Pokémon: Master Journey

by Blandusername

Ash and his mother Delia moved to Pallet right before Ash began his Pokémon Journey. Beginning his journey with a trusty Squirtle, Ash sets out to conquer the Pokémon league and defeat the Champion Lance. Will the roaming threat of Team Rocket, Wild Legendaries and Rivals stop him from achieving his dream? AU. Smart!Ash. Serious!Ash. Realistic World. Mixture of Game and Anime.

7. The Ship

World of Pokémon #7

Team Rocket.

The first iteration of the infamous Criminal Organization was over twenty years ago, right after the league forbade trainers from capturing Pikachu as their population had fallen to record lows. They originally protested league laws barring trainers from catching any Pokémon they wanted, they wanted all trainers to have the freedom to catch whatever Pokémon they wanted whenever they wanted.

Nothing came of their protests, the Pokémon League was famous for putting out new laws and regulations and not changing them despite protests. Unless there was a serious scandal they didn't acknowledge the opinions of the people. The most powerful organization in the world didn't consider the average person's complaints as anything more than noise.

Not until the signature symbol of the once peaceful protesters, the blue R on Team Rocket's chest, turned red did the voices start being heard and taken seriously. Since then many changes to the Rockets have happened and now their names were synonymous with terrorism.

---

The S.S. Anne.

Or as the locals were calling it, the St. Anne. Since it was bringing massive waves of tourists to their local businesses. Was huge. It looked like someone tipped a skyscraper on its side and put it in the water.

The Ship was over half a mile in length and over ten stories high- at least ten stories considering Ash didn't know how deep it went. The sides were a cream color with golden accents decorating the mast, of course the words Silph Company were painted in a very ostentatious golden paint. The multi-trillion dollar company wouldn't spare any expense on their latest crown jewel.

The S.S. Anne was capable of circumnavigating the globe without making port once. Between solar energy and self sustaining gardens inside one of three green rooms located somewhere on the massive ship, could keep thousands comfortable without skipping a beat.

Four separate escalators were attached to the side of the ship so that people could board. ACE trainers and privately paid Silph trainers watching like Staraptor's as every passenger presented their tickets to the officials before boarding. Security was tight with just these measures.

Then there was an absolutely massive Salamance and Dragonite lazily flying over the people courtesy of Champion Lance.

Over ten thousand paid passengers and dozens of wild cards that beat Lt. Surge for tickets. The Champion wasn't taking any chances, he wanted everyone coming aboard the ship to know that the Master of Dragons was here and he wasn't fucking around.

Shaking off the fear of the gliding monsters above him Ash took in their appearance for the very first time in person. He'd seen them in battle before during League sponsored battles and challenges. The two dragons were huge battle hardened monsters likely capable of ripping apart all of the tournament contestants single handedly. It wasn't a gap of power between the Champion and himself Ash now realized.

It was a canyon.

"Ticket please." The man said holding out a hand to Ash.

Ash took out his ticket and tournament pass then handed it to the man.

The man read the ticket and typed into the console next to him. "Ash Ketchum, you're in room four twenty seven. The tournament will begin tomorrow at noon, just go to the arena you couldn't miss it." The man handed him back his ticket. "Your in the database as a contestant along with your picture and trainer I.D. but it is always good to have this just in case."

Ash nodded and stepped passed the man and onto the escalator and slowly ascended toward the gargantuan ship.

Strangely, he was the only one to using this particular escalator, most were by all the gift shops and Silph Co sponsored festival attractions. Ash didn't really care about those kinds of things, he just wanted to get aboard and find his room. Based on the size of the ship it'll likely take all day.

Walking around the deck Ash could see restaurants that were gearing up for the grand opening, toward the middle of the ship he saw the familiar red of a Pokémon Center.

Incredible, their ship didn't just have doctors or nurses on duty for trainers. They built and entire Pokémon Center.

"Why not put a Gym on here as well." Ash laughed to himself as he looked at the large Pokémon Center with two Nurse Joys ordering around the other workers inside.

"They wanted to but I forbade it." A deep and authoritative voice said and Ash turned to the source.

It was a large man easily six foot. He had spiky auburn hair and a blue business suit, nothing about him stood out on first glance but on closure inspection Ash recognized him. It was Lance, he wasn't wearing his tracksuit or cape but this was Lance Wataru the Champion of Kanto and Johto.

The Champion walked over to him an looked inside of the center while standing next to him. "Only Silph could sweet talk the League into allowing themselves a fully functional Pokémon Center aboard their monstrosity."

It would seem that Lance didn't much care for the S.S. Anne. "You don't like the ship I take it."

Lance looked at him for a second before snorting. "Hell no, this thing is a walking target. And with how powerful the president of Silph Co is, he was able to get Charles to request I stay on board during their first maiden voyage." The Champion turned to him with an unreadable expression. "It's a waste of time Ash Ketchum, when we could better spend it on our Rocket problem."

What? How the hell does the champion know who he is? Why does he know who he is? What was going on! "How-"

"I read every report that mentions that organization's activity." Lance interrupted before turning back to the sea of people bellow them, Ash walked over to the railing to stand next to him. "Imagine my surprise when a Metagross hive is discovered at the top levels of Mt. Moon being poached by Rockets and a rookie trainer had to step in to stop them. Luckily Steven was there to lend you a hand with Petrel. I've battled him before, he's a tough one."

Ash didn't know what to say about that only that he felt even dumber for the Mt. Moon incident. If Lance says someone is tough then he wanted no part of them.

"I apologize that you had to face those bastards." Lance said kindly to the younger trainer. "Also that you had to meet Agatha, that old women is about as soft as sand paper." He laughed.

"Don't I know it, that Gengar was mine." Muttered Ash still upset about losing the ghost Pokémon.

"Your team is already pretty impressive, so I wouldn't worry to much about it." Waved off Lance, casually mentioning that he likely knew every move Ash has made since beginning his journey. Ash didn't show that it bothered him, it didn't really not like he did anything noteworthy yet.

Ash gestured to the two dragons lazily flying overhead. "Your team is quite impressive to, but isn't two powerful dragons a little much?"

Lance let out a massive face splitting grin. "You should see the Gyarados and Kingdra underwater. I'd have Emerald out here but he would cause a spectacle that would defeat the purpose."

And why wouldn't a Shiny Dragonite cause a spectacle? A man dropped over four hundred thousand dollars on a shiny Ratacate. Would it cost billions for a shiny dratini? More? It made Ash's head spin.

But since he was right next to Lance the dragon master he thought now would be his best and only shot to have Blast looked at by the man. "I want to introduce you to my buddy Blast."

Lance peered over at Ash curiously when he expanded a Pokéball and tapped the release button. Out popped Blast in all of his fourteen foot glory, head held high and tail lazily swaying back and forth.

"He just evolved a month ago, I've been having him remaster all of his attacks but I'd love for you to take a look at him." Ash said to the Champion who was looking over Blast, everywhere except for his eyes. The Dragon master obviously knew the rule, never gaze into the eyes of an apex predator, no matter how strong or weak.

"He is young but is maturing well. He is strong and very confident in his ability, you've raised him well in that regard. Scales are tough and muscles are strong. I would work on his physical abilities rather than his energy and elemental attacks. His inner power is useful and highly powerful but he'll never evolve if he doesn't become a physical powerhouse to go with his inner energy. A Dragonair right before evolving could approach nearly two feet in circumference and seventeen feet in length. But unlike Dratini who will evolve without training since Dragonair is a sign of adulthood, Dragonite is a completely different story. Dragon's are hard to raise but their power is unrivaled."

Ash and Blast listened to everything Lance said with rapt attention. Both were ignorant of what it took for a Dragon to fully evolve so the words of Lance was the only useful information they have ever gotten. Oak was helpful but he was more of a guiding hand rather than an instructor for Ash and the Pokédex didn't have much information on the Dratini line.

"Gooooon" Blast's deep voice sounded out after hearing what the Champion had to say.

Ash reached over and ran his hands down the blue dragon's scales. "Thanks for the information. All I had to go on was train and train and he'd evolve after a while."

