Author's Note:
First of all, a cookie to all those who guessed Landorus. As for how Tobias caught a Landorus...god knows. Or maybe I know. Don't worry, there's a special arc dedicated to Tobias in the future!
Three months ago, a lot of people said they would jump in excitement whenever they see the notification of a new chapter for "Road to be a Pokémon Master". The previous chapter was a major hit as for the first time in my life, I've got 43 reviews for one chapter (30 of which came within 24 hours). It could be a small number to those who write much more popular fics, but to someone like me who never had more than 15 reviews per chapter this is a huge number.
But right after that, life forced me to throw a break from fanfiction. And here I am, three months later with the exciting continuation of the battle between Ash and Tobias. I promise you, the next few weeks you will be having weekly updates.
Before we go deep inside, let me refresh your memories on this bit:
"Text"—Indicates normal dialogue.
'Text'— Indicates thoughts.
"Text"—Indicates commentary from Freddy O'Martian.
Now let's jump into the fantastic battle! And a fair warning, it's almost 17000 words long!
Chapter 18: Beastly Landorus
The battle till now: The most awaited match between Ash Ketchum and Tobias has begun with the trainers sending Staraptor and Darkrai respectively. When Darkrai couldn't stand up to Staraptor's slew of attacks, the legendary Pokémon trainer was forced to switch to Raikou. Raikou and Infernape have engaged each other in a long and tiring battle which ended up with Infernape winning, thanks to its extraordinary Blaze. The score is now at 6-5, with Ash in the lead. Will this stay the same?
"Raikou is unable to battle. Infernape wins!"
May was extremely excited when she saw the referee raise the green flag, recognizing that Infernape had defeated the legendary Pokémon Raikou. That was really incredible. She had a feeling that Ash had become stronger, but to this extent? This was wildly beyond her expectations.
Unfortunately she wasn't anywhere near the battle itself. She promised Max that she would watch her little brother fight in battle net number 87, encouraging and cheering him on for his first six-on-six battle. But since the matchup was on temporary hold due to technical difficulties, she took the liberty to watch the battle between Ash and Tobias outside the Lily of the Valley stadium. It's not like she would completely abandon her family like that, even if it was for Ash Ketchum.
"Hey May!" Her father waved from afar. He was standing by the entrance that led to the complex with the hundred battle nets. "They said it's almost fix! The battle is about to start!"
'Well, Ash seems to be doing well enough on his own.'
She took one last glance at the screen, glad to have witnessed at least one intense matchup. As much as she wanted see such a legendary battle conclude, her family was much more important. She turned around and waved back to her father, signaling that she was coming.
By the time she had reached the battle net, she found a couple of men dressed in grey clothes working on a portable electronic display board that was only as big as the television in their house. Max was sitting on the bench nearby along with their mother, but Norman seemed to be more interested in helping the men set up the board.
On the other end was Green Randall. As much as May wanted Max to win, she had to admit that Randall was good looking. And at nineteen years old, he towered about as tall as her father. Unlike her little brother whose knees were literally shaking with anxiety, he looked supremely confident. He had dirty blond hair and green eyes that matched well with his smile. Accompanying him was some girl around his age, probably his girlfriend, she figured.
"Hey May," Max said, forcing a smile on his nervous face. "How's Ash doing?" Knowing her brother, he was probably asking the question to calm his nerves, but he seemed genuinely curious too. Who wouldn't be when the defending favorite was a legendary Pokémon trainer?
"You won't believe it," May jumped. "Ash's Infernape just defeated a Raikou."
"A Raikou?!" Max's eyes widened in shock. "And his Infernape defeated it?" He collapsed on the bench and caught his head. "I'm doomed." It seemed like his question really didn't help. May cursed herself for not holding back her stupid excitement.
"That's wonderful," her mother took the news well. "Defeating a legendary Pokémon is no simple matter."
"So… Tobias does have more legendaries," Norman joined their conversation. From the corner of her eyes, May noticed that even Green Randall and his girlfriend were interested in the conversation now. "Still I never thought Ash would become this good."
May had to agree. Sure, before his match started she encouraged Ash that he could win, but that was born more from obligation rather than complete conviction. She felt compelled to support him just like how he did in Hoenn, but even she wasn't so sure how this battle would end. Now, she had a whole new reason to back her friend up. She saw how truly skilled he had become.
'Ash, now I know you can win.'
"The board's set," a man who was wearing a yellow referee t-shirt announced. The technicians who repaired the board initiated the start-up program, signaling that all was go for a Pokémon battle.
The difference in the arrangements between Tobias's battle and Max's battle was ironic.
"Tobias is sending out his next Pokémon! What kind of menacing beast will come forth next? Will we see an even more powerful performance than Raikou?"
The crowd was getting pumped as Tobias prepared his third Pokéball. There wasn't any doubt that whatever Tobias would send next would be an overwhelming Pokémon, so we had to maintain our cool, no matter what. Gloating over one victory wasn't a wise thing to do. At least I know that now, anyway.
"Pika," Pikachu tugged my pants. He was pointing at something in the stands. My gaze shifted to where Dawn and the others were, and I was surprised to find three more new faces. I was expecting the first two people, Professor Oak and my mom, but the third one was a real curveball. Dad was here. My dad, the stubborn Tauros who wouldn't bend for anything set foot in Rosenburg again. I guess the battle with Jason must have convinced him to change his mind.
It felt really, really good to have him watching. I mean, if it weren't for his constant criticism, I wouldn't have known what my flaws were or what areas I needed improvement. If it weren't for him, why, I probably wouldn't have lasted past Raikou. Sure, there were still many things I was weak at like planning a long-term strategy or compensating for every type and move disadvantage. Believe me, dad made sure to point it out. But even more than that, I had my own strong points, and he recognized that in me. I owe a lot to him.
And now Tobias. After losing Raikou, he wouldn't hold back anymore—he couldn't afford to, unless he wanted to be beaten in the first round. Since that was unlikely, he remained composed. I guess he wasn't the type to lose his cool even if we did defeat all six of his Pokémon, but the fact remained that he had to use his full power to beat me. That meant double for me.
"Come out and show them your glory, my Pokémon…" Tobias foreshadowed, brushing his red cape aside, clutching a Pokéball tenderly. Then he tossed it into the sky and yelled out to me like writing on the wall.
"The greatest Beast of the Therian legends!"
The Pokéball let out a burst of white light which materialized into the air, revealing a quadruped Pokémon that levitated. The Pokémon was a ferocious looking beast that possessed a crooked face and huge yellow eyes. It had strange white hair on its scalp and a silvery beard that could be mistaken to be its fangs, and paws covered in similar hair. It also possessed a brown tail that seemed tempered enough to crush boulders without breaking a sweat. Shockingly, the Pokémon's legs were locked firmly in the air as if it were standing on an invisible platform. Together with its hair, this vicious beast gave off an illusion that the Pokémon's body was standing on four small clouds.
Scoreboard
(2-6)Ash Ketchum - Tobias (2-5)
Staraptor - Darkrai
Infernape - Raikou
- Landorus-T
"Landorus…" I muttered the Pokémon's name. I was more than familiar with that Pokémon.
"What do you mean, Iris?" Misty asked. Iris told the rest of the group that this was the second time she witnessed the beast of the Therian forms.
"Giovanni tried to capture Landorus along with Thundurus and Tornadus back when were in Undella Bay," she said. "I still don't get how Tobias could capture Pokémon like these when even Team Rocket couldn't capture them."
Misty thought the same exact question. How in the world was he sending out one legendary Pokémon after the other? They were supposed to be legendary! The rarest of the rare! At this rate Tobias would send out a team of six of these demigods. How could one person have six of them?
"It's possible through a roundabout way," Professor Oak said. "I suppose he's forming a friendly contract, like a temporary alliance of some kind. And once he allied with one of these Pokémon, he could have used its influence to ally with the next and so on until he acquired six."
But if that were the case, wouldn't that mean Tobias' entire life was dedicated to searching for these Pokémon? After all, legendary Pokémon don't just 'pop in' and say hello. This was downright unsettling for Misty. She could hardly believe her eyes, but the truth was right there in front of her and thousands of others. Tobias was literally sending legendary Pokémon one after the other into battle.
"I'm sure it took a lot of his time to find them," the Professor said, probably having a similar line of thought. "But in that same time of travel, he doesn't have the luxury of training them. In a way, Tobias isn't even using his full abilities as a trainer."
In the VIP room of the stadium where almost all the board of directors were assembled, a certain man named Giovanni watched the new legendary Pokémon with great interest, along with quite a bit of frustration. He was supposed to be controlling the beast, not Tobias.
In a way, that meant Tobias was a rival. Giovanni tried capturing many legendary Pokémon over the years, but he failed each and every time. The odds were astronomically in his favor. He had an entire organization under his disposal, many brilliant scientists like Dr. Zager and Dr. Namba, not to mention top-rate agents like Domino, Annie, Oakley and many, many more. Yet even with all of his resources, he couldn't capture a single legendary.
How the hell did this trainer amass a literal army of legendaries? How did he even meet this many? Who was this man called Tobias? Giovanni had to find it out.
He excused himself to the washroom. The perimeter facilities of the stadium were literally empty. Nearly all but the concessions operators were in their seats, and even the workers were glued to every minute of the battle on their monitors. This was good—no fear of eavesdropping. He took out his mobile and punched in a combination of numbers number. The phone connected and a person answered it not a moment later.
"Dr. Zager," he addressed the man on the other side. "Are you watching the battle?"
"Of course," the said Professor answered. "My curiosity piqued when I heard about a trainer with six legendary Pokémon."
So, the rumors reached him too. The Sinnoh Elite Four claim that Tobias had six legendary Pokémon and that the sixth was especially tricky.
"I want to know more about Tobias," he said, adjusting his collar. "Have Jessie, James and Meowth resolved things with the security?"
There were others, but almost all his people were busy with their own missions. That left agents Jessie, James, and Meowth for the task. If anyone was free enough to do the job it was them, and Meowth was especially useful thanks to his ability to speak to Pokémon and humans. As much as Giovanni hated the trio's obvious attempts to garner his attention, their services were not only robust, but they were cheap. All it took was an occasional word of praise and a small paycheck, thus the returns on a meager investment like Jessie, James, and Meowth were incredibly high. Yes, they would suffice.
"Unfortunately, no," Zager replied. "They'll most likely not be allowed into the main Rosenburg Complex unless someone trustworthy vouches for them."
"I'm out of the list I suppose," Giovanni's lips broke in a smile. He was still suspected by the whole world. The only reason he was out roaming free was because the law enforcement didn't have enough solid evidence for a trial. Nevertheless, there was at least one person who could refer them.
"I've got someone who can get them in, but he just needs a bit of convincing... and some good acting. I'm sure those three can handle that."
"Laaannddd." The Therian Forme let out a low growl as it observed the blazing fire type standing on the field, giving it a defiant glare with its red hot eyes. The legendary beast wasn't familiar with the human's way of battling, but the fact that the ape and Landorus were the only magical creatures standing inside the battlefield drawn with white borderlines told it that the ape was the enemy it was supposed to be confronting.
