Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai
Chapter One-hundred and ninety-four: The Lumiose Conference (part one)
The heroes, having arrived in Lumiose City, were able to get Ash, Kenny, and Trip registered for the Lumiose Conference, as all of them plus Dawn (who was going to sit out) had earned eight Kalos gym badges. After the boys got registered, Clemont said, "I hope you guys give it your very best out there. I just know that you're going to do well no matter what."
Ash was about to speak up, but he was cut off when the familiar voice of May called out, "Well with all due respect to them, my little brother is going to whump them!"
"May, you don't have to embarrass me," Max's voice called out immediately after. The heroes all turned to see May and Max, Ash's traveling companions from Hoenn, come walking up.
Chuckling a bit in embarrassment, May said, "Sorry, Max. But this is your first League Conference! I can't begin to express how excited and proud I am of and for you. I just know you'll knock their socks off."
"Max really is great," Bonnie agreed, "Ash, Kenny, and Trip will all be hard pressed to stand up to him."
Max was about to speak up, but got cut off when they heard Shauna's voice call out, "Hey, you guys!" Everyone turned to see Shauna come walking over with Trevor and Tierno walking behind her. "Take a good look," Shauna said, "One of the boys behind me will be winning this thing."
Scoffing, Kenny said, "Like the shutterbug with the unruly Charmeleon and the big boy who served as arm candy for Dawn that one time stand any chance against the power of cringe that I have at my command!"
"He's a Charizard now and he's behaving himself," Trevor stated, his tone somewhat dry.
"And Dawn was only being nice to me after I failed to go to that party with Serena," Tierno said, looking mildly embarrassed, "I'm pretty sure it was a one time thing, right?"
Dawn was about to speak up, but got cut off when the familiar voice of Alain called out, "Ah, you guys all made it." Everyone then turned to see Alain come walking up to greet the heroes. "I'm looking forward to seeing how all of you guys do," Alain said, then added when he turned to look at Ash, "I'm also hoping to see how your special Greninja has improved."
Ash, remembering how his Greninja had become apprehensive towards Alain, gave a neutral but respectful enough response. "Greninja is stronger than you can guess."
"I hope that strength is something amazing, then," a familiar male voice called out, making everyone turn to see Ideku Badorigo, the roaming trainer from Johto, come walking up. He was followed by his girlfriend Ochaco, and Ideku as well as everyone else present had no idea of the dark, villainous secret that Ochaco was hiding. "I'm aiming to get back in Kalos what was taken from me in Unova," Ideku said, "So you guys better watch out."
"Hey, I heard about you," Shauna said to Ideku, "You're that Ideku Badorigo fellow. Rumor has it you have the legendary Pokémon Enamorus."
Ash nodded once in confirmation. "He does. He used it to beat me back in the Vetress Confernece in Unova, and I got it he used Enamorus to help him beat the Unova elite four then Alder after him, becoming Champion of Unova as a result."
"A position that I would still hold to this day were it not for Unova's government taking a xenophobic slant in its lawmaking," Ideku remarked, a hint of bitterness in his tone and expression, "But I got it that Kalos is far more accepting of foreigners holding positions of authority and or power on their native soil."
"Ideku is totally going to win," Ochaco said, "I fail to see how he can lose."
Serena turned her attention to her rival from the Showcase scene. Ochaco had beaten her three times in a row in the Rookie Class, then Serena beat her in the Master Class Showcase mostly due to a stroke of luck in the votes from the audience and the judges favoring Serena. Either way, Ochaco had really made Serena work hard to get into the Master Class. "Ideku has a lot against him," Serena warned, "Among which is Ash. Ideku will have to bring more than his A-game to win."
Ochaco gave Serena a contemplative look. Ochaco, in her true identity as Boss's Assistant Ayane of Team Scorn, learned that Ash had both Zapdos and Moltres. Still, Ayane couldn't risk revealing what she knew lest she ruins the cover her Ochaco alias gave her. "...Well let's just hope he can stand up to Ideku this time." There wasn't much else stopping the competing trainers from getting going, so the ones battling made their way to be sorted while the spectators went to go find seats in the stands so that they could watch the action that's set to unfold.
The first event saw all sixty-four competing trainers in the Lumiose Conference standing in the arena as they watched the screen randomize them to determine the match ups in the first round. Surprisingly, Ideku was paired to fight Sawyer, Kenny was paired to fight someone named Remo, Trip was paired to fight Tierno, Alain was paired to fight Trevor (Dawn remembered that from the XY anime in her previous life), and Ash was paired to face Max. The battles the next day were bound to be very interesting, with the possible exception of Alain versus Trevor as that will most likely wind up seeing Alain win anyway.