Lance smiled at the rookie. "The Dratini line is the second hardest of all dragon's to raise. Only the Hydreigon line is more difficult and far more dangerous as well. Mine wasn't obedient until Emerald knocked some sense into him."

A lot of information was just revealed to Ash. Lance had a Hydreigon, the most dangerous Pokémon in the world with only Tyranitar coming close. Second and new to him was the difficulty of raising a Dragonair, he didn't think they were that hard to raise. Dragon's in general was hard to raise but Dratini were the easiest going of all of them, his excluded.

"Ever since I made my debut with Emerald people started trying to raise their own Dratini. Only four percent of Dratini ever evolve all the way into Dragonite, don't let their easy going attitude fool you." Lance said seriously.

Ash nodded and recalled Blast into his ball. While he was with Lance he wanted to ask one more question. "I wanted to know one more thing. How did you find a shiny Dratini?" Shiny Pokémon were a one and a million chance, dragons were very rare in general. Mix those two variables together and Ash was sure that Lance made a deal with some sort of deity to get his partner.

Lance pulled out a luxury ball and pressed the release button. Out popped an eight foot tall Dragonite and cornerstone of the Champion's team. Thick large scales covered its entire body all as large as Ash's hands and likely an inch thick. The normal golden scales were a deep emerald green, its stomach was the same tan highly thick leather to allow for perfect mobility. The thick and powerful wings were the same deep emerald on the back with an unusual purple on the front. Thick and large powerful arms swung back and forth as the monster hovered mid-air, both with the strength to likely pick up and throw Snor. Behind the dragon was a tail that waved back and forth hypnotically, the ease in which the massive extremity was manipulated was amazing.

Lance reached out and patted the large beast, "I met Emerald when I was younger about eight or nine, he was a loner on my families mountain. My father was going to sell him to Silph Co but I refused to let him. So Emerald and I became friends and two decades later here we are." The Dragonite let out a deep rumble and slapped Lance heartily on the back.

"That's awesome, you and he are obviously close." Smiled Ash seeing the bond between the two partners.

Lance nodded. "Dragonite and Salamance have this handled my friend." The Champion said before returning his partner to its Pokéball.

"Now I have a question for you Ash Ketchum." Lance said after a second, Ash looked over to the Champion curiously. "When Petrel escaped, what exactly happened?"

Mt. Moon, of course he'd want to know more about that. Ash himself had tried to think of what exactly happened ever since that day. He has an idea but it makes no rational sense. "Well, Steven and a wild Metagross cornered him. He and his followers didn't have a way to escape and I guess he knew that because he screamed out 'We lost get us out of here'. After that all of them…teleported away."

That was what he and Steven agreed must have happened, but Ash had a theory that he was sure would make him sound crazy. Lance saw that Ash was holding back and gestured for him to share.

"This may sound stupid but," Ash looked out at the sea of people all carrying on their day ignorant of what the Champion of their Region and some rookie were discussing. "I think a Pokémon teleported them away. From a different location."

The move Teleport was finicky, only the Abra line had truly mastered it to the point they could use it outside of battle for long distance travel. An Alakazam was capable of instantly traveling between cities without strain. The only thing an Alakazam needed to bring someone along was either physical contact or a clear line of sight and the target be within one meter. It was literally impossible for a Pokémon to teleport something without at least seeing it. As far as Ash knew at least.

Lance took in a deep breath and walked to the edge of the railing to watch the people below. "If what you say is true, and trust me I hope it isn't, then that would mean that the rockets have a Pokémon with legendary power. Or close to it at least. I ask that you keep that sort of information to yourself, I will tell it to those I deem necessary." The authoritative tone that Lance used demanded obedience, it was no wonder that he could command so many dragons when just one was usually too much for a trainer to handle.

Ash nodded quickly. "Of course."

Lance smiled an changed the subject. "So, do you know what the prize is for first place?" A shake of the head from Ash prompted Lance to continue. "Well, at first it was going to be an egg from my families mountain which would have contained either a Dratini or Bagon but I decided against it. Dragon's shouldn't be handed out, they should choose their master." He said seriously.

Ash nodded at that, Blast clearly chose him over Paul. Otherwise he'd never have listened to Ash after receiving him.

"Now the first place prize is an all expenses paid pass to the Safari Zone early. Fuchsia isn't opening it for another ten months so there isn't a price one could pay that could gain entry. I recommended this since the trainer to win would obviously like to choose the Pokémon they catch rather than be handed it. Also lots of money and a Silph care package with a bunch of goodies. Second and third also get the Silph packages and money." Lance said with a grin.

Ash smirked out over the railing. "I definitely do. Though I don't really have any Pokémon in mind I want to catch. Something that catches my eye I guess but my team is looking really good." He finished with a shrug.

Lance nodded, "Well, you better win then. Steven was hyping you up to me when we last spoke. Not many trainers can control a Metang after all. Although there are a few interesting prospects in the tournament so you'll have to give it your best."

"I'm afraid that our time together will have to come to an end. It was nice meeting you Ash Ketchum, good luck in the tournament tomorrow."

Ash watched as the two regional Champion walked away, nodding toward league workers or the occasional Silph employee. More and more people started to board the ship after a deep horn sounded out from the ship.

Ash decided to talk a walk around the ship to get more aquatinted to his temporary home for the next week and a half if the projected time to get to Fuchsia was correct. Restaurants and stores lined the main deck. After every couple stores there would be a walkway that lead to the inner part of the ship.

Deciding to see where it went Ash walked down the next walkway to explore the inner part of the ship. Walking through the sides were lined with windows that allowed him to see into the restaurants on either side.

When Ash crossed to the other side of the walkway he was met with an awe inspiring sight. The entire inner part of the of the ship was hollow. Held in the air by four walkways that extended from the four corners of the mid levels was a battlefield for the tournament. At the top levels far above Ash were four massive jumbo Televisions that they likely measured in feet rather than inches. Every level had a large walkway that completely circled the inner battlefield allowing anyone on any level to be able to walk out to the balcony to see the arena.

From Ash's spot he could see the red paint of a Pokémon Center that he and Lance talked in front of on the outer part of the ship. The center was long enough to have an entrance on both the inner part and the outer part. On the other side of the opening on the opposite side of the ship was another Pokémon Center likely the home of the second Joy he spotted in the center earlier.

He was in room four twenty seven, if it was like a hotel that would mean he was on the fourth level. Looking up he saw all the room levels and decided to look for a way to climb up to the fourth floor.

Ash was about to walk around the walkway when he was bumped into by a girl around his age. She was wearing running pants and a short sleeve shirt that had a Pokéball like design on the front. Her arms were cradling a small Pokémon egg like Pokémon with small stubby arms that waved around happily as it trilled up at its holder.

"Oh I'm sorry Togepi," She apologized to the baby egg Pokémon. She looked up and looked at Ash apologetically. "I'm sorry to you as well, I wasn't looking where I was going."

Ash shook his head, "Don't worry about it, I wasn't paying attention either. Too lost while looking around and trying to find a way to the fourth floor."

The girl brightened up, "I know where the elevators are! Follow me!" She turned on her heel and walked quickly down the alleyway.

Seeing nothing better to do Ash followed the girl. She stopped halfway down the hallway and smiled at him proudly. "Here we go, most of these hallways have an elevator or stairway up."

"Thanks." Ash said as he pressed the up arrow. "My name is Ash by the way."

The girl jolted then rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry! My name is Melanie nice to meet you Ash!" She said happily, the Togepi trilled and got the attention of Melanie. "And this little one is Togepi."

Ash nodded to the little Pokémon who trilled happily at the trainer. "So are you here for the tournament?" Asked Ash.

Melanie shook her head rapidly, "Oh no no! I wish I was skilled enough to beat Surge but no, my dad got me a ticket for the ride so I could watch the tournament."

"Well cool," Shrugged Ash, he did wonder how much it cost for a ticket onto the ship.

Considering there were over twenty restaurants, three rollercoasters, eight swimming pools, and who knows what else. The ticket didn't say exactly what was open or list through everything on the ship but Ash knew it was luxurious with a capitol L.

"But you are right?!" She turned to him excitedly, "You have the traveled look of a trainer and since you asked me that must make you a contestant."

