knock out the support piece, and the whole building will collapse.
"Persian, use Night Slash on Mr Mime!" She shouted, pointing at the psychic type who they would be targeting to hopefully even the playing field.
"Mr Mime, use Role Play on Pikachu!" Ash ordered. Pikachu felt a strange sensation wash over it before a tiny blue orb was pulled from its body which went straight over to Mr Mime, disappearing within its torso. "Now use Protect!"
"Persian, switch to Feint!" Angie yelled, seeing this as an opportunity to break down the defenses. Persian continued its graceful sprint toward Mr Mime and Pikachu, extending its claws out of tis paw before leaping at the shield. Persian slipped right through the barrier before lashing out at Mr Mime with an attack which sent it stumbling backward. "Nice Persian, now wrap it up with Night Slash!"
Persian seemed to falter before it could pounce onto Mr Mime, struggling to move as small sparks of electricity could be seen jumping about on its fur.
'Paralysis, but how?' Angie exclaimed as Mr Mime rose to its feet, motioning for Pikachu to finish the job.
"Mr Mime, use Light Screen to protect yourself. Pikachu, use Thunder!" Ash roared. The mention of Thunder made Mr Mime act quickly, creating the barrier as Pikachu gave a shout, charging up for the attack.
"Persian, get out of there!" Angie hollered, but it was too late at this point. Pikachu rushed into Persian as though it were a bomb that went off at point blank range. The entire field disappeared within an electrical storm that was a truly dazzling display of power.
The crowd rose to its feet as the attack disappeared, revealing each of the remaining three Pokemon one by one. Mr Mime came out untouched thanks to the Light Screen it had created. Pikachu came out of the blast area strutting with confidence as the ref approached the downed Persian before raising the flag.
"Persian is unable to continue, Pikachu and Mr Mime are the winners!" The ref declared.
"What an electrifying finish!" One of the announcers roared, only to be drowned out by the crowd. Ash dashed onto the field, greeting both of his Pokemon with high fives before crushing them in a hug. They had won.
Angie recalled her Persian as she walked onto the field, silently thanking the Pokemon for its efforts. Then she focused on approaching Ash, waving to him as he celebrated with Pikachu and Mr Mime. The two of them had to get extremely close just to hear each other as they shook hands.
"That was great battle, but I just have to know how my Persian contracted paralysis from Mr Mime." She said to Ash, receiving a bright grin from him.
"Role Play. At the beginning of every battle I have Mr Mime use Role Play to copy someone's special ability. In this battle it copied Pikachu's which was Static." Ash replied, watching as the information settled in with Angie.
He had been thinking pretty far ahead. Protect was nothing more than bait for her to break down his defense without landing a deadly hit to Mr Mime, and she fell for the trap. Not only did she pass off inflicting a large amount of damage on Mr Mime, she caused significantly less damage to it and got paralyzed in return. For such a young trainer he was pretty smart. Ash was caught off guard when Angie placed her hand on his head to ruffle his hair.
"Good move kid, you're a heck of a trainer." She said, giving him a thumbs up. Ash perked up when he saw a tear sneak out of the corner of her eye, but she quickly turned away to begin making her way toward the exit of the stadium.
They spent practically their whole life preparing for this competition.
Ash felt a pang in his heart as Angie disappeared into the corridor. He knew that he could possibly be affecting someone's life greatly by defeating them in this competition, but he had to remain strong. His own lively hood depended on this, and if he was going to become a Pokemon Master, he would have to become tougher than a Steelix and march his way to the top.
A/N
And with that, we finally have Ash getting into some real battles after his complete flop in the exhibition matches. But it looks like he's finally got things rolling with two victories to begin his run at the Championship.
I'm glad all of you are enjoying the story so far, although all I can say is that this is just the beginning for what I have in store for Ash. As of right now, Ash is learning a number of a valuable lessons as he tries to contend with real professionals. Hopefully everything he learns throughout his career will be enough for him to reach out for the title of Pokemon Master.
Anyway, its still too early for me to tell you what I have in store for Ash, but I can assure you that this is going to be fun. :D