In response to its growl, the blazing monkey let out its own primal bellow. The legendary Pokémon didn't need a second opinion, the ape was the enemy.
"It's time to give everything you've got," the boy standing behind the ape exclaimed to the Pokémon. He pointed at the legendary beast. "Infernape, spin and use Flare Blitz!"
The Pokémon was on its edge. It must have had quite a gruesome battle to have received such an amount of damage, but its strength only seemed to double as it grew weaker. The fire on its mane engulfed the Pokémon like a wildfire burning a tree, creating a blue inferno that scorched the ground underneath. Blazing like a blue sun, the creature dashed at the Therian Forme hovering in midair as if it possessed invisible wings, while spinning about itself like an Excadrill that was performing a Drill Run.
The legendary Pokémon was taken aback. The power the lower being possessed was tremendous, even in Landorus's eyes. Even with its supreme defense, it couldn't be able to take the attack and make it out without a crippling damage.
"Landorus," the legendary Pokémon's "master" commanded it. "Hyper Beam!"
The legendary beast moved into action. The master's move was wise as dodging a move like that was risky and knowing the pride it carried as a legendary creature, he must also have realized such a move would be an insult to its prowess.
The legendary wide opened its jaws and prepared its ultimate attack, the purple beam of destruction, which possessed a power that could destroy anything that stood in its way by blowing them into smithereens. It was the same attack that has brought the pranksters Thundurus and Tornadus under its Sheer Force. The attack was swift, powerful and would be impossible to dodge unless it was predicted well beforehand.
The Therian Forme expected the dynamic beam that erupted from within its jaws to annihilate the flaming tornado and proceed to strike the field with a ground-shaking impact. Except, the ground-shaking impact never came. The beam of destruction was stopped well before it touched the ground, by the blue swirling flames.
In a matter of seconds, Infernape turned into a swirling blast of fire and surged up only to meet a powerful opposition in the form of Hyper Beam. The attack seemed like it push down Infernape's momentum, but the Pokémon's spin allowed it to drill through the energy which was like a thick wall that separated Infernape from its treasure.
"What?" Tobias was flabbergasted. Landorus in Therian Forme had the highest attacking power among all legendary Pokémon he knew. How could a lowly Infernape overpower one of the strongest moves from a Pokémon of such immense attack power?
It was the spin. It was that blasted spin again. Infernape had already done enough damage to him by defeating Raikou, he couldn't afford losing Landorus too.
Tobias watched as the Infernape continued to kick itself up against the surge of energy as if it were swimming upstream in floodwater and finally breakthrough the tremendous force of the beam in what seemed like an eternity but was in fact only a few seconds of struggle.
The ape let out a deep cry as it managed to close down the distance between it and the legendary beast that was desperately trying to pushing it back. Landorus finally let go of the Hyper Beam, realizing the futility in it as the ape was only striking distance away.
It was a bad move on Landorus's part despite being a move based on instinct. The Pokémon wouldn't be able to move properly after a Hyper Beam, leaving Infernape every chance to finish it off. In fact that was what Tobias had expected to happen.
And perhaps everyone else in the stadium.
Just as the blazing tornado was about to strike and scorch the helpless legendary Pokémon, the flames disappeared abruptly like the light of a candle when blown by a gust of wind, exposing the ape that lay inside the inferno.
"Infernape!" The trainer's scream echoed through the arena.
The Pokémon neither let out a grunt nor whimpered in pain, it simply lost all the momentum it gathered to attack Landorus. The Pokémon that was rocketing in the sky a second ago fell into the crater that was made earlier like a lifeless object.
The referee raised the red flag. "Infernape is unable to battle, Landorus wins!"
A sudden silence caught the entire stadium. It was the same silence one would find when a great hero falls down dashing all the hopes of the people. Infernape was no different as it managed to defeat his Raikou despite its inferior abilities.
"Unbelievable! Infernape has lost its last spark of energy right before attacking Landorus. The recoil damage has taken its toll on this brave Pokémon."
Ash's reaction was a mixture of disappointment, guilt and pride. Disappointment because things didn't go as he planned. Guilt because he sent his Pokémon against Landorus while knowing full well that it was on the verge of fainting. Proud because of the wonderful performance it put today. It was indeed stellar.
Scoreboard
(2-5)Ash Ketchum - Tobias (3-5)
Staraptor - Darkrai
Infernape - Raikou
- Landorus-T
In hindsight, the result was expected. Landorus was fresh and at full health. Infernape was more or less finished after activating Blaze and the recoil damage it suffered after it.
"Return Infernape," the teenage boy took the fainted Pokémon right back in. He muttered some praise to the Pokémon before putting the ball back onto his belt. His gaze shifted to Tobias, as if to study his expression.
After briefly studying Tobias's face, his hand went for his belt again as he took another Pokéball. A smirk returned to his face. "Tobias, I think you remember this Pokémon."
'Remember?' Tobias wondered. It could perhaps be one of the Pokémon he used against him back in the Sinnoh League. But what?
"Garchomp," Ash yelled as he tossed the Pokémon. "I choose you!"
The land-shark Pokémon Garchomp materialized out of the Pokéball, but unlike its predecessors the Pokémon didn't let out a battle cry that befitted its stature. Rather, the Pokémon gave the cheering crowd a blank stare with the supposedly ferocious eyes and jaws that were wide open, giving its surroundings an empty gaze that carried no emotion.
Tobias recognized the Pokémon. It was indeed one of the Pokémon he used in the Lily of the Valley Conference two years ago. It was only a Gible back then, though its Draco Meteor was excellent.
"Gible has evolved," he nodded in acknowledgement. "I'm looking forward to see its performance today."
Scoreboard
(3-5)Ash Ketchum - Tobias (3-5)
Staraptor - Darkrai
Infernape - Raikou
Garchomp - Landorus-T
"Ash's third Pokémon is Garchomp! I must say friends, I've never seen a Garchomp like this before."
Cynthia chuckled at this. "That must be the most docile Garchomp I've ever seen in my life." She had seen quite a number of Garchomp and most of them tend to be ferocious when pitted into a battle. Her own Garchomp was a testament to this despite being a female that were known to be friendlier than the male ones. Benga's Garchomp was an example of how atrocious a Garchomp could be. The battle cry it let out during its battle with Brandon's Regirock showed how much of a savage beast it was.
But this Garchomp was the opposite. It was staring at the crowd blankly, making it hard to figure out for anyone to understand what was going through its head. The crowd was definitely happy as they found the Garchomp's actions cute.
"Even his Pokémon know well to catch attention," Harvey chuckled. "This kid's a crowd winner."
Cynthia frowned at this. She was still bitter about him rigging the match-ups. If it weren't for Harvey, this battle wouldn't be even happening. But then again, the battle was amazing. Ash has showing a huge amount of progress. In a way the battle was a good experience to the young trainer.
Okay, maybe it wasn't so bad after all. But still rigging a matchup was unethical.
"Stop frowning like that," Harvey smiled at her expression, despite not giving her a proper glance. "At this rate you'll have more wrinkles than your Grandma."
Asshole.
"Garchomp," I gave the Pokémon a thumb's up. "It's time to show Tobias how strong you've become."
Garchomp nodded slowly, with its jaws wide open and the blank expression not leaving its face before it proceeded to face the opponent hovering in the sky.
Sometimes I really wonder if Garchomp understood anything I said. But he proved me wrong many times by listening to my commands and strategies. Besides, he doesn't show his real expression until the battle starts.
The referee proceeded to make the call. "Landorus-T versus Garchomp. Commence!"
"Here it begins! Another round of a wonderful battle! Garchomp versus Landorus!"
"Garchomp," I said, pointing at the sky. "Take to the skies!"
The land-shark kicked off a huge amount of dust as it tucked its fins and took off into the sky. The Pokémon's dazzling speed, the dorsal fin that protruded through its back along with its tailfins made it seem like a Jet Plane taking off into the sky. With its speed Garchomp reached the legendary beast that invited its new airborne opponent with an intimidating cry that suited its crooked face.
Landorus would need some time before it could perform another move thanks to the Hyper Beam earlier, so sending a Pokémon with type advantage at this juncture would force Tobias to switch out. That's why I had chosen Garchomp even though I had a Pokémon with a clear type advantage. Right now, I have to use that Hyper Beam recharge buffer as much as possible.
Landorus won't be able to use a move right now, so it could try concentrating on defense. Saving Draco Meteor for later would be a good idea right now. "Garchomp," I commanded. "Dual Chop!"
The land-shark's long and sharp fins that were an extension to its arms glowed with a bright blue light as the Pokémon prepared to slash them at the opponent like a dual-sword wielder.
Landorus crouched as it braced for its opponent's attacks. Garchomp swung its right arm, attempting a horizontal slash. The ground type however ducked and jumped away from the attack, causing the land-shark to attempt to lunge at it again and perform another slash from the top, which the legendary Pokémon dodged by springing back.
The movement caused Garchomp to lose its balance briefly, letting Landorus an opportunity to lash at it. The ground type sprung once more and proceeded to slam its huge tail straight on Garchomp's skull sending the Mach Pokémon crashing back down before it barely managed to save itself from hitting in the ground.
"What was going on…?" The Pokémon wasn't even using a proper move. It simply knocked Garchomp by throwing its weight. And what the heck was up with Landorus's movements?
"Is it just me or does Tobias has some secret barrier up in the sky? Landorus seems to be moving as if it's standing on solid ground. I'm pretty sure even Newton will forget his gravitation rules if he sees this."
That was correct. It crouched down and then jumped back as if it were moving on land. It's almost as if we were fighting a 3D-Raikou albeit with a lower speed. This is a lot worse than Fantina's Levitate. Then in that case we have to use that strategy.
"Garchomp," I yelled. "Draco Meteor!"
Tobias had long since anticipated the move. Draco Meteor was a dragon's ultimate move, so the chances of Garchomp not having the move when it had it as a Gible were low. Ash was still having hard time comprehending Landorus's movements, so the time was ripe for him to go into the offense quickly after he let Landorus dodge that Draco Meteor.
"Landorus," Tobias replied to Ash's command instantly. "Dodge!"
The dragon type crouched slightly as it concentrated an orange light of pure dragon energy from within its belly. The attack slowly passed through its throat and found it way further up. Soon, the energy bulged out through Garchomp's enormous jaws, which the Pokémon shot out high into the sky like a cannon.
Landorus watched the sphere of energy shot past it and high up into the sky. The Pokémon quickly took a few steps down to avoid taking the attack from a closer range than it should. The legendary Pokémon covered quite a distance away from the sphere before the attack exploded into a brilliant shower of energy.
Landorus sprang into action. The Pokémon had nowhere to run away but could only weave itself between the raining meteors, something the Pokémon surprisingly excelled at. The Pokémon's speed wasn't anything impressive like Darkrai's or Raikou's. But the fact that it could run in all the three dimensions gave Landorus an edge unlike any other. The Pokémon was all over the stadium, running and springing between the rain of attacks that would have drowned it in destruction had it been hit even once. The attack was only half way through when Tobias realized dodging it was indeed not impossible to Landorus. But that was also when—
"Use Sandstorm!"