...
The following day after the grand opening ceremony featuring an encouraging speech from Kalos Champion Diantha, the Lumiose Conference began in full. The first battle was Alain versus Trevor, and it wound up more or less the same as what Dawn remembered from the XY anime in her previous life, seeing Alain win using only his Charizard who Mega Evolved into Mega Charizard X. Dawn did, however, notice that Alain was battling a bit more forcefully, as if he wanted to clear things here as soon as he could. He almost seemed to be a man possessed, similar to the air that his Charizard gave off.
After Alain's clean win against Trevor came Ash's battle with Max. Dawn was surprised to see Ash arrive so soon, although she heard Ash explain to a referee that a trainer named Everett tried to stop Ash from proceeding to the stadium to battle Max unless he battled him first, but luckily Trip went with Ash and kept Everett occupied so that Ash could go uncontested. The referee agreed to have security sent to go deal with the issue, with Ash saying Everett had a red Mohawk so that security knew who to look for. The battle between Ash and Max soon began.
"Both trainers may use up to three Pokémon," the referee said, "One at a time, can switch Pokémon out at any time, and the last with any Pokémon still able to battle when the battle's over wins! Now then, begin!"
"Go, Stoutland!" Max said as he sent out his Stoutland.
"Hawlucha, I choose you!" Ash said as he sent his Hawlucha out. Gesturing forward, Ash called out, "Hawlucha, use Flying Press!"
"Stoutland, use Roar!" Max called out.
As Hawlucha flew at Stoutland to get over it before dropping straight down, Stoutland gave a loud, bellowing roar that shook Hawlucha and made it recall itself to its ball. Then a random Pokémon of Ash's got dragged out, but to Max's surprise as well as the surprise of pretty much everyone in the audience, it was Ash's recently caught Articuno. "You caught Articuno?!" Max practically exclaimed, surprised as well as worried that his opponent had a legendary Pokémon.
"I didn't mean to sent Articuno out," Ash apologized, "It happened randomly because your Stoutland forced Hawlucha back with Roar." Gesturing forward, Ash said, "But never let it be said that I don't make the most of the hand I'm dealt! Articuno, use Ice Beam!"
"Stoutland, use Fire Fang!" Max called out, sounding a bit panicked. But before Stoutland's fiery fangs could even get close, Articuno's Ice Beam blasted it, knocking the dog Pokémon out in one hit.
"Stoutland is unable to battle!" the referee announced, "The winner is Articuno!"
...
The rest of the battle between Ash and Max saw Ash's Pikachu take down Max's Granbull with a few Iron Tails, and after that Ash's Hawlucha defeated Max's shiny Mightyena, winning the battle for Ash. Before the next battle, Ash confessed to Max and (a very unamused) May that he intended for Greninja to be his third Pokémon against Max alongside Pikachu and Hawlucha. May was still upset that Ash had packed a legendary Pokémon against her little brother, but did accept it that Ash didn't mean for Articuno to be dragged out by Max's Stoutland's Roar.
The three of them made their way back to where Dawn and the others sat, and informed them that on the way they passed Trip who was heading in for his battle against Tierno that security got Everett and escorted him out of there for trying to interfere with a Conference competitor. Within short order, the battle between Trip and Tierno got underway. To a lack of surprise on Dawn's and Kenny's part, Trip soundly beat Tierno, using Mr. Popo the Magmortar to take out Raichu and Hitmontop, and Fourze the Electivire to take out Blastoise.
In between round, Trip confirmed to the others that Mr. Popo soundly beat Everett's Furfrou during Ash's battle against Max; Mr. Popo showed no visible fatigue when it battled against Tierno's Pokémon, so Dawn figured that the named Magmortar, at most, only lost one of the Power Points for one attack before he was used in the real battle that Trip had to compete in. Dawn would learn after the first round was over that Mr. Popo used only a single Flamethrower to beat Everett's Furfrou. Dawn attributed that to poor training on Everett's part.
After two battles featuring competitors none of the heroes or their friends cared about (Kenny called those competitors NPCs), the battle between Ideku and Sawyer went down. Ideku defeated Sawyer's first two Pokémon using his Vanilluxe Gelatwino and his alpha Hisuian Typhlosion Tornupto, then when Sawyer sent out his Sceptile and Mega Evolved it, Ideku sent out his Houndoom Hundemon and Mega Evolved it as well. The heroes (aside from the reborn trainers who knew ahead of time thanks to past life knowledge) were surprised to see Swayer Mega Evolve his Sceptile, and all of the heroes were further surprised to see Ideku Mega Evolve his Houndoom.