"Good deduction Melanie." Nodded Ash with a smile. "And yeah, I'm here for the tournament."

The elevator dinged and the two doors slid opened. Ash and Melanie walked inside and pressed the button with the number four on it.

After the doors closed Melanie turned back to Ash. "So how many badges do you have?" She asked.

"Three," He answered. "Brock, Misty and Surge. I will say that Surge was by far the toughest." It was true too, Misty was skilled but he never doubted the win no matter how strong her Lapras was. Brock's rookie crushing Onix was impressive but Hydro took it down just like he expected him to. Surge was the first one that he was unsure of the outcome, especially after Raichu took to the field.

"Don't I know it, I battled Surge a few days ago. Only my Graveler stood a chance and that was because of his ground typing. He destroyed my Clefairy pretty quick and my Bagon isn't quite battle ready." She said grumpily.

Ash decided to think about her choice of Pokémon, Graveler was an obvious choice and Clefairy if trained properly were certified dragon killers. Bagon was the only one he wasn't sure about. Bagon didn't really have a move pool that Dratini did and its battling capabilities were limited as well until it was a Salamance.

"How long have you had Bagon?" Asked Ash, they were just as rare as those of the Dratini line but were native to Hoenn. Having one in Kanto was even stranger than his Metang.

She put a finger to her chin in thought. "I think about a month, he was a gift but we're working well together."

Ash nodded, "Well at least it listens to you, some dragons just ignore or attack their trainers. Especially if the trainer didn't battle them to catch them." He said trying to lift her spirits.

Melanie appreciated the sentiment and smiled at Ash, "Thanks, but I know I've got a ways to go. I hope to learn from the tournament, it's the whole reason that I'm here."

"Good," Ash said making her raise her eyebrow. "My mom always said that if one can't fix their own problems then they never really go away." He said getting a nod of understanding out of the girl.

"Dad likes to say a version of that." She said in agreement. The double doors of the elevator opened up on the forth floor and Ash stepped out. "Good luck in the tournament Ash." She said with Togepi trilling in her arms in agreement.

"Thanks Melanie." Ash said as the elevator doors closed.

The fourth floor looked like a typical hotel hallway. Finally a normal part of the ship that didn't look like it belonged in a five star hotel. Walking down the hallway Ash got to room four twenty seven, on the handle was a keypad.

Great, Ash didn't know the code so he was out of luck for getting into his room. Turning around he came face to face with the man in the doorway of the room across from his. He didn't look like a typical trainer, he was in his late thirties and was wearing a button down shirt and light brown pants.

Ash pointed to the door behind him, "You wouldn't happen to know how to find out you passcode?"

The man looked up and raised an eyebrow at Ash, "They didn't tell you? It's your trainer I.D. number." He told Ash before stalking off down the hallway in a hurry.

Ash turned back to his door and tapped in his trainer I.D. and the lock clicked allowing him to open the door.

Walking inside the room Ash took a look around. First thing was that it was much bigger than the Pokémon Center rooms that he was provided when he stayed there. A large bed big enough for four of him was in the center of the room.

A large dresser held up the television and across the bed, on the opposite side of the room was a desk that had a video phone terminal. Ash could see several doors lining the walkway, one was a closet and the other was a full sized bathroom with a tub big enough for Blast to relax in.

If this was the moderate room he'd love to see the very top level. They were probably closer to condos than hotel rooms. And considering that the ship could circumnavigate the globe without making port he was sure that people could and would live on the boat for months at a time if they so wished.

Seeing as how the room was big enough Ash released all of current his Pokémon. Hydro jumped up and ran into the large bathtub and began relaxing in the water. Pidgeotto flapped over to a large metal bird stand that Ash hadn't noticed at first. Blast slithered over to the bed and coiled up, the dragon would have went to sleep if it wasn't for a certain dark type nudging the larger dragon with her paw.

The two Pokémon got into an argument that Ash was about to break up when they stopped growling at each other. Umbreon yipped to the dragon and hopped over to the other side of the bed and nestled into the pillows. Blast somehow had a look of exasperation on his face but then laid back down.

Pikachu was running around the room excitedly, he would jump on the bed and tap the noses of both Blast and Umbreon getting a snort from the dragon and a hiss from the dark type. Charmeleon was making sure that his bright flame covered tail wasn't touching anything flammable as he explored the room.

Ash smiled at his team and sat down at the desk. While he had time he was going to look into the fighting type Pokémon that were common around Kanto. His first choice was a Heracross but they were hard to track down and much harder to pin down since they hide well in trees and could fly. A fighting and bug type would give him excellent additional coverage for his team and they were known for their brawling capabilities.

But the two most common ones were Machop and Mankey and if Ash were honest he would rather explore other regions for fighting types, a Lucario would be nice for sure. But since he didn't have time to fly over to another region he'd have to settle for what he was close to.

Mankey and then Primeape were excellent fighters and could hold themselves with even top tier fighting types if trained properly. But Ash was instead going to look out for a Machop, they were easier to catch since they were naturally curious Pokémon and loved to challenge others to test their strength. They were common in most parts of Kanto which meant that he was going to be able to find one relatively ease.

Looking back over six out of eight of his Pokémon while they relaxed in his room he thought about who and what else he wanted to add. He had no ground, grass, poison, rock, fairy, bug or fighting and while his team could learn moves to cover such weaknesses he did need to add one or two more Pokémon if he wanted a chance to make it to the top levels of the Pokémon League. His team needed experience fighting against all types or they would only be good at fighting what he had. And as much as he hated to think it, maybe he needed to look into another ice type if Snorunt wasn't interested in battling.

The tournament first place prize was a free ticket into the Safari Zone, a good place to find some new team members. But that was first place and he was sure that he wasn't going to be the front runner for the tournament. The requirements for the tournament were to beat Lt. Surge and anyone could do that if they put in enough focus.

That would mean that all the contestants would be a wide spread of weak to really strong. Someone could have beaten surge at the sixth or seventh level or at a first badge level. Ash barely won at three so he wasn't sure where he stood, he'd have to scout out the competition tomorrow.

Gary and Paul were the only ones he knew about. And if he thought about it he was sure both were at his level or even higher. Paul likely held a grudge for beating him and taking his brother's gift from him and Gary is an Oak, greatness flowed through his veins.

Standing from his desk he jumped onto his bed with a sigh. He got a glare from Blast who was disturbed by his jumping onto the bed but Ash just smiled at the dragon who turned away and put his head back down. Umbreon climbed out of her pillow mountain and snuggled up to his side.

Ash drifted off to sleep with thoughts of the tournament tomorrow.

---

Thousands of passengers lined the walkways surrounding the arena on all levels from the level he was on and all the way to the top. Along with the spectators on the walkways were the many that were in the stands near the arena.

Ash was standing next to the other contestants as they waited for the tournament to begin.

"Welcome all to the first ever S.S. Anne Pokémon Tournament!" Cheers roared out from everyone in attendance.

The announcer waited a second for the cheers to die down before continuing. "We have a bunch of promising trainers! All eyes to the large televisions toward the top and we can see the first two trainers!"

Everyone looked up to see two squares with every trainers face flashing in a randomizer. After a while it stopped and Ash rolled his eyes. Of course he would be up first.

"And there we have it. Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town against Mia of Hau'oli City! A local boy versus a resident of our southern neighbor Alola!" Cheers picked up as both Ash and Mia walked out onto the suspended arena from one of the four walkways.

Once they stepped into the trainer squares a Mr Mime and Alakazam erected a powerful barrier that was nearly invisible. If one were to look closely they could see shimmer of energy but otherwise it allowed for full visibility of the battle.

A Pokémon League official ref turned to looked at both trainers. "This will be two on two, no switching, a Pokémon battles until it is deemed unable to battle or the trainer deems they are unable to battle further. Mia as the red trainer you will release your Pokémon first."

Both Ash and Mia nodded and the girl took out a Pokéball then tossed it toward the battlefield. Out popped a large ivory fox, it held its head in a dignified manor as it eyed Ash disdainfully as if it found him to be an unworthy opponent. Nine large puffy tails swished behind the ivory fox as a frost was blown out of its mouth with every breath.

