Hey Nuggies! Well I really shouldn't be doing this, but here I am writing another fanfiction since I have writers block on a few of my other ones, and because this won't leave me alone. Here is your warning this will be SLASH! I have decided though that this will not have M!Preg.

Main Pairing: AshxPaul

Rating: M (to be safe)

Chapter Warning(s): None

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon it belongs to Game Freak, Nintendo, Creatures, The Pokemon Company, etc, nor do I write this for profit. This is for entertainment use only!

Please don't forget to head over to A03 for the discord link! You don't need an A03 account to do it.

A/N: The battling may seem to be going pretty fast in this, but as those on my discord could tell, I was losing my mind trying to write this chapter. Had to erase over 1k words and everything just to try and get a rhythm with this chapter. Anyway I do hope you enjoy this chapter and I hope to see y'all on discord/future chapters!

Enjoy!

Ash smiled as he looked over at Noivern, who was gently nudging and sniffing Jangmo-os' egg, before turning to look at the rest of the pastures. He had introduced the blind wyvern to the egg in hopes that perhaps it would ease the pain Noivern felt losing his own young. Perhaps, Ash hoped, that this could be a chance for Noivern to become the father he was going to be before the poachers, or hunters, killed that chance.

Beyond Noivern were the rest of the pokémon he had brought with him, along with the few injured ones Ash had brought and felt comfortable leaving here at the pastures until after the conference. They were doing fantastic in terms of healing and within the next week all of his pokémon should be cleared for light training. They mostly needed rest and Tyrantrum had already been cautioned on not moving his tail a whole lot in case the weaker bones broke again.

At least introductions between them and Noivern went well, very well in Charizards' and Tyrantrums' opinion. From what Ash could tell is that Charizard regarded Noivern like an older brother or uncle figure while Tyrantrum seemed to have… other intentions.

He wasn't sure if he should warn off Tyrantrum while Noivern was healing and grieving over his late mate and hatchlings, or if he should let things be and see if Tyrantrum could help with Noiverns' healing. The fact that they were both male didn't raise any concerns for Ash. After all, he was in a relationship with another male and there have been several instances of wild pokémon pairing off with other wild pokémon of the same gender. In fact, just the other week there was a documentary about two mated male Pyroars and their Pride from the vast plains in Kalos.

Along with Noivern and his injured pokémon, he also had Gardevoir, Leafeon, and the twins with him. Oak had giving him permission to take Leafeon outside while her baby was having his afternoon nap in hopes that perhaps while she soaking in the warm sun rays that she would photosynthesize to help her heal up the rest of the way and give her nutrients Oak wasn't able to give her with pokéfood. Gardevoir had a noticeable bump and Zoroark had to help her settle down onto the grass. Snoms' ice casing was getting larger by the day, and her ice spines had become very sharp.

While everyone was doing great in terms of healing and in Gardevoirs' case, her pregnancy, it was Larvesta that was concerning him.

Oak had been keeping an eye on the little fire moth for the last week for him, but Oak had never encountered what was going on with Larvesta. From what Oak had said was that Larvesta was doing fantastic one day and then the next day the fire twins' health was going downhill. Refusing to eat, unable to keep food or water down, not wanting to move, staying away from others, the usual signs of a sick pokémon, Oak said. It was the sudden discoloration on the hard casing of his abdomen and the pain Larvesta seemed to be in that caused an uproar of concern and worry in Ash.

Oak had gotten in touch with Professor Juniper, who was the Regional Professor where Larvesta was first discovered, when Nurse Joy couldn't figure out what was going on and Juniper couldn't tell them what was going on either as she had never seen a Larvesta act like that. She had asked if they could meet up so she could get a closer look at Larvesta, but she wasn't able to meet with them for another week at least.

So now here he was fretting over the fire twin, who was finally resting, in his lap all the while trying not to pay any attention to the pain radiating from the larger twin. When he first felt Larvesta and the pain he was in, Ash couldn't help the rush of tears in his eyes. He couldn't do anything besides trying to keep sending soothing healing Aura his way. He wanted to take Larvesta with him when he left the pastures, but he knew he wouldn't be able to. Larvesta was in too much pain to be away from the lab.

