19. Scorching Moltres
The battle till now: The first match of the Rosenburg PWT began with the underdog Ash Ketchum gaining control over the battle by pushing his opponent into the corner with an unbreakable offensive momentum. However, the tide shifted towards the top favorite, Tobias, when his Landorus put Ash's Infernape and Glalie down to the count, and managed to do a number on Garchomp. Ash recovered from the setback that broke his momentum and recalculated his strategy to put down the Beastly Landorus with the help of Scrafty, balancing the number of Pokémon each party had lost. Now, with Tobias's fourth Pokémon out, it's still unclear as for who had the upper hand in the match. Who will the goddess of victory favor? Ash or Tobias?
The huge flame resembling the league torch stood in the air magically, radiating an intense heat that could put a summer afternoon to shame. Although it was still an hour short of noon, the sky suddenly seemed dim, thanks to the bright red light casted by the cackling fire.
The immense presence should have normally instilled fear into those who watched it mesmerized, the amber reflecting in their eyes, as the colossal flame could burn anything into black soot. The blazing fire was simply enchanting and inspiring, digging out a kind of passion one would seldom experience from the depths of their hearts. Of course that goes double for a fifteen year old boy who had a fierce determination, an iron will that never rusts and a deep hunger for victory. . However, he couldn't enjoy watching the fire with the same enthusiasm he usually would because it wasn't some scenery to watch or a breathtaking art, it was his next opponent.
The flames spread apart as a giant bird manifested in its place, finally revealing its magnificent presence in the Lily of the Valley Stadium. The bird, almost as huge as a jet plane, was enveloped in a strange red glow. The legendary Pokémon possessed dazzling wings covered in flames, a blazing crest on its head and a long trail of fire that made its tail. The mystical creature opened its long orange beak and let out a screeching cry, forcing the onlookers to protect their eardrums from tearing up. The Pokémon's scream was enough to give the goose-bumps.
"Tobias's fourth Pokémon is the flaming phoenix, Moltres! How much more heated can this match get?"
(5-4) Ash Ketchum – Tobias (4-4)
Staraptor – Darkrai
Infernape – Raikou
Garchomp – Landorus-T
Glalie – Moltres
Scrafty -
"Moltres versus Scrafty," the referee announced, the energy in his voice remained the same since the beginning of the match. "Let the battle begin."
Ash Ketchum immediately took out the enlarged Pokéball he had long since prepared and called for the bipedal lizard. "Return, Scrafty." Once taking the Pokémon back, he briefly glanced at the Pokéball. "Thanks for the effort. Now take a good rest," he said before putting the ball back in its place, on his belt.
"A switch out from the green side. Could Ketchum be revealing his sixth and last Pokémon next?"
"I'm counting on you," the boy in his teens tossed another Pokéball, this time high into the sky. "Staraptor."
The Predator Pokémon made its reappearance right in the air, stretching its wings before flying up high to level itself with the legendary Pokémon and faced its next challenge, a creature almost twice its size. Grinding its beak, it let out a muffled growl with its closed mouth, attempting to intimidate the enormous bird with fierce red eyes. The flaming phoenix simply cried back in response, accepting the challenge.
"Staraptor is back! This time it will be facing a legendary bird, that's almost twice as big and not to mention packs quite a heat. Get ready for a hot and exciting aerial match, folks. Make sure to use the binoculars provided to not lose track of the details. If not, you can always look at the screen to keep up with these wonderful flying types!"
(5-4) Ash Ketchum – Tobias (4-4)
Staraptor – Darkrai
Infernape – Raikou
Garchomp – Landorus-T
Glalie – Moltres
Scrafty -
"Bird versus Bird," Misty muttered. "Typical Ash choice," she said in a sour tone, despite a touch of nostalgia hidden underneath.
Professor Oak chuckled at that. "Staraptor's Pokédex data says it can put up a great fight against Pokémon much larger than itself. Let's see how much of that is correct."
Meanwhile, Alex was in his own world of thoughts. "He sent out Staraptor instead of revealing his sixth, which could mean—"
"His last Pokémon could either be a grass or a bug type," Cilan said, sharing the line of thought. "If he had a water type, Ash would have definitely sent it out." Ash didn't necessarily follow the type chart, but at the same time he wouldn't blindly disregard it unless he had a plan.
"Then again," Brock said, smiling as he did so. "This is Ash. He could have sent Staraptor just to show Tobias who the better bird is."
Without a doubt Ash could be crazy enough to do that, Alex thought. His match against Blaine in the Cinnabar Island was the same. Both trainers used only fire type Pokémon despite Ash having the liberty to choose Pokémon with other types. The battle ended up with a matchup between Blaine's Magmortar and Ash's Charizard. The two Pokémon ended up melting the rocks in the battlefield as if they were made of ice.
The referee raised either flags again. "Moltres versus Staraptor, let the battle begin!"
"Burn them into dust," Tobias ordered. "Flamethrower."
"Go Staraptor!" Ash exclaimed in reply. "Use Quick Attack!"
The flaming phoenix cloaked in intense red radiation, opened its long beak and jutted out a column of fire at the target. The bright red flames, unwavered by the wind approached the smaller bird quickly, rivaling the speed of a Quick Attack. Dropping down, the latter effectively dodged the attack and shot towards the phoenix along an arc, aiming to hit the legendary Pokémon from below, while avoiding the span of its dangerous swan-like neck. A white aura of energy shrouded the Predator Pokémon as it rocketed along the arc to strike the bright orange silhouette flying under the blue sky. The legendary Pokémon twisted its neck to redirect its aim at the advancing bird.
However, the fire type, having suddenly realized that the other bird was in its proximity, closed its beak to hold back the flames it prepared to shoot out and flapped its long and powerful wings to push itself away from the rocketing Staraptor in the nick of time. Craning its neck at its opponent, the bird proceeded to shoot another column of fire. The Predator Pokémon, however, had opted not to stop after its charge at the legendary and proceeded to fly up much higher to escape the flames chasing it and dropped its altitude abruptly when the attack began to catch up with it, avoiding the nasty burn by a hair and continued to fly downwards.
The phoenix predicting the opponent's move repeated its attack after readjusting its aim, except the latter pulled itself up by flailing its wings and escaped the attack once again, albeit narrowly.
"Aerial Ace!" The smaller bird's trainer exclaimed.
As the phoenix proceeded to make a thirdFlamethrower, the hawk quickly darted above the flames and made an arc in the air before shrouding itself with the turbulent winds and shot towards the larger bird. As the two Pokémon came closer, the phoenix braced for the incoming attack. However, in the last minute, Staraptor disappeared all of a sudden to charge its opponent, completing the third stage of Aerial Ace, and attempted to ram into the target at a blinding speed. But—
The larger bird simply shifted its weight to its left, causing Staraptor to hit nothing but thin air.
"What the!" Ash exclaimed.
"Humph," Tobias simply snorted at Ash's reaction.
Ash's surprise was natural. Aerial Ace had three stages. The first involved making a curve to build up the turbulent current of wind or the preparatory stage, the second was 'passing through the hoop' or rather its true purpose was to completely maintain the turbulent wind and then the last step would involve the Pokémon kicking itself free from the winds into a blinding speed to strike the target. The Pokémon would be moving at a speed incomprehensible to the naked eye, making it impossible to dodge, unless the opposing Pokémon perfectly predicts when the user would release the wind.
'What's going on?' Ash thought. 'It's not even half as fast as Staraptor and still….'
Even though Moltres dodging Aerial Ace was an impossible feat, it wasn't the first time it happened to him. There were many instances where Aerial Ace was dodged, but something like that would happen when the opponent was able to read the timing of the move and then evade it having a good sense of prediction to dodge a blinding fast move was an asset, it was more like a game of chess. If Ash could use the same tactic again, chances are that Staraptor would adjust its timing and surprise Moltres completely. Of course, there was another way to eliminate that trouble altogether. They would simply have to make it extremely impossible to dodge,
'In that case',the raven-haired thought. "Staraptor, use Quick Attack!"