That was when the boy did his magic again. The dragon type performed a dance of some kind, and not an instant later a huge amount of sand was whipped along with a burst of wind creating a powerful sandstorm like none another. The storm engulfed the field, forcing the legendary trainer to cover his eyes from the dust.
The dragon that stood inside disappeared out of his vision, but its eyes began to glow with a strange blue light. The meteor showers that were supposed to land on the ground and obliterate the field with the extensive damage changed their path suddenly and headed towards Landorus instead!
"What magic is this! Garchomp's controlling Draco Meteor with Sandstorm!"
So, that was it. Garchomp was using the sandstorm along with its own dragon energy to control the path of the meteor shower. That was almost like how Landorus could control its stone edge. Except controlling Draco Meteor required the Pokémon to control a higher number of projectiles spread out in a large area, something that could be done by spreading its dragon energy through the sandstorm.
Excellent.
The attack moved like a missile that was being controlled by the jet plane called Garchomp. Even if Landorus' ability to move was astounding, there was no escape as Garchomp's control over the attack was more than astounding.
There wasn't any other choice left for him, Tobias thought. He had to stop the Draco Meteor and something like that was possible only by attacking back. "Landorus," he yelled. "Use Hyper Beam and destroy Draco Meteor."
Following his command, the quadruped Pokémon opened its jaws and prepared the purple beam of destruction one more time and swept the beam in an arc, annihilating the incoming missiles one after the other in one sweep. If Garchomp's skill was jaw dropping then the amount of power Landorus displayed could only be described as mind blowing.
Those who watched the battle from the stands couldn't comprehend what was going inside except for the noise coming from multiple explosions that blew away the sandstorm and filled it with a grey cloud of smoke instead.
The series of explosions left the whole stadium silent. The smoke slowly cleared away, revealing an unscathed Landorus staring at the ground where its opponent stood, awe-struck. The Pokémon's trainer had a similar look on his face, as he watched the legendary Pokémon with fear and surprise.
"Uhh…I'm at a loss for words folks….this is just….unreal."
Draco Meteor was….just blown away? I couldn't even begin to comprehend the power behind that attack. Had it hit Garchomp, maybe the battle would be finished in just one hit. That power was just…godly.
Using the Draco Meteor and Sandstorm in quick succession was extremely straining to Garchomp. I hated using combination moves. They take too much out of the Pokémon and backfires pretty badly if they fail. This turn didn't end well for me at all I was hoping to deal another surprise like I did with Over Heat.
"Pikapi," the rodent called my attention. "Pikachu," judging by the look on his face, he was telling me to snap out of it.
That's right. Landorus can't launch a move after Hyper Beam. "Garchomp, use Dual Chop!"
Garchomp took to the skies preparing its blade like fins for its next Dragon type move. But its speed was a clear indication that it didn't possess the same amount of strength it had before using Sandstorm and Draco Meteor together. On the other hand Landorus could move on its own without its trainer's command. The Pokémon's battle instincts were top notch and its movements were pretty erratic and hard to follow.
Letting out a battle cry to pump its spirit up, Garchomp lunged at the Therian Beast and began its vicious charge with the two broad fins that were like twin blades. Garchomp's slashes were sharp, quick and didn't carry any unnecessary power unlike the last time it performed the same move. It's battle style was more focused on hitting the opponent than overpowering it as it had already experienced Landorus's ability to dodge.
Even so Landorus was proving impossible to hit. The Pokémon didn't completely operate on animalistic instincts. The movements Landorus made suggested that it knew how to keep a good eye on its opponent. Something that was possible to a legendary that was known for keeping a watch on the legendary pranksters, Tornadus and Thundurus.
"That Garchomp's really strange you know," Iris murmured, her expression suggesting that something was wrong. "It doesn't battle like a dragon type." There was something lacking in Garchomp's attacks. She couldn't exactly point out what it was.
"Excellent observation," Professor Oak commended. "Most dragons despite being calm by nature turn ferocious during battles. But this Garchomp," he paused, perhaps searching for the right comparison. "It battles like a Grass type. It has control over its strength and movements, something you won't see in a Garchomp. It's almost like watching a Sceptile."
"You are watching Sceptile's student," Alex smiled. He paused before adding, "And Charizard's student, and perhaps Snorlax's student too. But right now, I think it's copying Sceptile's style."
"It sure does have a lot of teachers," Iris commented. Well, it definitely did a good job maintaining control, but that wasn't how Dragon types were supposed to battle. It was extremely passive, and left a bad taste in her mouth.
"Beautiful technique while still conserving strength," Brock nodded. "That's Sceptile's technique for you."
Garchomp's first attack was a vertical slash that made Landorus jump back, complementing Landorus's horizontal movement, it advanced further and used a horizontal slash. However the Pokémon simply jumped two stages up. Following the legendary, the dragon type flew up and attempted a left uppercut, which the legendary dodged by taking a quick step back. The dragon type, now slightly above the legendary sent another horizontal slash that was dodged by a quick duck and a leap back.
"Garchomp," Ash yelled. "Now!"
And then Garchomp did something that surprised everyone. It suddenly stopped its slew of attacks and quickly rocketed past Landorus and turned back, facing the legendary's rear. As the Pokémon reacted to the sudden change in pace and turned back, Garchomp crossed its twin blades in an X-Shape and rocketed at the legendary that couldn't realize what was happening before it was too late.
Garchomp shot past the Therian Forme just as it slashed the legendary with either of its blades simultaneously and stopped a good distance away, a calm look on its face.
"Lllannnd!" Landorus cringed in pain as the attack sent it towards the ground, before it managed to get a hold of itself.
"That's like Sceptile's Leaf Blade," Alex said, a proud smile on his face. "Garchomp's done a good job mimicking it."
It was indeed an amazing move. The opponent would be deep immersed in dodging the repeated attacks, but just as it gets used to dodging the attack, the attacker would lunge at it from behind and perform a cross-slash.
"What a brilliant move! Landorus has been finally taken some damage!"
"Let's put more power," Ash yelled at the airborne Pokémon. "Garchomp, use Dual Chop!"
Garchomp's face suddenly turned serious. The Pokémon unlike its previous calmness now let out a brutal cry that shook the stadium enough that Iris could feel the vibrations through the chair she was sitting on. It was almost as if a new Pokémon has taken over Garchomp's body and changed the calm and collected dragon into a ferocious one. The dragon type lunged at Landorus with an amazing display of speed, just in an instant it was within striking distance from the legendary Pokémon. The Pokémon swung one of its scales in an attempt to hammer down the flying legendary, a simple move that carried great force but was easily dodged. But the dragon type certainly didn't leave things at that, it shot into the sky, outpacing Landorus and braked itself above the Therian Forme that was stunned by Garchomp's sudden aggressiveness.
The dragon type raised either of its hands and rammed them onto Landorus's skull with a brutal attack that sent Landorus rocketing down onto the field. The Pokémon crashed into the arena, making a crater in the already battered field.
"What a brutal strength! A sudden transition from technique to brute strength. This is amazing!"
Garchomp faced the sky and let out another battle cry in its madness, once again causing the entire stadium to tremble.
"I take back what I said," Iris said, somewhat intimidated by Garchomp's abrupt change in personality. "That's a dragon for you."
"Is that…" Brock hesitated.
"Charizard," Cilan nodded. "That's just how Charizard acts when it battles." He hadn't seen Charizard battle much. But in the brief time it travelled with them, it had battled Iris's Dragonite once. He had witnessed how the friendly fire type would turn absolutely brutal when it enters a battle, something it owes to the training at Charicific valley.
"Battling like two different Pokémon," Professor Oak muttered. "Those two did rub off their battle styles to Garchomp."
"Charizard had most of its training at Charicific Valley," Alex pointed. "The Pokémon over there have a cruel training regime, constantly trying to overpower each other in head on battles." The training was apt for Pokémon like Charizard which have a lot of raw strength. Sceptile on the other hand had trained itself in Professor Oak's ranch. Rather than relying on brute strength, Sceptile relies on technique and agility.
"I see it now," Brock said. "Garchomp has the speed to pull off Sceptile's techniques and the raw strength to battle like Charizard. With proper training—"
"It can far surpass either of them," Alex chuckled. He shifted to the roaring dragon. "But this guy is far from that level though. He can use both styles, but he can't master either of them. Though I think we'll be seeing another wonderful battle like Infernape versus Raikou."
Iris was happy to hear this. She always believed dragon types were always superior to other species. Ash's Garchomp was simply proving that fact again. She was so proud to be a dragon trainer.
'Not bad'. Tobias smiled when he saw Garchomp maul Landorus into the field. After having failed to hit with its Draco Meteor, he expected Garchomp to fall down pretty easily. But Ash had used the time required for Hyper Beam recharge pretty well to deal some decent damage.
"Lannddoorr," Landorus gave out a low growl as it got back to its feet. The Pokémon raised its head and watched the dragon type that was staring back at it with its jaws wide open and a blank expression on its face. Garchomp was back to its docile personality again.
Just in these fifteen minutes of battle, it had changed its personality thrice. It was docile to begin, then turned calm and then to a rash personality before turning docile again.
"What do you think about Garchomp's power, Tobias?" Ash beamed at the legendary trainer.
"Better than I've expected," he smiled back. He raised his hand and announced, "But there's more to Landorus too."
At his signal, the beast slowly levitated up until it leveled itself up with Garchomp. The dragon type continued to stare at the ground type as either Pokémon tensed their muscles for the next move. Landorus was crouching on its four feet, ready to pounce at Garchomp anytime while the land-shark prepared its long scales for another round of attacking.
"Landorus is back up! The battle is still on!"
"Garchomp," Ash took the offense. "Dual Chop!"
The same technique won't work twice. "Landorus," he commanded. "Stone Edge!"
Garchomp lashed at Landorus, but the Therian responded to the straightforward attack by quickly moving out of the way. However unlike the previous turn where it was largely immobile, the legendary immediately retaliated to Garchomp's attack by preparing an array of stones that circled around the legendary before it sent the projectiles flying towards the dragon.
"Block the attack," Ash yelled.
In a surprising fashion, Garchomp crossed either of its arms in a defensive posture. The Pokémon winced in pain as the sharp projectiles proceeded to pierce its tough skin on many areas of its body. However it managed to save its vital parts from a great deal of damage thanks to its thick scales. The Pokémon had surprisingly maintained a good composure throughout the attack as if it were a defensive Pokémon rather than an offensive one.
'A fourth personality.' Tobias realized he had seen a new side of Garchomp, a relaxed one that is. But a defensive Pokémon would never survive an attack from his Landorus.
"Landorus," he ordered. "Close in!"
"Garchomp," Ash responded immediately. "Strike back with Dual Chop!"
Either Pokémon lunged at each other at once. While Garchomp let out a battle cry as it prepared its twin weapons, Landorus let out its own roar and simply ran towards the Pokémon, as if to tackle it with its sheer strength than use a move.