When Ash first took a closer look at the hard casing covering Larvestas' abdomen he was surprised to see that the discoloration was a bright green. There wasn't much but it was enough to be concerned. Oak had pointed out that it thankfully wasn't a black discoloration which usually indicates necrotic tissue and his blood and scrape tests show that Larvesta didn't have an infection. He did also notice that there were bumps along the top of it, spaced evenly, but Oak and Nurse Joy were not concerned about it.

So now all they could do was sit, wait, and hope that soon they would get answers. Good answers.

Ash had been updating Paul on everything that was going on and told him that he would be leaving later than he was going to, but Oak thankfully is letting him borrow Alakazam as transport so it wouldn't be too late when he arrived. So with his last few hours Ash spent it in the pastures with his pokémon, napping, reading, and trying to get Larvesta to eat or drink a little. Ash did feel a little relieved when Larvesta, even though he refused the soft foods, had taken a few sips of water that had been mixed with a medicinal powder to help keep sick pokémon hydrated.

Ash even got Larvesta to promise him to at least drink a bit of water everyday and try to eat once a day while he was gone.

The rest of the time he had at the pastures went by too fast for his liking and before Ash knew it he was standing in the room he shared with Paul with Pikachu jumping into his arms and Alakazam teleporting away. He greeted the small mouse and gave him a few ear scratches as he walked towards the bed and sat down on the edge. Aegislash floated over towards him and stared at him for a moment before one of her ribbon arms caressed his cheek. He gave her a small smile and a small nod before she went back to the window she claimed as hers. Ninetales, who still had a bandage around her hip, slowly got up and limped her way over to him despite Ash protesting that she not move.

"Nurse Joy said that she needed to get up and walk a bit to keep her leg from seizing up," Pauls' sudden voice make Ash jerk a bit as he hadn't seen his boyfriend when he was teleported in, "Ninetales just has some deep bruising now that should be all healed up in a few days. The bandages aren't really necessary anymore. I just haven't taken them off yet."

Ash nodded and looked down as Ninetales laid her head in his lap and despite how cold the fox was he sunk his fingers into her fur not minding the biting cold that threatened his fingers with frostbite. Luxray, who had been laying beside Ninetales, let out a rumbled chuff before she began to groom her paw. Ash could tell that she was happy to see him once again even though her actions say otherwise.

"How's Larvesta?" he heard Paul ask as the taller teen walked over and sat down beside Ash making the bed dip with his weight. Ash clenched his hands into fists, being mindful that they were in Ninetales fur, and did his best not to cry. He took one deep shaky breath before turning to look at Paul.

"I'm scared that he's going to die," Ash whispered in admittance and ignored the traitorous tear that fell from his eye. He had cried enough. He didn't want to cry any more. "They can't find anything wrong. All they can do is alleviate the symptoms and even then it's not helping. Larvestas' in so much pain, and I only just got him to drink something before I left. Oak told me when I went to get Alakazam that if Larvesta keeps going the way he is, they are going to have to run an IV on him and keep him in isolation."

"I don't want my baby to die," Ash whispered so softly that he didn't know if Paul had heard him, but from the way Paul wrapped his arm around his waist and pulled him into his lap he was sure Paul did. Ash gripped Pauls' shirt tightly in his fist as Ash buried his face in Pauls' neck. He felt Pikachu clamber into his lap and heard Ninetales let out a soft whine.

"He won't," Paul said in a reassuring tone, "I'm sure he won't."

And Ash truly did want that to be true.

"Welcome back Pokéfans! It's me, Rena, your announcer! With my co-host-" a small lady with bright green hair and a wide smile announced while her co-host, a thin man with graying brown hair and bags under his eyes indicating he needed some sleep, waved as he finished her sentence.

"Ivan! Today is the day! The Indigo League Finals! For the past few days we have watched as 256 trainers battle for the top spot!"