Ideku's Houndoom ended up beating Sawyer's Sceptile, winning Ideku his first round battle; a Flamethrower from Hundemon burned Sceptile, then wore it down with other ranged special attacks to keep Sawyer's Sceptile at bay. Seeing Sawyer eliminated so early surprised Dawn, who remembered from the XY anime in her previous life that Sawyer made it past multiple rounds in the Lumiose Conference until Ash took him out. But Ideku is a strong trainer with plenty of tricks and surprises up his sleeves; it's not surprising that his being here would throw things off kilter.
After that was Kenny's battle against Remo, and Kenny soundly won, finishing things off with Mega Evolving Godzilla. Anything of what was left in the first round didn't matter, as the heroes were gonna focus on matches featuring Ash, Kenny, Trip, Ideku, and Alain. The following day was round two, and Ash, Kenny, Trip, Ideku, and Alain all made it past round two no problem, making it into the top sixteen. To the surprise of the heroes, Alain was paired to face Ideku in the top sixteen, while Ash, Kenny, and Trip were all paired to face NPCs (Kenny's term for them). The top sixteen would have to wait for the next day, and it would kick off with the three on three battle between Ideku and Alain.
Dawn remembered from her previous life that in the XY anime, Alain and Ash faced each other in the final round and Alain won, eliciting an angry and annoyed reaction from Trip who at the time was Piper. But things were bound to be different here, especially since Ideku had eliminated Sawyer way ahead of schedule. There was no predicting just what Ideku could do, he may be able to pull off a surprise win. But he would be hard pressed; Alain was strong, no doubt about that. The user of Mega Charizard X would be able to make the roaming trainer from Johto work for it.
The following day, the top sixteen kicked off with the battle between Ideku and Alain. "Both trainers may use up to three Pokémon," the referee said, "One at a time, can switch Pokémon out at any time, and the last with any Pokémon still able to battle when the battle's over wins! Now then, begin!"
"Go, Weavile!" Alain said as he sent out his Weavile.
As the heroes in the audience watched the battle between Ideku and Alain, Kenny looked surprised and mildly curious about something. The shift in demeanor did not escape the notice of Dawn. "What's up, Kenny?"
"There's something... familiar... about Alain's Weavile that I can't quite put my finger on," Kenny said, "I feel as if I've seen it before, but I'm not sure how..."
Back down on the battlefield, Ideku said, "Go, Tornupto!" Ideku's first Pokémon for the battle against Alain was his alpha Hisuian Typhlosion. Gesturing forward, Ideku called out, "Tornupto, use Flamethrower!"
"Weavile, use Protect!" Alain called out. Weavile threw up a protective barrier to block the Flamethrower, allowing it to avoid a heavy blow. After the Flamethrower died down, Alain ordered, "Weavile, use Double Team!"
"Tornupto, use Swift!" Ideku commanded.
Weavile was able to conjure doppelgangers by using Double Team, but Tornupto's Swift busted all of the doppelgangers and hit Weavile. When Weavile was sent reeling by getting hit by Swift, Ideku called out, "Tornupto, use Flamethrower!" The named alpha Hisuian Typhlosion fired a powerful Flamethrower that struck Weavile and sent it flying until it hit the ground, skidded for a bit, then came to a stop and it was seen that Weavile had clearly been defeated.
Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Weavile is unable to battle! The winner is Typhlosion!"
The heroes were a bit surprised to see that Ideku had scored first blood against Alain; although Typhlosion's fire trumped Weavile's ice, Weavile's dark trumped Typhlosion's ghost, which in theory meant that the two were evenly matched. But Weavile was on the defensive the whole time, also Alain probably didn't know that Ideku's Typhlosion, being the Hisuian variety, was part ghost type. Alain recalled his fainted Weavile to send out his next Pokémon for his three on three battle against the roaming trainer from Johto.
To the surprise of the heroes, Alain's second Pokémon was his Bisharp; the same deal of Typhlosion and Weavile being evenly matched was applied to Typhlosion and Bisharp being evenly matched, but replace Weavile's ice with Bisharp's steel. After Bisharp came out, Kenny said, "Weird. I'm getting another sense of deja vu due to seeing Alain's Bisharp. What is up with that?"
