At the battlefield:
Calem looked over to his right to see the scoreboard going his way:
Calem: Talonflame (pokeball) (pokeball) (pokeball) (pokeball) Gallade
Cali: Bouffalant Magmortar Flygon Nidoking Beedrill Lopunny
Calem smirked as he saw his mega evolved Gallade facing off against a female bunny like pokemon that was light on her feet touching the rocky ground. Both trainers had just used their mega evolutions and it was obvious that the battle was about to reach the end very soon.
Cali, a girl that wore a red athletic suit, tanned skin, brunette hair, and brown eyes, narrowed her eyes as she called out for a high jump kick towards Gallade. "PUNNY!" Lopunny shouted as she made her right leg glow white and shoot out towards Gallade who was standing in the rocky field with his feet planted on the ground firmly.
"Block it with your cape!" Calem issue as he put his arm in front of himself in a cross like motion. Gallade quickly put his enlarged blades forward, and with that, the white cape dangled in front of himself barely moving to the slight breeze. As soon as the high jump kick collided, the attack was absorbed as it struggled for a while and then both pokemon fell back in front of their trainers.
"And there is the power of both mega evolutions! This is such an exciting battle!"
The crowd cheered as Calem then put his fist out, "Use psycho cut!"
"Quick! Use fake out!"
"PUNNY!" Lopunny appeared in front of Gallade with amazing speed and then clapped her hands in front of Gallade in order to cause the bladed pokemon to flinch…
"Gallade…" Gallade grunted with a slightly unamused expression since the fake out had no effect.
"What, it did not work?" Cali asked with a slightly shocked expression as Lopunny landed in front of her.
Calem crossed his arms and smirked as he looked down at the trainer's platform and notice how the sun was causing a large ray of light to strike the field right in the middle. Calem then spoke up: "Gallade's ability when mega evolved is inner focus, he can't be flinched." Cali winced at this, she did not expect of all things for Gallade to be immune to the gimmick that had worked for her in so many battles that got she into the quarter finals.
"Amazing, and Gallade turns out to be completely immune to a flinching move like fake out! Could this be it for Cali?"
Getting her teeth, Cali threw her hand forward and shouted, "Use ice beam!" Lopunny reeled her head back and then formed a blue energetic sphere in front of her mouth that shot a freezing bolt of ice that Calem could feel beginning to chill his spine as it began to get near Gallade. Calem narrowed his eyes as he watched the approaching attack begin to get into dangerous range for his blades pokemon.
"Jump into the air!" Calem shouted whole pumping both of his fists. Gallade took no time to jump into the bright blue sky that overlooked the stadium as the freezing beam collided with the rocky ground in front of Calem. The cheers grew as Gallade was then seen beginning to fall towards the ground. "Use close combat!"
"GALLADE!" Gallade shouted as he landed in front of the brown bunny and kicked her in the torso. Before she could get pushed back even more, Gallade then charged and struck Lopunny with a powerful punch that sent her flying back towards Cali. The girl gritted her teeth as she saw Lopunny then use her ears to end up facing towards Gallade, but panting heavily due to the amount of battling going on.
"Alright, Lopunny go in for a dizzy punch!" Cali shouted through the cheering crowd. Lopunny pulled back her fist and shot out forward towards Gallade with great speed that Calem could barely see the bunny pokemon. Lopunny easily slammed her fist into the blade pokemon's torso which caused him to land in front of Calem slightly dazed.
"Gallade has been hit! And the blow must have done some damage! Will this be the end of Gallade right here?"
"Gallade, are you alright?" Calem asked his partner who was on the rocky ground. The stands began to cheer a lot harder once Gallade got back onto his feet. Calem then put his hand out and made his next command: "Jump into the air Gallade!"
"Ade!" Gallade shouted as he jumped into the air with a large dust cloud being left in the ground. The blade pokemon then looked down towards Lopunny and her trainer who had stunned faces while looking up.
Calem smirked as he saw his opportunity to strike, so he put his arm out in front of him and shouted: "Cali, take this! Gallade and I are going to give you everything that we've got!" Calem then raised his hand into the air and shouted: "Let's go! Gallade, use PSYCHO CUT!" The crowd cheered harder as Gallade made his blades cross each other while beginning to glow purple.
"What is going on? Why is Gallade glowing his blades purple so much? Is he charging up a devastating attack?"
"Gal…." Gallade charged up as he then made the energy in his arms begin to grow and grow over time. "GGGAAALLLL AAAADEEEE!" Gallade shouted as he made his blade of purple energy grow and grow before being expelled at a size three times the size of Gallade himself. The psycho cut traveled gracefully through the air at a speed that pierced through the entire battlefield. The purple blade was about to hit Lopunny, but as it got closer, the brown bunny's eyes gleamed to the sight of the large projectile on the way.
"BOOM!" An explosion rung around the rocky stadium thus causing the dust to pick up and swirl around in a circular motion. When the smoke cleared, it was clear that it was over when Lopunny was found in her regular form lying unconscious on the ground.
"Lopunny!" Cali shouted with worry as she saw Lopunny on the ground and Gallade pumping his blade right in front of her.
"Lopunny is unable to battle," the referee began as the volume of the cheering increased. "Gallade wins which means the match goes to Calem from Vaniville Town!"
"And there you have it! Calem has overwhelmed Cali and ultimately earned himself a spot in the semifinals!"
"Alright!" Calem shouted as she saw his face be displayed as the winner of the match. Calem then saw as the scoreboard shifted to put his face in a blank of four spaces with the words "semifinal" under it. Calem then pumped his fist knowing he had finally made it to the top 4 of the Kalos League.
Cali recalled her Lopunny just as Calem recalled his Gallade back into his pokeball. Following that, the two trainers made their way into the middle of the rocky battlefield to thank each other for an amazing battle that they had, the light of the sun beaming down on the battlefield.
A/N: Alright guys, this time we are going to be starting with Calem against an OC. The reason why I did this is to portray it kind of like the Kalos League in which the anime showed the four trainers that were moving onto the semifinals. Calem is the first to make it, and there is definitely going to be some amazing competition to make it to the semifinals because today we start the battle of Ash vs Damian!