"And now here we are with just the Top 4 Trainers!" Ivan exclaimed as he spread his arms wide in a showing gesture.

"Luca Welks from the Orange Islands!"

"Kara York from Hoenn!"

"Violet Maithe from Paldea!"

"Ash Ketchum from Kanto!"

Silver watched as pictures of each trainer flashed on the large tv screen as the people around him cheered loudly. His Aunt Delia, Professor Oak, and himself had teleported earlier that morning to the arena for the last day of the conference. While he was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of people around him Silver was excited to be here to cheer on his cousin. His Aunt even got them tickets that were close to the boxes the really important people sat in.

"Now this may come to a bit of a shock to everyone," Rena said as she and Ivan came back onto the screen, "but it was decided, last minute to change the Top 4 battles!"

"That's right!" Ivan said as he grabbed the paper lying in front of him, "According to the higher ups, instead of watching three separate battles today as we normally would have, we will be having one battle!"

"One battle?!" Rena exclaimed as she made a shocked face.

"Correct! Mr. Goodshow himself has decided on this last minute change and let the four trainers in question know last night about it. Today will be the first ever Battle Royale the Indigo League Conference will see!"

"Just to make it clear to everyone, instead of a trainer versus trainer battle it will be all four trainers fighting each other at once!"

Ivan nodded as he set the paper down once more and looked into the camera, "The placements will be decided like this! The first person to lose all six of their pokémon will get 4th place. The next person to have all of their pokémon knocked out will get 3rd and so on until there is only one trainer standing."

"So it could be any trainers game?"

"Indeed!"

"So without wasting any more time!" Rena said with a nod and a wide smile on her face, "Let's bring out the trainers and begin!"

Ash took a deep breath as he walked down the darkened corridor to the sunlight at the end. He flicked his hand in a nervous tick before tilting his head to the side making his neck pop. He had gotten very nervous when he had gotten a call from one of the faculty members last night about a mandatory meet up taking place not long after the call. The feeling festered after he, along with the other three trainers, had been told about the sudden change in plans. He and his pokémon had never really fought in something like this and he could only hope that it would go well.

He just hoped that he wasn't the first one to fall.

Ash blinked as he stepped into the sunlight and did his best to not show his worrying emotions on his face. Once Ash made it to his designated spot he looked around the arena to focus himself. Smooth flooring of grass and metals, a pond along one side while on the opposite side had an outcropping of rocks, and in the center was a pool of hissing and bubbling magma.

Across from Ash stood Violet. Much like her name, Violet had violet colored hair and bright blue eyes, but her hair wasn't nearly as beautiful as Pauls' hair. On his left stood Kara. Short brown hair with mercury colored eyes, and she was tall with what looked like a tattoo creeping up her neck. Luca on the other hand was talking to his spot on the right. The trainer that managed to beat Paul. He was the tallest of the four of them with dark skin, hair, and eyes.

Ash took a deep breath as the roar of the crowd began to die down as Luca settled into his spot. He listened to the announcers as they detailed the battle and what they were prohibited to use before one of the four referees stepped forward. Ash reached back onto his belt to grab one of his partners' pokéballs as the referee threw the beginning flag into the air.

The world was silent. The air was tense as everyone watched as the bright red flag fluttered downwards to the ground. Then, as the first fiber of the flag hit the ground the world burst into noise as the four trainers released their pokémon.

Luxray burst out onto the field with a loud roar and a crack of her tail as it whipped ferociously behind her. Across from them Violet released a tall regal grass type called Tsareena while Kara released a snarling Weavile. Luca was the last to release his pokémon, which was an Escavalier. Ash called out for Luxray to focus on the Weavile as the Escavalier used its lance-like arms to rush towards the Tsareena.

The larger feline met the smaller feline claw to claw and with a snarl erupting out of both of them. The Weavile was fast and didn't seem to hit hard but Ash could see the damage those wicked looking claws were doing on Luxray as the dark fur darkened with blood. Luxray didn't hold back either as similar dark fur on Weavile had also began to darken. Red feathers scattered the ground after Luxray used Thunder Fang on the smaller feline and managed to pull a few out.