Ash had heard that some Pokémon in the Alola region were mutated by the peculiar climate and environment. Ash didn't know exactly how a vulpix was born with an ice typing or any of the other strange mutations, now wasn't the time to be pondering it either.

He knew it was an Ice type, so he'd go with fire.

Ash threw out Charmeleon's Pokéball and the red pseudo dragon snorted out a wisp of red flame from his snout. The two Pokémon stared one another down trying to get a read on the other and ascertain any potential weak points.

"We have a cool Alolan Ninetails versus a red hot Charmeleon!" Applause and anticipation spread across the audience.

The ref looked between the two trainers. "Begin!" He shouted before he was teleported next to the Alakazam on the sidelines so to be far enough to be safe and close enough to intervene if necessary.

"Good luck Ketchum!" Mia called kindly.

Ash tipped his hat at the girl, "Yeah and you to!" He yelled out to her hoping that she could hear him over all the noise.

"Flamethrower wide."

Charmeleon had been mastering the move flamethrower over the course of the past month. His inner flame had grown not only large but far hotter and denser, so now he was able to manipulate them far easier allowing for variation in his attacks.

Instead of the compact tight stream of red hot flames that a typical flamethrower was, this one was a wide wall that covered the distance slower than normal but was nearly impossible to avoid. Only a move like dig or fly could out maneuver the wide spread flamethrower and Ash knew that an ice type like Ninetails didn't and likely couldn't learn either of those.

As the smoldering wall of flame approached Ninetails, the ivory fox sucked in a breath and blew out a pale mist that covered its side of the field with extremely cold wind.

The moment that the fire met the Frost Breath steam exploded out removing all sense of visibility of the two Pokémon. Ash tried to look for the perpetually flaming tail of Charmeleon but was unsuccessful. All he could do was hope that Charmeleon stuck to what he and Blast hammered into him in all their training sessions.

A primal roar was heard from inside of the steam. A small red dot was visible from inside the steam for an instant before an omnidirectional wave of flame exploded out. Ash saw a white blur speed into the air to avoid the flames.

With the widespread wave of flames spreading out the steam was blown away with it. The barrier was the only thing that stopped Ash from becoming his namesake.

In the center surrounded by a blackened battleground in his immediate area. Ninetails was looking at two of her tails that were heavily burned before giving Charmeleon the coldest glare Ash had ever seen. The native Alolan Pokémon pointed all nine tails in front of it and the water molecules began to freeze into razor sharp shards of ice.

"Multi Ember."

Charmeleon's tail brightened and his jaw was filled with fire. Dozens of Ice shards tore through the air that were met with ping pong ball sized fire balls that met the frozen barrage mid field.

Charmeleon roared and stopped the ember attack then released a tight stream of flames directly at the Ninetails.

The ivory fox met the attack with a rainbow colored beam of energy. The Aurora Beam and Flamethrower met and unlike when ember met ice it wasn't two evenly matched attacks canceling the other out.

The tight stream of flame tore through the ice attack with ease and slammed into the Alolan fox. Charmeleon's tail flame doubled in intensity as the pseudo dragon's instincts kicked in and the stream of flame brightened into an intense white.

Ash even from behind the psychic barrier tried to cover his face from the intense flames.

Ninetails could only howl out as its entire body took on a white glow. The flames that nearly overtook its body was starting to be pushed back by the strange white energy.

"Cut the attack then get in close with Dragon Claw."

Charmeleon spat out the rest of his stored flames and dashed forward. Blue energy spread across his arms all the way to his claws that extended out until they were six inches in length.

Ninetails body was covered in the white glistening energy. Its nine tails all pointed forward and the energy gathered into a swirling ball of the white power. Ninetails howled again and the ball of energy shot forward with surprising speed.

Charmeleon slashed the ball with the draconic enhanced claws but the white energy was completely unaffected by the claw attack and slammed into Charmeleon's hard chest. The explosion sent Charmeleon flying back but thanks to his tail he was able to keep his balance and stay on his feet.

Ash instantly knew what the attack was after that display. There was only one thing that was completely unaffected by the incredibly powerful dragon energy. Ninetails was an ice and fairy type it would seem. The ultimate dragon killer, it has their two biggest weaknesses wrapped up in one Pokémon.

Good thing he didn't start out with Blast.

"Only fire attacks!"

Charmeleon snarled a tongue of red hot flames out of his mouth. A powerful white hot flamethrower tore through the space between Charmeleon and Ninetails. An Ice beam was Ninetails response but the attack- natural or not, was unable to overpower the white hot flamethrower.

This time there was no howl or explosion. Ninetails was completely overcome by the intense fire and knocked unconscious. Ash called out to Charmeleon to end the attack and the red pseudo dragon listened instantly.

The ref raised an arm on Ash's side of the field. "Ninetails is unable to battle, Charmeleon is the winner. Mia, please send out your last Pokémon."

Mia grimaced as she recalled her Ninetails. She narrowed her eyes at Ash and Charmeleon then tossed out her next Pokémon. A blue and white egg shaped Pokémon with large rabbit shaped ears that flopped around with every movement. A thin black zig zagged shaped tail connected the main body to a heavy blue ball tip.

An Azumarill bounced in place as it gazed across at Charmeleon.

Ash knew exactly what type of Pokémon this was - a water and fairy type. He was sensing a pattern of Mia's team. Unfortunately, with the rules of the tournament Ash was unable to recall Charmeleon unless he wanted to take his buddy out of the fight completely.

Ash turned to the ref. "Charmeleon was hit by that attack earlier, I'm taking him out of the fight."

The ref saw through Ash's comment but raised the flag and pointed toward Mia, "Charmeleon has been removed from the battle. Azumarill and Mia are the winners! Ash, please send out your last Pokémon."

Ash recalled Charmeleon and ran his fingers over the rest of his Pokéballs. Picking the one that hasn't had much battle time in the recent weeks- Pidgeotto.

The hush that fell over crowd the moment his golden bird took to the sky was deafening. Ash smirked up at Pidgeotto when she swooped down closer to Azumarill and let out a screech at her opponent.

The ref signaled for the restart of the battle.

Pidgeotto flapped her powerful wings and exploded into the air in a blur of motion. Since Ash caught her he has been training her in speed, maneuvering, and evasion. Pidgeotto's speed was enough that it had both Azumarill and Mia trying to keep up with her as she swooped and rolled in the air.

"Gust then steel wing!"

Azumarill charged up a gurgling blue energy in its mouth that it then spat out in the air toward the golden bird. A widespread wave of bubbles shot toward Pidgeotto with surprising speed.

As the bubbles approached Pidgeotto flapped her wings rapidly. After the second flap a breeze started to pick up and after the fifth a powerful gale wind blew into the bubbles. The blue bubbles exploded on contact with the blunt force of the powerful winds.

With the mist from the collision spreading across the air Pidgeotto charged up her wings with the silver metallic energy to power up Steel Wing.

A golden blur raced toward Azumarill who looked up alarmed at the high speed flying type. The water Pokémon was unable to answer any of its trainers calls for retaliation in time and was nailed in the chest by two powerful steel enhanced wings.

The Azumarill bounced back onto its blue bubble on the tip of the tail. The water type in an impressive show of acrobatics backflipped and landed back on its feet.

"Finish this with Brave Bird."

Ash knew that Pidgeotto could manage one Brave Bird without much trouble but he would need to make sure that it hit.

Azumarill charged up a white energy ball that exploded into a jagged beam that sped toward Pidgeotto. Since the first day that Ash had caught Pidgeotto, he trained her in evasion and tight airborne maneuvering. Ash smirked at the long hours of training paying off brilliantly as she effortlessly avoided all of the ice beams.

After the ninth attack the rapid firing of ice beams toward Pidgeotto were starting to slow down. It would take an ice type to be able to fire the powerful ice type attacks rapid fire without heavy strain.

Pidgeotto's body started to give off a golden glow, her feathers all lit up with powerful flying type energy. The already golden bird took on a bright glow that gave her the appearance of a shooting star.

Azumarill yelled out in fright and launched a compact bubble beam at the rapidly approaching Pidgeotto. The bubbles were bulldozed through by Pidgeotto without even the hint of slowing down or stopping.