Anyways, I am hyped for this battle as it is a clash between brutality and cheating against pure passion for battling… Which makes this battle ever more interesting.
I hope you guys enjoy this battle since it will take a lot of effort to make it. Because of the emotion displayed during this battle, I am going to suggest you read the entire battle so you can get a good feel of what is happening.
Anyways, I hope to see you guys down at the bottom!
Key of Kalos League:
The announcer won't be referenced as the announcer. Any text in italics that is in quotations is the announcer and assume that it can be heard by everyone in the stadium.
League Scoreboard System:
Bold: In use pokemon/trainer name
Italics: Fainted pokemon
Underline: Resting pokemon
(Pokeball): Unrevealed pokemon
Trainer A: Poke1 Poke2 Poke3 Poke4 Poke5 Poke6 (Active one)
Trainer B: Poke1 Poke2 (Pokeball) Poke4 Poke5 Poke6 (Active one)
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon
Chapter 43- The Forest Champion! A Hydra of All Trades!
In the trainer's lounge:
"And there you have it folks! Seth has made it to the semifinals along with Calem! His mega Swampert never backs down!"
Ash watched closely with Pikachu as he noticed how the boy that had a bright blue jacket and orange pants along with a dark gray hair recalled his Swampert as the scoreboard put his face next to Calem's. At the same time, Ash saw how the opposing trainer, a younger looking boy was recalling his Probopass. Ash watched the entire battle and noticed how Seth maintained such a calm attitude during his battle, regardless, it was a close battle, both trainers having gone down to their last pokemon. Ash then saw as the field retracted down into the ground completely clear.
"Our next battle will be of Ash against Damian! This will be an interesting match to get underway, maybe even the battle of the day if it lives up to its expectations!"
Ash noticed how the scoreboard switched to portray his and Damian's faces along with six pokeballs next to each name. Ash and Pikachu nodded towards each other as they began to walk towards the doorway. Once outside, Ash and Pikachu made a right turn into the hexagonal shaped hallways and then made another right to see Seth coming down the stairs that he was about to go up.
The two shifted places without speaking anything and before Ash took the first step up towards the dugout, he looked over at the electric mouse on his shoulder. "Pika…" Pikachu grunted with a determined expression as he eyed Ash. Ash nodded as his scarf slowly waved to a small breeze that billowed through the hallway and then stepped up into the stairs, going up one by one.
"Ash!"
"This is it…" Ash muttered as he stood in front of the light that contained the cheers of a millennium of people. Ash pulled back his glove and took a deep breath and then walked into the light. His vision materializing back to itself as he looked around the amounts of people inundating him with cheers. The stadium has a bright sun beaming down from above as Ash stepped into the trainer's platform. Noticing the hexagonal shapes and the scoreboard and the large burning torch, Ash found himself getting slightly more nervous as the time for him to battle neared. Knowing he was coming, Ash clenched his fists as he saw his opponent coming up opposite of him with a large smirk on his face.
"Damian!"
Cheers also occurred for Damian as the boy stepped into his trainer's platform with a crooked smile that Ash knew was lethal to his self-esteem. Damian then spoke up: "Nice to see you here Ash, prepared to lose?" The last part, the menacing trainer chuckled which attempted to pierce Ash's heart.
"And we already have some tension between theses two! This is guaranteed to be a heated battle!"
Ash took a deep breath as Pikachu jumped down from his shoulder and into the space below Ash. The raven haired trainer looked down at Pikachu and smiled reassuringly to try and calm down the stressed out mouse.
"Now that we are situated, in what battlefield will we begin this battle?"
Ash saw how the battlefield came up to join the separation between Damian and him. Noticing every detail, the raven haired trainer noticed how there were trees surrounding a small path in the middle. Ash went wide eyed as he noticed that the battlefield was a forest, instantly knowing who he would lead with. He then looked across the field and saw Damian smirking to then have his eyes drawn to the referee…
It was Rob…
At the stands:
"Ash is battling Damian," Bonnie said with a very uneasy voice. "I am getting very nervous."
"Don't worry, Ash will find a way," Serena said with a very nervous glance as she looked down into the field. Recognizing Rob made her heart sank knowing that this battle is deemed to go with all of the odds against Ash. "Ash, be careful," Serena muttered to herself as she looked at the field to see Ash with very narrowed pensive eyes.
Calem also showed a very nervous attitude as he looked to see the field be a forest. "This is a forest field, Ash will have to work very hard in order to pull this one off."
"Much more than just work hard," Brock responded as Clemont nodded. "Ash has to battle Damian in a very tricky situation, he has to take advantage of the pokemon that he has that are built to be in forests if he is going to win the advantage."
"Good luck Ash!" Tierno and Trevor shouted in unison as they looked at the battlefield. Shauna also clenched her firsts rooting for Ash, she knew very well that this would also be a hard battle for her friend after all.
At the top of the stands, Night was staring down Rob as he turned to his Decidueye. "Hide on the roof and strike when the battle is over." Decidueye nodded at this and then shot up into the sky not visible by anyone as he overlooked the stadium from the roof. Turning down to Jolteon, Night then said: "Let's wait here for now, we need to make sure we ambush that referee as soon as the battle is over."
At the battle:
'Damian is strong, but this is a battle which I have to win, for my passion, and to finally prove that my pokemon are not pathetic and invaluable,' Ash thought to himself as the scene showed the side of Ash's face looking ahead with a very serious expression. The view then circled around the stadium and showed the forest in detail, from the dark brown trunk and the bright green leaves of the trees, to the shrubs and dirt that were on the ground. The path of the center commanding the main battle spot. The view then shifted back towards Ash's eyes, where Ash once again began to think, 'The forest is my friend in this battle, I am going to have to lead with a pokemon that can use the forest efficiently.'
"The safety lock of this battle is about to be removed! This is something no one is going to want to miss!"
