Chapter 13: Agni Kai

A/N: It's been awhile since I've updated! Let me put Ash's team here in case we forgot!

Beedrill: Buzz- enjoys being stealthy and using Double Team. Ash's starter.

Totodile: Ash's newest and youngest edition. Hatched while Ash was in Cerulean.

Alolan Sandshrew: Blizz- Ash's second teammate. Joined as a gift from Brock, likes fighting like a rock type.

Clefairy: Joined in Mt. Moon, prefers ranged attacks.

Hitmonchan: Olive- Most recent addition to the team.

As they exited the woods Ash noticed a bicycle leaning against one of the trees. In his haste to get to Buzz earlier he must have totally missed it. He reread the note again as he walked over to the bike and examined it. It was an electric assist bike, one that held a battery and would be able to charge as the wheels turned. Ash had always wanted one when he was a kid because they were much faster than a normal bike and required a lot less energy because of the electric motor. Ash had seen one video of a rider who didn't have to pedal at all and rather had his Pikachu give a current to keep the bike going.

He looked East at the direction the mysterious note had told him to go. Someone would help get him to Cinnabar. He wouldn't have to worry about Team Rocket and his team could be together…

Ash stood there for a long time before shaking his head and turning the other direction. "The note tells us to go that way, but I can't leave Leaf. She needs our help guys." Ash said as he looked at Clefairy and Buzz. They both nodded back to him in agreement as he recalled them and began riding the bike towards Fuschia.

Ash made it around Fuschia without any trouble, keeping to the residential area of the town to avoid most of the traffic. It was now late in the morning, but most people were either out working or at the Rocket Academy so the residential streets remained pretty empty. Ash knew if it had been only an hour or so later there would be people around as they came home for lunch, and he was pleased with his luck.

He was headed back to bicycle road, back to the underground tunnel, and finally to confront Hitoshi and then rescue Leaf from Sabrina.

X

Ash spent the day pedaling away on the electric bike. By the time the sun started going down Ash had practically travelled the entirety of bicycle road. He found the same place they had bedded down on the first day of their previous trip and released his team as he explained the situation.

"This is going to be the most difficult thing we have had to do yet. You guys have trained with Hitoshi's Primeape. You know how strong it is, and yet we are going to have to take it down before we can ever get to Sabrina and save Leaf. For that, we need to be as prepared as possible." Ash said as he reached into his bag and pulled out a stone.

It was a pitch-black slab that seemed to glow if you stared at it for too long. Ash remembered when this was given to him by the ancient Clefable as he looked at Clefairy and offered it to her. "We need to be as strong as possible for this battle. I think it's time Clefairy." Ash said as his Clefairy stared hungrily at the little chunk of home.

After a brief moment she shook her head and turned away. Ash was stunned.

"Are you sure? We need this for what we are getting in to. This is what we've been waiting for." Ash said again as he held out the stone. Clefairy bent down to the ground and drew a long line in the dirt. She drew one X at the beginning of the line, and the other one about halfway down. She pointed to her drawing as she looked up at Ash.

Ash stared at it for a moment before he figured out what she was trying to say. "Clefable said you would be ready after a long time. Are you saying you don't think you're ready?" Ash asked as he remembered the vision that was given to him.

Clefairy nodded her head. Ash sighed as he put the stone in his backpack. He knew he couldn't convince her otherwise, but he could have really used her extra firepower from an evolution. He quickly shook the negative thoughts as he grabbed another stone out of his bag and held it up triumphantly.

Blizz squealed as he beheld the Ice stone. Ash laughed as he tossed it to the Sandshrew. Blizz eagerly snatched it out of the air as he shoved it down his mouth and ate the stone. Ash watched as Blizz began to twitch before being covered in a bright white light.

The outline of Blizz changed from within the light. Ash watched as the form grew to almost twice the size and saw what seemed to be large spikes coming out from its back. The light faded as Blizz appeared and Ash's whole team admired his new form.