Tobias, seeing another plain move coming from Ash's side, decided it as an apt moment to attack. "Dodge and use Flamethrower!"
Staraptor turned around and dashed at Moltres again at rocket speed, only to miss, as the latter dodged the attack with quite an ease despite not possessing the speed to dodge such an attack.
Moltres craned its neck to aim at the retreating bird and sent the column of fire, in order to singe the Pokémon.
'Something is really fishy,' Ash thought. 'But…if we do this!'
"Now add Aerial Ace," the trainer commanded.
Staraptor continued with its Quick Attack as the flames, hot on heels, chased the Pokémon from behind. On its trainer's command, the Pokémon quickly took a curve high into the sky, zooming out of the vision and completely cleared itself from the flamethrower's range. Moving along a huge imaginary circle with the speed of a Quick Attack, the bird Pokémon passed way above Moltres. The legendary Pokémon followed the attack without batting an eye, when the bird suddenly decided to break the curve and charged at Moltres straight, head on.
The speed of the Quick Attack naturally amplified the turbulence of the wind surrounding it, forcing a much powerful air current to flow past its body, the extent of the turbulence shrouding the Pokémon being much bigger than the Pokémon itself. The legendary Pokémon watched Staraptor perform the first two stages of Aerial Ace, without making any move. And then-
Releasing the burst of wind, Staraptor disappeared instantly with stunning speed. At the same moment, Moltres pushed itself up slightly, and not before long an invisible force gashed Moltres on the side, toppling the Pokémon in midair, forcing it into an upside down position, but the Pokémon didn't take long to get a hold on itself and twisted back to the correct orientation.
Meanwhile, the blurry force that struck Moltres continued to shoot up high at a slightly different angle than it had hit the fire type Pokémon with. The whimpers coming from the rocketing Pokémon indicated that the Pokémon no longer had control of its own movements.
"It wasn't a direct hit!" Brock yelled all of a sudden.
"Ah!" Ash looked dumbstruck.
"Hurricane!" Tobias exclaimed.
The legendary phoenix then proceeded to flap its wings repeatedly, whipping up a heavy current of air. Soon, the air current turned strong enough to become a powerful windstorm blown in Staraptor's direction. The latter, on the other hand was still struggling to break the excessive momentum and regain control. "Staraptor," Ash exclaimed. "Watch out!
Staraptor turned its neck to and watched in horror as the burst of wind caught up with the bird and blew it away, completely deranging the Pokémon's balance. The flying type lost any say as for which direction it was supposed to go and was pushed farther and farther away from the ground. The Hurricane did some damage to the bird, but being at a higher altitude than Moltres turned out well for Staraptor, as a great deal of damage was avoided.
"This is beyond me. Not only is a Pokémon moving at a speed that far surpasses Extreme Speed, the other dodges it! That Hurricane didn't seem to do much good for Tobias, but it seems like that was quite a punch in the gut for Ash's side."
"Starr…." Staraptor grunted as it slowly got ahold of itself after the harsh air current subsided slowly. The Predator Pokémon shook its head to clear its head, and let out a low growl in frustration. The Pokémon then proceeded to lower its altitude to level itself with the legendary phoenix. The Pokémon faced each other, an angry glare from the smaller bird's side, and a placid expression from the fire type.
"D-Did that Moltres just dodge a c-combination of Quick Attack and A-Aerial Ace?" The older Ketchum was more stunned than everyone else. The move was so fast that even the cameras couldn't catch the transition of Aerial Ace from the 2nd stage to the 3rd one properly.
"Even Ash's Sceptile couldn't do that," Brock frowned. He honestly didn't believe that Moltres was that fast. No, Moltres wasn't fast at all. The movement it did hardly needed much effort.
"This is….," Alex said, before pausing to search for a word. "Godly."
'What's going on here?' Ash couldn't even begin to comprehend how quick Moltres's reaction should be in order to dodge an attack coming that fast. The fact that Quick Attack combined with Aerial Ace did only partial damage to Moltres was completely unbelievable.
'Hurricane didn't do much damage to Staraptor, but it's confidence wouldn't be so good after a move like that was dodged.' Ash thought. 'If hit and run doesn't work. I'll have to go with close range attacks.'
"Staraptor," Ash waved his hands. "Quick Attack."
'Again?' Tobias thought. 'He could be trying something different this time.'
"Flamethrower!"
Staraptor dashed at the fire type, head on, for the umpteenth time, at the same time the latter jutted out another column of fire, dodging which was quite an easy fate for the speedy Staraptor. The bird twisted around the flames as it dashed forward and attempted to hit the fire type with its wings, but the bird moved its neck as Staraptor approached, dodging the attack aimed at its head successfully. But just as Staraptor passed past Moltres-
"Now," Ash ordered. "Close Combat!"
'So, he was trying to close down the gap.' Tobias flying type stopped its fast dash and twisted around to face the larger bird. At the same time Tobias said, "Dodge and use Sky Attack."
The predator Pokémon bravely threw itself at the opponent twice as big as the hawk, and attempted to smack the bird with its wings. Moltres swerved to the right, evading the punch from the left, then the hawk threw its right wing, which the phoenix dodged by diving downwards. Noticing the opponent diving downwards, Staraptor followed it and attempted to throw more punch with its curled talons. However, Moltres quickly moved up and turned around to keep a vigil eye on Staraptor while maintaining a good distance away from the Pokémon.
The crowd suddenly began to cheer as either bird locked each other in a close ranged struggle, they danced around each other, one trying to get ahold of the other, treating the onlookers with a tense midair struggle for supremacy. The battle however ended shortly when Moltres broke itself out of the lock and shot up high above, the latter grunted and followed the legendary.
As Staraptor attempted to close the gap between itself and Moltres on their way up, the flaming phoenix spread its wings and cloaked itself in a white energy.
"In that case," the raven-haired boy hissed. "Staraptor, Brave Bird!"
The bird Pokémon split apart in opposite directions before turning around to face each other. As Moltres let out its screeching cry and charged at Staraptor with the energy from Sky Attack surrounding it, the other flying Pokémon tucked its wings and let out its battle cry as it let itself be consumed by the fire, which soon transformed into a dazzling blue energy.
"A Head on Head confrontation! Here it comes!"
Both the Pokémon continued to screech as they mindlessly crashed into each other in midair, resulting in an explosion that was quickly followed by an eruption of grey smoke. The smaller bird was the first to emerge out of the smoke after being thrown away by the impact of the collision, while the legendary emerged out of the smoke with fewer bruises, while perfectly maintaining its balance.
"This is bad," Brock commented upon watching Staraptor being blown away by Moltres's attack. While it managed to regain its balance in no time, the Pokémon still cringed in pain from the recoil created by Brave Bird's friction.
"It seems like either Pokémon have taken quite a bit of damage from those attacks. More so for Staraptor than Moltres."
Both the Pokémon were noticeably tired from the confrontation. While Moltres had a few noticeable injuries and was panting on top of it, Staraptor was much worse as it looked like it was going to drop from the sky any moment. Despite such damage, the Pokémon maintained its balance effortlessly, as if to say the damage was nothing.
"Yeah," Professor Oak muttered in agreement. "This is really bad."
"That's the difference between a legendary Pokémon and an ordinary one," Alex stated, despite the fact being more painful to him more than anyone else except Ash.
Ash was slightly trembling. Considering his team formation, it wouldn't be pretty if Staraptor lost the battle, the trainer thought. 'I don't want to lose, not like this.' He clenched his fists. 'If I could try using 'that'….'
'No!' He cursed himself at the thought. He had long since decided that he wouldn't use 'that', unless it wasn't dangerous. Using 'that' was admitting defeat. He was still far from giving up. He had managed to deal some damage to Moltres, maybe using a fast move like Quick Attack and Aerial Ace could work the next time. "Quick Attack and then follow it up with Aerial Ace!"