"This will be a 6 on 6 pokemon battle, the battle will be over when all pokemon on either side are unable to continue," Ash's eyes were drawn to see Rob standing in the forest with his hand up. "Furthermore, substitutions are allowed and the battlefield will change once either side has three pokemon left," Rob then smirked as he said the next part: "Understood?" Ash and Damian both nodded on instinct knowing that there was no turning back. "Alright then, choose your first pokemon!"
Ash did not even bother to reach for a pokeball in his belt, he needed speed and one of his forest dwellers to begin this battle, "Pikachu, I choose you!"
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted as he jumped above Ash and landed in the dirt of the middle pathway of the forest. "Pikachu!" Pikachu shouted as he began to collect electricity on his cheeks definitely feeling determined.
"And Ash goes with his Pikachu!"
Damian smirked as he saw this, "I already know what you are planning Ash, it won't work." Damian then bobbed a pokeball in his hand before throwing it out into the field, "Let's defeat Pikachu right here and right now Darmanitan!"
"MANITAN!" Darmanitan shouted as he materialized from the pokeball and landed across from Ash with a large thump on the ground. Ash gritted his teeth as he saw Darmanitan, obviously knowing how powerful it would be. Ash narrowed his eyes as he thought about the typing that Darmanitan had, fire… Or maybe something else he was not thinking about?
"Damian will start with a Darmanitan, this is a battle of big against small!"
"Let the battle…" Rob started before he then crossed his arm in a down cut. "BEGIN!"
Battle music begin! Ash (Pikachu) vs Damian (Darmanitan):
"Darmanitan, crush him with superpower!" Damian shouted as he put his fist out. Darmanitan flexed his muscles and made a battle cry before slamming his fists into the ground and beginning to charge the electric mouse that stood in front of him. Ash saw the incoming attack and decided that it would be too powerful to attack head on because of inertia, because of that, he decided to go a safer approach.
"Pikachu use quick attack and avoid it!" Ash commanded as he put his hand out palm down. Pikachu made a battle cry as well and made a white outline envelop him as he began to run towards Darmanitan with tense muscles. As soon as Pikachu was in range, the electric mouse jumped up and through the "V" shaped flames that are Darmanitan's eyebrows. Pikachu then leaped on Darmanitan's back and lightly leaped off to which the fire gorilla turned around trying to grab the electric type. "Hide in the forest!" Ash shouted as he pointed towards the trees that were next to the pathway.
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted as he jumped from the path and into the canopy of the trees. Jumping from branch to branch, Pikachu found it easy to maneuver and conceal himself himself from harm. Damian looked around with a smirk finding it very interesting that Ash would play a running game, but other than that seemed very amused by the fact that Pikachu seemed to be getting away from his danger.
"And Pikachu uses his speed to conceal himself, what an interesting strategy by Ash!"
"Use iron tail!" Ash quickly shouted as his eyes gleamed with light from the sun above him. Pikachu did not waste time as he ended up coming out of one of the trees to the left of Ash with an obviously hard tail. Ash then noticed how Pikachu began to swing his tail around and down cut towards Darmanitan, but later grew wide eyed at what Damian countered with:
"Use fire punch!"
"NITAN!" Darmanitan shouted as he made his fist ignite and swing ablaze above him. Pikachu got caught right on the punch, his face was a shade of infernal orange because of the color of the collision which was causing a shockwave in the middle of the pathway. Ash gritted his teeth as he then saw Pikachu get launched into the air because of having been in mid air. As soon as Pikachu was above the tree tops of the forest, Ash noticed how Pikachu's tail was its original color which meant that Pikachu was not using iron tail anymore.
"Pikachu use thunderbolt!" A mirage image of Ash pumping both of his fists showed as Pikachu began to glow in electricity.
"Pika…" Pikachu shouted as his eye gleamed to the sky above him with a bright black color before then making the crackling bolt of lightning shoot downwards towards the ground. "CHUUUUUUUUU!" Pikachu shouted as the lightning struck the ground and then proceeded to make a zigzag on the dirt, which left strong burn marks, and then struck right on Darmanitan who was not expecting quite the attack from coming.
"Darma…" Darmanitan growled in pain as he fell in the ground and the electricity stopped surging through him.
"Pikachu has landed a powerful thunderbolt attack!"
"Whoa, not bad," Damian replied with a smirk as he then put his hand out and gave the next command: "Now aim upwards and use overheat!" Darmanitan quickly recovered and made his mouth glow a bright blazing color before then launching a large barrage of flames straight at Pikachu who was falling.
Ash went wide eyed as he saw the streaking flames knowing that he had no way of countering them. As soon as Pikachu was hit with the attack, which caused an explosion, Ash gritted his teeth hearing his electric mouse squeal in pain. Falling in front of him, Ash saw how Pikachu managed to get up with slight burn marks on him. "Pikachu are you alright?"
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted as he got up to his feet and recharged electricity on his cheeks.
"After getting hit by a head on overheat, Pikachu is still standing!"
"Alright," Ash shouted. Rob looked over at the raven haired trainer out of the corner of his eye and smirked as he then closed his eyes and looked back straight ahead at the two pokemon. "Pikachu use quick attack once more!"
"We won't let that happen, Darmanitan, get ready and use fire punch!" Damian retaliated as he watched Pikachu begin to shoot out like a speeding bullet towards Darmanitan. The large fire type made his blazing fists propel forward towards Pikachu, who was coming at great speed, but as soon as Pikachu was close enough, Ash finally made a move that Damian did not predict:
"Thunderbolt on yourself!"
"Pika… CHUUUUU!" Everyone could see as a streak of yellow electricity and a tank of fire collided with a shockwave that made the two trainers cover their eyes, but looking back at the battle, Ash and Damian noticed that Pikachu and Darmanitan were in a stalemate of power. "CHUUUUUU!"
"What amazing power! Pikachu definitely lives up to his own name!"