His body had previously been covered in scales that were more white than blue, but in his new form he was covered with a baby blue fur. The most distinct difference was the giant spikes that looked like pure ice sticking from his back. Before Ash had seen how Blizz was both ice and steel type, now he looked much more like an ice type and much less like a steel type.

Ash also noticed how much longer his claws were. Ash almost laughed as he realized Blizz only had two claws on each hand, making grabbing or holding things a lot more difficult. He couldn't help but smile as Blizz looked at him and let out a battle cry in a much deeper octave than he had previously.

"Well then, let's see what you can do now eh?" Ash said as Blizz pounded his foot, ready to test out his new form. Ash pointed at a tree nearby and said "Icicle Spear!"

Blizz turned to face the tree and went to throw an Icicle Spear as a burst of ice shards flew out from the spikes on his back. Ash laughed as his team had to dodge out of the way and Blizz looked around confused.

"Looks like you're going to have to get used to your new body." Ash chuckled as Blizz tried to summon Icicle Spear again and shot more shards from his back. "I'm leaving everyone out for tonight. I need some rest, and I don't have any more potions so nobody get hurt. That means no sparring you two!" Ash said as Croconaw approached Blizz and rumbled a challenge.

They both looked at Ash with disappointment in their eyes. "You'll get plenty of time to test out your new strength later. Remember, we will be taking on Hitoshi." Their eyes flashed with recognition at the name and Croconaw slammed a paw on Blizz's shoulder. He quickly pulled it back and shook it before gently tapping it with one of his fingers.

Ash just shook his head as he turned to look at Hitmonchan. "I'm so sorry, today did not go as expected. Normally things aren't like this and we get to train but a friend was taken and we need to get her back." Ash said as the Hitmonchan nodded in understanding.

"Would you like a nickname? Buzz and Blizz both do, but neither Clefairy nor Croconaw have one." Ash said as he looked at the Hitmonchan. It was silent for a moment before nodding an affirmative.

"Awesome! Let's see…" Ash trailed off as he began listing different names for Hitmonchan. It took over half an hour before they finally decided on Olive. Ash smiled as he looked at his newest team member.

"Alright Olive, tomorrow we are going to run in to other fighting types. I'm going to keep you as a surprise for as long as possible, but I'll need you to be ready, okay?" Ash said as he officially used Olive's new name. She nodded at him before turning and talking to Clefairy.

Ash looked around at his team. Croconaw and Blizz were both testing out their newly evolved bodies. Clefairy and Olive seemed to be getting along well. He looked up at Buzz as he let out a big yawn. "We've got a big day tomorrow buddy. Make sure everyone doesn't stay up too late. Keep an eye out." Ash said as he laid down.

X

Ash woke up in the morning with his legs and butt extremely sore from his full day of biking. He could barely stand up at first, but after a couple minutes of moving around he felt a little better. Ash prepared food for everyone and enjoyed a peaceful meal with his team before returning them all and jumping back on the bicycle. He had a mission to complete.

He groaned as he sat down and dutifully pedaled to where he knew the underground passage was. He arrived in less than an hour, and hopped off the bike as he began searching around on the ground for the spot that it opened up. It took him a couple minutes before he saw a patch of grass that looked slightly different than the rest. He quickly walked over to it and noticed a string coming out from the center.

Ash pulled on the string as the hatch came open to reveal the tunnel underneath. He looked around to make sure there was nobody around before going underneath. He successfully made it to the tunnel, now it was time to confront Hitoshi.

Ash had walked for about half an hour before he heard the sound of someone else in the tunnel. Apparently the stranger heard him also as a voice called out, "Who goes there?"

Ash vaguely recognized the voice. "I have some business with Hitoshi." He said back, uncertain if he should name himself.

The person behind the voice stepped into view and Ash recognized it as Josh, the boy who's Machop Blizz had battled before. "Oh, Ash! I didn't know you were coming here." He said as he stopped walking about 30 paces from Ash.