On the other hand, Tobias saw victory walking its way towards him. Ash's face suggested that he was breaking down slowly. It was only a matter of time before he could mow down the inferior trainer like he should have right from the beginning. Still, for a trainer who couldn't take down more than two of his Pokémon two years ago, he had come quite far. "Dodge and use another Flamethrower."
The scene repeated for the umpteenth time as Staraptor used the flashing Quick Attack as an aid to power up its Aerial Ace. Shrouding itself in a huge amount of turbulent wind, the Pokémon once again dashed at Moltres with an amazing pace that could put a jet plane to shame.
'Moltres may have predicted our move once, but it's impossible to do it again.' Ash thought. 'I have taught Staraptor to adjust its timing if the opponent's trying to predict its movements.'
As the bird approached the legendary Pokémon, it let out the turbulent wind and disappeared once again. But—
A second later, Staraptor was once again seen flying out of its control, and Moltres taking only partial damage from a move that was supposed to have brought it down for the count. The flaming phoenix quickly straightened itself up and—
"Uh oh! Staraptor is in a huge problem!"
—proceeded to let out the column of burning hell that would singe any Pokémon regardless of its type with its intense flames.
The battle would have ended then and there had the flames hit, but Ash Ketchum was still miles away from throwing up his match. "Staraptor," the boy yelled at the top of his voice. "Use the momentum to kick yourself away from the fire. Use Quick Attack!"
Ash was honestly doubtful whether Staraptor heard him while moving at a high speed. Much to his expectations, the bird remained unresponsive to the boy's command, as it continued to be thrown away by the momentum. However instead of trying to stop itself from being blown, the Pokémon simply let the momentum carry it away from the incoming attack.
"I see," Ash's face brightened upon realization. Staraptor might not have heard his command, but it managed to figure a way to dodge on its own. It was simply following the plan they had initially formulated to beat Darkrai. Ash had ordered it to continue to move forward if it's Quick Attack were to miss and use the momentum to dodge Ice Beam. They had done so, in the match up against Darkrai, and Staraptor was doing the same now, after learning its lesson from the previous time.
The Pokémon moved just as the boy figured it would. After letting the momentum carry it high, the bird then began spinning about itself to move out of the fire type move's trajectory and quickly dropped down before the column of fire burnt it to a crisp.
"Awesome job Staraptor!" Ash cried in exhilaration. Luck really favored him. Despite being unable to hear his command, the Predator Pokémon managed to figure its next move on its own.
"Staraptor manages to dodge Moltres's fire type move. Ketchum hasn't lost hope yet."
The Pokémon's earnest effort was rewarded with a grand applause from the crowd, who now fell in love with the underdog struggling to get its victory.
'That was good and all,' Ash thought. 'But how does Moltres keep dodging these attacks in the first place? What exactly is going on here?' The raven-haired boy glared at Tobias, wondering as for what kind of magic the legendary trainer was using this time. Each Pokémon he faced till now had its own unique ability. Darkrai had good agility and a quick thinking. Raikou could summon clouds of thunder without much effort. Landorus could literally walk in the air and in three dimensions. Latios had an untouchable speed. What was Moltres's ability? Being able to dodge any move thrown at it?
"You seem to have figured it out at last," Tobias smiled tauntingly. "No matter how fast your Pokémon is, you won't be able to touch Moltres."
"What?" Ash asked, not comprehending the why. He was willing to buy the fact that Moltres could do something so unrealistic, but how?
"Moltres is a Fire and a Flying type," Tobias explained. "While being a flying type makes it sensitive to any movements in the air, the coordination of fire and flying type energy is an added bonus that would let Moltres guess when and where from your Pokémon is going to attack even before your Pokémon would even launch the move."
If a candle light is being blown by the wind, judging by the way the flames were being swayed, one could guess the general direction of the wind. Moltres possessed fire type energy that would react when some wind is being blown its direction and flying type energy which would let it sense the slightest of the changes in the wind currents. The 'flying' part lets it pick up the signal and the 'fire' part would let it guess the direction of the attack. Which means no matter how hard Staraptor would try, Moltres would guess when exactly Staraptor would launch the third stage of Aerial Ace as soon as it does so. Once Staraptor does that, it was only a matter of ducking in the right direction to dodge the attack. Of course, an Aerial Ace would give Moltres enough time to dodge the attack completely while a combination with Quick Attack would let it hit partially.
An ability like that was incomprehensible to the human brain. Unlike humans, Pokémon possessed ability to detect energies. A legendary Pokémon was much more sensitive to the nature than an ordinary one. Its heightened senses and reflexes let Moltres dodge most physical attacks thrown at it.
"I don't understand what that means," Ash muttered, after listening to what Tobias said. "But I get that no matter how fast we are, you'll know where we will attack from beforehand."
In other words, a sneak attack was just an impossible to reach dream then.
"To put it simply," Tobias nodded. "Yes. So, what are you going to do now, Ash?"
That explanation didn't do anything good to Ash. He realized that much. If anything, it only made things worse for him. Of course, if it were to benefit him in some way, Tobias wouldn't even bother to explain what was going on. He was showing off because he had the chance to flaunt his legendary Pokémon's abilities.
Ash gritted his teeth at that thought. "As if something like that is going to stop us," he bluffed to show some false confidence. If Moltres was able enough to dodge fast moves and strong enough to overpower in a head on confrontation, then there was only one move that could save them at that moment. "Staraptor, Close Combat!"
"Dodge and use Flamethrower," Tobias replied.
Letting out a fierce battle cry, the predator Pokémon charged at the flaming phoenix. Before long, the two birds were involved in yet another close ranged combat, with Staraptor trying to make the hits while Moltres trying to escape and attack the smaller bird with its fire type move.
Staraptor began the charge by attempting to hit Moltres with its beak, but as the larger bird pushed itself back to avoid the attack, the hawk attempted to reach for it with its right wing, an attempt that was easily foiled by Moltres ducking to the right. The Pokémon used the opportunity to break out of the attack and move farther away from Staraptor, but the said Pokémon persistently chased the larger bird and tried to tackle from above. The phoenix's ability to detect the Pokémon's presence let it predict the move coming beforehand and dodge the move by gliding to the right and let the smaller Pokémon pass through.
Now, with Staraptor below Moltres, the phoenix saw it as a perfect opportunity to finish the hawk with the fire type move it prepared to exhale, the predator Pokémon however flipped around at the same moment and proceeded to kick the Pokémon's underside with its powerful talons. The disorientation caused by the move, gave the smaller bird more chances to attack. Not a moment later, Staraptor slammed its wings onto the flaming bird, pushing the pain struck Pokémon back and then proceeded to throw more punches.
While the legendary's ability to predict the moves let it dodge a couple of punches, the swift attacks started to take its toll on the bird. The predator Pokémon ended its barrage of moves with a straight kick on the phoenix's long neck, sending the legendary bird flying away.
"Quick Attack!" The raven-haired trainer exclaimed.
Spreading its wings, Staraptor shot at Moltres again and crashed onto the nonplussed legendary bird head on, this time completely throwing the fire type off balance. Any attempts made by the fire type to attack were stopped completely.
"Staraptor punishes Moltres with quick, sharp and powerful moves. There's more fight left in this brave bird than what I have expected!"
The hawk took a break to catch its breath. The Pokémon was slowly, if not immediately, reaching its limit. The immense physical exhaustion it had suffered during the battle would have slowed down any other Pokémon by a good amount. But Staraptor's will and the stubborn attitude borrowed from its trainer, made it push itself further.
Moltres despite the injuries it suffered was in a much better shape than Staraptor. The flaming phoenix had faced some decent damage, but it wasn't enough to slow down or hinder its movements. In the long run, the chances of Staraptor winning were slim. Unless it somehow landed a huge amount of damage on the latter with its next move.
As a Starly, Staraptor was a mediocre Pokémon. It hardly had any qualities that set it apart from other Starly. It lost to a much stronger Starly, probably the leader of the flock in the first battle between Ash and Paul. But the amount of faith it's trainer had put on Starly motivated the little bird. Much like its trainer, it firmly believed that hard work and determination could make even a mediocre Pokémon reach the realms of Excellency.