"Don't give up!" Ash shouted towards Pikachu who seemed to be staggering a little. Pikachu opened his eyes and put all of his power into his electricity which then caused him to go through the fists and strike Darmanitan while ending up behind Darmanitan with a fist on the ground and a smirk on his face. Pikachu then had some sparks go around him as recoil damage as he turned around to face the fire type who was consumed in a large explosion.
"What happened?" Ash asked as he narrowed his eyes. He then saw a pair of red eyes beaming through the smoke inside the battle field, and from that it was obvious that Darmanitan had not gone down yet. "Alright, Pikachu, how are you holding up?" The raven haired trainer asked as he looked towards Pikachu, who was across from him.
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted as he pumped his fists and then hurried to run back towards Ash. Looking forward, Ash then noticed how Darmanitan had recovered himself from the smoke, but he was not in the same appearance… Ash looked closer and noticed that in the middle of the pathway of the forest, there was a metallic pokemon with the same size as Darmanitan. It looked very harmless, but it was still watching with great power. Ash looked at Rob and Damian and noticed that they both were looking very amused about what was going on which made the raven haired trainer look at Pikachu suspiciously.
"Darmanitan's Zen mode has activated, how will that affect this battle?"
"How do you like this Ash?" Damian taunted. "Things are about to get very hard for you!"
"We'll see about that!" Ash shouted as he then put his fist out. "Use thunderbolt!"
"Pika… CHUUUUUU!"
Nothing…
Darmanitan was sitting there unharmed. This made Ash grit his teeth as he then pumped his fist, "Pikachu use iron tail continuously, do not stop!"
"Pika… CHU!" he struck the right side of the metal.
"CHU!" Left.
"CHU PI!" Top of the metal, but Darmanitan was not giving in.
"And Darmanitan is taking the hits without taking much damage, this could be bad for Ash."
"This is bad…" Ash gritted his teeth as he narrowed his eyes down at the field.
"TAN!" Darmanitan shouted back having adopted a more metallic and futuristic voice instead of the usual exotic-wild voice it had.
At the stands:
"This is Darmanitan's zen mode," Brock said as he put a hand to his chin.
"It has obviously gained more endurance, Ash can't relax on this one," Clemont said which caused everyone to nod their hards except one small energetic individual.
"Go Ash! Go Pikachu!" Bonnie shouted as she stood at the edge of her seat obviously knowing that things were not going so well for the raven haired trainer.
Night crossed his arms from his point of view. The battle seemed to be having a legitimate start… Something was not adding up to the black and blue attired boy as he then wondered how Ash would even be able to get through things that definitely would not be allowed in an official battle.
At the battle:
"Pikachu go into the forest again and then follow up with thunderbolt!"
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted as he jumped back onto the trees around the pathway and began to conceal himself into the forest. Damian and Rob looked the way that Pikachu went with smirks as they then waited for Pikachu to show back up. "Pika…" Pikachu shouted as he leaped from a tree and down towards Darmanitan. "CHUUUUUUUUU!" Pikachu shouted with a yellow gleam in his face because of the electricity. There was an explosion when the electric beam hit which made Ash pump his fist as Pikachu landed in front of him, but then the raven haired trainer and his pokemon alike went wide eyed when they saw the same metal structure in the middle of the field completely unharmed.
"Still not enough!"
"Had enough?" Damian taunted as he narrowed his eyes towards Ash.
Ash gritted his teeth as he then took a deep breath and said, "Pikachu return!" Pikachu perked his ears up as he heard this and then began to walk towards Ash.
Ash went wide eyed as he then heard something he did not expect: "Use overheat!" Darmanitan began to charge up the attack, and from the looks of it, the zen mode boosted special attacks because the fire was starting to collect with a lot of power.
"Ash recalled his Pikachu, but Darmanitan is still attacking, is something going on?"
"I recalled my pokemon, he cannot attack!" Ash retaliated as he looked at Rob. The referee pretended to not listen as if claiming that the crowd was too loud and Ash was inaudible. Ash then gritted his teeth as he saw the fire beam shoot out of Darmanitan like a volcanic eruption that there was no stopping. "Pikachu! LOOK OUT!" Ash shouted with panic.
"Pika?" Pikachu turned around just in time to see the flames about to collide with him.
To Ash it was a blur, at first he saw a bright light appear and then he noticed how there was a large explosion that happened in front of him to which he had to cover his eyes up with gritted teeth. His scarf was waving ferociously as he then looked in front of him to notice that Pikachu was… Gone?
"W-Where did Pikachu go?"
At the stands:
Serena gritted her teeth as she held her ribbon close. Shauna, Tierno, Trevor, and Calem looked forward with shocked faces while Brock clenched his fist. The only two that did not look were Clemont and Bonnie, the two were embraced, mostly because Clemont did not want Bonnie to see that brutality.
After the explosion in the middle of the field, everyone grew shocked to see that Pikachu was gone. "B-but how?" Shauna dared ask.
"I-I don't know," Serena replied as she held her ribbon like her life depended on it. Serena then took a deep breath thinking that Pikachu could be safe, but she was not sure, "I-I don't know if Ash should have even taken this battle on with that much danger."
"We have to keep our hopes up for Ash," Brock replied. "If no one does, then he will lose the battle."
Calem clenched his fists, "Come on Ash, we promised…"
At the battle:
Ash closed his eyes and took a relieved breath knowing what had happened. Damian and Rob had shocked faces with their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets as they watched how Darmanitan was all alone in the battlefield. It was evident that Ash had recalled Pikachu, and now it was displayed in the scoreboard.
"Choose your next pokemon," Rob told Ash very nervously through the sounds of the crowd murmuring amongst themselves.
Ash looked down and chuckled, "I don't need to, he's already out here."
Damian and Rob looked at Ash confused, but then a blue blurb appeared from the trees and landed in front of Ash. "Ninja," Greninja said as he gave Pikachu to Ash, who was in the ninja frog's arms. Ash smiled and put Pikachu back on the ground to take a bit of a rest after what had happened. "Ninja…" Greninja muttered as he looked from the corner of his eye towards Darmanitan who was in the middle of the field.
"And Greninja has saved the day by saving Pikachu, amazing!"