After ripping through all the bubbles Pidgeotto tightened her wind span and crashed right into Azumarill. The move Brave Bird, at its core was a very powerful tackle attack. The move enhanced speed and power to a very high level and saturated the body with incredible flying type energy. With all that speed and power flowing into Pidgeotto she smashed into the water type with a loud thunderous crack sounding out. The blue water and fairy type was taken off of its feet and sent soaring back until it crashed into the psychic barrier unconscious.

Brave bird, at this point was a one hit kill for opponents around Pidgeotto's level. Good thing too, Ash could see her right wing twitching slightly. He'll take her to one of the centers to get fixed up in case she needed to battle again.

"That looks like that's all she wrote for Azumarill!" The announcer shouted into the mic getting applause from the crowd. "Ash ketchup and his golden Pidgeotto move on to the next round!"

Pidgeotto screeched loudly as she circled above Ash. The rookie from Pallet walked over to Mia and extended a hand to her.

"That was a good battle." Ash said while he shook Mia's hand with a smile. "So you use fairy types right?"

The Alolan trainer brightened up considerably. "Yes! I want to be one of the Elite Four as a Fairy Master!"

A very difficult dream to achieve, but he intended to take down the titan known as Lance for his spot as Champion so who was he to judge someone on difficult dreams. With that in mind he gave her a smile.

"I wish you luck." Nodded Ash before walking off, he pointed a Pokéball up at Pidgeotto and recalled her.

Ash ignored the announcer call for everyone to look up at the massive televisions for the next two contestants. He walked down one of the nearby hallways and tapped the button for the elevator to ride up to the main level.

The Pokémon Center had more people than he thought it would. People were relaxing in the lounge with food as they watched the broadcast of the tournament happening five hundred yards away.

The nurse Joy gave him a pleasant smile, "Congratulations on your win Mr Ketchum."

Ash smiled back at the nurse. "Thank you, I need to have my Pokémon looked at real quick." Ash handed her two Pokéballs.

Ash went over to lounge to watch the tournament while he waited.

---

The first rounds were interesting, Gary had tore through his opponent with a Nidoking and Arcanine. Where Gary managed to get evolutionary stones for either Pokémon was anyones guess.

Stones were expensive and rare, most of the time you needed to be on a waiting list for weeks to get the chance at buying one. Maybe the Oak last name greased the wheels to allow him to get some quick, who knows. Gary hadn't told him anything and neither did the Professor so he wasn't worried about it.

Paul used his Magmar to take out both Pokémon without much trouble. The lava Pokémon was powerful enough to burn away even a Poliwhirl. Ash would need Hydro to take that beast down.

Another stand out was the guy that helped him out with his door code. His name was Jason and he was on his third year as a trainer despite being much older than Ash. He was from Kanto but had some powerful foreign Pokémon namely his Bisharp, a steel and dark type that was very agile.

Ash walked out onto the field after his name was called. His opponent took the field across from him with calm steps, his posture spoke of confidence and his gaze that was focused on him showed that he wasn't going to underestimate him.

"Ash Ketchum, released your first Pokémon." The ref told him.

Ash unfortunately didn't get a chance to watch his opponents battle in the first round so he went with a solid choice.

Hydro landed on the field with a flash of the red energy of his Pokéball. A second later his opponent tossed out his first Pokémon.

A large and healthy looking Tangela giggled as it landed on the field. The constant wiggling of its countless vines moving around its body showed that it had full control over every one of them.

Hydro would be at a disadvantage against its grass typing but Ice beam would be the equalizer.

The ref swung both of his flags down to signal the start of the match. Tangela's vines install whipped out and shot toward Hydro.

"Rapid Spin, reposition Piercing Pulse."

The half dozen approaching vines all went wide then converged on Hydro's location leaving little room to maneuver away from the entangling vines. Hydro retracted all of his limbs and head inside of his shell.

Hydro angled his shell on the hard surface of the battle field and rapid spun. The cartwheel movement was the only way that Ash could work out to allow Hydro to move about the battlefield quickly so that when he was a Blastoise he could still move if necessary. Drawback was that he could only move in a straight line.

After Hydro repositioned away from the incoming vines all his limbs shot back out of his shell and he landed on his feet. Blue energy gurgled in his mouth, a much tighter than usual Water Pulse shot forward toward the grass type.

By tightening the spread and increasing the pressure of the water Hydro was able to blast the concentrated beam of water with enough for to pierce stone. Grass may be resistant to water attacks but pain was pain.

The Tangela coiled several vines together and created a shield of vines that took the attack. The high density water cut through some of the vines but was stopped but the absorbing nature of the rubbery appendages.

"Ice Beam." Ordered Ash hoping that the super effective energy would do some real damage. Hydro charged the white energy and fired the freezing beam toward the grass type.

The small legs of a Tangela weren't built for running so instead it shot out several vines and pulled itself away from the incoming attack. Hydro was undeterred from the miss and fired once again.

Tangela glowed with power and stabbed a vine into the ground. Cracks raced out from the point of impact. Several large rocks floated into the air and one took the Ice Beam attack with only minor damage.

The floating jagged boulders all shot toward Hydro with surprising speed. Thinking quickly Hydro retracted all his limbs and spun as fast as he could. The large rocks smashed into Hydro's hard shell creating a large dust explosion that obscured Ash's sight from the field.

"Spin faster!" Ash was sure that his order was heard but he couldn't tell if Hydro acted on them. After a second the dust started to slowly spin along with Hydro. The dust tornado blew away all loose debris on the field and Ash could see his partner spinning with all his might at the center.

"Fire water while you spin!" The large tornado of dust filled with thick mist that spread thick mud from the tornado covering every part of the field. Tangela started having trouble moving about in the thick mud that was covering the arena so it was forced to stay in one place.

"Ice Beam!" Hydro stopped instantly and had no trouble stabilizing himself on the slippery surface. White frost formed around Hydro's mouth and a pale beam of energy shot toward Tangela.

Unable to move Tangela went for broke and spread green churning energy into its thickest vine. The Power Whip pulled back then slammed into the pale beam of energy, the collision caused a small frosty explosion that caused a ripple in the mud beneath them.

When the cold frost cleared the Power Whip enhanced vine was frozen solid. Tangela didn't mind the frozen extremity and slammed the vine down hard onto the arena floor shattering it into tiny shards. Tangela's ability activated and the destroyed vine began to regenerate and regrow at a rapid pace.

Ash ticked lightly at the sight. While Tangela was mostly immobile and unable to ingrain into the terrain thanks to the thick muddy surface it still had a multitude of wiggling vines that could take hits to protect its body.

Narrowing his eyes in thought, "Scald then get in close for Brick Break!"

Thanks to the thick muddy surface of the battlefield Hydro was able to slide toward Tangela with impressive speeds. Tangela released a orange spore as Hydro began to close distance.

Hydro built up his natural aquatic energy and heated it until it was steaming. A tight compact stream of boiling water speared into the orange cloud of paralysis inducing spores. Tangela didn't see any threat from the incoming water attack and took the hit.

Unfortunately for the vine covered grass type the damage wasn't the purpose of the attack. The side effect of Scald was that it could cause a burning effect. During the training to increase Hydro's power during the month leading up to Surge Ash didn't just have him increase the power of his attacks but also their intensity. For scald, Ash had Hydro work on increasing the temperature of the attack until the effect rose from one forth of the time to over half of the time.

Tangela gurgled painfully after the boiling water impacted its vines. The center point was glowing an angry red and most of its body was giving off a thick steam.

In the pain of the burning effect Hydro continued to cross the distance with his right claw raised high. Tangela could only groan as it watched as a powerful chop descended upon it. Hydro slammed his right arm downward slamming the grass type onto the muddy surface of the arena with a huge splash.

Without order from Ash, Hydro charged up another Ice Beam and made sure that Tangela wasn't going to get up.

When the grass type stopped twitching the ref raised the red flag while signaling to Ash. "Tangela is unable to battle, Ash and Wartortle are the winners. Mark please send out your last Pokémon!"

Ash looked across at his opponent who he now knew was named Mark. The trainer was about his age but on the shorter side. He was looking down in thought as his right hand was thumbing around in his pocket.