[Flashback]
Around Two and a half years ago,
Lake Acuity. The first full battle between Ash and Paul.
"Weavile's faster than Staraptor!" Brock exclaimed.
"Starr!" Staraptor was stunned when Weavile disappeared out of its vision, only to find an unwanted weight sitting on its back.
"Metal Claw!" Paul ordered.
Before long, Staraptor felt excruciating pain when Weavile's sharp claws dug into its skin, pushing the bird into the dirt. The attack did more than just knock Staraptor down to the ground. It even made the bird doubt the one thing it was proud of, it's speed.
"Charge in, Weavile!" The dark type's trainer barked his orders.
As a flying type, it should have possessed superiority in terms of speed, but despite that, Weavile managed to out-speed Staraptor and slammed it down. But there was no way Staraptor could lose, not after being outmatched in the speed department. The burning desire to prove itself filled the Pokémon. Much to its luck, Ash chose the correct move in that moment.
"It's coming," the hawk's trainer warned. "Close Combat!"
Getting into a close ranged fight with Weavile was dangerous, as the dark type were known for their agile movements and ability to mercilessly slash the opponent with their sharp claws. But the battle was make or break for Staraptor. Putting the confidence, its trainer had on the Pokémon to test, the bird defenselessly threw itself at Weavile and proceeded to engage in a close combat.
Staraptor emerged victorious, but that was only because it decided to let go every last of its fears and smack the opponent as hard as it could. It never concentrated on dodging Weavile's moves, it simple wanted to bring down Weavile. The only thing it cared about was winning.
That was Staraptor's true strength. It was mediocre by its species standards, but the Pokémon's real ability lied in fearlessly throwing itself into danger even if the opponent was an ice type that could freeze its wings and clip its flight, or a legendary fire type that could roast it to death in just one hit.
"Starrraptor!" The bird let out a cry, announcing its determination both to its trainer and the opponent.
"Staraptor," Ash muttered the Pokémon's name, realizing that the bird was telling him it was ready to do anything to win. 'I know how badly you want to win. But I can't make you do 'that'. It's too much for you.'
Meanwhile, on the stands…
"That fool," Alex gritted his teeth. "Even Staraptor knows they can't win by ordinary means. He has to use 'that', if he needs to win."
Alex's words garnered attention from everyone else around him. They all looked at the older Ketchum, expecting him to shed some light on whatever 'that' was. But the said man remained silent, glaring at his son. "What is 'that'?" Dawn asked, not hiding her curiosity.
Alex remained silent for a second, contemplating whether he should answer the question or not. "I guess you guys are bound to learn about it sooner or later. I'll tell you what it is."
Meanwhile, Ash had made up his mind for the next attack. "Staraptor," Ash punched his fist in the air. "Use Close Combat!"
The Pokémon wasn't happy with the trainer's command, but it didn't hesitate to close down on Moltres again.
'It's time to finish this drawn out matchup,' Tobias thought. 'Staraptor had already done more damage than it deserved to do.'
With renewed determination showing in its red eyes, the hawk prepared to take on the much larger bird one more time. It opened its account with a smack on Moltres's neck, and then proceeded to kick it with its curled talons but the third attack was dodged when Moltres ducked underneath another smack from Staraptor's right wing.
"Grab it," Tobias commanded. The phoenix that was defensive all the time suddenly made use of its own talons and grabbed the attacking bird's wing with one of its huge legs.
"Ah!" Ash gasped, his mind blank in shock. "Staraptor, break out of it!"
Struggling to free itself, Staraptor threw another punch with its free wing, only to be grabbed by Moltres's left leg.
"Staraptor's been caught. Now this is quite a twist!"
The older Ketchum released the breath he had been holding. "It was around two months ago," Alex said, breaking everyone's concentration from the huge disaster. "Ash suddenly told me about combining Electro ball and Iron Tail while we were talking about something else."
[Flashback]
Around two months ago.
Somewhere in Kanto.
"The PWT is coming near," Alex said, as either Ketchum sat before a small fire they had set up in a clearing, somewhere deep inside a forest. "I think we should have a rematch to see if you could beat me now. You were lucky the flood stopped the match last time."
The raven-haired boy raised his eyebrow at this. "You mean you were lucky? I would've won the match."
"Maybe I should refresh your memory dumbass," Alex said, attempting to land his knuckles on his son's head. Ash quickly darted from his father, only to trip against a rock and landed on his rear.
"Ouch," he winced. He looked at his father who guffawed at the boy's lame attempt to dodge his attack. "I'm serious, dad."
Alex paused his laugh and looked at Ash, "What do you mean?"
"I was planning to combine Electro Ball and Iron Tail to finish the match in one hit," Ash said, dusting his pants as he got up. His expression told his father that he wasn't kidding.
"Eh?" Alex put a face that reminded Ash of a clueless little child.
"Pika?" The electric rodent woke up from its slumber at the mention of its moves, and looked at its trainer with half-sleepy eyes. "Pikapi?"
"I was talking about the tactic we used in our Unova League match with Trip," Ash explained the rodent who joined the conversation.
"Could you explain what the hell is combining Electro Ball and Iron Tail?" Alex asked, still clueless.
"It is what it is," Ash said, tilting his head, wondering why his father couldn't understand something so simple. "We combine Electro Ball and Iron Tail to make a much powerful move."
Alex couldn't help but give the obvious reaction to what his son said. "What the actual fuck…"
Meanwhile on the battlefield, Staraptor was firmly gripped by Moltres. The hawk flailed to break out of the iron grip crushing the bird Pokémon's wings. The Pokémon let out a cry in anguish as Moltres tightened the hold on Staraptor, in response to Staraptor's attempts to break out.
"Wait," Iris interrupted. "I remember that." Trip's Serperior overpowered Ash's Pikachu in every department possible. Not only was its speed unimaginable, its Dragon Tail proved to be much stronger than Iron Tail. The difference in power prevented Ash from winning.
"He didn't tell me about it till then," Alex said, gritting his teeth as he remembered the events from two months ago. "But then—"
[Flashback]
"Why the hell did you not tell me till now?" Alex burst out like a volcano.
Ash placed his hands protectively, terrified at his father's sudden outburst. "I-It kinda slipped my mind."
Alex looked dumbfounded, obviously more stunned than angry at that. "Slipped y-your mind?!"
For the past ten months, while their main goal was to develop Ash's lesser trained Pokémon and develop a unique battle style for each of Ash's Pokémon, they had also attempted to develop a weapon that only Ash could use, something that could give him the edge to beat much stronger trainers like Cynthia. Even though Alex racked his brains, he never had a clue as for what Ash's unique weapon should be but—
"This is it Ash!" Alex exclaimed in joy. "This is what I have been thinking about for ages and you had it all along!"
"What is it?" Ash asked, rubbing his head after being hit on the head twice since he revealed the news to his father.
"Combination moves," Alex stated. "That's something only you can do, right? Combining two attacks to make a much powerful attack!"
"Staraptor!" Ash cried as his Pokémon whimpered in pain and struggled to come out of the lock, Moltres has been holding it in. "Try to break free. You can do it!"
"It's useless," Tobias scoffed at Ash's desperate yelling. "No matter what you do, Staraptor won't be able to escape."
"Staraptor is unable to do anything to break out of Moltres's hold. This doesn't look good for Ketchum."
'There's something I can do. All I have to do is think!' Ash thought, worry and desperation showing on his face. 'Wait a minute.'
"Staraptor," Ash yelled. "Use Brave Bird!"
Staraptor was momentarily surprised by the trainer's command. But much like Ash's other Pokémon, it was more than accustomed to the unusual orders he gave. No matter how worse the situation was, Ash always had a solution to the problem.
Stopping its futile struggle to break free, Staraptor instead curled its talons and began kicking its leg in the air, creating the little movement it wanted to develop the flying type energy it needed to perform Brave Bird. Noticing that its prey was attempting something, the bird put tightened its grip on Staraptor.