Dawn wasn't sure what to make of Kenny's senses of deja vu in seeing the Pokémon that Alain was fielding against Ideku. Instead, all that the heroes could do was sit and watch as the battle between Alain and Ideku went on. Down on the battlefield, Alain called out, "Bisharp, use Focus Blast!"
"...He doesn't know that Ideku's Typhlosion is part ghost type due to being the Hisuian variant," Dawn muttered in a mildly worried tone, muttering loud enough for just the rest of the heroes and their friends sitting with them to hear.
Back down on the battlefield, Ideku called out, "Tornupto, use Flamethrower!"
Bisharp conjured and cast its Focus Blast attack at Tornupto, who fired its Flamethrower at Bisharp in return. The Flamethrower hit Bisharp and caused it great damage, and while the Focus Blast did hit Tornupto, it did absolutely nothing. Seeing this utter failure elicited a surprised look out of Alain. Growling with seriousness, Alain threw a hand forward from side to side in a serious gesture as he called out, "Bisharp, use Guillotine!"
Bisharp made its hands glow bright white as it proceeded to run straight towards Tornupto, actually reaching it and striking it. But again, Bisharp's attack had no effect on the named alpha Hisuian Typhlosion, who looked down at Bisharp before unleashing a point-blank Flamethrower right to Bisharp's face, striking it hard and making it fly back a bit before it hit the ground, skidded for a bit, and came to a stop to show it had been knocked out. "Bisharp is unable to battle," the referee announced, "The winner is Typhlosion!"
As he recalled his fainted Bisharp, Alain said, "How come Bisharp's attacks had no effect on your Typhlosion...?"
"Tornupto is the Hisuian variant of his species," Ideku explained, "And Hisuian Typhlosion is part ghost type. Fighting and normal attacks like Focus Blast and Guillotine will have no effect."
Alain nodded once in understanding before he sent out his last Pokémon for the battle. "Go, Charizard!" The heroes were excited to see Alain's Charizard come out, and right away he Mega Evolved it into Mega Charizard X.
Ideku decided to switch his Pokémon around a bit. "Tornupto, return! Go, Cupidos!" Ideku's second Pokémon for the battle against Alain was his named Enamorus, the legendary Pokémon that he has under his ownership. Alain was in a tight spot now, and it would be a very tall order even for him to pull out a win against Ideku here.
Gesturing forward, Alain called out, "Charizard, use Flare Blitz!"
"Cupidos, use Extrasensory!" Ideku commanded.
Charizard flew forward in a rush while cloaked in harsh flames, but the named Enamorus conjured psychic power to assault Charizard's head, wracking its mind as it dropped from its flight and stood on the ground, roaring in pain as it held its hands to its head. Even after the assault stopped, Charizard was trembling a bit, which Trip said must mean that Extrasensory had made Charizard flinch. While Charizard was still trembling from its flinching, Ideku called out, "Cupidos, use Earth Power!"
The named Enamorus used its power to make bursting eruptions of power explode up from beneath Charizard, striking it hard and kicking it up into the air. Despite the heavy assault from its legendary opponent, Charizard was still in the game, although from what Dawn saw one more solid non-resisted blow would bring Charizard to its knees and end things for the battle as a whole. Down on the battlefield, Alain called out, "Charizard, use Thunder Punch!"
"Cupidos, use Moonblast!" Ideku commanded.
Charizard, worn out but gritting its teeth to push through, made its right fist cloak itself in electricity before it flew at Cupidos, who conjured and cast a Moonblast right at it. To the worry of the heroes, Moonblast struck Charizard directly, dealing a lot of damage, especially since Mega Charizard X, due to dropping the flying typing to gain the dragon typing, became more vulnerable to fairy attacks (also it lost immunity to ground and gained a ground weakness, hence why Earth Power had hit). After the Moonblast had struck Charizard and damaged it, Charizard's Mega Evolution came undone as it dropped to the battlefield in defeat.
Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Charizard is unable to battle! The winner is... umm..." Turning to look at Ideku, the referee asked, "Sorry, but what is your Pokémon's species called?"
"Cupidos is an Enamorus," Ideku explained.
Nodding once, the referee went on with his announcement. "The winner is Enamorus! Ideku advances to the quarter finals!"
The audience cheered wildly for the battle between Ideku and Alain, where the former emerged victorious. The heroes although happy Ideku won were concerned for Alain as he lost. The reborn trainers were especially surprised, as Alain in the XY anime in their previous lives had actually won the Lumiose Conference. Here, he only got to the top sixteen before losing to Ideku, and rather badly at that. The heroes weren't able to see Alain until after the top sixteen concluded, and Ash, Kenny, and Trip all made it past the top sixteen safely.