"This is what I call a head on confrontation!"
Either Pokémon were closed in towards each other in no time. Garchomp brandished its dragon type move as the distance between the Pokémon dwindled exponentially by the second.
"Go!" Ash pumped his fists in excitement.
'Got you.' The Pokémon were about a few steps away when Tobias made a surprise command. "Landorus, jump and use Earth Power!"
Earth Power?
How the hell could it use Earth Power when it is way up in the sky? It was the question that pondered through my mind at that moment.
Tobias's surprise move came before either Pokémon prepared to confront each other at close counters. Landorus immediately responded to its trainer by jumping above the Dual Chop attack that was thrown with brute force to deal as much damage as possible.
That was when I realized how it could use an Earth Power in the sky. Earth Power would normally be used on a physical material like the field below, or the walls, or—
Directly on the Pokémon itself.
"Garchomp, watch out!" I screamed at the top of my voice to alert my Pokémon of the upcoming danger. But I couldn't even complete my sentence before it happened.
Landorus pounced on Garchomp like the beast it was and landed its front paws on Garchomp's back as the Pokémon still in surprise attempted to turn back.
I couldn't comprehend what happened after that. But a huge wave burst up in the sky, and the next thing I knew Garchomp was shot into the ground at a speed that my eyes couldn't even expect to follow.
The ground cracked up with the impact, raising a huge amount of dust and rubble in the process. The impact literally shook up the ground underneath, causing me to stumble back. The small grains of sand and rock that rained on me didn't help either. I had to hold my hat from falling down thanks to the wind that rose up along with the dust.
"Garchomp!"
That damage was too much, and it was a freaking direct hit too. God, Garchomp could be a goner! Dammit, why the heck didn't I predict that? Was I cocky like in the other instances Dad pointed out? Or did Tobias make a brilliant move by doing something I hadn't expected? I definitely couldn't expect that, but maybe I should have been careful.
Dammit! Garchomp, please be okay! You can't lose after putting up a fight like that!
"I am speechless, folks! That was some serious damage!"
The dust slowly settled down, giving a clear view of what lay amidst it. The battlefield which was already mutilated multiple times now had a big hole in the shape of Garchomp, with the said dragon buried in it.
"Gaarrr…!" The Pokémon could barely move a muscle. It closed its eyes as it grumbled in pain caused by an attempt to stand back up. It was struck inside the crater and any attempts it made to stand up were hindered by the amount of physical damage it received from the devastating attack. The damage done was too much. I should be glad that he had at least survived it.
"Garchomp," I aimed the Pokéball. "Return!"
The red ray of light sucked the Pokémon back into the contraption, leaving an empty hole in its place. Just looking at the hole which was an aftermath created by the attack made me shudder. Garchomp must have taken a severe damage. "You did well," I muttered to the Pokémon inside the ball. "Take a good rest for now. I am pretty sure we can make a comeback."
"Ash has opted for a timely switch. Had it stayed in, Garchomp would have been another victim of Landorus's Hyper Beam."
A faint cheer along with some clapping resounded in the otherwise silent stadium in response to the commentator's words.
Scoreboard
(3-5)Ash Ketchum - Tobias (3-5)
Staraptor - Darkrai
Infernape - Raikou
Garchomp - Landorus-T
'Okay, that didn't go well, did it?' I thought to myself as I watched the legendary beast looking down at me, which, judging from the displeased look on its face, did not like me depriving it an opportunity to destroy the opponent.
It was the perfect time to bring my ace in the hole. Landorus knew Stone Edge, so the likelihood of Tobias switching out now was slim, even if I were to send out that.
Clutching onto the new Pokéball in my hand, I glared at Tobias again. The said person had his gaze set on me, with a glint of triumph in his eyes and a smirk on his face, suggesting an attempt to rub his victory on me. I returned a confident smile in response to his haughty gaze, relaying the message that we're not done yet.
Tobias's attitude was predictable. The time was ripe to settle this match with a type advantage, once and for all. "Glalie," I said tossing the Pokéball onto the field. "I choose you!"
The Face Pokémon burst out of the Pokéball, taking the shape of a monster, the size of a football. The monster wide opened its jaws and exposed its flat teeth as it let out a savage cry, scaring anyone who was looking at the strange creature for the first time in their life. The Pokémon narrowed its icy blue eyes on the legendary beast hovering in the air, and let out a low growl, acknowledging the daunting task at hand.
"An Ice Type. Now this could make things much more interesting!"
(4-5)Ash Ketchum - Tobias (3-5)
Staraptor - Darkrai
Infernape - Raikou
Garchomp - Landorus-T
Glalie -
Cilan held his chin. "An Ice-type Pokémon against a Ground and Flying type," he closed his eyes and nodded in approval. "Hmm~, that's a good marriage."
Alex frowned, apparently not fond of Cilan's way of speaking. But he agreed with the Sommelier's opinion. "Tobias must be still enjoying his first tactical win in this match," he leaned back, relaxing his muscles for the first time since the battle started. "He won't switch out when he has momentum."
So that was why Ash didn't send out Glalie in the first place, Alex thought. Sending an Ice type right after Landorus finished launching a Hyper Beam would force Tobias to switch out. He makes good moves when he's cornered, so Ash had to make the lesser obvious move in order to use the recharge buffer created by Hyper Beam. Of course, Ash didn't anticipate Landorus's extraordinary abilities and fell prey to it.
"That's a good shot," Delia said, checking the snapshot she had taken. The digital device managed to capture the image of the two Pokémon facing off each other along with the scoreboard, the referee and the two trainers facing each other with a lump of crowd blurred in the backdrop. The two Pokémon glaring each other had a stark contrast in their physiologies.
Glalie was an ice monster whose entire body constituted a single head. If it weren't for the two horns that stuck out of its 'head', it actually resembled a rice ball thanks to its black and white texture. The Pokémon magically floated in the air as the lack of legs must have let it develop the ability of levitating over the ages. Unlike a Gengar or a Misdreavus, Glalie's levitation however had limitations. As it couldn't go beyond a few feet, it was still prone to seismic waves and by extension, moves like Earth Power and Earthquake.
Noticing that either monsters were ready for the battle, the referee stepped onto the platform and raised the two flags before crossing his arms. "Let the battle begin."
Ash was the first to move. He pointed his hand at the legendary monster, as if he were throwing it an ultimatum. "Glalie, Blizzard!"
Growling in reply, the face monster bounced against the clay field and jumped quite a distance into the air before it opened its mouth to let a blast of dense cold wind filled with a rain of snow. The narrow current of freezing air slowly spread apart as it proceeded towards the opponent hovering in the sky.
"Landorus," Tobias replied immediately. "Ascend to the skies!"
The legendary beast complied with the trainer's order. It curled its tail and kicked itself further high up into the sky until it turned into a small dot on bright orange sun. Unfortunately the blast of wind couldn't follow suit. The spreading blizzard grew thinner with the altitude until it reached a point where a gentle breeze was enough to stop it from going up further.
Alex gritted his teeth. Tobias made a good move. Glalie couldn't touch Landorus when it was high up in the air. His pride could blind his judgment sometimes, but he was certainly not one to be credited for stupidity. 'Now what will Ash do?' He wondered.
His wife on the other hand was enjoying it. "Wow, now that's what I call a perfect shot!" She stood up so that she could get a better angle of Landorus. Alex noticed that someone in the row beside them was looking in her direction.
"The battle's over there dumbass," he said pointing at the battlefield. The man intimidated by the tower of muscles he was, hastily turned forward and sat down erect, like a trained soldier.
"Glalie attempts to deal massive damage with Blizzard, but Landorus responds to the attack by flying out of its reach! This battle won't be that simple for Ketchum after all!"
Ash was stung by the move, Cilan noticed. The bitter expression on his faced showed how annoyed he was, perhaps because he expected Tobias to use a more head on move and fall prey to Glalie's supereffective moves. However, when the expression changed to a wry smile, the Sommelier concluded that there was something else going on in his mind.
"In that case," Ash commanded, waving his arm. "Use Blizzard on the field, full Blast!"
The ice type stopped its fruitless attempts at freezing the legendary beast and instead faced the field before continuing the relentless Blizzard. The snow storm that erupted from within the Pokémon's jaws struck the field, and began to cover the rough terrain with a small layer of ice. The sheet of ice slowly expanded its territory as the wind continued to spread across the field until it hit the walls on the other end, splitting in various directions at once.
"Is he trying to freeze the whole field?" Brock asked, stating the obvious like he always did.
It wasn't long before the chilly weather managed to spread into the stands, dropping the warm temperature abruptly. The green-haired teen had to huddle himself for warmth. A small mist enveloped the field, obstructing his view of the battle. The scenario reminded him of the harsh December mornings, and of Iris, who despised cold weathers. He threw the dragon trainer a worrisome glance, and was delighted when he saw her putting up well with the cold.
"The stadium is enveloped by Glalie's bone-chilling Blizzard! What is Ketchum's intention behind this move?"
The cold current of air finally ended, leaving the arena frozen in silence. The thousands of spectators collected in the Lily of the Valley were left blinded and puzzled, as they wondered what exactly was Ash Ketchum intending to do with the crazy move he just pulled.
The mist began to clear up as the sun casted it away into obscurity with its warm light, something he appreciated as much as a hot cup of tea. The sunlight seemed bright all of sudden, causing the Sommelier to cover his face with his left hand. His concentration returned to the battlefield, as his eyes slowly adjusted to the light. The scene before him left the Sommelier speechless.
The field, which at one point looked like a piece of cheese, battered and filled with craters and deep holes, was now painted white with a sheet of ice enveloping more than half of the stadium. Pikes of ice rose up where the ground was once uneven, making it seem as if the battlefield was a monster that had just grown a few sharp teeth.
"What a wonderful move. As expected from Ash Ketchum, the battlefield is filled with ice now!"
But wasn't a field effect moot, Cilan thought, considering how Landorus was high up in the sky. What exactly was Ash gunning for here?
Tobias was under a similar thought process as the mist slowly settle down, revealing the frozen battle ground along with a smirking Ash and the grinning face monster Glalie watching their handiwork with delight.
There was no meaning to the move he made. Ash could perhaps reveal some kind of surprise or the other if he was to wait and see, but Tobias wasn't in the mood. He would rather destroy Ash's team quickly over watch him make another crazed move that could potentially defeat him.
As if in agreement, even Landorus flew down to position, and waited at a respectable distance to launch any attack.
"Landorus," he yelled to the levitating Pokémon. "Stone Edge!"
The Therian Forme responded to his command by tensing its limbs together and prepared a circular array of rocks that would remind one of an asteroid belt. The Pokémon then focused the sharp rocks at once and shot them at the grounded Pokémon like bullets from a machine gun.
Ash exclaimed. "Dodge it!"
How on earth would his limbless Glalie dodge a fast moving projectile like that, Tobias couldn't help but wonder.