"Greninja is my next pokemon," Ash said confidently as he eyed the Darmanitan. "I am ready as soon as you are."
"Fine then, use overheat!" Damian shouted. Darmanitan once again made his fire beam shoot out towards Ash's Greninja. The sinister water type standing there with his arms crossed waiting for Ash's command.
"Dodge it!" Ash shouted as he put his hand out at his side. Greninja did not even blink as he jumped into the air as the fire went below him. The overheat then crashed before hitting Ash on the dirt and caused an explosion. Ash instinctively went back in the offensive and put his hand out. "Use aqua blade!"
"NINJA!" Greninja shouted as he made his dark blue kunai knife strike the metallic figure. The Darmanitan then staggered and began to sway from side to side obviously having difficulty with the water and dark type move.
"It is hurting now! The unique move aquablade has made itself useful against Darmanitan!"
"Go for an aerial ace!" Ash shouted as he put his fist in front of him. The water type made his fist glow white and then he charged the fire and psychic type tank which caused Damian to go wide eyed.
"Not going to happen," Damian declared as he then put his fist out. "Darmanitan use superpower!" Darmanitan didn't even move as he made his body glow white. When Greninja landed on the glowing body, he fell backwards in front of Ash. The raven haired trainer called out to his water type, who sat back up on the ground while trying to look forward. "Use will o wisp!"
This caught Ash and Greninja off guard as the fire embers began to encircle Greninja. "Get out of there!" Ash shouted with panic, but it was too late. The embers closed the pinsir and encased Greninja in embers that made him glow on fire. "Oh no!" Ash exclaimed knowing that his water type was now burned.
"Oh no, Greninja has suffered getting burned, this is really bad for Ash if the battle continues any further!"
Darmanitan use overheat once more!" Damian shouted with a smirk as he noticed Darmanitan make another swirl of infernal energy charge up and shoot out through the path lighting fire to the nearby grass. Ash gritted his teeth as he noticed Greninja slowly get back on his feet. The large barrage of flames was very close, but he had to rely on his resources if he was going to end up victorious.
"Double team!" Ash's eyes sparkled as he spread his arms out. Greninja made a cross in front of him with his two webbed arms and then made many copies of himself go in all directions that included the forest. The overheat passed through the Greninja copies and thus made the real Greninja get off scot free from the attack. Ash then noticed as Greninja jumped from the nearest tree to Darmanitan and began to fall towards the fire type in slow motion. "Greninja use aqua blade once more!"
"NINJA!" A large trail of dark blue swiped across Darmanitan's metallic state and caused an explosion which made the fire and psychic type fall on its side with a very dazed look. At this Rob and Damian had similar expressions of shock as Ash then put his arms out.
"Darmanitan seems to be staggered, is this it for him?"
"Finish it with water shuriken!" Ash commanded as Greninja put his arms at the shuriken markings on his legs and launched the two ninja stars like disks towards Darmanitan, who was still on the ground dazed. As soon as the shurikens collided, an explosion enveloped Darmanitan which caused the metallic tank to fall in front of Damian completely unconscious. At the same time, Greninja fell in front of Ash in a ninja stance to then wince in pain from the burn.
Rob seemed shock, but sighed as he raised his hand, "Darmanitan is unable to battle, Greninja wins!"
"And Greninja got Ash the upper hand, amazing!"
Darmanitan was knocked out of the scoreboard as Damian recalled his pokemon. Ash then spoke up as he held a pokeball in front of his hand, "Thanks so much Greninja, return," Ash praised as he made his water type return back to its pokeball.
"Not bad Ash," Damian said as he smirked at his opponent. "But you have not seen anything yet…"
"Bring it," Ash taunted with narrowed eyes that shadowed the upper part of Ash's view.
"Metagross let's go!" Damian shouted as he threw a pokeball onto the field. The pokeball erupted into a flashing light that then turned into a blue metallic pokemon that landed on the ground with a thud which then made a battlecry which caused the entire forest to shake. Ash flinched a little at the sight of the steel and psychic pseudo legendary, but nonetheless reached for his belt for the pokemon that would actually have a chance of defeating Metagross.
"What a beast! Metagross has to be a powerful opponent bound to give Ash trouble!"
"I choose you!" Ash shouted as he threw the pokeball high into the air. The pokeball erupted into a flashing light that then put Sceptile in front of Ash with a large battle cry. Ash then smirked as he saw Sceptile begin to stretch and look at the surroundings as he adjusted the toothpick branch to his mouth. "Sceptile, this battle is as good as ours, if we use the forest to your advantage there is no way we can lose!"
"Tile!" Sceptile smirked and put a thumbs up back towards Ash before turning towards Metagross and narrowing his eyes. "Tile…"
"Ash leads with Sceptile, what a smart choice!"
At the stands:
"How is Sceptile a smart choice? his grass type attacks are resisted by Metagross's steel typing," Shauna said with a worried voice.
"It has to do with the battlefield being a forest," Brock replied as he put a hand to his chin. "The fact that Ash is using a forest dwelling pokemon in a forest type field."
"Serena, didn't you say that Ash has never beaten Damian before?" Clemont asked curiously towards the honey blonde, who had kept her attention towards the field with her hands clenched into fists.
"Yes, but that is the Ash from the past," Serena replied as her blue eyes glistened in the sun light. "Ash has been training harder than ever to be able to stand a chance against Damian, and now he is proving it, he took down Darmanitan and I know Ash will be fine against Metagross."
"But I do not like the brutality of the battle," Trevor suddenly said. "That dude is very toxic, I know that Ash is probably having some emotional obstacles."
"Something about the referee I do not like either," Tierno replied as he looked down at the field. "The man is not paying attention to the times when Damian is trying to exploit the system." Tierno then crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, "I am surprised the organization has not stopped the battle already."