That meant that the heroes had the rest of the day to check up on Alain.
...
"What gives, bro?" Kenny said when he, Dawn, Trip, Ash, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie confronted Alain after the festivities were concluded for the day, "I know you're a strong trainer with strong Pokémon, and yet you lost to Ideku without being able in inflict even a lick of damage! He's strong too, but you still should have been able to do something before going down!"
Alain gently shook his head. "...I guess that my head wasn't really in the game. Also, Ideku's Typhlosion turning out to be part ghost type took me by surprise, I had no idea Typhlosions could be part ghost type." Alain then turned his attention to focus mainly on Ash. "My apologies, Ash. I guess you and I won't have the chance to battle one another after all. A pity too, as I was hoping to see the power that you and your Greninja share first hand."
"You never would have seen it anyway," Trip said, "Because you'd have to get through me to face Ash."
"I would get in the way too," Kenny said, "Ash is the man to beat, and I aim to be the one to do it!"
Alain, with a sad smile, remarked, "Now I wish all the more that I had been able to face Ash. He's really sounding like he'd be the ultimate opponent." Alain then wished the heroes luck and took off to handle business on his own.
After Alain was gone, Ash said, "Man, I was kind of hoping to face Alain as well. He does seem strong."
"Well you are gonna face a strong trainer in the top eight anyway, Ash," Bonnie pointed out, "You're paired to face off against Ideku tomorrow." Indeed, the top eight here was going to see Ash battle Ideku, while Kenny and Trip both faced NPCs (Kenny's term), and the other battle would be between a pair of NPCs (again, Kenny's term). Ash knew that he would be in for a rough ride, especially as he lost to Ideku back in the Vertress Conference back in Unova. But here, Ash intended to avenge his Vertress Conference loss, Ideku's Enamorus be damned.
Ash has a plan, a plan that'll show Ideku that he isn't the only one who's got a legendary Pokémon.
...
Meanwhile, Alain made his way to a secluded part of Lumiose City, entering a shady and out of the way house in an apartment building located in some alleyways. He was let in after knocking and giving a certain password, and was greeted by the sight of a female Team Scorn grunt. Alain was led inside, and he eventually was brought to where Boss's Assistant Ayane, now out of her disguise for her Ochaco alias and back in her Team Scorn outfit, sat in a plush leather armchair as Admin Hero and Admin's Assistant Asami stood to Ayane's left.
Alain gave Ayane a single nod of acknowledgement. "I did as you had asked and threw the battle against Ideku Badorigo." Alain was a little frustrated with what he had to do; he was made by Team Scorn to earn the eight Kalos gym badges he needed to qualify for the Lumiose Conference, only for them to tell him to throw a battle somewhere in the top sixteen when they saw he was fighting the roaming trainer from Johto. Alain acted anyway due to Mairin hanging in the balance.
"I saw," Ayane remarked, "Saw it live as I was in the stadium's audience."
That revelation drew a surprised look from Alain. "You were there watching the battle live?" Alain had no idea that Ayane was watching the battle while disguised in her Ochaco alias; he had no idea Ayane and Ochaco were one and the same.
"I was in disguise," Ayane explained, "But that's besides the point. Anyway, it's good that you threw the battle against that fool Ideku, given that Team Scorn has a vested interest in seeing him advance. Some higher ups in Team Scorn have bets riding on Ideku seeing success, you see. Ideku is also a trainer that Team Scorn has a dossier on, and we want to avoid the risk of antagonizing said trainers of note."
Alain nodded in understanding, now knowing why he was told to give up after he had gotten so far. "Anyway," Ayane went on, "We still have some more work lined up for you, one last job before you and Mairin are free to go. A job whose timing is dependent on how the rest of the Lumiose Conference goes. You're to remain in Lumiose City and await for the orders to proceed. When you get them, come straight back here for more details." Alain was then dismissed by the right hand girl of Team Scorn's boss, saying that he did just suffer a loss in battle and ought to have his Pokémon treated at the nearest Pokémon Center.
After Alain was gone, Hero turned to look at Ayane. "He does good work, that Alain fellow."
"How come he seems so determined to succeed when we tell him what to do?" Asami asked.