"Luxray dodge!" Ash yelled as the Escavalier dashed over having finished with the Tsareena the bug had its lance-like arms crossed in front of its chest and glowing a bright green. Luxray jumped into the air at her trainer's call and as she twisted in the air to land on her feet the bug released its move that managed to hit the Weavile, sending the smaller feline back towards its trainer. Luxray turned to face the Escavalier and released a Night Slash with her claws.

The Escavalier crossed its arms once more but instead of the green it had before it glowed a bright silver. The bug didn't release anything from it so Ash assumed that it was a move that helps boost something like how Aegislash uses Iron Defense to up her defense. Luxray let out a Roar as the Escavalier let its posture down causing the bug to shiver a bit and 'step' back letting the Weavile, who finally picked itself up, to return in its place.

The Weavile let out a hiss at the bug and lashed out with a Shadow Claw just as a new pokémon came into the fray. It was large and covered in a hard shell. Its jaw looked strong and Ash didn't want Luxray to get anything in its mouth.

"Drednaw! Take care of the Escavalier!"

Luxray, seeing both the Weavile and this Drednaw focus on the bug, took a step back to catch her breath. With a shake of her fur, causing a few drops of precious blood to fall to the ground, Luxray slowly began to move and circle around the trio. She was always more of an ambush fighter, but if she needed to she would charge in to fight. The larger feline took the opportunity to dash in and out of the group to land hits here and there all the while not taking damage herself.

"Trainer! Return your Weavile!"

The small feline had finally fallen to the Escavalier, but not without causing some good damage to the bug. Its steel hard carapace was slashed in some places and the unprotected chest was covered with ruby red blood. The Drednaw had a few scratches on its face and legs, but otherwise it wasn't hurt too much. But now that one of the three were down the other two pokémon turned their focus onto Luxray.

The Escavalier sent out a blast of energy in the form of a Focus Blast, but Luxray dodge it only to get in the way of Drednaws' Hydro Pump. The water didn't do much damage to the electric type, but it did manage to send Luxray flying back. The feline regained her footing and shook out the extra water in her fur before she released a loud cracking Thunder. The extra water on the ground leading to the other two pokémon and the little bit of water that had covered the other two pokémon made it so the electricity was just a bit stronger.

"Escavalier is down!"

"Drednaw is down!"

Ash saw Luxray heaving for breath as she laid down for a moment while the other trainers recalled their pokémon. Luxray had done exceedingly well against so many pokémon and wondered if he should recall her even though she was still in good fighting shape. He took a chance in using his Aura, normally he kept it wound as tightly as he could in a crowd as large as this, to see if he could feel what she was feeling. He expected to feel her tired, and he did, but he also felt satisfaction, pride, determination, and want. Ash nodded and decided to keep her in.

Luca sent out a small Eevee evolution, a Glaceon, while Kara sent out a large crystal covered Gigalith and Violet released a tall purple lizard like pokémon with a bright yellow electric frill.

"Gigalith, use Sandstorm!" Kara yelled out making the large walking crystal let out a bellow. Its body shook causing its rock body to hit against itself making a loud sound akin to a landslide. The air quickly began to fill with sand and soon enough it was hard for anyone to see a few inches in front of their face. Ash had to squint his eyes and over his mouth and nose with the sleeve of his shirt so he could breathe. He couldn't see Luxray and he hoped that she would be okay after the storm ended.

Ash let out a cough as sand managed to get into his throat and tried his best to keep his wits about him as the sound of their pokémon fighting could just be heard over the roar of the storm. Thankfully he knew that Sandstorm wouldn't last long unlike a natural one. They would all just have to wait it out. It seemed like the sand was lasting for hours when in reality it only lasted a few minutes.

The first thing he did after finally being able to open his eyes was look for Luxray. The sand had piled up on the arena ground almost to his knees and there were drifts of sand that were taller than he was. Ash took a deep breath of clean air as his eyes darted one way to the other trying to find any sort of clue to where Luxray was. He saw the lizard was down, half buried in the sand and bite wounds on its shoulder. The Gigalith was still standing tall where Kara had released it and Glaceon had just poked its head out of the sand.