His answer came not a moment later, when the Pokémon he was clearly judgmental about performed a feat that blanked his mind. The Headbutt Pokémon pitched itself like a Billiard ball onto the sheet of ice it had created with its previous attack. The Pokémon using the pillars of ice that filled the stadium bounced back and forth, raising its momentum slowly as it slid everywhere across the stadium.
As he watched Glalie in wonder, the bullet-like projectiles of Stone Edge rained on the ice, failing to land a single hit on the Pokémon that now moved faster than his eyes could comprehend. The sharp stones that rained on the ground, struck to the sheet of ice like nails on the wall, creating minor insignificant cracks in the process.
"Incredible! Glalie's using the ice to its advantage! This is an unusual way to dodge an attack!"
"Glalie," the boy didn't give enough time for Tobias to be awestruck. "Spin and use Ice Beam!"
Ash's command snapped Tobias out of his awe. "Landorus, fly out of its reach!"
The scene repeated itself as Landorus thrust itself up high into the sky, Glalie jumped as high as it could thanks to the momentum boosted up by the fast motion. It began spinning about itself as it prepared the bluish-white energy between either of its horns and shot it in the direction of airborne Pokémon. The spinning coupled by the multiple beam attacks the Pokémon shot out created streaks of icy-lines that spun about the center, Glalie, making it seem like a supernova.
However, despite the brilliance of the attack, it failed to reach the Therian Forme that flew as high into the sky as it could. That's when Ash surprised Tobias again.
"Turn around," he yelled. "Aim your attack at the ground!"
'Another field effect?' Tobias was startled. Yes, Ash used field effects from what he heard about him but two in a row?
Tobias, who expected the legendary to be the target of the move, couldn't do anything but watch silently as Ash did his job. The supernova made of ice twisted to face the ground. Tobias couldn't comprehend what was happening as the icy streaks simply struck the ground. However his mind blew when he saw what happened after that.
The Ice Beam that made contact with the pillars that stood on the frozen field slowly started to build up more ice as the Pokémon continued to spin around. The previously sharp pikes grew into a multi-layered spiral structure as the Ice Beam twisted its growth along with its own spiraling movements. In only a few seconds, what was just a plain frozen stadium with a few ice pikes turned into a huge spiraling structure that extended seven feet high up into the sky. The resulting structure was a sheer brilliance made of a very thin layer of ice.
The ice pillars standing on the field made first contact with the supernova shaped attack. The sharp pikes that made contact with the ice beam started to build up more ice as the Pokémon continued to spin about itself, causing the sharp pointy crystals of ice slowly grow into a multi-layered spiral structure thanks to the Ice Beam's spiraling movements. In only a few seconds, what looked like a simple Ice battlefield, turned into a marvelous spire that extended to a height of seven feet.
And all of that took only three seconds for Glalie.
"W…WOAH! What a brilliant move! Glalie has created massive rings of ice using a spinning Ice Beam. This reminds me of the roller-coasters in Nimbasa City! Am I watching a contest battle?"
"Wow that's," Brock stood dead like a rock. "I know controlling the battlefield is his specialty, but this is…."
Unbelievable. The first layer of ice made by Blizzard wasn't just a move made to compensate Glalie's lack of feet and speed but also to act as a foundation to the bigger structure, the spiral of ice that now stood before them.
"What a wonderful taste," Cilan's eyes shone at the sheer brilliance of the structure. "The timing and his sync with Glalie are perfect." He spread his arms, "Each of his Pokémon has its own unique battle style and each of them is as impressive as the next."
"Ash said," Alex said, folding his arms, looking at the structure. The smile on his face told Brock that he wasn't watching the structure for the first time, and knew more about it than they do. . "He was inspired by Dawn's Grand Festival appeal. It took us two weeks to develop Glalie's style completely."
The blunette who heard Alex's words brightened at this. "Did you see that Buneary," she said to the brown rabbit. "Ash was inspired by your performance. Isn't that cool?" The Pokémon jumped joyfully in agreement.
"But I wonder," Cilan scratched his chin. "Is this a way to improve Glalie's defense against Landorus's attacks? The spiral seems more like an impregnable fortress."
Alex chuckled at Cilan's comment. "Did Ash ever develop a move only for defense?"
Brock shifted his attention to the battle. Tobias's eyebrows were knitted in a frown. The legendary trainer knew something was up too. He had been ruthless ever since he sent Landorus out. He didn't waste any moment gloating around. He was jumping straight into the battle, commanding his Pokémon to perform the best attacks at its disposal and crush Ash's Pokémon with everything he had got. That was Tobias at full power.
"Landorus," the legendary trainer commanded his Pokémon. "Stone Edge!"
The same move again? Brock wondered. Stone Edge had clearly failed the first time. He could perhaps be throwing off an attack to make Ash move and see what he was planning on doing.
As soon as the command came from Tobias's side, Ash sent out his own command immediately. "Dodge and use Gyro Ball!"
As Landorus prepared the array of stones, Glalie skid across the ice field, repeating its original move. If hitting Glalie was highly improbable earlier, it was completely impossible now. The rain of projectiles that came down from the sky had a multi-layered spiral of ice on its way towards the ground. Most of the sharp projectiles never made it to the ground.
A few chipped the spiral casing and bounced away, a few pierced right through the sheets, breaking the spire but couldn't move past one layer thanks to the bottom layers backing them up. The very few numbers that managed to hit the ground were far from hitting a fast moving Glalie.
But Glalie didn't stop. The Pokémon while continuing its momentum began spinning about itself, shrouded by a blue glow of steel type energy. The Pokémon which now looked like a Top jumped onto the spiral casing and began ascending the structure.
"Ah!" Brock exclaimed, as he finally realized what the structure's true purpose was, which was to use the spire to let Glalie ascend high into the air, something it wouldn't be able to do normally.
"What the!" Tobias couldn't help but exclaim in surprise when he saw Glalie quickly spin along the spire and climb the height in no time. It jumped from one slide to the other whenever necessary, preventing itself from crashing because of the broken parts of ice.
"What an extraordinary ability! Glalie's using the spiral to attack the airborne opponent!"
Before he even understood what was going on, Glalie climbed to the top and launched itself right at the equally surprised Therian legend. In its last minute desperation, putting the strength it took pride in, to the test, Landorus tried to tackle the Gyro Ball head on, a move that only resulted in a skull-cracking pain that sent the Pokémon flying away.
To the legendary's credit, Glalie had completely lost its momentum and fell towards the ground, after crashing against one of its ice spire in the process. It was amazing how the structure stood after so many cracks and breakages. It was mostly due to the support given by the crisscrossing of different layers.
"Now that's what I call some damage!"
"Glalie," the raven-haired boy yelled. "One more time, Gyro Ball!"
The Pokémon balanced itself as it reached the ground and began its spinning attack again. It climbed upon the spire with ease while Landorus still struggled to get ahold of its balance. The attack was extremely painful, even to the legendary, which boasted one of the greatest defenses even among the Legendary Pokémon.
There was no time for him. If Glalie's keeps this charade, he would lose his momentum pretty easily. It was time to destroy Ash's strategy once and for all.
"Landorus," he yelled. "Destroy the whole thing with Hyper Beam!"
The beast's crooked yellows eyes widened in excitement at the command. Although it was a peace keeper in its Incarnate Forme, Landorus tended to like destruction in its beastly Therian Forme. The Pokémon wide opened its jaws and shot the dynamic, carrying that carried enough momentum to destroy a whole building if it wanted, let alone ice.
The destruction that came afterward, left everyone stunned in silence.
"Glalie," Ash yelled as he noticed Landorus position itself for the destructive beam. "Steer Clear!"
In the nick of time as the beam was aimed at the spiral structure, the Headbutt Pokémon abruptly stopped its spinning motion and braked itself to a stop, following that it jumped out of the spiral just as the plates of ice began to crumble at the attack's impact.
Dawn watched as the purple beam strike the structure right on it's top. The flanges of ice broke apart as the beam ripped its way through each of the rings that formed the structure. The heat the attack exhumed was enough to melt the areas of ice it came in contact with, vaporizing it immediately and the ice flakes that were unharmed by the heat, cracked into a million pieces thanks to the impact, creating a noise similar to the shattering of glass.
"What a destructive force! Landorus has crushed Glalie's Ice Fortress in no time!"
The thick fog that enveloped the structure disappeared, revealing what lay after the mass of destruction. The sheet of ice that covered the stadium was broken into patches, revealing the soft mud that lay underneath the layer of frost. Most of the ice which was at the center of destruction had vaporized into thin air while the parts that were farther away still remained intact. Had Hyper Beam been a widespread move, the entire ice would have been melted into nothing by then.
"W-Wow," the blunette noticed Misty mutter. Dawn observed that the redhead was fazed by the crushing power of Hyper Beam. A similar reaction could be seen on the faces of everyone who watched the battle. Almost everyone who watched the feat Landorus pulled was intimidated at that moment.
The scene was more than a bit jarring to the blunette. She had been comparing Glalie's move with one of her contest battles. She honestly liked the concept of building an ice structure and using it to her advantage. But the way Tobias destroyed it in just one blow discouraged her. In addition to the fact that it was a huge blow to one's self confidence, if this were a contest battle, Glalie would have lost half its points already.
'How will you handle this, Ash?' She wondered.
Ash had always been a source of inspiration for her. She liked his confidence and the way he would jump back even after a crushing loss. If it weren't for the journey she had with him and Brock, maybe she would have returned home right after losing the Hearthome and Solaceon contest in quick succession. The way Ash would react now would determine how she should react when she faced an extremely powerful opponent.
"Hyper Beam's side-effect has rendered Landorus unable to launch another move for a while. How will Ash use this opportunity?"
As if to agree with Freddy's words, Landorus pushed itself high up, deciding to stay away from Glalie's reach.
The raven-haired boy however answered the question with his next command. "Glalie, spin and use Blizzard!"
"Again?" Tobias raised an eyebrow. The legendary trainer was befuddled by Ash's next command. He had already done something awesome through the combination of Blizzard, Ice Beam and Gyro Ball, what was he planning to do next?
The Face Pokémon complied with its trainer's command and began spinning while letting out the blast of icy wind again. As the face monster spun about itself, creating a storm of ice around itself, it propelled itself towards the airborne Landorus. Unlike its previous jumps, it didn't use the momentum from drifting across the ice or the ice spirals; it simply propelled itself towards the beast, making Tobias doubt the Pokémon's chances of actually hitting Landorus. But of course, it didn't take more than a second for him to realize that he was utterly wrong with his predictions.
Unlike its previous two attempts, the face monster had this time used Blizzard to shoot itself high into the sky. The burst of wind aided by the Pokémon's spin caused the light Pokémon to rocket towards the legendary Therian Forme, leaving a trail of a swirling snowstorm that dispersed in all the directions, making both trainers and the referee tremble with the cold.
"Inconceivable! Ketchum is pulling yet another wonderful move!"
Tobias, much to his credit reacted almost immediately. "Send it back to the ground!"