At the battle:
Rob signaled to resume the battle and Ash went first this time: "Hide in the forest!" Sceptile looked to his surroundings and effortlessly leaped from his spot in the middle dirt trail to the side of the arena and into the trees. Damian seemed to narrow his eyes as he watched this, obviously knowing that a pokemon like Metagross was capable of a lot of devastation. Ash then pointed forward with a smirk as he saw a flash to one of the trees to his right. "Use dragon claw!"
"Intercept it with psyshock!" Damian retaliated with pumped fists. Metagross looked instinctively towards the direction in which Sceptile had appeared and launched pink beams from his body right towards the tree frog pokemon. Ash went wide eyed as he saw Sceptile get struck in the chest with the attack and get launched to be in the middle of the field. Damian saw this and then pumped his fist: "Now use meteor mash!"
"META!"
"Tile?" Sceptile asked as he watched how Metagross merged his two front legs to then shoot out in a blue covered aura in his direction with a lot of speed. Ash flinched barely even able to make a command to dodge as he saw the attack strike Sceptile head on. "SCEPTILE!" Sceptile cried in pain as he was launched back by the attack. Sceptile was then in front of Ash with a very dazed look on his face, Ash knowing that if things kept up, Sceptile would lose very easily.
"Amazing! Sceptile has just been collided with a powerful meteor mash following a ferocious psychock! The tables may have just turned!"
"Sceptile, are you alright?" Ash asked with worry as he noticed Sceptile get to his knees. The tree frog got back to his knees and narrowed his eyes towards Metagross. Sceptile then nodded back towards Ash and the raven haired trainer decided to go on the offensive again: "Alright then, Sceptile get in close with leaf blade!"
"Scep... " Sceptile grunted as he made the lateral part of his arms turn into green blades. "TILE!" Sceptile exclaimed as he began to run towards Metagross while crossing the blades in front of his face knowing full on that he would have to pull off something interesting if he were to win the battle.
"Use flash cannon!"
"What?" Ash asked in shock as he then noticed Metagross charge up a white silvery beam in front of him that shot out like a hyper beam in the direction of Sceptile like a bright light that cut through the forest. Sceptile struggled as he got consumed in the bright light and attempted to use his blades to protect himself. The cheering crowd got to see as the forest illuminated with light because the beam dispersed in many directions as Sceptile managed to pierce the attack, but nonetheless it was powerful enough to begin to push back Sceptile. Ash noticed this and gritted his teeth as he shouted his next command: "I know you can do this Sceptile, use leaf storm straight down!"
"Scep… TILE!" Sceptile shouted as he pointed his tail down and began to use his tornadic barrage of leaves downward. That was enough to push Sceptile high into the sunny sky as the flash cannon then kept going and exploded in front of Ash thus causing the raven haired trainer to cover his face in the shockwave of the attack before looking up to see that Sceptile was completely gone from anyone's view. A side view of both trainer's faces portrayed Ash smirking and Damian the one gritting his teeth.
"Where is Sceptile? What can Damian do now to keep Metagross out of trouble?"
"Metagross, keep your guard high, he could be anywhere," Damian said as the view shifted to see through the sides of the forest. There was no movement, but then suddenly a shrub ruffled around which instantly drew the cocky boy's perception to it. "There! Use bullet punch!" Metagross instantly shot out like a bullet with his front two legs pounding on the shrub only to realize that there was nothing there. "Grrr…." Damian grunted as he then looked to his right and noticed that there was some movement from the top of one of the trees. "There it is! Bullet-"
"Meta!" Metagross cried in pain as he staggered from getting hit by two swipes of scaly green claws. Damian looked ahead of him and noticed that there was a figure around Sceptile's height, but it did not look like Sceptile, it was covered in leaves in a way that looked sort of like battle armor.
"Is that Sceptile? It seems that it has turned leafs into battle armor!"
"What?" Damian asked with a dazed expression in his face to a smirking Ash.
Ash heard as the entire stadium was cheering for his Sceptile, he knew that he had all of the support he could behind him and then decided to test Damian, "So you noticed that Sceptile used the forest to his advantage?" Ash then chuckled. "A real forest champion always has to look his best, isn't that right Sceptile?"
"Tile!" Sceptile cheered as he looked back at Ash with a pumped fist.
"Grrr…. Meteor mash!" Damian shouted with a slightly panicked voice. Metagross once again made his two front legs merge before shooting out in a powerful blue aura of power that Ash was smirking at.
"Here comes another meteor mash from Metagross. What will Ash do now?"
"Wait for it…" Ash muttered as he then thought of a way to be able to defeat Metagross right here and there. As soon as Metagross was about to hit Sceptile, the raven haired trainer put his hand out, "Jump over Metagross and then use frenzy plant to grab its legs to prevent it from moving!"
"Tile!" Sceptile shouted as he jumped over the speeding steel type. Damian gritted his teeth as he saw this because this meant that his attack was ineffective. "Scep… TILE!" Sceptile shouted as he then landed on the ground and engraved his fist into the dirt to then cause the ferocious plants to consume the forest and shoot towards Metagross. The steel type attempted to avoid the attack, but it was clear that the plants had gotten a grip on it as soon as the legs were completely immobile.
"Use meteor mash again!" Damian commanded only for Metagross to not be able to move and do anything. "Argh!" Damian growled in frustration knowing that his pokemon was completely trapped.
"Metagross is stuck! It is not able to move now, is this it for the pseudo legendary?"
"Use leaf storm!" A mirage image of Ash showed how Sceptile charged up the tornadic barrage of leafs to shoot out in the direction of Metagross. When the leafs hit, the steel and psychic type was unable to move and got suspended in mid air along with the plants in which he could not move.
"Meta…" Metagross growled as he could not move and could not do anything to which Damian called out. The stands were cheering very loudly at this point knowing that Metagross was at its limit and quickly running out of steam.
"It has staggered! Metagross is feeling the effects of the leaf storm!"
Ash saw his opportunity as Sceptile stopped his attack and Metagross landed barely moving in front of Damian, "Use leaf blade!"