"Leaf's been taken. We were ratted out and I need to talk to Hitoshi about it. He's going to pay for this." Ash said back as he continued walking towards Josh. He was glad it was Josh, as they had bonded over the week they had been together and Ash knew Josh could help him find Hitoshi.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." Josh said back as he grabbed his two pokeballs from his belt. Ash tensed and immediately sent his own hand down to his teammates on his belt.

"What are you doing Josh?" Ash asked.

"This was all supposed to be a lot simpler. But this way will be a lot more fun I suppose." Josh said back as he pressed the release on his two pokeballs. Ash watched as a Primeape and a Machoke appeared. Ash gasped as realization struck him.

"You're the traitor? You're the reason Leaf was taken? Oh, you're going to pay for this!" Ash yelled as he released Blizz and Croconaw. He considered releasing his full team, but with the underground passageway being relatively small he decided against it. He knew these two could handle it, plus if they couldn't he could always release the rest of them.

"I see your Pokemon evolved too. Good, this should actually be a nice little warmup for my team. Primeape, Machoke, Attack!" Josh commanded as he pointed towards Ash's Pokemon.

"Water Gun! Icicle Spear! Try to keep them at a distance!" Ash yelled to his Pokemon as they began following orders.

The fighting Pokemon didn't even try to dodge the incoming projectiles as they closed the distance between them. Ash realized the danger he was in and quickly ran backwards a few paces before turning and viewing the battle.

The Machoke had charged through Croconaw's Water Gun and punched the reptilian square in the face. Croconaw tumbled backwards from the blow, but not without slamming his tail into the oncoming Pokemon. He let loose another burst of water at the Machoke as it cracked its knuckles.

Likewise, the Primeape had made its way to Blizz and was attempting to end the fight quickly. It landed a few solid blows before Blizz struck back with a Bide. The Primeape tumbled away from the unexpected blow as Blizz threw an Ice Ball at it.

Ash examined the battle intensely as strategies formed in his mind. The cavern was too small for Buzz to make good use of his wings, and he didn't want either of these powerful fighting types getting their hands on his Beedrill anyways. He could release Clefairy, but both of his Pokemon were in-between him and the fighting types, and he didn't want to risk her attacks accidentally hitting them. He could release Olive to help, but he would rather wait to see if Croconaw or Blizz went down first.

Blizz looked like he was having the most difficult time with his opponent. The Primeape's fighting type attacks were super effective against his iron hide, and from the continual onslaught of fists being thrown it didn't look like the monkey was slowing down. After realizing how much damage the Primeape did, Blizz decided against trying to trade blow for blow and was actually attempting to dodge. Ash thought this was a major improvement in attitude, but the Primeape was still much faster than the Sandslash.

If Croconaw was struggling at all he refused to show it. The Machoke's attacks were much slower than the Primeape's, but they carried much more power with them. Each time a punch landed, Ash heard the impact it made on Croconaw's reptilian scales. If Croconaw had not evolved, each blow would have been enough to knock out the smaller Totodile. Instead, each time Machoke landed a punch Croconaw would let loose a small grunt before doubling down on his own attack.

"Iron Head Blizz! Use Double Team and start throwing Ice Balls!" Ash called out as he recognized Blizz using Ice Ball more now that he had evolved. Blizz immediately followed Ash's orders, dodging a punch from Primeape and slamming his head straight into the opposing Pokemon's chest. The Primeape stumbled backwards as Blizz separated into multiple copies of himself. The space restricted the copies from moving around too much, but it gave Blizz enough cover that Ash could spare a moment to look over at Croconaw.

Ash watched as his Pokemon, now littered in bruises exchanged blows with the Machoke. For every punch thrown, Croconaw would return with a Counter or Slash, or the occasional Ice Punch. Ash knew the fighting type was better suited for this kind of duel and it wouldn't be long before Croconaw couldn't keep up.