The beast jumped at the approaching monster and attempted to swat it hard with its tail that was more solid than a bar of steel. However—
Ash's face brightened all of the sudden, his face expression screaming that he was expecting the move from Tobias. The boy's excitement gave him a chill, as he realized he was falling into another of the boy's traps. "Grab its tail!"
The face monster as it continued to spin, opened its mouth and clamped the hard tail that was slammed onto it, with powerful jaws at once. The legendary beast groaned in pain, thanks to the attack on its sensitive part. The ice type continued to spin, Landorus's tail clenched between its teeth, pulling the legendary along with itself.
The raven-haired boy didn't stop at that. "Now, toss it towards the ground!"
Before the beast could get a hold of itself, the face monster pulled the beast down with enormous strength and sent it towards the ground.
The beast recovered the short fall before touching the ground, and managed to prevent itself from touching the ground. However—
Ash continued his barrage of moves. "Follow it up with Water Pulse!"
The volley of attacks from the ice type continued. Aiming to defeat the ground type, he ordered his Pokémon to launch the water type move, Water Pulse. But—
"Dodge!"
Tobias was on his toes. Pokémon battling was all about giving quick reactions to your opponent's moves. Sure, you might be a good theorist who speaks volumes about type advantages and strategies, but when you happen to be in an actual battle, your reactions must be quick. Hesitation was something a Pokémon trainer could never afford.
The quick reaction on Tobias's part helped the legendary at his helm. As Glalie opened its creepy jaws, exposing the strings of saliva that stretched like rubber, revealing an orb of water energy condensed perfectly into a sphere. The face monster dropped the bomb of energy, but the beast which was more than prepared for the attack, moved away from the shot.
However, there was a good reason why Ash chose Water Pulse over Ice Beam or Blizzard as his next move, and in the split second of time where he was forced to tell Landorus to dodge, Tobias obviously couldn't have fathomed what exactly it was..
The sphere of hydro energy exploded on reaching the ground, giving birth to a wave that rose up like a Tsunami, and proceeded to crash over the surprised legendary beast. The ground type let out a whimper as the wave dragged it along before splattering all over the field, dragging the beast onto the wet battleground.
"Water Pulse hits the mark! It's supereffective!"
Tobias gritted his teeth. That wasn't what he had expected to happen.
"Rrraaand!" Landorus whimpered as it brought itself back to its feet. Water dripped down its orange fur, joining the puddle of water that was collected near the Pokémon's feet. The Pokémon glared at its adversary, obviously not enjoying the move it was hit upon. But the latter didn't have the time to mind its glare, as its trainer was already preparing for another move.
The tide of the battle changed at last. The direct hit from Water Pulse did a considerable amount of damage, giving us the momentum we wanted. Throughout the battle Landorus has been dodging our moves, avoiding any direct hits and stayed at a safe distance while threatening us with powerful long ranged moves like Hyper Beam and Stone Edge. But we have finally brought it to where we want.
Glalie's exhausted from all the attacking we had done. A full scale Blizzard on the field, a spinning Ice Beam, a spinning Blizzard and a water Pulse, all these moves might have taken a lot out of Glalie. It didn't take any damage, so we were good in that aspect, but its energy would run out soon.
All these factors considered, it didn't take me much time to decide my next move. Yes, no matter how I see it, there's nothing stopping us from finishing this match when I utter the next few words.
"Finish it off with Ice Beam!"
My command came out as soon as the wave created by Water Pulse settled down. One of the important things I have learnt through years of Pokémon battling: Never hesitate.
Despite its immense exhaustion from the continuous barrage of powerful moves, Glalie prepared to launch one final move. It focused the icy energy between its horns and prepared to launch the freezing wave at Landorus.
But—
In the nick of time, as the Ice Beam was launched by the monster to finish the legendary Pokémon, Tobias uttered the strangest word I would have ever expected in that moment.
"Psychic."
'What did he just say?' I froze at that moment.
The Ice Beam that was supposed to strike the beast, freeze its orange fur never managed to reach Landorus. The beast's black irises shone with a purple aura as an invisible force held the ice beam in air, stopping it dead in its tracks.
'No, this isn't happening!' I screamed on the inside. Ground type Pokémon don't learn Psychic type moves with the exception of part Psychic and ghost types. How did Landorus even do that move? Hundreds of questions plagued my mind at once.
No, a situation like that wasn't the time to mope about the 'why' or the 'how'. I couldn't just afford to be shocked like that. In a Pokémon battle, one must be able to handle the most stunning moments and still be able to counterattack. That's when you could call yourself a good Pokémon trainer.
Clenching my teeth, hiding my surprise I let out the next command. "Glalie, Blizzard!"
At that moment, I thought it was my perfect chance to finish the battle in one go. A Blizzard from such a close range would be impossible to dodge and not to mention extremely powerful. Even Psychic shouldn't be able to stop a wide ranged move like Blizzard. But—
The realization hit me when a smirk spread across Tobias's face. I completely forgot the simple difference between the situation when I ordered the Ice Beam and the moment when I ordered the Blizzard.
Landorus wasn't vulnerable anymore, and Glalie was.
Tobias caught on my slip up, and didn't waste a second contemplating on capitalizing it. "Hyper Beam," he muttered the words with a calm expression.
Before I knew what was happening, the beast let out the purple beam of destruction against the face monster that let out the Blizzard at the same time. The dynamic attack shot like a comet, completely ignoring the cold winds that opposed it and proceeded to strike the Face Pokémon head on. The next thing my mind registered was an explosion behind me, as the hot beam whizzed past us, taking away my Pokémon along with it.
The silence returned, this time more dreadful than the last. I could see numerous eyes looking at something behind me, aghast. My hands shook, not because it was cold, but because I was too scared to turn back, not wanting to see my Pokémon fainted and unable to battle. But at the same time, I couldn't ignore my Pokémon in such a state.
"Pika Pi!" The electric rodent gasped as it turned behind. Exchanging a wary glance with the rodent, I looked at the huge smoke collected below the stands, on the thick boundary wall separating the interior of the stadium from the field. . As the smoke cleared out, a huge crater was seen on the pink coated walls, and like a meteorite that crashed from the outer space, Glalie lay there, stuck against the wall, eyes closed and unconscious.
The referee's voice rang behind me. "Glalie is unable to battle, Landorus-T wins the round."
(4-4)Ash Ketchum - Tobias (3-5)
Staraptor - Darkrai
Infernape - Raikou
Garchomp - Landorus-T
Glalie -
"One hit! One Hyper Beam from Landorus ends the match! Tobias's Landorus is frightening!"
"I-Impossible…." Alex stood astonished, his face turned pale. Mirroring his posture, even Ash stood like a lifeless tree, watching his fainted Pokémon with a blank expression on his face.
'How did this happen?' He was too shocked to understand. Few seconds ago, Glalie was about to win the match and now…..it was lying there unconscious and defeated.
The crowd finally broke out of its trance and gave a small cheer to the legendary Pokémon trainer. The said trainer closed his eyes, enjoying the applause pouring out from many directions, a satisfied smile on his face. The round was proof that Tobias wasn't necessarily a poor trainer, and could in fact make some good moves when he wasn't flaunting. He deserved the applause, Alex thought. 'Not that he would get any from me,' he added silently.
"Ash panicked," Professor Oak said, breaking the silence that stood amidst the row of the raven-haired boy's supporters.
"Do you mean—" Brock paused whatever he was about to say for some reason. He looked at Alex, as if to check the older man's reaction.
"That Psychic caused him to panic," Alex said, shifting his glance towards the field where the raven-haired was taking back his defeated Pokémon back into the Pokéball. "I don't blame him," the ex-trainer muttered. Ash had raised ground types like Donphan, Gliscor and Garchomp. Ground types usually learn physical moves like ground, steel and rock and a few poison based moves. Psychic was the least one would expect from a ground and flying type.
"It's in human nature to make mistakes when it counts the most," Professor Oak said, holding the frown on his face. "I would've done worse if I were in his place."
That was true. The battle had been unfair right from the beginning. While it took numerous hits for Ash's Pokémon to defeat Tobias's, all they needed was one move to finish the round. No matter how careful Ash was, it would be nigh on impossible to not make a mistake if he was surprised like that when he was on his toes all the time.
'Your game plan has been crushed, Ash. Now what will you do?' Alex wondered.
A good Pokémon trainer wasn't someone who never does a mistake. A good trainer was someone who would rise up from these mistakes and win.
"Thank you Glalie," I muttered as the red light sucked the ice type Pokémon back in. I lowered my hat before turning back towards my opponent, guessing the expression on his face. Just as I expected, there was a haughty smile on his face. I didn't know what was more painful, the fact that I lost a Pokémon so easily or the fact that I missed a brilliant chance to finish Landorus once and for all.
I took my victory for granted. Ice Beam was only inches away from Landorus when he used Psychic. He didn't have enough time to make a Hyper Beam when I ordered Ice Beam. So, I thought I had bagged the match already. If this match had taught me anything, it's the fact that a match isn't over until the referee says so. Had I been less complacent during that moment, maybe I wouldn't have ordered a Blizzard and used a Water Pulse to weaken Hyper Beam instead. Then I could have used the recharge time and finished the—
'No, I shouldn't be worrying about what I should have done.' I had lost two Pokémon already, and not to mention Garchomp had taken some huge damage from that direct contact Earth Power. I was in the lead before Landorus came out but it took a 180 degree turn after that.….
"Pikapi," the rodent muttered my name, looking at me worriedly.
I gave him an assuring smile. "I know Pikachu. I won't be discouraged so easily." It's true that I had fallen behind on the score board, but I had been in worse situations than that before. "Just watch buddy. I'll turn the game around again."
I had to keep in mind that Landorus knew Psychic too. It means I had to be careful even while using long ranged attacks. Tobias might try using the Psychic and Hyper Beam combination again. Staraptor and Garchomp won't be able to do anything against Landorus. Maybe I should use him.
I wanted to save him for Latios, but judging by how things were going, sending him next would be the appropriate choice. It's true I had to deviate from the strategy I had planned, but adapting to a situation in a battle was more important.
"Alright," I said, enlarging my fifth Pokéball. "I am counting on you," I muttered to the Pokémon hiding inside the contraption before tossing it onto the battlefield. "Scrafty, I choose you!"
With a pop sound, the ball exploded with a bright flash of energy and quickly transformed into the three foot tall bipedal creature that could be easily mistaken for a young boy wearing a fancy dress on Halloween. The Pokémon possessed a reddish brown skin with black scales, and a red crest similar to a Mohawk on its head. The Pokémon held onto the loose yellow skin on its lower part, as if it were wearing oversized pants. The gray eyelids that usually showed signs of laziness in most other Pokémon of the same species carried an aggressive and somewhat haughty look.
"Wow, it's Scrafty!" Iris exclaimed upon recognizing the Hoodlum Pokémon. As a Scraggy, Scrafty had a rivalry with her Axew. Either Pokémon were equally inexperienced and fitted each other as training partners. Watching the same Pokémon now evolved into a Scrafty and facing a legendary Pokémon somehow excited her.