"Toxtricity is down!"

The call of the referee shook him for a moment and paid no mind to the other two pokémon as their trainers began to give them commands to fight. Finally in what seemed like forever did Ash see Luxray. His girl was slowly getting up from the sand, sneezing out the coarse grains, and shook the sand from her fur. The tip of her tail laid limp and Luxray had a deep gash going across her nose. Seeing her state made Ash retract his first decision on keeping her in to fight.

"I forfeit Luxray!" Ash called out gathering attention to him as he raised Luxrays' ball to return her. The feline merely let out a chuff before the red rays made her get back into her ball. Seeing the sand all around made a small smirk appear on Ash as he reached back for Krookodile. He knew that the croc would love the arena the way it was and if anything Krookodile would be fast in this environment. Just as he released Krookodile, Violet released a rather large pokémon. It was dark, like charcoal, and on its back was a huge pile of smoldering coal.

Krookodile let out a bellow as the coal creature sprayed out flames. The top layer of sand turned into bits of glass near where the flames had gotten close making it so the sand near the creature was just as dangerous as flames it spewed out. Krookodile settled into the sand a bit, relishing in the coarse grains along his scales, as the Gigalith fell from a strong Ice Beam Glaceon released.

"Coalossal take care of the small one," Violet commanded with a grin and giggle. The Coalossal let out a deep grunt before turning and releasing an Incinerate towards the Glaceon.

"Krookodile, while Coalossal is busy with Glaceon, take out the other one!" Ash said as Kara released a Vikavolt. The large bug let out a few zaps between its mandibles as it flew around. Krookodile let out a snort before releasing a Foul Play. Seeing the move hit causing the bug to look at the croc made Ash smirk. He had done a bit of research on the various pokémon he had seen the past week that he knew nothing about and as it turns out Vikavolt was one of these pokémon.

"Focus on Fire Fang when it's close!" Ash yelled as the referee declared the Glaceon to be out. Ash turned to see the Coalossal let out a rumbling bellow as the small Eevee evolution was recalled. The small amount of satisfaction he had felt seeing Krookodile fight the Vikavolt with a super effective move left him as Luca released a Gyarados.

The beast was large, mouth gaping revealing sharp white fangs, thick red scales covering its body with a few scars here and there. Its crest, instead of three prongs, were four, and its fins were tattered. Just from looking at it Ash could tell that this beast had been through some battles and all Ash could hope was that this beast wasn't their downfall. The crowd roared as the shiny Gyarados let out a roar so loud it almost deafened the yells from the crowd.

"Gyarados, blast them all away," Luca calmly ordered. The beast immediately let out a torrent of water from its mouth and swept its head from one side to the other. Ash gasped and braced himself to get hit, but one of the psychic types the arena employs encased him in a barrier that kept the water from getting to him. It was weird being under the water but not getting wet or even breathing.

Once the Gyarados finished Ash saw Krookodile laying limply against the wall along with Coalossal and Vikavolt. This beast really just one shot their pokémon.

"Vikavolt is down!"

"Coalossal is down!"

"Krookodile is down!"

Ash let out a shaky breath as he recalled Krookodile. It was too bad that Vikavolt went down since it would have been very effective against the Gyarados, but at least he had his own little electric powerhouse. Reaching back he grabbed Pikachus' ball and released the mouse, who sent a glare back towards him for being put in the ball in the first place, before focusing back onto the battle. Violet release one of her last two pokémon, it was small and looked kind of like Pikachu, but so very much different. On the other side, Kara released a tall tree like pokémon who creaked and groaned as it settled on its root-ish feet.

"Pikachu, keep your focus on Gyarados. It needs to go," Ash said to Pikachu as the not Pikachu disappeared into a shadow. Pikachu let out a chitter as it dashed forward, dodging puddles, drain holes, and piles of mud. Sparks danced on Pikachus' cheek pouches as the mouse shot off blast after blast of electricity. The tree pokémon groaned as it released a large barrage of leaves with Pikachu just managing to dodge the razor sharp leaves. The Gyarados blew most of the leaves away even if some did hit it while the not Pikachu left the shadow it had hid in and raked a large shadow like claw down Gyarados' back.