"Sweep the legs with Aqua Tail! Keep it down with Water Gun's and get a Crunch in if it can get back up!" Ash called out as Croconaw heeded his words. The Machoke also heard Ash, however, and jumped over the Aqua Tail as Croconaw spun around to whip him. Croconaw quickly used Low Kick as the Machoke landed, which caught the fighting type off guard and caused him to fall. Croconaw quickly followed up with Water Gun as the Machoke fought to get back up.

A loud crack stole his attention away as Primeape had found the real Blizz and delivered a nasty punch that sent him crashing into the wall. He slid down the wall and landed on his stomach, struggling to get up. Primeape walked over to deliver the final blow. Ash panicked and quickly released Clefairy just as the spikes on Blizz's back shot forth Icicle Spears into the unsuspecting Primeape. It tumbled a few steps backward as Blizz glared at it, still struggling to get up.

This gave Clefairy the open opportunity to blast Primeape with a high powered Dazzling Gleam. The Fairy type beam hit Primeape hard, as the bruised fighter was not ready for a special attack. Clefairy followed up with a couple more beams before Primeape stopped attempting to get up.

Clefairy and Ash both turned towards Croconaw's battle and watched for an opening. The Machoke was much angrier now that its friend had been blasted, and picked Croconaw up with what must have been Seismic Toss before throwing him at Blizz and charging straight for Ash. Clefairy fired a Dazzling Gleam as Ash backed up, terrified of what Machoke was willing to do to him. Clefairy fired another beam of Fairy energy that didn't phase the fighting type. It was almost to Clefairy now and looked ready to knock her into the ground as well. Clefairy let loose a howl as she blinded everyone with Flash before firing another high powered Dazzling Gleam into the Machoke. The temporary blindness and impact from the beam caused it to finally fall down, as Clefairy used Thunder Wave to keep it temporarily paralyzed.

The immediate danger now gone, Ash looked over to his other two Pokemon, who were both getting up on shaky legs. Ash was glad they were both conscious, and knew that things would have ended very differently had he not released Clefairy. He turned to look at the other boy across from him and saw that Josh was staring right at him.

"What do you have to say for yourself now? Now move aside!" Ash yelled out.

"He's crazy! He just attacked me for no reason! Please help, I'm afraid!" Josh called back, with trembling in his voice. Ash was confused, but didn't have time to figure out what was happening before a blast of water slammed into Clefairy's back. Clefairy tumbled forward as a Pokemon rushed forward and landed a Karate Chop on the top of her head, knocking her out instantly. The Pokemon charged forwards on two legs and finished off both Blizz and Croconaw before turning around to face Ash.

The Pokemon facing him appeared to be about his height, with a dark blue fur and a weird circular pattern on it's stomach. Ash stared at the pattern, mesmerized by its movements before shaking himself out of the trance and reaching down for Buzz's Pokeball.

"That won't be necessary," A deep voice said from behind him as someone yanked Ash's wrist behind his back, preventing him from getting to his Pokeball. Ash looked up to see a large man standing next to him, with jet black hair and a dark red head band on.

"Poliwrath, good job. Make sure Brown Belt Joshua is not injured." The man said as he turned to face Ash. Josh came running up and started talking.

"Thank you so much for saving me Black Belt Bumi. He came in here talking nonsense about Leaf being captured and something about how he needs Hitoshi to come with him. I don't really know and I was trying to figure it out and then he just attacked me!" Josh said, playing the part of a distressed kid extremely well.

"That's not true at all! You're-" Ash started.

"SILENCE!" Bumi shouted. Ash went pale as he shut his mouth. Bumi was still holding on to his wrist, and Ash realized that this man could easily break it if he desired. Ash's mind was racing about how to get out of this situation.

"You will only speak when spoken to. I have heard of Leaf's capture. You come here, supposed friend, after turning in your boss and now trying to turn on us? I should break you in half right here and now!" Bumi spat towards Ash with fury.

"No, it's not li-" Ash groaned as his wrist was twisted further behind his back and he felt his shoulder sear with pain.