Mark decided on his Next Pokémon and tossed it out toward the field. Materializing from within the Pokéball was a strong looking Nidoqueen that stomped angrily shaking the field and blowing away a substantial amount of mud away from Mark's side of the field.

The ref signaled for the start of the battle.

"Scald then Water Pulse!" Hydro worked on charging up his inner water type energy. Across the field Nidoqueen roared and smashed her right fist onto the ground creating a powerful Earthquake that not only damaged Hydro but completely cleared the field of mud.

Nidoqueen followed up with a cracking yellow bolt of lightning that exploded off of her horn toward Hydro. The water type instinctively withdrew into his shell to absorb the damage.

The electric type attack shot right at Hydro and hit him on the chest of his shell. The thick protective armor that the Squirtle line was born with absorbed the piercing aspect of the electric attack but the shock was spread evenly into Hydro's body.

Hydro screamed out in pain as thousands of volts of electricity assaulted every nerve in the water type's body simultaneously. The water type was twitching madly as he tried to retaliate for the continuos volts of electricity.

Ash watched worriedly as tons of nerve damage was no doubt happening to his starter. Giving in Ash turned to the ref and shook his head.

The ref raised his blue flag toward Mark, "Wartortle is unable to battle. Mark and Nidoqueen are the winners! Ketchum please send out your last Pokémon!"

Nidoqueen was a powerhouse, that was without a doubt. Being able to produce a thunderbolt that strong and that continuously wasn't common in non electric types. His team right now had a few powerhouses but he wasn't sure who he wanted out there. He didn't have Snor at the moment nor did he have Pidgeotto, after her battle he wanted give her the rest of the tournament off since her wing was going to be too sore for the rest of the day for any real battling.

Well he may have wanted to keep it as an ace in the hole but Metang was immune to poison and levitated so that was to two in one.

A large blue steel and psychic Pokémon materialized from his Pokéball with a metallic roar. Nidoqueen glared across the field at the blue Hoenn Pokémon hatefully as it recognized it as a threat.

The ref slashed his two flags downward to signal the start of the next battle.

"Psyshock!"

Metang's arms glowed with bright pink psychic energy as it charged up its attack. Nidoqueen wasn't idle as her mouth built up a fiery Flamethrower. The two attacks met each other mid field causing an explosion of heat and smoke.

From the smoke a thick and intense wave of flame burst through flying dangerously fast. Metang hummed deeply while extending its psychic energy outward. The move psychic granted the user temporarily telekinesis, for a psychic that already had such power they would have their natural abilities increased two fold.

The incoming flame was stopped by a wide psychic barrier that glowed with a pearl energy. Instead of stopping the fire completely Metang brushed it away from itself to avoid the super effective attack. Stopping fire head on was still beyond Metang and likely would for a while, it wouldn't happen until it evolved if Ash guessed right and even then would take an exponential amount of training to achieve.

Ash instinctively raised his arm from the incoming fire that was stopped by the psychic barrier put in place by the Alakazam and Mr Mime.

Metang blitzed forward with two glowing arms alit by steel power for Metal Claw. Nidoqueen swung her massive tail around meeting the metal claw head on. The thick and muscle filled tail met the two gleaming claws and held strong for a moment but the large blue Nidoqueen was eventually knocked back.

"Confusion. Launch her into the air with Psychic then finish with Meteor Mash!"

Nidoqueen slammed her right foot onto the ground with enough force that the immediate area shattered beneath her. Using the force she jumped into the air to attack Metang with a devastating double stomp. However as she was mid air her brain was assaulted by Metang's psychic energy making her collapse onto the ground in pain.

Metang hummed with more psychic energy and roared out in effort. Nidoqueen was picked up into the air slowly for a brief moment before Metang got a firm grip onto the poison and ground type. After acclimating itself to the massive weight of Nidoqueen Metang thew the female Pokémon high into the air.

Ash clenched his fist, this was it. Meteor Mash work perfectly for Metang about three fourths of the time in training. Now it was time to see if Metang could do it in the heat of battle and hit a falling Nidoqueen.

Metang's claws extended forward and locked together with a powerful magnetic force that would keep the claws perfectly still even under the most powerful force. Both claws started to vibrate and glow a deep sapphire blue. From the tips of Metang's arms the blue energy spread down its arms until Metang's body was completely covered.

After the energy spread completely over Metang's body the steel type exploded forward toward the descending Nidoqueen. The large poison and ground type was trying to turn mid air to counter attack but was unable to respond in time to stop the incoming Metang.

The impact of meteor mash was followed by a loud boom that echoed out onto the battle field. Nidoqueen roared out in pain as she landed unceremoniously onto the hard ground unconscious.

Metang floated back over to Ash and roared out in triumph. Ash smiled when he felt a wave of happiness and success wash over him thanks to Metang's emotional telepathy.

"That was awesome I knew you could do it." Ash told Metang happily before he recalled it.

"And there we have it!" Roared the Announcer while the thousands of spectators were cheering their approval of the battle they just witnessed. "Ketchum smashed his way to the quarter finals with his impressive Metang! How far will this rookie go?!"

Ash smirked to himself as he walked off the field, 'To the end.'

---

Ash leaned over the railing while he watched the rest of the quarter finals, his opponent was a joke. He didn't really even need to order Pikachu or Charmeleon during the battle only really needing to tell Charmeleon to stop playing with his food and finish the poor Raticate off.

Seeing as how he was in the semi finals he wanted to see every competitor battle. So far Gary had beat his opponent definitively. His grass type starter was a beast no doubt about it, Ash had never seen a grass type use so many attacks at once. The descendant of Samuel Oak certainly inherited his grandfathers battle strategies.

Right at the moment Paul was battling some girl from Saffron. She was a fighting type enthusiast apparently seeing as how she used a Hitmonlee first and was now using Hitmonchan. The kicking fiend really laid into Paul's Electabuzz beating it in roughly one minute. Right at the moment Paul was using a Fearow to stay away from the punching fiends Sky Uppercuts and Thunder Punches.

"He has trained his bird well." A man to Ash's left said.

Ash looked at the man with a raised eyebrow before turning back to the battle, he couldn't see what the guy looked like so he just turned back to the battle.

"I guess, his other Pokémon are stronger from what I saw. I think the bird is a place holder." Suspected Ash, the Fearow was strong but most of them were even in the wild. This one didn't have much battle experience based on the arial movements. Pidgeotto would spank the large bird out of the sky without trouble.

"Oh of that I'm sure. I can tell he wants to keep his team a secret until he absolutely needs to reveal them." The man said before turning to Ash. "That Metang of yours is pretty good, the Meteor Mash was a little wanky but otherwise nice. Also your Pikachu is certainly a speed demon."

Ash tipped his hat at the man. "Thanks they all train very hard."

Both were pulled from their conversation when Paul's Fearow Drill Pecked Hitmonchan's chest hard enough for it to fly back and impact the barriers. The crowed applauded when it was ruled that Hitmonchan's was unable to battle.

"I wish you luck Mr Ketchum." The man said before walking off. Ash shrugged at the random man's company before making his way back to the arena in case his match was next.

Ash stood shoulder to shoulder with three others. Paul and Gary were there along side the older man Jason, who hadn't lost a Pokémon yet.

"Alright everyone! Here we have the top four! First up is going to be Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town versus Gary Oak who, is also from Pallet Town! How about that everyone! It seems we have a Pallet Town Showdown!"

Ash smiled to himself. A battle with Gary would be awesome, Gary blew through all of his opponent as simply as he did so he was hoping that he would meet his match.

Both Ash and Gary walked out onto their trainer squares. Ash walked across to the red square while Gary stood on the blue side tapping his foot impatiently.

The ref walked forward, "This is the first semi final battle, this along with the finals will be three on three. Switching is allowed for this match and there is no time limit. The red trainer will release his Pokémon first."

Ash took a breath, he knew Gary had a Nidoking, Kadabra, Arcanine, and Ivysaur. So he was safe to start with Umbreon she was sturdy and fast.

His dark type took to the field after a flash of the red energy of her Pokéball. Umbreon looked around before she lowered her head to ready herself for combat.