The serpent twist and turned as the three pokémon ganged up on it. It released torrents of water, waves of Hurricanes, and even snatched Trevenant, the tree pokémon, in its mouth with a Crunch. Mimikyu, the not Pikachu, Mimic-ed Pikachu when he used Thunderbolt and Thunder to attack the Gyarados. In place of Trevenant, after it had been recalled, was a tall slimy looking creature.

"Goodra, use Power Whip!" Kara yelled as the Mimikyu was sent back towards the wall by Gyarados hitting it with its tail. The large slug-like creature made a wet noise as it gathered grass type energy into its antenna-like horns before swishing its head to the side causing the horns to extend and smack into the Gyarados.

The large serpent let out a bellow and focused on the Goodra, leaving the two smaller opponents alone, as it deemed the larger creature better prey. It left Pikachu with a great opening to climb onto the Gyarados and run up its back as the Mimikyu and Goodra attacked it from the ground. Ash watched as Pikachu launched himself upwards as he reached the base of the head. Ash knew exactly what Pikachu was going to do and grabbed Pikachus' ball just in case.

Ash watched as Pikachus' cheeks began to glow brightly with compressed electricity and just as the mouse landed on the Gyarados released said electricity. The large serpent let out its loudest roar yet as the super effective move coursed through its body. It twisted and turned, letting loose a few Hydro Pumps and weak Hyper Beams, as it tried to get Pikachu off of it. A few moments later the electricity died off and the Gyarados fell to the ground with Pikachu jumping off its head right before it landed. The serpent's body spasmed as the referee called out that it was unable to continue.

"Good job!" Ash exclaimed to himself and let the feeling of pride fill him even more than he had already felt. Pikachu, still gearing to fight, bee-lined towards the Mimikyu as the Gyarados was recalled. Pikachu smacked the already tired Mimikyu with an Iron Tail causing it to faint where it landed as it was sent back towards the psychic barrier.

"Mimikyu is down! Trainer Violet, release your last pokémon!"

'Last pokémon? Already?!' Ash thought to himself as those words connected in his head. He thought about the pokémon that had already been on the field and who had released them. From what he remembered Kara only had two pokémon left, including the Goodra that was currently fighting Pikachu, and Luca had three more including the one he just released onto the field. He himself had four including Pikachu, but he wasn't going to let that get to his head. Anything could happen.

Violets' last pokémon was tall and absolutely covered in hair. Its hair wrapped around its body like vines and the smile it had made Ash shiver in fear. It was wide, toothy, and the overall appearance of its face promised pain. Luca's pokémon was long, eel-like, and had a mouth completely filled with razor sharp teeth. Karas' Goodra immediately moved to use Muddy Water that swamped the arena in the brown sludgy liquid. Pikachu had to jump and cling onto the outcropping of rock so he didn't get swept under the rush of water. The eel pokémon merely levitated above it with sparks of electricity flowing over its body.

'So it's an electric type,' Ash thought with a small nod, 'Good to know.'

The humanoid pokémon with all the hair rushed towards the Goodra, fist raised and glowing while Pikachu was forced to jump down as the eel pokémon sent a Flamethrower his way. Pikachu had to dodge several Flamethrowers as he tried to get closer, but as the mouse went to hit the eel with an Iron Tail it merely bounced off the scales before sharp fangs pierced his body.

Ash gasped as Pikachu was thrown from the Eelektross' Crunch and into the way of Goodras' Sludge Bomb. The poisonous liquid completely covered Pikachu and with his open wounds there was no doubt that Pikachu was down for the fight.

"Pikachu is down!"

Ash took a deep breath as he nodded and recalled Pikachu. The little mouse did wonderfully. Just as he reached back for another ball one of the referees did another announcement.

"Grimmsnarl is down! Trainer Violet is out of this match!"