"TILE!" two green shadows of the trails of the green blades went through Metagross and then Sceptile landed behind the steel type with a smirk as he made his blades retract back to his arms with the leaf battle armor dissipating into leafs that trickled over Metagross. An explosion then consumed Metagross to which everyone stayed quiet. As soon as the smoke and leafs cleared, it was evident that Metagross had been rendered unable to battle after that attack.
Rob took no time to declare the ruling despite the fact that things were not going Damian and his way, "Metagross is unable to battle, Sceptile wins!"
"And he has done it! Ash got the two pokemon lead after an amazing execution of power and a great use of teamwork!"
"Alright!" Ash cheered as Sceptile went over to him and gave the raven haired trainer a high five at the trainer's platform to which the stands cheered with a very large volume. At the same time, Damian silently recalled Metagross as the scoreboard portrayed that the steel type was out of the battle completely.
At the stands:
"Alright Ash!" Serena shouted as she got out of her seat to have a small breeze make her hair wave. To this she put a hand up to her hair and parted it to the side so she could keep looking down at the battlefield while cheering on for her crush who was talking with Sceptile. The crowd was very loud due to the hype that was being expressed after Sceptile took down a Metagross with a great unpredictable strategy.
"Now Ash is on a roll!" Calem shouted with a smile as he pumped his fist on his chair. "Just four more pokemon to go and Ash will be in the semi finals!"
"I would not relax just yet," Everyone's heads turned to Clemont who had a glare in his glasses. The glare then reflected Damian's figure looking right towards Ash as the young inventor spoke up: "I might not know Damian, but I am getting the strange sensation that he is going to put that Hydreigon into battle soon enough."
"He's right," Brock added. "If Ash were to battle that Hydreigon, he is going to need a lot of his team just to take it down, and the rest of Damian's team is unknown." Brock then put a hand on his chin. "Damian has used pokemon that are extremely big and tough so far, he might have a small a swift pokemon, but the fact is that they are probably all going to be large and powerful, using raw power to take down Ash's pokemon."
"Ash also has some pretty big pokemon, like Charizard!" Trevor replied with a smirk.
"Let's not forget about Goodra!" Tierno also smiled towards Brock.
"Noivern may also come in handy, but Pikachu may also pack a punch," Shauna said with a smile. "Although I feel like Pikachu might need to take a little more rest after the battle he had with Darmanitan."
"Things also depend on the field change as well," Calem replied as he sat back on his chair. "If the field ends up being in Ash's favor, then he may be able to pull of the same technique he did here." At this everyone nodded, but Serena looked at Ash and noticed the raven haired boy looking more confident in himself as he then had Sceptile go back towards the middle of the forest field.
At the battle:
"Alright Ash," Damian said as he pulled a pokeball out from his belt and bounced it in his right hand. "Things are about to get a little harder for you now."
"What is the pokemon that Damian is going to go with next?"
Ash narrowed his eyes as he looked to see Rob also smiling at the side of the forest, something he was not expecting, but he knew that if someone was coming out, it was powerful. "Bring it."
"Hydreigon let's go!" Damian exclaimed as he threw the pokeball into the field. The device opened to a large flashing light the the levitating three headed hydra that was in the middle of the forest in front of Sceptile.
"DREIGON!" Hydreigon shouted as he made the trees shake from the loudness of the volume. Sceptile did not flinch as he looked at the large dragon pokemon, obviously knowing that this would be a challenge to take down.
"And there it is, the powerful Hydreigon!"
"There it is…" Ash muttered under his breath as he stared down the large pseudo legendary from Unova. "Sceptile, you ready to give it everything we have?"
"Tile!"
"Great!" Ash exclaimed as he put his fists down at his sides with good muscle tone. He was ready to take a stab at defeating the undefeatable Hydreigon, obviously knowing that it might take more than just Sceptile to do this, but reaching down into his belt, Ash noticed that there was one pokeball that was having an itch to burst open and take on this pokemon. Ash ignored the vibrating pokeball though and looked forward to see that Damian was about to give the first attack.
"Hydreigon, use dragon rush!"
"DREIGON!"
Ash calmly expected a move of a magnitude this large from the beginning of the battle and thus pointed forward: "Hide in the forest!" Sceptile got to work and leaped from tree to tree to disappear from view. Damian though, he smirked as Hydreigon began to chase after Sceptile, the large pokemon tearing down the trees as he rammed into them. "What the… Sceptile get out of Hydreigon's way!"
"Keep going Hydreigon, clear the entire field!"
"Tile?" Sceptile asked as he saw the large hydra catching up to him from behind. "Tile, tile tile!" Sceptile shouted as he leaped from tree to tree to then have the crashing sound of the dragon and dark type pokemon destroying the field behind him. Once one side of the field had been completely destroyed to the ground, Sceptile went to the other side only for the same thing to happen to the other side in a manner of seconds. "Tile…. Sceptile," Sceptile grunted as he narrowed his eyes in front of Ash looking at the pseudo legendary that landed in front of Damian with his bright blue glow disappearing completely to expose the bright black skin of the hydra.
"It seems that Hydreigon has cut down the entire forest! This can be bad for Ash!"
"This is bad…" Ash muttered as he then noticed that Damian ordered for a dragon pulse to be launched towards Sceptile. Seeing how Hydreigon opened his mouth and the two mouths on his arms, the colorful dragon shaped beam began to surge towards Sceptile in a way that looked like another dragon charging the tree frog pokemon. "Use leaf storm!" Ash commanded with his hands out and beaming eyes. Sceptile acted quickly as he made his entire body turn around to then shoot out the storm of leafs in the direction of the dragon. The two attacks staggered, but being an attempt to intercept the attack caused an explosion in the middle of the field that hurled smoke, branches, and tree debris into the air. Ash noticed that Hydreigon was probably immobile after that, so he issued a command with his hand out: "Use leaf blade!"
"Scep…" Sceptile ran through the smoke to make his blades glow green. "TILE!" Sceptile shouted as he then swung his blades towards Hydreigon.
"Clamp it!"
"Tile? Sceptile!" Sceptile panicked as he struggled to get out of the grip of the large pokemon.