Gritting the excruciating pain it was subjected to, the Predator Pokémon screeched at its loudest and soon engulfed itself in a blue aura, which, as it was in contact with Moltres did huge damage to the legendary Pokémon's feet, leaving them bruised and incapable of maintaining the hold on Staraptor. Having freed from the crushing hold, Staraptor proceeded to drift away from the legendary and put itself at a safe distance.
The bird Pokémon cringed as the recoil took its toll again. Its wings were subjected to severe pain, limiting the Pokémon's ability to hold itself in the air. It was sheer will and determination that still put the Pokémon above the ground.
"The situation is worse now," Alex said. He had already predicted that Ash would somehow find a way to break out. After watching him for one year, the shenanigans he pulled stopped surprising him completely. Of course he wouldn't say they were entirely not surprising. "He should make the call now."
"Why is he hesitating to make the call?" Delia asked, for the first time she was interested in the conversation than clicking photographs.
"Because…." Alex paused. "For a high reward, you always need to put high amount of risk. And something so powerful needed an adequate compensation." Alex realized that a bit too late back then.
[Flashback]
The next day, Ash and Alex had immediately begun working on the combination moves. Ash's choices of Pokémon were Tauros, Garchomp, Staraptor, Pikachu, Samurott and Leavanny. The training session had begun with a positive atmosphere. Ash was psyched up as usual, and his enthusiasm pumped up his Pokémon as well. But…
By the end of the training Ash realized they had been over ambitious. The training didn't go beyond fifteen minutes and all six of Ash's Pokémon were either spent, unconscious or badly injured.
"I was too excited," Ash said, as he scooted an unconscious Pikachu into his arms. "I didn't really expect the attacks to be this dangerous."
Alex was excited. "Well, if we could somehow channel this power into defeating the opponent, you will become the greatest trainer the world had never known…that's a stretch, of course."
"You really think so, Dad?" Ash asked, not making eye contact with his father.
"I've been underestimating you from the start," Alex said, patting the boy's shoulders. "I want to underestimate you, but I can't anymore. Ash, I don't think anyone had an idea like this before." Most people always worked on building better teams, working on different combination of Pokémon, surprise strategies, effectively using tactics like Stealth Rock and what not to improve themselves. Alex wanted to do the same with his son.
But through the ten months of training, he figured out that wasn't the kind of trainer Ash was, and he needs to be developed in his way. And 'that' was a pinnacle of Ash's innovative thinking.
Combination Moves.
A few more days passed, and Ash tested different combination moves with different Pokémon. All of them resulted in them backtracking to the Pokémon Centre each and every time. At one point, the Nurse Joy of the town they were temporarily living in set up a police inquiry to see what they were doing.
"I understand you like to make your Pokémon strong for the league," the Nurse said, as she checked on his Pokémon once. "But what you are doing seems to be dangerous."
It was true. Their training sessions stopped lasting one hour anymore. Sure, there was a gradual improvement but the constant pain his Pokémon were being subjected to worried Ash. Although his Pokémon faced injuries during normal training, not all of them were so severe. Each and every day, Ash would be running to the Pokémon Center with unconscious Pokémon and then get another set from the Professor, only to return an hour later.
"Don't listen to her," Alex said, after the Nurse left. "Women worry too much. Your improvement is amazing. In just a few days…"
"If mom didn't worry for me," Ash said, interrupting the older Ketchum on the subject of women. "I don't think I would have been the trainer I am. It goes for you too, dad..." He shifted his attention to the Nurse, who was walking back to the emergency room. "Nurse Joy's correct. I'm going too far. If I keep training like this, then everything I said to Paul back then is a lie."
Paul trained Chimchar to the extreme. He had purposefully let Chimchar suffer through extremities just so that he could harness the power of Blaze to win the battles. It was because he wanted to activate the 'inner strength' Chimchar had, Paul constantly denied medical attention to the chimp. Ash disagreed with Paul's methods, and told him there were better methods to make Chimchar stronger. If Ash were to continue this stupid training, then he would be nothing but a hypocrite for all the things he said back then.
"We'll get back to our old schedule tomorrow," Ash said, closing his eyes.
Till date, Alex was disappointed with Ash's decision and he was always open about it. He constantly reminded Ash how amazing it would have been had he perfected 'that'. But he respected Ash's decision. He admired the boy's honest love for his Pokémon. The fact that he wouldn't put his Pokémon to extremes just for winning made him proud as a father. But—
Staraptor was one of the very few Pokémon that had perfected its combination move, as all four of its moves were more or less similar. Staraptor knew 'that', and Ash had every chance to use the move.
"The battle could be coming to an end. Staraptor doesn't seem to have enough energy to pull much beyond a few moves. Taking any damage is out of the question. I wonder what's running through Ketchum's head."
Ash gritted his teeth. There was nothing Staraptor could do, there was only option left for him. He had to switch out….
'But to what?' The question was a grim reminder that Staraptor was in fact the only Pokémon that could perform the best against Moltres.
He was out of options….except 'that' of course. There was no way in hell he would use that. He had to do something…use the surroundings? Use some weakness Moltres has? No, there was nothing Staraptor could do to create a field effect nor does Moltres have a weakness he could exploit.
Tobias watched the desperate look on Ash's face. This time, it seemed like Ash was really out of ideas to do. Victory was hopeless against his Moltres. It was time to bring down the curtains, the legendary trainer thought. "Sky Attack."
The legendary bird spread its wings apart and let out a small growl as the bright flying type energy cloaked the flaming phoenix, its eyes were set on the opponent, a merciless look on the Pokémon's face as it sought vengeance to the pain it has been put to by Staraptor's Brave Bird stunt earlier.
Staraptor turned around and grumbled at its trainer, telling that it was their last opportunity to do anything.
"Pikapi," Pikachu tugged the boy's pants. "Pika, Pikachu."
Ash looked at either of his Pokémon in disbelief. Those Pokémon were willing to put themselves in the line to let him win—
Wait. That wasn't just that, was it? His Pokémon were willing to put themselves in the line right from the moment he caught them. Every time they faced injuries, every time they fainted out of exhaustion, they did it for him. Staraptor was willing to bear the pain, either way, it simply wants to go out with a bang rather than fall down after doing nothing.
But then again….just how morally-justified his decision was? Just because Staraptor was willing to injure itself so severely doesn't mean he would have to force it do the same.
"Pika!" Pikachu warned its trainer, telling him to hurry with whatever decision he was about to make.
'Damn it all.' Ash thought. "I'm just going for the move!" Ash snapped all of a sudden. "Staraptor," he said pumping his fists. "Brave Attack!"
'Did I hear something wrong?' Tobias looked at Ash strangely.
The Predator Pokémon stretched its wings and let out the fiercest of its battle cry for the moment it had been waiting all along, with an expression of determination visible through its red irises. Like a jet plane, the Pokémon shot towards the charging Moltres, which had yet to rise up to its full power.
Staraptor's attack missed the flaming phoenix entirely, as the legendary bird evaded the attack by simply diving downwards.
"Staraptor tries to attack Moltres with a Quick Attack but it seems like Moltres dodge it once again!"
"Now," Tobias exclaimed. "Finish it off!"
With its attack completely charged, Moltres turned around to face the bird that continued to perform the quick attack. The legendary phoenix was taken aback when it noticed that Staraptor was now almost a dot in the sky. The Pokémon wasn't attacking Moltres when it tried the Quick Attack, it simply tricked Tobias into thinking so and used the opportunity to move as far away from the ground as it could. When reached a high altitude, Staraptor took a curveball and turned around to face the legendary bird that followed Staraptor's movements from quite a distance below.
"Ah!" Brock exclaimed. Being much lower than Moltres, the Pokémon was almost invisible to the people sitting in the stands, unless they were smart enough to use the binoculars they were provided. "Is it going to use Quick Attack from up there?"