"I did not ask you to speak! Be quiet you insolent fool!" Bumi yelled back again.

"Thank you Black Belt Bumi. This kid is a liar and will say anything to try and get away. I remember when he traveled with us he was asking Hitoshi all kinds of personal questions, probably trying to learn our secrets! We can't trust him at all!" Josh said as Bumi nodded.

Ash struggled to keep tears back. He had come here to expose the mole and save Leaf and somehow the whole situation was turned around on him.

"This is all your fault!" Ash yelled towards Josh as Bumi pinned Ash's arm further against his back. Tears came down now as he felt utterly hopeless. His mind flashed back to the last time when he had felt like this, back when Leaf's Ivysaur had defeated his whole team and he thought Leaf was going to take his Pokemon away.

An idea began to surface in Ash's mind as he recalled what they had gone through that day. Leaf's words hung in his mind; Don't let go of the strongest weapon you have just because you lost a battle.

"I challenge your leader to an Agni Kai." Ash mumbled out, barely louder than a whisper.

"What was that boy?" Bumi asked as he pulled Ash closer to himself.

"I challenge your leader to an Agni Kai!" Ash gasped, with defiance in his voice. The expressions he received from those around him all varied. Josh seemed terrified at this idea. Bumi started laughing as he heard Ash, and the Poliwrath looked at Ash with what Ash thought might have been a glimpse of respect.

"Very well then!" Bumi said, still chuckling. "Koichi will handle you without a problem. Come then boy, I will bring you to your end." Bumi finished as he motioned for Poliwrath to lead the way. He graciously allowed Ash to return his pokemon to his belt before they started down the hallway. Poliwrath led, with Ash pushed along by Bumi who was still holding one of Ash's arms behind his back. Josh stood there for a moment, but after a look from Bumi he returned his Pokemon and began to follow them. He kept his head low, deep in thought.

X

After taking a few turns through hidden passages that Ash wouldn't have been able to find on his own, they arrived in a large chamber that was barely lit. Ash would have enjoyed taking in the views of the arena, had it not been for the pressing fear that everything was crashing in around him. There was no way he could do what Leaf had done and defeat the Black Belt's leader at his own game. After he lost, would he be able to explain his side? Why would they trust him over Josh, who they've known for so long?

Ash knew he was just delaying the inevitable, but this was the only shot he had. The thoughts he had during his bike ride of marching up and defeating Hitochi seemed like pipe dreams after encountering that Poliwrath. How had he been so foolish to think that a week of training would bring him on par with people who had been mastering their element for years?

Ash shook his head in disgust as he looked across the room. He was being led to one side of a square arena that had ropes around the edges. "Try to run and Poliwrath will take you out. Wait here," Bumi said as he headed off in the opposite direction. Josh mumbled something about getting his Pokemon healed before heading off in another direction. Ash looked at the Poliwrath as his mind raced.

The Poliwrath had bulging muscles beneath his blue fur. Ash once again felt drawn towards the circular pattern on his stomach. Ash found himself following the black line as it went around and around and then the Poliwrath would move slightly and Ash would lose the pattern and start all over. Ash shook his head and forced himself to look away.

Ash knew the history of the Agni Kai fight, and knew who it must be to do it. Olive hadn't been on his team for long, and he was certain that she had no chance of defeating whatever the leader had, but he didn't have any other choice. He only had Buzz and Olive left, and Buzz would be less than ideal in a straight physical fight. Plus, it felt more fitting to Ash, as the first Agni Kai featured a Hitmonchan. Ash felt like Olive was probably going to be going against another Hitmonchan or Hitmonlee anyways.

Ash heard footsteps in the distance. He looked up and saw three figures walking towards him in the distance. As the approached, Ash realized that the one on the right was Bumi, and on the left Ash recognized Hitoshi. The man walking in the middle was a head taller than the other two, and even from the distance Ash could see how muscular he was.