Gary narrowed his eyes at the dark type making Ash smirk. Of his entire team Umbreon was the most off putting for trainers to battle. As a pure dark type she and her kind were avoided like the plague for their malicious natures and quick tempers.

Anyone could fight a Pokémon like Dratini as they were so often used now a days because of Lance that unless they were really well trained they lost most of their intimidation factor. Same could be said about all of Ash's team, save for Umbreon which made her such a good Pokémon for opening a battle with an unknown opponent.

Gary tossed out his first choice and a large Pidgeotto took to the field with a loud screech. Gary's Pidgeotto was larger than average and its plume was bright and was longer than average to show that it was close to evolving into a large and powerful Pidgeot.

The ref signaled for the start of the match and Gary wasted no time in ordering Pidgeotto in the sky.

"Wait to counter with Confusion when it gets close Thunder Fang."

It was a general set of orders that would rely on Umbreon's battle experience. Gary would have to set the pace for the battle since Pidgeotto could easily stay out of range or easily dodge attacks.

Pidgeotto picked up speed and dove toward Umbreon. The large bird got within ten meters before it flapped its powerful wings twice creating a sharp blade of wind that flew at Umbreon with impressive speed.

The dark type jumped to the side to avoid the incoming attack at the last moment. The ground of the arena split from the air blade causing dust to rise from the impact.

Gary yelled out more orders that Ash couldn't hear, Pidgeotto increased its speed with some technique and started to blur around the air.

Umbreon fired a few Dark Pulses into the air to test Pidgeotto's maneuverability but all were dodged easily. Ash sighed tiredly, he wasn't going to switch Umbreon out until he had a better idea of what Gary's plan was so this was going to be a waiting game for the first one to lose their patience. He and Umbreon could do this all day, the Oak from what he had seen didn't have the most patience.

Pidgeotto got lower and began rapidly flapping its wings causing a fierce wind that picked up all the ruble and debris from the earlier battles. Umbreon moved around the wind storm at the center of the field and waited to see what the bird was planning.

Ash narrowed his eyes, "Umbreon, when it stops moving use Confusion."

Pidgeotto's powerful and continuous Gust attack assaulted the battle field, slowly increasing the scale of the attack so that it would encompass the entire battlefield. Pidgeotto stopped the attack on Gary's order and the winds quickly died out without a constant source of fuel.

Umbreon seized the opportunity and fired a Dark Pulse straight at Pidgeotto, the bird noticed the attack flying towards it and easily flew to the side and completely avoided the attack. This cycle continued as Pidgeotto was far enough and fast enough to avoid incoming attacks and Umbreon was having fun firing her attacks at a living target. After the seventh beam of pitch black energy was evaded Pidgeotto was slowed enough that the eight managed to land on the large bird's wing doing enough damage for a cry of pain.

Ash analyzed the Pidgeotto's form. It was large and could likely deal out incredible physical strikes considering his was slightly smaller and could nock an Onix off its rocker with a single steel wing. But Gary's didn't seem the type to evade and outmaneuver its opponents, evidence in the fact that it couldn't dodge the Dark Pulse attack that was quick at best.

Right now its left wing was injured and its speed was already much slower than before. But it was still too quick for Umbreon's limited psychic abilities to affect its brain. Ash made a note to start having Metang teach her Psychic which would increase her control over the mental arts.

Pidgeotto pulled both of its wings in and suddenly fell from the sky to avoid a dark beam then shot both wings out and picked its speed back up. The bird's feathers glowed for a moment as it fed flying type energy into its body.

Ash smirked, "Its going to use roost, use confusion when the move is about to start." He and his Pokémon have seen his Pidgeotto use her healing move many times so they knew exactly when she was vulnerable.

Umbreon did exactly as she was told and waited for her opportunity as she charged psychic energy making her ruby colored eyes glow ominously.

Pidgeotto's entire body started to glow and right as the energy was about to heal its body it was assaulted by psychic energy. The large bird screeched in pain as it fell to the ground unable to use its necessary motor functions to flap its wings to stay in the air.

"Thunder Fang." Ordered Ash with a monster grin on his face now that he saw an end to the battle. Although it was unnecessary because Pidgeotto was likely going to be out from the impact alone but Ash wanted to be sure.

Umbreon hackled evilly that was further enhanced by her malicious grin. Sharp fangs were out for the world to see that were dripping with purple liquid as Umbreon's natural poison glands activated in the thrill of the battle. After a moment the sharp poison fangs crackled with yellow lightning as Thunder fang activated. With her attack prepared Umbreon rushed forward towards the fallen Pidgeotto.

Ash ignored the whispers aimed at Umbreon and watched the rest of the battle stoically. He didn't like that people were going to think that she was dangerous but there wasn't anything he could do. Unfortunately he wasn't going to be able to stop the match since Pidgeotto was still conscious and starting to move around. It was up to Gary and the ref to stop the match before Umbreon got to the bird.

Pidgeotto had righted itself before hitting the ground to lower the damage it would take from the impact. The bird looked up just in time to see Umbreon right in front of it with its jaws spread wide crackling with yellow lightning. Pidgeotto was unable to do anything as Umbreon's fangs clasped around its neck biting down hard enough that a steady stream of blood was flowing from the wound.

"Enough!" Ordered Ash, he'd seen the Pidgeotto fall unconscious and Umbreon hadn't let go showing that he instincts had taken over during the battle. If he hadn't stopped her she would have likely killed Pidgeotto.

Ash ignored the loud whispers of fright directed at Umbreon, she was a pure Dark type so she was naturally looked at with caution. Seeing her act so aggressively didn't help her image nor did it reflect on him well since he was using her in a battle.

The ref called out for Gary's next Pokémon and Ash watched as Umbreon stalked back over to him. "Great work girl, want to keep going?" He asked.

Umbreon looked back with a bland stare, "Bre." she snorted before looking back at her opponent.

That made Ash snort in amusement, he shouldn't have ask considering she didn't even get hit in the last battle. She wasn't going to stop unless she was beaten or was drastically out matched and even then Ash would have to force her.

Gary seemed to come to a decision as he tossed out a Pokéball. From the capture device emerged his Ivysaur, the grass starter stomped its foot and growled across the field at Umbreon showing that it was unintimidated.

"Swift then bite." Ordered Ash. Umbreon's rings glowed as the normal type energy gathered around her, several golden stars formed glittering with the unique energy of Swift.

As the six glittering stars crossed the distance toward Ivysaur the grass and poison type quickly slapped the stars with several vines all extending from its large flower on it back.

Ivysaur's bulb glowed in the direct sunlight as it prepared a multitude of possible attacks. The top opened and out popped several different colored clouds of various poisons. Umbreon moved back as fast as she could but was quickly over taken by the widespread cloud of toxins.

"Confusion with all you got!" It was a last ditch effort to do some damage before the spores took effect.

Umbreon realized this as her eyes glowed and she howled in effort. The Ivysaur lowered its head in pain but looked far more composed than it should be in Ash's opinion. It showed the large amounts of training Gary must have put it under if it was able to resist a super effective Confusion with only a grunt of effort.

The cloud of toxins took their effect causing Umbreon to fall over unconscious. The combination of sleep, poison and paralysis was enough to likely take out most of his team if he allowed them to get hit by it. He would need someone that could blow away incoming attacks rather than just dodge them.

Ash pointed Umbreon's ball towards her and recalled her. "That was great, you were great." He whispered into the ball knowing that she could hear him.

Ash thought that he waited long enough in the tournament and decided to toss out his next Pokémon who was likely bored from staying in his ball all day.

Whatever the crowd was expecting to emerge from the Pokéball they didn't get it. Metang had likely become a crowed favorite and they wanted the powerful steel and psychic type back on the field. But Ash had another Pokémon who had been patiently waiting for his chance to battle.

Blast materialized and slammed his powerful tail onto the ground cracking the floor with his impressive strength. A loud roar declared his entrance to the field getting a stunned silence from most of the crowd as they took in the majestic dragon type Pokémon.

From what Ash knew, Blast was the first dragon type to make an appearance in the tournament. He was an impressive sight to be sure especially for those who have never seen a dragon type in person. Blast's regal poise allowed him to stare down at Ivysaur disdainfully believing such an opponent beneath him. A common occurrence ever since he evolved a month ago, it was good that he listened to Ash before the evolution or he was sure that he would have never listened to him after.