"Staraptor," Ash yelled at the top of his voice. "Go!"
Those who watched the scene through the binoculars spotted the Predator Pokémon taking a smooth curve in the air and face the ground.
"Quick Attack and Brave Bird," Alex said, a smirk on his face.
"That's a dangerous taste," Cilan said, looking at the bird through his binoculars. "What if the attack misses?"
"Do you think a legendary Pokémon will dodge an attack coming at it head on?" Alex asked, in return.
"There's something going on over here, folks. And I am not sure what it is."
The spectators watching the battle were at the edge of their seats, an expression of confusion, curiosity and worry written all over their faces. A sudden buzz filled the stadium, as a new wave of excitement rode all over the place.
Staraptor began its reckless charge from high up in the sky, instantly facing a huge amount of friction, attempting to stop the bird. The red crest on its head was being pulled back by the force as a turbulent surge of wind flowed past the Pokémon moving down. The Pokémon tucked its wings and narrowed its eyes to adjust to the air opposing its motion. In addition to the rapid fall with Quick Attack, the bird Pokémon began to inject the flying type energy and develop the artificial friction required to engulf itself in the flames, and charge up the Brave bird.
In one second, the energy around Staraptor transformed from a white flash shrouded by the turbulence of the atmosphere, into a flame that completely engulfed the bird and formed a small trail as it rocketed downwards towards Moltres.
Watching its opponent make a huge move, Moltres let out a fierce cringing cry and shot into the sky, to welcome the Pokémon coming down with a head on collision.
The Predator Pokémon picked up more and more speed as it came down, and within no time either Pokémon were at proximity, prepared to destroy each other with a massive collision. The flames engulfing Staraptor suddenly transformed into a bright blue aura that was ten times larger than the Pokémon itself.
The buzzing of the crowd in Rosenburg's 'Lily of the Valley' died as the collective gasp of the spectators muted the stadium into utter silence, tension flying through the hearts of the spectators and trainers..
The smaller bird charging at Moltres was suddenly engulfed in a huge amount of energy taking the form of the monstrous blue aura, shaped into a much bigger and tremendous silhouette. Without a doubt, the legendary bird thought, the enemy was the bigger aura charging at it, not Staraptor. The Pokémon let out a fierce cry again as it rammed into Staraptor in what seemed like a suicidal move.
The tip of the dazzling energy carried by Staraptor, met with the reddish white Moltres in midair, forcing either layer of energy compress each other and coalesce, the mixing of the two energies resulting in a flashy outburst followed by a shockwave that spread out in all directions. Thick grey smoke erupted from the attack, right after the flash ended, camouflaging whatever was happening inside. The blue dazzling energy slowly grew smaller in size and almost disappeared once the explosion ended.
Those who watched the scene really didn't understand what happened until they saw a blur shoot out of the smoke and crash into the wall below the stands on Ash's left side, where his friends and family sat. The raven-haired trainer saw many of them stand and peer down to see what happened there. Ash's eyes followed the direction they were looking in, and noticed that something landed with quite an impact, strong enough to make a dent in the strongly reinforced wall.
The scene he saw made him freeze an instant. Moltres was buried inside the wall, with nothing but its legs and wings hanging outside. The phoenix's eyes were closed, but the Pokémon's whimpering and its twitching talons were a proof that the Pokémon wasn't out yet. Right above Moltres, its body pinned against the fire type's was Staraptor, which slowly opened its eyes to realize that its attack has mowed Moltres down to the ground.
An expression of shock was seen on every face collected to watch the epic battle, and the deadly silence withstood. Tobias looked at the scene before him, a horrified expression showing on his face, His mouth was wide open, unconsciously holding his breath.
"Alright!" Ash's cry broke the silence, followed by a huge uproar from the spectators themselves.
"I didn't see this. Staraptor not only managed to overpower Moltres, but it has completely nullified Moltres's attempt to attack. How can a legendary Pokémon be overpowered by this amount?"
"Alex," Professor Oak said, as the group watching the crashed Pokémon was yet to come out of their freeze. "What the hell is this?"
"Amazing," Alex muttered. Cilan wanted to say that the word amazing was too small enough to describe what was below. But he was too shocked to even speak. "It's still up after taking the attack?"
"Huh?" Cilan realized Alex wasn't talking about sommelier, much like most others in the stands was stunned to see Moltres push Staraptor off, and then pull itself out.
Either bird collapsed on the ground, whimpering as they struggled to get up. Staraptor's body was more than bruised. It's skin seemed to give a reddish glow, suggesting minor burns. As the Pokémon tried to get back on its feet, it cringed in pain caused by the heavy recoil. The bird stumbled on its feet and hit the ground again.
'Dammit!' Ash cursed for leaving his Pokémon out like that. He immediately took out his Pokéball. The red light absorbed the struggling Pokémon back.
"Ash Ketchum has opted for a timely switch. Without a doubt, Staraptor was beyond just damaged by a simple recoil."
(5-4) Ash Ketchum – Tobias (4-4)
Staraptor – Darkrai
Infernape – Raikou
Garchomp – Landorus-T
Glalie – Moltres
Scrafty -
"Staraptor would have fainted if Ash hesitated more," Brock said, the burn on Staraptor's skin didn't escape Brock's sharp eyes. The Pokémon's fur was white enough for him to judge the bruise from where he stood. Just what kind of monstrous attack did Ash just use that it destroyed the user itself? Attacks like Brave Bird had recoil, but the recoil was nothing in this range.
"Thank you very much. You were amazing," Ash muttered, as he tucked the Pokéball back in. He was glad Staraptor survived its own attack, no matter how ironic it sounded. If he could save Staraptor, then maybe it would be able to recover some of the damage and gets another chance to contribute. "So, it even survived Brave Attack?"
"The attack would have finished Moltres had it not been using Sky Attack," Professor Oak said, looking at an unsteady Moltres struggling to even stand properly. "A lot of the damage was nullified by Sky Attack and—"
"And yet it managed to do this much?" Brock couldn't even begin to think how unreal the power was. And it all came from an ordinary Staraptor, not a legendary Pokémon Moltres.
"That is the power of a combination move," Alex said. "Of course, the price for that was pretty high too. Staraptor is spent and has taken irreparable damage for the rest of the match." To be honest, Alex really doubted if Staraptor could be used in a match anytime soon. At least that was the fate of Tauros when Ash tried a combination move back then.
"Now whatever Ash sends next could win against Moltres," Cilan said, his hand on his chin in a thoughtful manner. "Staraptor's sacrifice has paved way for Ash's win. What a heart-moving taste!" He said, crossed his arms against his chest and faced the sky, acting mesmerized.
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Does that stuff turn you on?"
Behind him, Professor Oak had to facepalm.
"I'm counting on you," Ash muttered, as he pressed the button enlarging the Pokéball. He exclaimed as he tossed the Pokéball, "Garchomp, I choose you!"
The landshark materialized for the second time, and much like its previous entry, the Pokémon didn't give much of an expression to suit the mood.
"Ash sends out Garchomp! Will this Pokémon be able to redeem itself after falling down against Landorus?"
(5-4) Ash Ketchum – Tobias (4-4)
Staraptor – Darkrai
Infernape – Raikou
Garchomp – Landorus-T
Glalie – Moltres
Scrafty -
The Pokémon's breath was heavy, indicating how tired it was from its previous battle. The sharp pain on its back didn't help either. The Pokémon would still be able to move freely, but expecting it to put the same performance was greedy. But—
On the other hand, Moltres was in a much worse shape. The Pokémon had barely enough energy to stand, let alone fly. Of the two Pokémon standing on the field, Garchomp held the superiority in terms of both health and stamina.
"Moltres versus Garchomp," the referee raised his flags. "Let the battle begin!"
'It's dangerous to make a close ranged attack now,' Ash thought. "Garchomp, use Draco Meteor!"
Responding to its trainer's command, the dragon crouched to concentrate a huge amount of dragon energy inside its belly, carrying a brilliant orange aura that could be seen even through the thick skin covering Garchomp's belly.