Hero knelt down to be level with his young Admin's Assistant, gave the top of her head a gentle ruffle. "He's motivated by a reason similar to what motivates me to look out for and ensure your happiness and well-being, Asami," Hero replied, giving Asami a gentle smile, one an older brother would give to his kid sister he dotes on, or a dad would give to his young daughter. Getting up, Hero turned to look at Ayane. "Is the main bulk that Belmondo promised us ready yet, ma'am?"
"It is," Ayane replied, "And we're also set to trigger the... other portion... of the chaos we plan to unleash on Lumiose City to help Team Scorn wear things down so that we can swoop in and collect all the chips in the end." Ayane allowed herself a darkly amused chuckle, feeling confident that Team Scorn was going to be seeing some major success here in the Kalos region.
The next day at the stadium for the Lumiose Conference, the rest of the heroes, as well as all of their firends, were wishing Ash luck as he was about to go in for his battle against Ideku; their battle was the first one of the quarter finals. "You got this, Ash," Trip said, "At most, Ideku's best claim to fame is his Enamorus. You got Articuno, as well as Zapdos and Moltres. Any of them can be an effective counter, so you'll be able to even out against Ideku."
Dawn nodded in agreement with her brother; Articuno and Zapdos are part ice and part electric respectively, which lets them hit Enamorus hard as it's part flying and its other type doesn't grant resistance to either ice or electric. Moltres is part fire, which resists Enamorus's fairy. And all three of Ash's legendary birds knows Ancient Power surprisingly enough, so even Moltres can hit for super effective damage. Ash was ready for whatever Ideku could throw at him, regardless of which one between the three legendary birds Ash decided to use.
That being said, Ash figured that it'd come to his friends as a surprise when they saw the party lineup he had planned for taking on Ideku. The trainer from Pallet Town, Kanto, was taking every precaution to ensure that nothing could screw with the party he had planned. He rotated two Pokémon out of his party, then asked Serena to hold onto Pikachu for him, ensuring that Ash only had three Pokémon on hand when he went into his battle against Ideku; the battle with Max where his Stoutland using Roar messed up the line of he wanted to use made Ash wanna take precautions so that a Pokémon he wasn't planning on using got dragged into things.
The rest of the heroes, wishing Ash luck one last time, went into the stadium's seats to sit down to watch Ash's quarter finals battle. Ash got there at around the same time that Ideku did. Ash was still owing Ideku, still wanting to avenge the loss he suffered to him in the Vertress Conference back in Unova. Here, Ash was determined to win. He was sure that he'll avenge his loss here, even if Ideku busts out Enamorus. The referee gave the usual announcements, then signaled for Ash and Ideku to start their battle with one another in the Lumiose Conference quarter finals.
END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND NINETY-FOUR
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the Lumiose Conference get started, where Ash, Kenny, Trip, Ideku, and Alain all make it past the first few rounds, although Ash eliminated Max in the first round. But in the top sixteen, Ideku eliminates Alain rather handily, a surprise twist that the heroes, the reborn trainers especially so, did not see coming. It's later revealed in a private setting that Alain had acted on orders from Boss's Assistant Ayane of Team Scorn to throw the battle against Ideku, who still has no idea that his girlfriend Ochaco is merely using him as an unknowing pawn to help further Team Scorn's unknowable goals. Something about the Weavile and Bisharp that Alain used catches Kenny's attention, but there's not time at the moment to contemplate matters there.
The next day is the quarter finals, where Ash is slated to fight a three-on-three against Ideku. Ash still aims to avenge his loss to Ideku back in the Vertress Conference back in Unova, and Ash has a plan, one that he's taken every precaution to ensure the lineup he has planned against Ideku can't be messed with in any way. But it's a very powerful lineup to be sure, one that needs not fear even Ideku's Enamorus. But Ideku is also a trainer of many tricks, so Ash will either way have to give it his all if he wants to avenge his prior loss and make it to later rounds. Will Ash succeed here in Kalos where he had failed in Unova? There's only one way to find out, and that's keeping an eye on things when they continue next time. Until then, take care.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Tobias (Darkrai), Argent (male Arcanine; alpha; Hisuian), Zancrow (male Volcarona), Leni (female Lucario), Tsukune (Palkia)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Goofy (male Houndoom), Juan (male Pikachu; Libre), Godzilla (male Tyranitar), Black (Giratina; Origin Form)
Trip's Pokémon: (on hand) Fourze (male Electivire), Veda (female Abomasnow), Myde (male Empoleon), Kululu (male Greninja), Deelia (Dialga), HedonismBot (Magnezone)
Ash's Pokémon: (on hand) Pikachu (male; currently being held by Serena), three unknown Pokémon