Chapter 3

2/9- Update

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Iris

"I can't believe Blaziken got taken out so easily." Thought Iris as she saw May's starter Pokemon lying on the ground, knocked out. As May returned her Pokemon, Iris looked at the giant Aggron before she and Dawn and went into thought.

This was going to be an uphill battle for both her and Dawn. Not only did they lose one of their Pokemon rights when the battle began, but it was done without Aggron taking any damage at all. Not a good sign. This was clearly a high-powered Aggron so, they'll have to play smart if they want to win against it.

Looking at Haxorus, Iris thought a bit about what to do when Dawn spoke to her.

"Iris, the only way we can win is if we combine our attacks." Said Dawn as she looked at the Unova Champion. "The way Blaziken got taken out in one hit shows that we can't win in a one-on-one fight against it. We have to actually work together as a team. Otherwise, I think we'll just get shredded. Think of this like a tag team battle. Just against one opponent instead of two." Iris looked at Dawn when she said that.

"A tag battle, huh?" Said Iris. "Never had a lot of those before, but I think I can manage." She then turned to face Haxorus. "Haxorus, you heard her. We need to treat this like a tag battle. So work together with Mamoswine. I know you don't like Ice types still but we got to if we want to win." Haxorus let out a roar of agreement with Mamoswine doing the same.

"Alright." Said Iris with a smile. "Haxorus, use Dragon Pulse!"

"Mamoswine! Follow up with Earthquake!" Yelled Dawn as the battle began anew.

"Good. Aggron, brace yourself!" Yelled the Pokemon league agent as Aggron nodded as it felt the intense earthshaking power of Mamoswine's earthquake. Gritting its teeth as the super effective move worked on it, the Iron Armor Pokemon endured the earthquake while looking at the incoming Dragon Pulse sent from by the Haxorus. Aggron let out a grunt as the Dragon Pulse hit it square in the head and sent it reeling back. It quickly, however, recovered and gave a glare at both Haxorus and Mamoswine.

"Good work, Aggron. Now charge into Mamoswine using Double-edge!" Yelled the Agent. Aggron roared out before charging at Mamoswine at full speed. In the blink of an eye, the Aggron was right on top of Mamoswine and slammed into him with the full power of its body, causing Mamoswine to roar out in pain. While Dawn yelled out in concern for Mamoswine, the Agent ordered a Head Smash followed by a Heavy Slam.

Aggron roared again before rearing back its head and sending it crashing into Mamoswine's head. The horns on top of Aggron's head increased the damage of the already powerful attack and sent Mamoswine to the floor in pain. That wasn't the end of it, however, as Aggron jumped into the air. It then gathered up energy before falling straight toward Mamoswine, who was still recovering from the Head Smash.

"Mamoswine!" Yelled Dawn just before the Heavy Slam made contact and a massive dust cloud was kicked up as a result of the giant Aggron landing on her Pokemon. As the dust cloud slowly settled, everyone could see the results of the attack and Dawn cried out in horror.

Standing upright and without anything to indicate that it suffered too much damage was Aggron, looking as pristine as ever. As pristine as an Aggron could with its multitude of scars. In front of it and stuck in a crater was Mamoswine with swirls of eyes.

"No way. Mamoswine went down so easily." Said Max as he saw Mamoswine go down so easily, stunned to see such a large Pokemon get taken down so quickly. Sure it was against an even larger Pokemon but it was still a shock to Max that it occurred so fast.

"Just like with Blaziken, Mamoswine got taken down in just one or two moves." Said Brock as he grimaced. "This Aggron. Not only is it powerful, but it's fast too. I've never seen an Aggron go as quickly as this one."

"And then there's the trainer himself." Said Cilan as he inspected Pokemon League agent as everyone watch Dawn return Mamoswine to his Pokeball, a glum and shocked look on her face. "That man can give out commands at a speed that I haven't seen before. Not even any of the Champions can give out commands at that speed. And then there's the bond between him and his Pokemon. It doesn't seem like it, but the bond between them is strong. So strong that it's almost like their one entity in two bodies. It's like Ash and Pikachu's bond, only somehow stronger."

"Is that true, Cilan?" Asked Ash in shock along with everyone else, stunned at hearing a stronger bond than Ash and Pikachu. To hear someone with a bond stronger than his and Pikachu was quite a shock to the boy.

"On my word as an A-class Connoisseur." Said Cilan as he looked at his face seriously. He wouldn't say anything like that if he wasn't certain of it. He then turned to see Iris taking a breath before looking at the Pokemon Agent and his Aggron with a confident smile on her face.