"Ash has sent out his fifth Pokémon, Scrafty! Now this is definitely an interesting choice. What kind of surprises does Ash still have in store?"
(5-4)Ash Ketchum - Tobias (3-5)
Staraptor - Darkrai
Infernape - Raikou
Garchomp - Landorus-T
Glalie -
Scrafty -
"Why use a fighting type?" Dawn couldn't help but pose the question to the two older men sitting to her left.
Alex rested his chin on one hand, covering the expression on his lips in the process. "He could be having some kind of strategy," he muttered, before giving a brief pause. "Or maybe not. This is Ash we are talking about. We don't know when he's being desperate or when he has a plan."
Brock grunted in agreement. Iris couldn't help but feel the same way. Ash lost Glalie, which was his best bet against Landorus. Garchomp took some severe damage from the same Pokémon a bit earlier, so it wasn't wise to send it out to face Landorus again. Staraptor could perhaps deal with it, but there was the risk of being hit with Stone Edge. The fact that he chose Scrafty out of his remaining two unrevealed Pokémon could perhaps mean it had some sort of significant advantage that could let it do well against Landorus. But if Ash was really in a desperate situation, and if he sent out Scrafty because his sixth and final Pokémon wouldn't fare any better than a fighting type, then Ash was in some real trouble.
So, what was it?
"You've opted to send a fighting type against my Landorus," Tobias said, scrutinizing his opponent. The expression on Ash's face was blank, apart from the frown he had been maintaining from the start. Was he desperate or did he have a plan? Tobias couldn't figure out from his face expression. But he was positive that Ash could be having some sort of hidden motive behind the move he just made. He would have to shake up Ash a bit to get the answer. "It seems like you are out of Pokémon that can face Landorus. This battle is as good as mine."
The boy fell to the taunt, as evident from his furrowed eyebrows. "You don't know that yet," he said, attempting to bluff his way out. "We are going to win this match with Scrafty's guts."
So he was desperate.
The Hoodlum Pokémon, as if to support its trainer's words, stepped forward and glared at Landorus, much like its predecessor Glalie. Ash's Pokémon were definitely good in the determination department. But there was only so much determination could take you in a battle against supreme legendary Pokémon.
But then, the Scrafty did something else that surprised everyone. Instead of simply glaring like its predecessor, it raised one if it's scrawny hands and taunted the legendary beast hovering in the air to come at it.
"Rrannd?" Even Landorus let out a low growl in surprise. There were very few Pokémon that were actually headstrong enough to taunt Landorus.
"Scraf!" The Pokémon waved its finger again in a provocative matter. "Scraf! Scrafty!"
Landorus's muscles tensed, followed by a low growl of dissent from the legendary Pokémon's side. 'Unbelievable.' Tobias couldn't help but smile at the scene. That Scrafty had some real guts to taunt Landorus like that, he could say for sure. 'So this is what Ash was talking about.'
"Well, what do we have here? Scrafty is taunting Landorus to attack. Now friends, I don't think anyone could be this brave or stupid! At least not after seeing what Landorus is capable of."
"If that's how you want it," Tobias said, brushing his hair back. "Let's see how well your Scrafty can actually do against Landorus."
"Just watch Tobias," Ash said, the smile returning to his face. "Scrafty will defeat Landorus, and I will defeat you."
Tobias simply smiled at Ash's proclamations, he was confident that the odds of Ash winning against him were one against a million.
"Landorus-T versus Scrafty," the referee raised the red and green flags at once. "Let the battle commence!"
'Calm down, Ash' I comforted myself as I took another look at the scoreboard.
(5-4)Ash Ketchum - Tobias (3-5)
Staraptor - Darkrai
Infernape - Raikou
Garchomp - Landorus-T
Glalie -
Scrafty -
'The scoreboard wasn't that bad, was it?' I had revealed two extra Pokémon than Tobias, but that was it. Staraptor didn't take any damage, although the continuous attacking must have taken out a lot of its energy and stamina. Garchomp took some severe damage and spent a lot of energy too. On the other hand—
Darkrai took heavy damage, but it didn't spend much energy in attacking. It was still a dangerous opponent to deal with. And Landorus….
Garchomp and Glalie dealt some good damage and not to mention it had spent a lot of energy into those Hyper Beams.
'I have to believe in my Pokémon.' I reminded myself. The situation had turned upside down ever since Landorus was sent out, but we could still turn this battle around. All I had to do was believe in my Pokémon.
"Landorus-T versus Scrafty," the referee raised the red and green flags at once. "Let the battle commence!"
The signal from the referee was my cue to get into the action. "Scrafty," I ordered the Hoodlum Pokémon. "Use Focus Blast!"
Having lowered its guard, now that the threat from Ice Beam was no longer there, Landorus levitated only a few feet away from Scrafty, ready to pounce on the fighting type at its trainer's command.
The fighting type took this to its advantage. With a speed, unexpected from the likes of its species, Scrafty lunged at the awaiting Landorus, holding its 'pants' with one hand while preparing a orb of fighting energy with the other.
The legendary beast kicked itself up, as the bipedal lizard approached it, reducing the gap between either Pokémon with each step it took.
"Now, Scrafty!" I yelled.
The gap between the Pokémon was small enough for Scrafty to cover the last few steps with a single leap. But at the same time, Landorus attempted to fly up high, in order to avoid the attack that was about to be thrown at it. But—
Scrafty took a sudden leap after the running and rocketed towards the fleeing Landorus, with the huge ball of energy in one hand, like a basketball player who was about to dunk the ball into the net. The legendary however proved impossible to be dunked, as it was much higher than what Scrafty could reach, even with its powerful jumps.
The legendary, turning complacent with Scrafty's inability to reach its height turned towards the lizard creature to give it a haughty glare, only to take the Focus Blast on its face, which was tossed by the Hoodlum Pokémon in its desperation. The attack exploded on Landorus's face, causing the legendary to reel back in pain.
Scrafty landed on the ground, a moment later, a victorious grin on its face as it watched Landorus struggle in the air. The attack might have been not-very-effective but a blast on its face would have still knocked a bit out of Landorus.
"Scrafty lands a powerful Focus Blast right on Landorus's face. The damage done might not be great as fighting type moves are not very effective on flying types, but that was still a solid move from Ash!"
"Awesome, Scrafty!" I encouraged the Pokémon. The Hoodlum turned back and gave a slight nod in response.
'We can win if we continue like this.' I thought to myself. 'Landorus will try to make a head on attack next.' All I had to was stay patient and wait for the right moment to attack.
"That was a good move," Tobias said, the haughtiness on his face not fading. "But that attack hardly did any damage to my Landorus."
I switched my attention to the beast hovering in the air, only to find out that the damage taken by the Pokémon was minimal, as evident from the expression on its face. The attack probably just did a bit more than a small bruise on its face. Landorus had some excellent defense amongst the Pokémon I had faced till then. Expecting Focus Blast to do much damage was stupid.
"But I will still win," I said, smirking at him. 'All I have to do was believe in Scrafty's dodging skills.'
"Landorus," Tobias took the offense. "Earth Power."
Earth Power.
Landorus had a unique way of using Earth Power. Rather than using the attack on the ground, it would use Earth Power directly on the Pokémon and damage it with the seismic waves. I had to be extra careful.
"Heads up," I said, warning the Pokémon as Landorus lunged at the bipedal creature. Spreading its paws, Landorus pounced at the Pokémon just as I yelled. "Dodge and Jump!"
Flipping on its back, Scrafty jumped away from Landorus's agile pounce, causing the legendary Pokémon's attack to land on the field instead. The seismic waves immediately spread from where the beast landed in the form of ripples that cracked the ground as if it were a cookie. But the fighting type was quick enough to jump high before the crack passed through where it landed earlier.
"Scrafty's in the air! Earth Power fails to damage Ash's Pokémon!"
"Scrafty," I ordered. "Hi Jump Kick."
Placing one of its knees forward, the Pokémon lunged towards the legendary beast, in order to maim the Pokémon using the momentum created from jumping up high. Before the legendary could react to the move, the Pokémon's hard knee bone crashed onto its thick skull with a noise similar to that when a door was slammed open.
"Rraaanddd!" Landorus grunted in pain as the force of the attack pushed it away from the airborne Scrafty, which now flipped back before landing on the ground, a few feet away from the beast.
"Alright, Scrafty!" I yelled as Pikachu cried the same in agreement. The said Pokémon crossed its arms and gave a toothy grin to its opponent and the trainer.
"Another attack right on the mark! Scrafty manages to deal some nice damage through a powerful Hi Jump Kick! Could this match turn in Ash's favor again?"
'Yes, it will.' I had to be strong and careful, and everything would fall right in place. "Get ready, Scrafty. Let's defeat Landorus and show how we strong we are!"
"Go, go Scrafty!" Iris was literally screaming as she pounded the drums. "Just keep attacking like that!"
While the rest of the crew gave the enthusiastic gym leader a smile of encouragement, Professor Oak scratched his chin, as if in deep thought. "How long can he keep this up, though?"
"Fighting type moves can only deal so much damage," Brock said, watching Landorus shake its head and snarl at Scrafty for the pain it had just inflicted on the beast. "Even if Scrafty seems like it's winning, the fact is Ash will remain at a disadvantage as long as Landorus can stay conscious."
It was true, Iris realized. Right now, Ash had revealed Focus Blast and Hi Jump Kick, either of which was fighting type moves. Perhaps it was safe to say that he didn't have a move that could deal some significant damage to Landorus. Even if it was tired form the previous battles, it would take quite an amount of effort to bring Landorus down. And all of that provided Scrafty dodged each of Landorus's attacks.
Why did Ash chose Scrafty then? Was his sixth Pokémon a much worse choice against Landorus? What could it possibly be?
"Team building was never one of Ash's strong points," the old Professor said, remembering his own criticism on Ash's team formation back in the Johto league during the battle with Harrison.
Iris expected Alex to add a word or two, but he remained rather silent.
"I've dragged this enough," Tobias muttered to himself. The battle should have been long since finished, he was waiting for Ash to reveal some kind of surprise card like he always did, but the battle was only turning blander and blander. He wouldn't be able to finish Landorus any time soon with just fighting type moves. Maybe that was all to his worth. "Let's settle it quickly," he waved his arm with finality. "Landorus, finish it off with Hyper Beam!"
"Scrafty," Ash yelled immediately in response. "Charge in, double Focus Blast!"
Letting out a cry, Scrafty charged against the beast that prepared to open its jaws to finish the battle once and for all, the Hoodlum preparing two orbs of energy as it did so.
"Scrafty's going for a head on attack!"
'Even a double Focus Blast can hardly stop Landorus,' Tobias thought to himself. "Landorus, now!"
"Scrafty, Go!" Ash exclaimed at the same time.