"Garchomp's going for the big move. Ketchum wants to settle this match in one hit!"
The orange glow in Garchomp's stomach slowly moved up until it surfaced out of Garchomp's jaws and was shot into the air, at the same time—
'No, we won't let you.' Tobias pointed his finger at Garchomp. "Use Flamethrower!"
The legendary phoenix craned its neck up to face the attack and breathed out a column of fire through its long beak. The swirling flames struck the dragon type move in midair, and engulfed the attack in an inferno, trapping the sphere of energy inside the phoenix's hot flames. As the unstable mass of energy mixed with either of the Pokémon's attacks reached for the sky, it exploded abruptly leaving nothing but smoke in its place.
'Tch,' Ash looked at the sky, displeased. The attack could have very well defeated Moltres, had it been successful. "Not bad," he muttered, looking at Tobias.
"Draco Meteor has been stopped thanks to Flamethrower. Now that's quite a move, coming from Tobias's side!"
'Why did he defend Moltres instead of making a last ditch attack?' The raven-haired wondered as he looked at the flaming phoenix, whose situation looked worse than that before using its move. 'It doesn't have much energy left. If Draco Meteor doesn't work,' Ash put a wry smile. He waved his hand, "Dual Chop!"
Garchomp, which was still in its crouching position, swung its arms as if to brandish its scales like a sword, which were now glowing with a bright blue energy. A glint was seen in the Pokémon's eyes as it proceeded to charge at the legendary Pokémon letting out its beastly cry.
"Moltres," Tobias prepared to command. "Use—"
The Pokémon however winced in pain and collapsed on its left leg, and held itself from falling down with its wing. 'Just how much damage did Staraptor do?' Tobias felt helpless. But he still had a move for desperate situations. "Burn it with your flames!"
The command startled Ash, but by then Garchomp was right above Moltres, prepared to finish off the legendary Pokémon with its slashing Dual Chop. Moltres didn't have enough time to use any of the attacks it had been using throughout the match. "Could it be—"
Ash's words were cut off when, Moltres suddenly transformed into a huge flame, akin to how it looked when it was sent out of its Pokéball. It was too late, even for Garchomp to realize what it was putting its hand into.
The dragon's attack slashed through the fire with ease, as if nothing existed inside the fire in the first place. Alas, the dragon soon found that its own hand was on fire after the move.
"Garchomp, get back!" The trainer warned the Pokémon, but he was too late.
The flames immediately swallowed the landshark and pulled it into an agonizing world of pain. The dragon crumbled to its knees, barely supporting itself from falling down with the help of its hands, as the flame spread across its body and continued to burn the Pokémon's skin.
Meanwhile, the flame itself has transformed back into Moltres and flew away from the spot, only to crash somewhere behind Garchomp, due to the legendary severely lacking in energy.
The fire that engulfed the dragon's rough skin slowly died down, but the deep burns remained, leaving the Pokémon in a crippled state.
"That's unfair!" Alex exclaimed, crunching his knuckles. "Damn those stupid tricks."
Professor Oak remained more composed than the younger man. Just how good of a trainer Tobias was? The Professor asked himself. He knew the legendary Pokémon's abilities and keeps using them to his advantage. Sure, he might not be having an elaborate strategy or a powerful bond with his Pokémon. But he was still using the legendary Pokémon's natural capabilities to the fullest. 'What kind of trainer are you, Tobias?' The older man posed the silent question.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield. "Pull yourself together, Garchomp!" Ash exclaimed. "Finish it off with your next move!"
"Humph," Tobias scoffed. "Let's see how you'll finish us off after," he snapped his fingers, "Moltres, Roost."
"What the….?" Ash couldn't believe what he heard. The legendary Pokémon began shedding some of its saffron plumage, and in turn a serene glow spread across the Pokémon's body, healing the bruises on its body covering each and every corner of Moltres's enormous span. 'Wait a minute. Moltres can't dodge when it's using Roost.'
"In that case," Ash balled his fists and commanded his Pokémon. "Garchomp, use Earthquake!"
The Pokémon that was still on its knees opened its eyes at the trainer's command. It turned to face the grounded opponent, and found Moltres healing itself back to good health, something which the Pokémon didn't like watching after the nasty burn it received. Letting out a fierce cry, the Pokémon concentrated its energy to its feet, sending seismic waves that slowly spread across the battlefield in all directions.
"The ground's beginning to shake. Garchomp's Earthquake is going to turn this field into a worse shape than it already is!"
As the seismic waves continued to spread across the stadium, the rumbling of the ground grew louder and the impact started to develop cracks at the center of the waves, Garchomp.
Within no time, the seismic waves reached Moltres, the ground energy reacting with the Pokémon's fire. The Pokémon whimpered as the flames on its mane fluttered as if it was blown by a strong wind. The phoenix continued to heal itself, but at the same time it was being subjected to pain, causing it to slowly lose focus.
"Fly away," Tobias commanded. The Pokémon kicked itself off the ground and attempted to take off into the sky.
"Moltres has taken quite damage from the Earthquake, but it seems like the burn is affecting Garchomp's attack power after all. Moltres seems to be better."
Indeed, true to Freddy's words, Moltres looked slightly better than before. On the other hand, Garchomp was grinding its teeth in pain, thanks to the burns all over its body. 'I won't let that stay long.' Ash thought.
"Garchomp, use Sandstorm!"
Garchomp swung its arms around and instantly kicked up a huge amount of dust that developed into a swirling tornado made of sand. The storm hit the legendary bird that attempted to fly up at a speed that was already pale in comparison to the speed it showcased earlier. The sand hit the Pokémon, disorienting its flight and quickly pulled it into the center of the storm.
"Ash makes a good strategic move. Sandstorm is now doing quite a damage to Moltres."
"Awesome job Garch—," Ash's words were cut off when he saw Garchomp cringe from the burn again. "Damn," he muttered under his breath.
Meanwhile on Tobias's side, he completely lost the visibility after Garchomp whipped up a Sandstorm in his direction. With Sandstorm damage now adding to Moltres's damage quota, it was hard to recover energy with the help of Roost. There was but one move, he could make at the moment. "Moltres, use Hurricane!"
"Garchomp," Ash commanded at the same time. "This is last chance to attack, Draco Meteor!"
As Moltres flapped its wings as hard as it could to whip up a burst of wind, Garchomp prepared to shoot out the dragon energy from within its body. Each time Garchomp used that move, it's tank of energy depleted by a lot, and the move the Pokémon was preparing now could potentially be it's last Draco Meteor.
But it didn't matter in the end. As Garchomp was about to launch the sphere of energy, a sudden tornado burst out of the sandstorm and struck the grounded dragon. The attack knocked the Pokémon out of its feet and carried it away along with it, just as it spat out the sphere. The sphere and the dragon were blown away together high up in the direction the wind pulled it. It wasn't long before the landshark realized that as the wind continued to drag it along a circular path, the sphere it spat out drew closer and closer to the dragon.
"Gaarrr!" The Pokémon let out a loud cry as it came into realization.
The tornado was blown away thanks to the shockwave created by an explosion. Within no time, the roaring of the winds died down, leaving nothing but unsettling calmness. Just as the wind cleared away, a blue blur shot towards the ground and crashed in the green-trainer's half of the stadium, and proceeded to plow its way through the field towards Ash, leaving a trail of dust in the process. The sound of the Pokémon being dragged across the field was similar to that made by tyres skidding through dirt.
"Garchomp," Ash exclaimed, as the trail of dust stopped beside the trainer. The dust cleared, the raven-haired boy found the landshark Pokémon lying on its back, unconscious.
"Garchomp is unable to battle," the referee announced. "Moltres wins the round." The words left Ash in a state of shock, leaving him unable to do anything. "As the green trainer lost three of his Pokémon, we'll now have recess for a field change."