"So," boomed the man in the middle. "You're the traitor that has dared to challenge me. Fair enough, I will tear you limb from limb. Release your Pokemon, let's end this."

Ash gulped. He shakily grabbed his newest teammates Pokeball off of his belt and released Olive into the ring. Olive looked around, prepared for a fight. The other trainers all gasped as they saw the Hitmonchan appear. Even Poliwrath seemed taken aback but quickly regained composure.

Olive looked Ash in the eyes as he said "It's an Agni Kai, give it your all." Olive nodded as she turned to face her opponent.

The opposing leader stepped up to the ring as he eyed the Hitmonchan. "How long have you had him for?" He asked Ash in a gruff voice.

"It's a her, and I caught her a few days ago in Fuschia." Ash responded back.

"Ah, perfect. So she probably doesn't know how spineless and cowardly you are. After we defeat you she should make a nice addition to our team. The Hitmon line is pretty rare and it will be nice having another breeding female around." The man said as he grabbed a worn out pokeball.

Ash gulped. He hadn't even thought about them trying to take his Pokemon. "You… you can't do that. She… she chose to be with me." Ash stammered, trying to sound more confident than he was.

The man looked at Ash with one eyebrow raised. "I'll tell you what, kid. I'll let you walk free right here and now, with all of your other Pokemon if you leave the Hitmonchan with me. I promise I'll take good care of her and you and your Pokemon can get on with your training."

Ash shook his head immediately. There was no way he was going to trade away his newest member. Plus he couldn't just walk out of here, he needed them to believe that he wasn't the mole. He needed help to break Leaf out.

"No, I can't. But if you'll just listen to wh-" Ash started but was quickly silenced.

"Enough!" The man boomed. He pressed the button on the Pokeball and a massive creature with four arms appeared in the ring in front of him. It was about the same height as the man who had released it, but the muscles on its legs and arms were bulging and Ash thought for a second they might tear through the blue skin it had.

Olive seemed likewise impressed, and it took her a moment before she remembered she needed to be in a fighting stance. The giant Machamp eyed the Hitmonchan up and down before turning its head back towards its trainer. The man nodded his head and said "You'll only need one arm to handle this Bruiser. Begin!"

Ash watched as the Machamp put three of its ginormous arms behind its back and taunted Olive with the remaining one.

"Mach punch! Test its speed!" Ash yelled out as Olive pounced into action. She began striking with a frenzy of punches, moving so fast that Ash's eyes could barely keep up with her fists. She kept throwing blow after blow but somehow Bruiser the Machamp was even faster. Most of the blows he blocked with the one hand that wasn't behind his back, although he had to dodge a few that Olive had aimed at his head.

Overall Ash didn't like the way things were going. From what Ash had learned from the Pokedex, Mach Punch was supposed to be one of the fastest moves that a Pokemon could learn. It channeled special energy into the shoulders and biceps, allowing for incredible thrusting speed that was much faster than a regular punch. They weren't the most powerful of punches, but the sheer speed and volume of punches was enough to overwhelm a lot of opponents. The Machamp, however was having no issue whatsoever with the incoming attacks, and Ash could tell that Olive was beginning to get tired.

"Remember Croconaw's tail!" Ash called out, hoping that Olive would remember how Croconaw had thrown her off balance in their battle. Ash watched as Olive continued her barrage of punches. Ash thought that she sped up her attacks, but as he could barely see her fists the only way he could tell was by Machamp's movements. With each volley of blows he took another step back as he continued to block and dodge the onslaught, a smirk on his face. As Ash was looking at that smirk he suddenly saw it change into a full on grin. Olive had heard Ash after all, and had just swept the Machamp's legs out with her own. Ash watched as the Machamp grabbed Olive as he was falling back and threw her behind him as he flipped acrobatically and landed on his feet.

For her part, Olive managed to spin around mid air and also land on her feet, although it was much less impressive than what the Machamp had done. Ash watched as the two Pokemon stared each other down again as he heard someone clap.