"Goodra is out! Trainer Kara, release your next pokémon!"

Ash watched as the two girls recalled their pokémon before Violet waved to the crowd and left the arena grounds through the tunnel she had come out of at the beginning. It was a bit surreal to think that one of the trainers was already out and that meant that there were three of them left. Then it hit him, Ash actually made it to at least the top three. There were only two trainers in his way to first place, but Luca really was a problem. He didn't know if he could defeat the other trainer.

With a slight shake to his head to clear those thoughts away Ash grabbed Aegislashs' ball and released the shiny sword. Upon her appearance the crowd roared much like they did with Luca's shiny Gyarados, but Aegislash paid them no mind. The sword held her shield in one of her arm ribbons as she took in her opponents. It wasn't the best match up, but she would do her best. Ash watched as Aegislash brought up her shield to block a Thunder by the Eelektross while Karas' Emboar released a torrent of fire at the eel.

"Eelektross, use Zap Cannon!"

"Emboar! Dodge it with Rollout!"

"Aegislash! Shadow Sneak!"

The large boar let out a guttural snort as it did its best to curl up into a ball before it quickly dodged the black of electricity while Aegislash dropped down into her shadow. Ash watched as Aegislash zipped back and forth as she moved forward to try and confuse the Eelektross on where she was going to pop up. It helped that the Emboar rolled in to smack into the eel before quickly rolling away. His sword took her time to leave her shadow and only did so when it looked like the eel was starting to weaken. The sound of Aegislashs' shield hitting the Eelektross made Ash think of the old cartoons he used to watch which made him try really hard to not giggle at the sound.

"Eelektross is down!"

"Emboar, Flamethrower!"

"Dodge!" Ash yelled as Luca returned his pokémon and watched as Aegislash fell into her shadow again. The sword was quicker to reappear as she used the shadows the torrent of flames caused to dash over to the large pig. As Aegislash smacked the Emboar a large squid like pokémon sent a wave a bright pink energy towards the two.

"Malamar, use Psycho Cut again!"

The Emboar let out a deep squeal as Aegislash twirled to the side and just managed to dodge the next Psycho Cut. The large boar used Assurance and managed to connect the move with the Psycho Cut causing the two moves to negate each other with a boom. Dirt and other debris quickly filled the air completely obscuring the trio of pokémon, but from the sounds of it the three were still fighting. The three trainers remained silent as they couldn't see their pokémon and didn't want to call anything out that could make their pokémon fall.

Soon enough the cloud started to lose its fight with gravity and settled back onto the ground revealing the aftermath. Karas' Emboar still stood tall, injured and heaving for air, but still standing. Luca's Malamar laid on the ground not far from it out for the count while Aegislash laid not far from the Malamar in the same state.

"Aegislash is down!"

"Malamar is down!"

Ash sighed softly, not at all disappointed, but was now filled with stress as he had two pokémon while the other two trainers now only had one. He knew for sure that the two were going to gun for him now and then just fight it out one on one between the two. He recalled Aegislash and thanked her for a job well done before grabbing Zoroarks' ball. He hoped that his illusionist was ready for perhaps his hardest battle so far. As he released Zoroark he couldn't help but wince slightly as he saw Luca released a rather large Machamp. The fighting type definitely had the advantage over Zoroark, but he hoped that Zoroarks' disguise as a Banette would keep the Machamp from focusing too much on him for now.

"'Banette', use 'Psychic'!" Ash yelled, keeping Zoroarks' name out of his mouth to keep the others from knowing. Zoroark let out a sinister giggle as he waved his arms and released a wide spread 'Psychic.' The great thing about working so much on Zoroarks' illusions was that the fox was great in making the moves he used look like a different move even if it did use more energy. So while Ash did call out Psychic, Zoroark used Extrasensory instead as that was the only Psychic move Zoroark knew.

"Emboar, use Assurance!" Kara yelled out as the pink psychic energy got closer to her pokémon.

"Machamp, get out of the way!" Luca called out as 'Banette' used the move once more but focused it on his pokémon, "Focus on the boar!"