"Alright, you may have taken down my teammates, but that won't deter me!" Yelled Iris, trying to show just how unnerved she was at how fast Mamoswine and Blaziken were taken down by the giant Aggron. "I'm the Unova Champion and I won't go down so easily."

"I believe you." Said the Agent before ordering Aggron to do another Double-edge attack. Roaring out, the Aggron charged at Haxorus, gathering power as it did so. As the Aggron charged at Haxorus, Iris was thinking. Brute force wasn't the answer here, she needed to think strategically if she wanted to win. Thus she was gong to do something that may cost her the match if it fails, but can also win her the battle if she and Haxorus pulled it off. Thus as the Aggron got closer and closer to Haxorus, Iris suddenly yelled out at the last minute.

"Haxorus! Use Psycho Cut to knock Aggron out of balance by stepping to the right and targeting it's legs!" Yelled Iris as Aggron was literally only a few meters from Haxorus. Her Pokemon was surprised at the orders, along with everyone else, but Haxorus did what he was told. Sidestepping to the right at the last second, Haxorus then roared as it used Psycho Cut on Aggron's feet as it passed Haxorus. Aggron roared in pain as the attack hit it's legs, sending it crashing into the ground, damaging it even further because of the failed attack. Seizing the initiative, Iris ordered Haxorus to use Dragon Pulse as Aggron was getting up. Seeing his opponent was getting up from it's failed attack, Haxorus fired it's Dragon Pulse just as Aggron got up. It had turned to face Haxorus when it received the Dragon Pulse to it's face. A dust cloud formed as a result of the impact. The dust cloud was so large that it obscured the Aggron and partly obscured Haxorus from everyone's sight. Iris was a bit unnerved by this, unsure if attacking blind was a good idea or not. A few seconds of wondering, Iris was then stunned when she heard the Pokemon agent yelling out for Aggron to do Flash Cannon at Haxorus followed up with a Head Smash and Heavy Slam. Iris and the others then saw a Flash Cannon fire in the cloud followed by a roar of pain from Haxorus. Iris yelled out in concern for her Pokemon as she heard the sounds of a bodies slamming into each other followed by a loud thud that dispersed the dust cloud.

When it fully dispersed, everyone saw what had happened and were shocked. The Pokemon Agent's Aggron was getting up from a knocked out Haxorus, whose swirls for eyes indicated that it was out of the battle.

Upon seeing this, Brock yelled out the outcome of the battle after getting rid of the shock of seeing Haxorus get taken down so easily.

"Haxorus is unable to battle!" Yelled Brock as he announced the end of the battle. "That means the end of the battle and the win goes to the Pokemon League Agent!" Nodding to Brock, the Agent returned his Aggron to its Pokeball, congratulations it along the way.

"Way to go, Aggron. Impressive display as always." Said the agent before walking over to Iris, who was recalling Haxorus, a disappointed look on her face.

"You did your best, Haxorus." Said Iris with a sad smile while May and Dawn looked at her with sympathetic smiles on their faces. Out of all their Pokemon, Haxorus took the most damage out of all their Pokemon it seemed. Plus, Iris must be feeling down because she was the Unova Champion while the other girls were just coordinators. It must stung her pride to lose so quickly, especially when it looked like she had a good shot. "I was the one that let you down."

"Not really, Ma'am." Said the agent as he made his way to May, Dawn, and Iris, who all looked at the agent. "You didn't let your Pokemon down at all. In fact, none of you let the other down. Both your friends and your Pokemon. This demonstration is to show the difficulty of this tournament compared to all the others you all participated in. I didn't expect you all to win this battle, even the Unova Champion. Why? Because those that you will face if you all decide to join the tournament will be just as hard to beat as my Aggron. In fact, I'm certain that they'll all most likely be harder to defeat even." Upon hearing that, the three teens looked at the agent in shock.

"Really?" Asked Dawn in shock, stunned to hear that they'll be fighting even more powerful Pokemon than the Aggron they just faced.

"Correct." Said the agent. "That's why this is a tag-team tournament and why it's going to be multiple trainers going up against one person and their Pokemon. If you all had managed to coordinate and help each other out more effectively, I'm certain you could have won against me and my Aggron. But you didn't and that is something that you all must work on if you decide to participate in this tournament. You must work together as a team, just like you and your Pokemon in your Gym battles or Contests, if you wish to do well in this tournament."

"Working together." Said Ash as he walked to the Pokemon Agent with his friends. "Like us and our Pokemon."