(5-3) Ash Ketchum – Tobias (4-4)
Staraptor – Darkrai
Infernape – Raikou
Garchomp – Landorus-T
Glalie – Moltres
Scrafty -
"Finally, one of the two sides has lost three of their Pokémon! The first half of the match ends with Tobias taking the lead. Ketchum has revealed a total of five Pokémon and lost three. Tobias has revealed four Pokémon, two of which are still intact. The second half of match is bound to be interesting! But before that we'll take fifteen minutes of recess. To all the hungry..."
Ash silently took the dragon type Pokémon back in, just as Tobias took back the legendary phoenix back into its Pokéball. The crowd slowly dispersed away, as the battle had come to a temporary pause, sans the group containing his family and friends who were worried about the trainer's situation.
"Isn't it ironic," Tobias said, as he half-turned back. "The same Draco Meteor I praised two years ago destroyed your Garchomp today."
"Pika!" The rodent tensed its muscles and growled in response to the comment, even though it wasn't said in a snide tone.
"Yeah," Ash said, a frown on his face. He was angry, but he accepted what happened. The sandstorm prevented him from hearing Tobias's command. Their timing was off by a second, and the difference made him lose. He scooted his partner and petted the rodent on its head. "But we didn't lose yet. The real battle will begin right after this."
Tobias smirked at this. "We'll see." He turned around and began to walk away. "The battle was very good till now. I hope the performance after this doesn't disappoint me..." Tobias didn't say it aloud, but his tone suggested he wasn't expecting much in the second half. Whatever Ash's sixth was, it was weak against a Fire, Flying type. The battle after this round could end up like the Sinnoh League's. Just another curb-stomp.
'Do you honestly think you will curb-stomp us?' The raven-haired adjusted his hat with his right hand, while holding the rodent with his left. "I will win, Tobias." He clenched his right fist. "I will win and prove how wrong you are. Because," he said turning around to retreat back to his own waiting room. "That's what it takes to be a Pokémon Master."
"Pikapi," the rodent curled its fists, as if to assure them that they will win.
(5-3) Ash Ketchum – Tobias (4-4)
Staraptor – Darkrai
Infernape – Raikou
Garchomp – Landorus-T
Glalie – Moltres
Scrafty -
And that's where the first half of the match ends. The Scorching Moltres is still in the battle. Meanwhile, Ash is stuck with a heavily injured Staraptor. However, his Scrafty is fresh as a daisy and he still had an unknown Pokémon left. What are Ash's chances of winning this match? Slim? Good? Excellent?
Next Chapter Preview:
The exciting battle between Ash and Tobias continues!
Ash: We're going to win this for sure! Scrafty, use Hi Jump Kick!
Tobias: Latios, Giga Impact!
What is Ash's sixth Pokémon?
"Ash's sixth Pokémon is—!"
Tobias: Sky Attack!
Ash: Dodge and use Rock Slide!
The battle is reaching its climax. Both Ash and Tobias are going at each other's throats. New strategies are revealed.
Chapter 20: Scrafting your way to victory!
Iris: Seriously? Going at each other's throats? Am I in Naruto or Pokémon?
Misty: Let's not mention the horrible pun in that title. And I thought 4Kids was painful enough.
Extra Material:
I have decided that it's for the best if I explain the rest of the Battle Mechanics using the Pokémon as example.
Pokémon: Ash's Staraptor, (Satoshi no Mukuhawk)
Trainer: Ash. K/Satoshi
Background: Ash caught Staraptor as a Starly. It was only mediocre, when compared to the likes of Paul's Starly, and hence fell easily in a battle between the two Starly. However, with Ash's constant encouragement, the Pokémon managed to master Aerial Ace by evolving to Staravia. Later, it learned how to use Brave Bird from Reggie's Staraptor and contributed to Ash's win against Maylene. Staravia, thanks to Ash's adequate training and the support from its teammates grew from a mediocre to a skillful Pokémon, speed being its major asset. However, in a match against Paul's Honchkrow in the Pokéringer, the Pokémon faced its strongest opposition till date. The Boss Pokémon which was known for already humiliating its teammate Grotle, overpowered Staravia in the match. In desperation, and a deep desire to defeat the Pokémon and trainer who kept humiliating and insulting them, it evolved into a Staraptor. Staraptor proceeded to win the match, albeit with extreme difficulty. Ever since then, Staraptor has put up a consistent performance and won matches against Candice, Nando, and did well in the battle against Paul.
Gender: Male; Special Ability: Reckless; Nature: Brave
Base moves of Staraptor as a species: Tackle, Growl, Wing Attack, Peck, Fly, Sand Attack, Whirlwind, Fury Attack,
Moves learned by Ash's Staraptor (Bold indicate the move Staraptor learned, and will be able to use all moves written before it and won't be able to learn move above it, unless trained in that direction.) For example, Ash's Staraptor knows Close Combat, but can't learn Final Gambit, the up level technique of Close Combat. (Moves in italic indicate moves that are counted as special techniques and have a limit of four, unless they belong to the same family. For example, Aerial Ace and Brave Bird are counter as one).
TackleQuick Attack
Wing AttackAerial AceBrave Bird
Fury AttackClose CombatFinal Gambit
Fly
Whirlwind = Sand Attack (mutually learnable)
Peck Drill Peck
Growl RoundUproar
GrowlEchoed Voice
9. Work Up
Special Technique: Brave Attack (Brave Bird + Quick Attack), Spinning
Note that, Ash's Staraptor can only learn Bolded moves and the moves written before it. Effectively, the attacks it knows are: Tackle, Quick Attack, Wing Attack, Aerial Ace, Brave Bird, Fury Attack, Close Combat, Fly, Whirlwind, Sand Attack, Peck, Growl, and Work Up.
Another pointed to be noted is that I am going to follow this mechanics after the Tobias battle, so don't ask me why Staraptor didn't use Work Up in today's chapter. It won't be able to use Echoed Voice, Round, Uproar, Drill Peck, Final Gambit.
This battle mechanics is a result of a reviewer approaching me and demand explanations as for why a Pokémon can't use more than four moves. I didn't want to make it stupid like a Pokémon knowing Fire Blast not knowing Flamethrower etc. At the same time, I wanted to maintain the four move limit I have been having since the beginning. So, I decided to take this route. Hopefully, this will satisfy both people who don't like Pokémon learning infinite number of moves and people who don't like limitations that don't make sense (like Pokémon knowing Fire Blast not knowing Flamethrower).
Attacks:
Quick Attack: The user temporarily pumps its body with adrenaline that temporarily strengthens its muscles to move at an abnormal speed. Sometimes the speed can be used for making sudden jumps, making it seem as if the Pokémon were flying like a rocket. Leaves the user tired, but the energy could be replenished by taking a deep breather or something. Not so energy consuming.
Close Combat: The user closes down, lowering its guard completely and begins to throw a barrage of swift moves that are more like a Chain Combo. The move leaves the user defenseless, but if trained to hit and run, this can be negated by a good amount. Leaves the Pokémon slightly tired as it spends a lot of energy in a short time. Physical exhaustion can be replenished adequately.
Brave Bird: The user releases out a small amount of flying type energy to create artificial friction, quickly letting it develop a fire that would normally require a huge amount of friction. The fire in turn will harvest a huge amount of flying type energy. The fire could make minor burns on the user.
Aerial Ace: Explained through the chapter.
Sorry for the late update, but I kinda didn't like writing this chapter when I first wrote it. I scraped a lot of scenes, removed the over-drama etc. etc. and made it more concise than the original I have written. I am not a fan of this chapter.
And thanks to the guy who called me an idiot :P You inspired me to speed up during my re-write :3 This time I will try my REAL best to make it a weekly update, but I have realized making such false promises is dangerous. I wish I had 96 hours a day.
Lastly, I now have a tumblr account, and my name is eralfocard. If you are a tumblr person or just a lurker you could just peep :P I might also give the update status of my next chapters (if someone asks that is).
This is the link: eralforcard (insert a dot here) tumblr (insert another dot here) com
Next in Update Schedule: Chapter Zero for Beyond Truths and Ideals.