"Sceptile no!" Ash shouted with desperation as he noticed that Sceptile was completely trapped. He could try to come up with a plan, but how would he be able to take down Hydreigon in the process?
"Sceptile has been trapped by Hydreigon, what can Ash do now?"
"Now finish it with dragon pulse!" Damian issued with a pumped fist for Hydreigon to begin to make his colorful beam appear and strike Sceptile in the abdomen which pushed the tree frog pokemon back towards Ash with a large explosion following.
"Sceptile…" Sceptile grunted in the ground unable to battle after the large brutal attack.
"Sceptile is unable to battle," Rob declared as he put his hand into the air. "Hydreigon wins!"
"And after a matter of blows, Hydreigon has ended up victorious over Sceptile! Damian may be on the road to a comeback!"
"Sceptile return," Ash said as he recalled his pokemon back to his pokeball to a cheering crowd. The raven haired trainer did not even waste time as he grabbed another pokeball from his pokeball and threw it into the field: "Greninja I am counting on you!"
"Ninja!" Greninja shouted as he landed in front of Hydreigon with a clearly scratched up body. Greninja then fell to his knees and struggled to stay up as he was lit on fire. It was clear that the burn was doing a lot against Greninja, but that would not stop the sinister water type from at least trying.
"Greninja is still burned after that battle with Darmanitan, could it even stand a chance?"
"Greninja use water shuriken!" Ash commanded. Greninja was fast as he quickly made the blue ninja stars and launched them towards Hydreigon. Damian did not even make the dark type avoid the attack as it hit Hydreigon to get consumed in a small explosion. "Now go in with aerial ace!"
"Use dragon rush!"
Both pokemon charged up their attack and charged at each other. The scene circled around the frog ninja pokemon with white limbs to then see the dragon pokemon with a blue aura charging each other in between a large area of deforestation. The two pokemon collided in what seemed to be a stalemate, Greninja standing his ground well despite having a weaker move. Both trainers gritted their teeth knowing that this could end a stalemate, and it did as the center of the field erupted into an explosion of smoke and cut down tree debris.
"What an intense explosion, what could have possibly happened?"
"Dreigon…" Hydreigon grunted as he fell to the ground to then get back up in front of Greninja, who was still standing.
Greninja was shown for a moment standing fine, but then a fire consumed Greninja which caused him to wince a little, but still stay standing. "Nin…" Greninja's body then went limp and fell on its side to hit his head against the ground with swirly eyes.
Rob did not even waste a second to call out the defeat: "Greninja is unable to battle, Hydreigon wins!"
"And Hydreigon has gotten Damian back on track! Amazing performance by the dragon type!"
"Greninja are you alright?" Ash shouted as he and Pikachu ran out from the trainer's platform to check on the water type.
"Ninja…." Greninja apologized as Ash held onto him with his hand around the ninja's shoulder.
"Don't apologize," Ash said with a smile as he looked at Greninja's eyes. "We will have our chance to show them who we are together, but I need to win this battle with someone else." Ash then gave a toothy grin, "You were awesome out there against Darmanitan too!"
"Pika!" Pikachu agreed reassuringly towards the water and dark type.
"Ninja," Greninja smiled under his scarf as Ash recalled him back into his pokeball. Ash and Pikachu then walked back into the trainer's platform only to hear things that he had been dreading to hear the whole battle.
"Pathetic as always," Damian said as he looked back up towards Ash. "I was able to take back the ground I lost with one pokemon, and I plan to take the lead with him."
Ash narrowed his eyes noticing that Pikachu was looking at him with a very worried look. The raven haired trainer ignored Damian as he reached into his belt. He felt the same particular pokeball shivering with a little more power now, but Ash instead of choosing that one went for the one right next to it. Ash then showed that pokeball in front of his face and launched it into the field: "Goodra, I choose you!"
"GOOOOOOOOO!" Goodra shouted as he appeared in the middle of the debris with a determined look. "GOODRA!"
"And Ash decides to go with Goodra next! This may as well be what gives Ash the lead into the next portion of the battle, but it is definitely going to be a tough battle of pseudo legendary pokemon!"
Ash smiled at this as he heard the crowd cheer in approval to the scene of Goodra, one of Ash's most elite pokemon. Ash looked towards the scoreboard and noticed he the team that was being wasted the quickest, but that did not matter to Ash. All that mattered to the raven haired trainer at this point is getting the advantage:
Damian: Metagross Darmanitan (pokeball) (pokeball) (pokeball) Hydreigon
Ash: Greninja Sceptile (pokeball) (pokeball) Pikachu Goodra
At the stands:
"I think that Goodra could win, but it would have to take a great amount of power for it to happen, Hydreigon is very tough," Clemont said as he adjusted his glasses. "This is no walk in the park, this battle has not even reached its peak yet."
"Go Ash!" Bonnie shouted as she jumped out of her seat.
"Oh Ash," Serena said with a nervous expression and grabbing her ribbon. "Please be careful."
A/N: Oh god, things are getting intense. We start off the next chapter with Goodra against Hydreigon. Not really going to spoil much of what is going to happen during the battle, but do keep in mind that it will only pick up from here.
I hope you are enjoying the story so far, I am actually writing this A/N a day before the day before I publish chapter 26. You guys are so far behind from my perspective xD!
Anyways, remember to R & R and I will see you guys next time!
Responding to some reviews:
NinjaFang1331: Thanks, glad you enjoyed!
ArmorshippingFan: Let's see how Ash will do against Damian, that Hydreigon is very tough! I read that they have a very tough rivalry 0_0! Thanks for reviewing!
Guest 1: We will see, first, we have to make sure Ash can get through that Hydreigon!
Thor94: I hope it does, let's see what the writer (me) has in store! If he makes Ash lose I will also be kind of pissed... But it could make for a dramatic ending to the Kalos League already... uh oh, Oh yea, thanks for reviewing!
Nick The Pikachu2: Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!
Leafeon12: Thanks, get ready for stuff to pick up in the next chapters!
Guest 2: Amourshipping and proud (pounds chest), thanks for reviewing!