Scrafty was the first to launch its attack. As Landorus attempted to release the purple beam of destruction, the Pokémon tossed its first Focus Blast, perhaps in an attempt to foil Landorus's concentration. But the legendary was smart enough to not fall for the trick. It ducked underneath the attack, before proceeding to release its Hyper Beam. However—
Scrafty immediately launched the second Focus Blast, right after the first one. The beast launched its own attack just as Scrafty's Focus Blast approached it. The purple beam and the ball of energy struck each other, the former penetrating the latter, creating a blinding explosion that whipped up a huge amount of dust and grey smoke along with it. Not a second later, the ground shook thanks to the impact of Hyper Beam striking the ground.
The legendary trainer had to cover his eyes from the flash resulting from the explosion. The Hyper Beam clearly overpowered Scrafty's Focus Blast. The question was, whether Scrafty was destroyed by the same attack or not. If Hyper Beam hits, then Scrafty would be knocked out or at least heavily damaged. If not—
"Wow, what is this!"
The commentator exclaimed all of a sudden, alerting the legendary trainer. No sooner did the commentator's words come out, something fast shot out of the grey smoke, much to Tobias's surprise. The Hoodlum Pokémon jumped on top of the Landorus that was caught unaware thanks to the explosion created by the collision of Hyper Beam and Focus Blast.
"What the!" Tobias exclaimed. When the hell did Scrafty—
"Incredible! Using the explosion as a camouflage, Scrafty sneaked in through the confusion and has managed to land on top of Landorus."
It made sense all of a sudden. Ash ordered Scrafty to charge in and use Focus Blast. The two Focus Blasts were sent in quick succession. The first one was dodged by Landorus but the second one was already on its way as Landorus prepared to launch the Hyper Beam, forcing the legendary Pokémon to attack the Focus Blast instead of Scrafty.
'Hmm, so it's a brilliant move.' Tobias thought sarcastically. It still doesn't make a difference because Scrafty wouldn't be able to hit them back with some good damage.
"Landorus, shake it off!"
The beast struggled to pull down the bipedal that was now having a free ride atop the legendary Pokémon. The Pokémon attempted to throw it off balance by shaking its body vigorously. But the fighting type held onto its furs with its nimble fingers that wouldn't let go of it.
"Landorus attempts to lose Scrafty, but this little guy is too stubborn to let go of Landorus so easily! What will Tobias do?!"
If that didn't work, he would have to do the same thing he did to Ash's Pikachu back in Sinnoh League. He would have to—
"Let's finish this match with the next move Scrafty," the raven haired boy said, all of a sudden.
'What?'Tobias's mind went blank all of a sudden. What on earth was he talking about?
The frown on Ash's face disappeared and instead a confident smile took its place. The boy curled his fists and punched in the air. "Finish off with Ice Punch."
Ice….Punch? Tobias's face went pale, as if someone drained away every little drop of blood in his face.
The Hoodlum Pokémon held onto Landorus with its left hand while raising its right fist to prepare the move it had been hiding all along. The Pokémon's hand began to glow with a whitish blue energy as it prepared to land its fists on Landorus's back.
'RRAAAND?' The legendary beast squirmed as hard as it could to make sure the supereffective attack didn't land on its body. But the Pokémon's efforts remained futile as the Hoodlum Pokémon's icy fist landed on the Pokémon's back like a hammer.
The icy energy immediately grew from the point the punch was made and quickly spread across the legendary Pokémon's body, freezing each and every of its limbs. The frozen Pokémon crashed onto the ground like a lifeless statue, causing the ice to shatter as soon as it made contact with the field.
The whole world seemed to have frozen at that moment. The stadium was pin drop silent. Tobias couldn't muster even a single coherent thought. He stood there like a statue, his jaws open in surprise, and his eyes unable to believe the scene before him.
Landorus lay sprawled on the floor, letting out a small whimpers as it breathed. The Pokémon's orange fur was filled with small crystals made up of ice, and red gashes created by the shattering of the ice.
"Landorus is unable to battle," the referee raised the flag. "Scrafty wins the battle."
(5-4)Ash Ketchum - Tobias (3-4)
Staraptor - Darkrai
Infernape - Raikou
Garchomp - Landorus-T
Glalie -
Scrafty -
A huge uproar hit the stadium immediately upon the confirmation of the news that the beastly Landorus was finally down.
"What a sudden twist! Scrafty launches a surprise Ice Punch to finish off Landorus in just one hit. Was this Ash's plan all along?!"
"Now this is what I call an anti-climax!" Cilan was almost screaming. He, much like the others was honestly doubtful of Ash's chances when he saw the raven-haired boy struggle with Focus Blast and Hi Jump Kick.
"He has been waiting for the right moment to use the move," Brock said, a genuine smile on his face. "I never expected Ash to do that, to be honest."
"You knew this all along didn't you?" Professor Oak asked Alex, who had a much brighter smirk on his face than his son.
The said man scratched his hair sheepishly, a trademark Ketchum reaction for embarrassment. "Well if I had told you before, you wouldn't have enjoyed the twist, wouldn't you?" Professor Oak let out a sigh at this. Like father, like son.
"The scoreboard's even," Delia said, taking snaps of the screen too. "Ash still has a good chance of winning."
"The real battle begins now though," Alex muttered. "Ash did a good job in giving Tobias some false security. I doubt it would work twice. He will be much more ruthless with his next Pokémon."
"We did it," I pumped my fist in exhilaration. The monstrous legendary Pokémon had finally hit the ground. It managed to defeat Infernape in its Blaze state, dealt some huge damage to Garchomp and defeated Glalie in just one hit. Looking at Landorus lying on the field, unconscious, made me very happy. We had finally put a full stop to the painful losses and capped it with a victory. "We can still win this, Pikachu." I told the rodent who nodded, equally happy with the news.
"You have done a good job of fooling us," Tobias applauded me, as he extracted a Pokéball out. The unconscious legendary was immediately sucked back into the Pokéball. "I fell for your tactics," he admitted, eyes closed.
I rubbed my nose at the comment. "Thanks. Defeating Landorus would be impossible if you knew we had Ice Punch all along." That's why we had to save it and act desperate till the end. I waited till he used Hyper Beam and then proceeded to finish with Ice Punch. I couldn't have done that if I didn't believe in Scrafty's ability to dodge that Hyper Beam.
Believing in my Pokémon was my power, and that's how I would walk along this long road to be a Pokémon Master.
"I am going to keep winning like this," I smirked at Tobias. "I'm going to defeat your next four Pokémon with the same momentum and win this match!"
Tobias simply scoffed at my words. "And I will take your challenge and use my full power to crush that determination of yours." He took out another Pokéball and enlarged it. "You have done a good job defeating Raikou and Landorus. I wonder how you will put up against—."
"The legendary bird of fire," He tossed the ball high into the air, one more time. "Moltres!"
Extra Materials:
Battle Mechanics:
Following the end of the battle between Ash and Tobias, I am planning to implement a much more concrete battle mechanics. Most of the rules are flexible as this is a fanfiction and not a game. So I could bend the rules for plot sake or flexibility. As long as I don't deviate too much from the battles.
1) Type effectiveness and how it works: Pokémon are magical creatures, with the ability to manipulate energies. Firstly, I would like to introduce you to the term element.
a) Special Element: A special element is pure energy derived from nature. Examples of these elements are fire, water, electricity, ice, and dragon.
b) Physical Element: A physical element is derived from within a Pokémon. For example all creatures which resemble bugs have this element with rare exceptions like Drapion. These elements have specific weaknesses. A Pokémon with a bug type body will hence be vulnerable to fire as the magical element in the Pokémon is weak to fire, another magical element. It works more like a chemical reaction.
All other types not included in Special come under Physical Element. However don't confuse this with the game's physical and special split. Special Attack and Attack don't exist here.
If something like an Onix is hit by an iron bar by a human, it won't feel the pain. However if a move like Iron Tail hits Onix, it will be inflicted with great pain.
2) Power: Power depends on individual Pokémon rather than the species. But the base parameters of a Pokémon's strength depend on its species. In terms of raw power, the strongest Pokémon is Tobias's Landorus.
More explanations in the next week. Readers are free to ask questions and give suggestions.
3) Ability to learn moves: Till now Pokémon weren't allowed to use more than four moves in this fanfiction. However this mechanics will change once Tobias's battle is over. A Pokémon will be able to learn moves that it is naturally capable of. These moves are called Base Moves.
For example, the base move of a Sceptile is Leaf Blade. Which means any Sceptile without fail will be able to use Leaf Blade.
For a Charizard, it will be Flamethrower, Ember, and Wing Attack.
For a Pikachu it will be Thundershock and Quick Attack, and for a Raichu it is Thunderbolt.
The base moves undergo level up with training. A Charizard with Flamethrower will learn Fire Blast with training, which means Fire Blast will also be counted as a base move once the Pokémon learns it. However specific techniques like Over Heat, Flare Blitz are considered "special techniques" and won't be considered a base move. However if a Pokémon learns a special technique then it can learn other special techniques of lower level and comes under the same category.
For example, Bullet Seed and Energy Ball come under the same category of moves. This means, if a Pokémon is able to use Energy Ball, then it will also be able to use Bullet Seed.
Every Pokémon can learn four additional/special techniques in addition to the base moves. In order to learn a new technique, it needs to 'forget' one of the other four. These special techniques are limited in number because a Pokémon cannot be physically be able to do more than four energy manipulations. In order for it to learn a new move, it would have to forego another technique..
The following are the base moves applicable for every Pokémon: Tackle, Pound, Scratch, Headbutt, Skull Bash and Agility. With the exception of a few Pokémon like Gastly, almost all Pokémon can learn these moves and use them in battles regardless of whether it can learn them ingame or not.
Further details and classification of moves into base moves and special techniques will be dealt in later chapters.
Next Chapter Preview (Anime Style):
Ash: Tobias sends out Moltres, the flaming phoenix. Moltres isn't any less than Landorus at all. I'm counting on you Staraptor. Let's combine Quick Attack and Aerial Ace!
Tobias: Foolish. You don't know about Moltres's legendary ability?
Ash: What, it can even dodge Staraptor's combination move?! Even Darkrai and Sceptile can't do that! Dammit, Staraptor watch out!
Tobias: Moltres, let's burn them into Ash.
Iris: Puns are such a pain.
Misty: You tell me.
Alex: Hey you, there's a freaking Moltres out there! Stop looking at my wife!
Next Chapter: 19. Scorching Moltres!
A question: Why do you think is Moltres able to dodge something even Pokemon much faster than it can't dodge? Explanation, next week!
Also guys, there's a poll on whether I should include Kalos Pokemon in this fic or not. If I have to include Kalos, then I would have to create a special island where these extremely rare Pokemon exist. And also, should I touch Mega Evolutions in this fic? It's certainly cool to see Ash's Mega Charizard beat the hell out of Cynthia's Garchomp...oops, is that as spoiler?
To those who are in dark about Mega Evolutions, Mega Evolutions is a new concept coming to the sixth generation games. Even evolved Pokemon can temporarily evolve into a fourth stage and battle with heightened abilities. Till now only Mega Mewtwo, Mega Lucario. Mega Blaziken, Mega Ampharos and Mega Mawile are revealed. But I am positive that all evolved Pokemon will get Mega forms.