"Very good! That was very clever, was that what you meant when you said Croconaw's tail?" The man said to Ash. He didn't respond as he racked his mind for another strategy. This Machamp seemed completely unfazed from their earlier engagement, while Ash could tell that Olive had used a lot of energy. Ash shook his head as he realized the inevitability of the situation. This Machamp was too strong, Olive had no chance.

"Give it your all Olive, there's no way he can dodge everything." Ash said firmly. If they were going to lose, it wasn't going to be hanging back on the defensive. Olive nodded her head as she charged forward, her fist covered in frost.

Her Ice Punch slammed straight into the Machamp's open palm. The opposing Pokemon quickly released the punch and gave Olive a back handed slap across the face. Olive grunted as she launched into another vicious frenzy of blows, which the Machamp gracefully dodged.

Ash was amazed at how quick and smooth such a muscular Pokemon moved, but there was no doubt who was in charge of this fight. The Machamp continued to find openings in Olive's defenses, and taunted her with quick slaps.

There was nothing Ash could do other than watch the much superior Pokemon toy with his own. "Don't let him distract you, keep going!" Ash shouted as he continued watching the match. The Machamp still hadn't broken a sweat, yet Olive was attacking with all of her might.

"Go," Ash heard the man say from across the room. Machamp changed and sprang into action, putting Olive on the defensive as he began moving forward. With only one arm coming at her she was able to dodge the blows, but her first mistake came when she went to parry one of his blows. Machamp had so much force behind his punch that her parry was useless and the blow hit Olive square in the chest. The Hitmonchan stumbled back a few steps before regaining her composure as the Machamp kept coming at her.

Their exchanges kept occurring in a similar pattern as the fight continued. Olive was not used to only dodging and the Machamp was fast, even with one fist. Each time she got in a place where she had to block a punch her efforts would fail and she would take a hit.

"Get in close, use your head!" Ash yelled out, hoping to make something happen. Once again there was no visible acknowledgment from Olive, and she made a mistake and tried to parry a blow from the more powerful Machamp. This time, however as the blow pushed through her parry she spun closer in to the Machamp, taking the slightly taller Pokemon by surprise. She wasted no time ramming her forehead into the bottom of his chin as she began laying punches laced with ice and fire into his exposed midsection. The Machamp grunted as he brought his elbow down on Olive, but she didn't stop with her punches.

Olive continued blasting away at the Machamp's midsection as it continued hammering her with elbow shots. Ash looked on with pride, knowing that Olive wouldn't be able to take too many more shots but glad that she had found a way to land some hits.

After what felt like forever, but was only minutes in reality, the Machamp decided that he had enough and laid a massive punch straight into Olive's side with his lower left arm. Olive didn't get up, and Ash recalled her.

"You did great," Ash whispered to the ball as he put it back on his belt. He heard clapping from the other side and looked up to see the Machamp's owner looking at him.

"That was spectacular! Machamp had to use another arm! You can't understand how impressive that is. And the way she listened to you! After only a couple days of being together! Very good!" He said as he approached his Machamp and looked the Pokemon over.

"Huh Bruiser, she gave you a good battle? I told you that you needed to do more ab workouts! Your weak stomach cost us that duel!"

"Uh, excuse me? You guys won, remember?" Ash said as he listened in on the exchange.

"No no no my boy, on the contrary! I said that Bruiser would only use one arm. When he used a second one to knock her out he broke the rules of battle, which means he is disqualified. You and your Hitmonchan are the winners!"

"Come on Kiyo, you obviously smoked the kid." Ash heard the man he recognized as Bumi say.

"No Bumi. We broke the rules of the Agni Kai. The kid is victorious. Anyone who gain the respect of one of the Hitmon line after only a couple of days together is someone I am willing to admit defeat to. Now boy, what was it you wanted to say?" Kiyo said as he turned and looked at Ash.

XX

A/N

Sorry for the delay, here's the update! I have the next one mostly done, should be out within a week or two!