"Indeed." Said the agent as the Monarch came to him along with his other friends. "I'll provide you all pamphlets of information for the tournament before leaving Pallet Town, but that's the basic thing that you must know about before going into this tournament. Oh and one more thing, Ash Ketchum. The Pokemon League would like to extend an invitation to you for the opening ceremony of the tournament. After all, with the Monarch there, it'll be good publicity for the tournament and they desire you to have a battle with someone. As a way to hype up the tournament." Upon hearing that, Ash looked at the agent, blinking in surprise. After thinking it over, Ash let out a smile.

"No problem. Name the time and place. We'll be there. Just tell them that they better bring their all because I'm going to do it as well." Said Ash with a smile. The Agent gave him a nod at that before speaking up.

"I'm sure they will." Said the Agent before starting to leave. As he was leaving, Rhonda was following him with her camera crew, eager to interview the man that defeated the Unova champion and two others in a three V. one battle. As they left, Ash looked at his gathered friends.

"So, what do you guys think?" Asked Ash as he looked at everyone. "Should we enter that tournament?"

"Well," Started Brock as he cupped his chin. "I'm a Pokemon doctor now, Ash. I no longer have the time to go out on journeys like I used to. Even if I wanted to, I can't. Sorry."

"And I have my responsibilities as a Gym Leader." Said Misty with Cilan and Clemont nodding their heads in agreement. "Much as I would love to have another journey and adventure with you Ash, I can't. The Cerulean City Gym needs its Gym Leader."

"Well, I'm going to participate!" Yelled Iris with a smile, her disappointment now gone and replaced with enthusiasm. "Not only would this tournament help me become a Dragon Master it'll also give me a good opportunity to travel all around the world! After all, what kind of Dragon Master would I be if I don't know about all the Dragon type Pokemon out there?"

"And if I could, I'm also going to participate!" Yelled Max as he let a smile grace his features. "I'm just about to start my time as a Pokemon trainer and what better way than to join in on this new tournament."

"Same here!" Yelled Bonnie with a big smile on her face while her Pokemon, a Fairy type called Dedenne, squeaked out in support. May just let out a chuckle at the enthusiastic blond before replying to Ash's question as well.

"Well, since this tournament also has a Contest portion, why the heck not?" Asked May with a smile. "And even if it doesn't make me a coordinator, it'll be a blast to travel with people again. Especially you Ash." Upon hearing that, Serana also yelled out her want to join in. Same with Dawn. Like May said, the contest portion of the tournament appealed to them and they both wanted to travel with Ash again. Upon hearing all his former traveling companions yell out their decisions, Ash gave a big smile before yelling out his own answer.

"Well, I'm going to participate as well!" Yelled Ash with a smile as Pikachu yelled out his support in excitement. Seeing the battle made him excited for the tournament. After all, if there were truly strong trainers out there in this tournament. Then what kind of Monarch would he be if he didn't bother even trying to participate in this tournament? In fact, this could help his dream of becoming a Pokemon master in more ways than he could possibly dream of. So you bet he was going to attend this tournament.

Upon hearing her son's announcement, Delia Ketchum let out a smile.

"That's my boy." Said Delia with a smile, proud of her son. "So much energy and so much enthusiasm. He's just like his father."

"I bet." Said Alexa as she finished recording, deciding she got plenty of stuff regarding the battle and its aftermath. She'll get an interview with Ash later. "Your son has inspired so many people, Mrs. Ketchum. You should be proud."

"Oh, I am, Miss." Said Delia as she looked at Alexa. "The number of people he's befriended and helped throughout his journey would make any mother proud. Not to mention all his Pokemon are happy to see him as well. I just wish his father was here to see this." Hearing the hint of sadness from Delia, Alexa decided not to pry lest she bring a sour mood to this celebration. Returning to watch the teens and young children get pumped or support their friend's decision, Alexa wondered what this tournament will be exactly like and what else the Pokemon League had in store for everyone.

In the meantime, the Pokemon agent, having only gotten out of line of sight of everyone rather than actually leaving, chuckled upon seeing the reactions of everyone. He was pleased to see the reactions and he would be even more pleased to see the surprised look on the Gym leaders when they realize what the League had in store for the tournament. It was going to be big. Bigger than anything they planned yet. And perhaps that Pokemon doctor as well.

As the agent was looking at everyone, he noticed Rhonda coming to him with a smile on her face. Sighing, the agent looked at her and prepared for what was likely going to be a very overwhelming and exhausting interview.