'Banette' bounced around the two pokémon as they fought and continuously used 'Psychic' as he dodged the moves the other two were hitting each other with. Unfortunately a stray Flamethrower hit 'Banette' head on causing the illusion to fall revealing Zoroark to everyone. The large fox snarled as the other two turned to look at him and had to dodge as the Machamp dashed forward, bloody fist covered in bright red energy, only to get hit by another Flamethrower sent by the Emboar.

The illusionist snarled and sent out an Extrasensory making the two pokémon wince and shiver as the psychic power affected them. The Emboar in particular seemed to be on its last dredges of energy while the Machamp seemed to still be in good fighting shape. Zoroark had to dodge a blast of fire and managed to duck under the glowing fist of Machamp. The use of Protect and Extrasensory thankfully was enough to knock one of the pokémon down.

"Emboar is down! Trainer Kara is out of the match!"

The roar of the crowd grew as Kara recalled her pokémon before sending the crowd a wave. The two pokémon still left were respectful enough to not fight as the third place winner made her way off the arena floor. As soon as she wasn't able to be seen the two were right back at it. A dodge of a punch here, a missed Extrasensory there, and soon enough there were two very tired pokémon on the field.

Ash saw Zoroark pant heavily as the fox dodged yet another punch and he knew that it wouldn't take long before Zoroark was down. His hands itched to grab his notebook to write down that all of his pokémon needed more training in endurance and not just strength. While he had gotten far in this conference Ash could see quite a few places where he and his pokémon could grow.

"Machamp end it! Get in close and use Close Combat!" Luca yelled and Ash felt a rush of fear.

"Zoroark, use Protect!" Ash yelled back and hoped that the fox had the energy to at least keep the Protect up long enough for the Machamp to finish with its Close Combat. The large humanoid pokémon rushed forward and had just enough time to strike Zoroark right in his shoulder. Ash watched with wide eyes as Zoroark was punched and kicked for what seemed like forever.

"Zoroark is down! Trainer Ash recall and send out your last pokémon!"

The ringing in Ashs' ears made him not hear it, but the movement his body made was automatic. In the future when looking back at this fight he wouldn't be able to recall sending Charizard out, or the reactions of the crowd. He would remember heat, roars, and the sounds of two forces hitting each other. When Ash finally came back to it was to Charizard releasing a torrent of fire at the Machamp and hearing the Machamp screaming. He didn't know how long he was out of it for.

"Machamp!" he heard Luca yell as the humanoid pokémon was finally released from the fiery prison. Its normal greyish skin was flushed a bright red and there were a few burns here and there on its arms and thighs. Before Ash could call out for Charizard to finish off the Machamp, the opposing pokémon, let out a loud scream. Its muscles flexed and seemed to get larger and a manic gleam appeared in its eyes. The Machamp rushed towards Charizard, who had been downed from a broken wing while Ash had been out of it, two fists raised and glowing brightly.

"Charizard! Fend it off with Dragon Tail and Air Slash!" Ash yelled hoping that even with the broken wing the Air Slash would be enough to keep the Machamp away or even down it. His albino baby roared and turned quickly on one foot, a trick he learned from Krookodile, while his tail glowed blue and just managed to smack the Machamp in its middle. Even though the move had sent it back, the Machamp was relentless. It just kept getting up and there were a few times that Charizard wasn't able to send it back.

Ash was so close in just calling for Charizards' forfeiture when Charizards' ability, Blaze, kicked in. His flames burned as white as his scales were and his tail flame grew taller. The puddled water boiled away when the flames were close, patches of grass instantly caught on fire, sand turned into solid bits of glass, and even with all of that the Machamp endured. Ash watched as Charizard sent out a torrent of white flames and the Machamp merely met it head on, fists raised, and when it was close enough to the Machamp jumped. The Machamp drove Charizard down to the ground, cutting off the flames, with its fists and continued to pummel Charizard until the referee ended everything with a few words.

"Charizard is down! Trainer Ash is out of the match! Trainer Luca wins!"