Gary clenched his fist angrily, "So you brought out the dragon, alright then." Gary extended his starters ball and recalled Ivysaur.

His next Pokémon that took the field was a strange sight for Ash. It was green and looked more like a bug than anything else. It floated mid air with its rapidly flapping wings allowing it to appear as if it was completely still.

Gary smirked at the lack of recognition and called out his first orders. "Vibrava! Dragon Breath!"

So that's what it was! Ash narrowed his eyes and called out to Blast, "It's a ground and dragon type Blast meet that with attack with Dragon Rage then get close for Aqua Tail."

Blast snorted at the Pokémon believing it to still nothing more than an unworthy bug. The dragon breath and dragon rage attack met mid field and the resulting explosion sent a shockwave out the blew Ash's hat off of his head. He quickly reached up and caught it, he couldn't bare to lose his favorite hat.

From the clash Ash learned several things. First was that Vibrava being the second evolution of the Flygon line was just as unimpressive as he expected it to be. Flygon was a force to be reckon with for sure and they were also one of the easiest dragon types to raise.

But Blast was on another level, if he were still a Dratini they would be more even. But as a Dragonair he had more access to his massive pool of energy that his line is known for. A pure dragon type like Blast was on another level than a secondary Dragon type especially one like Vibrava that was still in its weaker form. Flygon would easily tare through Blast at this point, but it wasn't a Flygon yet.

Blast slammed his tail onto the ground once again while staring at Vibrava imperiously. Golden draconic energy swirled in his jaw quickly condensing with his natural power. The attack shot from Blast's jaw in a cone shaped golden wave of power that the ground and dragon type flew above the attack to avoid the dangerous attack.

"Flamethrower then Dragon Rush!"

As Ash order the attack Vibrava released another Dragon Breath toward Blast. The attack was a red wave of angry dragon energy that Blast took with only the barest of flinches. The attack was super effective but it was still weak enough for him to shake off, his larger and thicker scales he got after evolving were a boon.

Steam was the first sign from Blast's mouth that it was building up an intense Flamethrower. The next second a swirling pillar of flame rose from Blast directly toward the flying VIbrava that couldn't do enough to avoid the powerful stream of flames.

Blast roared with effort as dark blue energy exploded out from his body. The Dragon Rush attack was similar to Pidgeotto's Brave bird in that it was an incredibly powerful tackle attack that was saturated by an abundance of power.

VIbrava used its biggest advantage and began to fly in a serpentine manner to avoid the incoming attack. However, while not with the most conventional means, Oak had Ash start teaching Blast how to manipulate dragon energy and air currents to fly. He wasn't very good at it yet since it was mostly straight lines but in a few weeks he would likely be able to manipulate air currents to fly normally.

Vibrava, not expecting Dragonair to shoot into the sky toward the ground and dragon type was completely caught off guard by the incoming attack. Gary shouted out commands and Vibrava roared out in effort as the angry red stream of dragon energy expelled from Vibrava's mouth toward Blast.

Dragon Rush was the superior move in terms of overall power, however. The red dragon breath attack slammed into Blast as it tore thought the air toward Vibrava. Blast's attack ripped through the red energy and continued to approach Vibrava with a pulsing draconic cone of energy surrounding his body.

The Dragon Rush collision was strong enough that Vibrava was knocked unconscious instantly. Gary caught his Pokémon before it hit the ground while Blast landed on his side of the field gracefully thanks to his moderate flying abilities.

The applause washed over Ash and Blast, the latter of which slammed his tail onto the ground and roared loud enough for the whole ship to hear.

Gary snarled angrily at his loss and let Ivysaur back out. The powerful grass and poison type was undeterred by the powerful dragon staring across the field at it and snarled for good measure.

Ash didn't bother giving any order, Blast could take it from here.

Ivysaur's bulb released another wave of toxins that spread out into an all encompassing cloud that Blast would be unable to avoid. But avoiding the attack wasn't what Blast was going to do, raising his snout into the air, Blast manipulated the draconic energy into a Twister that spawned in the center of the arena.

The storm of toxins were immediately sucked inside of the vortex completely neutralized before Blast could inhale any. The twister was only the first layer of neutralization as Blast reared back and let loose a powerful torrent of flame that burnt the cloud of toxins away.

Ivysaur had used the seconds that Blast dealt with the toxin cloud to fire dozens of leech seeds onto Blast's side of the field.

Ash noticed what Gary was trying to do. "Blast use flamethrower then Dragon Rage."

Hopefully the fire would burn away anything that Gary would set in his way. He was also confident in Blast's ability with his favorite technique, while Dragon Rage wasn't his strongest move anymore it was the one he used the most.

Blast slithered around the field with incredible speed only stopping for the instances that he would change directions. He was using the unpredictable movements to slow down whatever Ivysaur was planning. Ivysaur was many things but fast certainly wasn't one of them and while Gary had certainly trained his starter well he hadn't prepared it for Blast.

Ivysaur's bulb started to take on a bright golden glow as it tried to follow Blast erratic movements around the field. Blast's jaw crackled with flame as he built up his next attack, after maneuvering behind Ivysaur he released the Flamethrower.

Red hot fire tore through the air toward Ivysaur, the grass type quickly flipped around and released the Solar Beam into the Flamethrower. The two attacks met causing a violent explosion of heat that was so bright that Ash felt his eyes burn slightly as if he'd stared into the sun. Unfortunately for Blast the Solar Beam was not only stronger but hotter as it continued to push through the flames and hit Blast directly in his chest.

For the first time since Ash knew him, Blast roared out in pain from the solar beam. Ash winced at the scales on his chest that were steaming from the hit, he would need to get him to the Pokémon Center after the battle immediately.

"Dragon Rush, finish this Blast." Ash said seriously, it was over kill when another Flamethrower could likely end the battle but he wanted to be sure.

Ivysaur sent out several thick vines toward the incoming missile of dragon energy that was Blast. The vines all repeatably smashed into him as he tore through the distance with determination.

The surrounding cone of dragon type energy both increased Blast's offensive capabilities several times over as well as it gave some defensive protection so the rapid vine whips were nothing more than taps to the incoming dragon.

Ivysaur tried to build up enough energy for another Solar Beam the large bulb on started to suck in light and the on familiar glow to show that the Ivysaur was almost ready. But right as the large flower bulb was about to release the powerful beam of energy Blast crashed into the grass type with enough force that Ivysaur was launched across the field.

Gary called out for synthesis and Ash didn't have to tell Blast to finish the battle quickly. Golden draconic energy swirled into a tight ball in front of Blast's snout. Right as the green light of synthesis was about to take effect Ivysaur was hit directly on the bulb by the Dragon Rage attack.

Ivysaur grunted in pain several times while trying to get itself back to its feet. After a few unsuccessful tries the grass type collapsed face down.

Gary quickly recalled Ivysaur and put the ball back on his belt. The Oak sent Ash a nod before walking off the arena likely heading toward the Pokémon Center to fix his team up. Pidgeotto was hurt pretty bad by Umbreon's Thunder Fang.

"And with that victory Ash Ketchum earns his spot in the finals!" Ash winced at the loud applause as he walked off of the stage, he needed to get Blast checked on and Umbreon was hit by who knows how many toxins. He wouldn't leave the center until he knew that Blast and Umbreon were perfectly healthy. "Will Jason Silver and Paul Shinji come down to the arena!"

---

Umbreon was fine, thankfully. She was hit by a combination of several different poisons as well as Paralysis and sleep powder. Such a combo would have likely taken Blast out of the match if he had inhaled any of it.

Blast was a different story, while his scales were much stronger now that he was a Dragonair a Solar Beam at five meters directly to the chest was still too much for him. It did give him a bunch of new ideas for training his team, he had been so busy working on offense that he hadn't been worried about their resistances or defenses. That was going to change when they got off of the ship and started training again.

With the medical advancements in the recent years both Blast and Umbreon were back on their feet ready for battle after a few minutes. He had been watching the battle between Paul and Jason while he was waiting and was shocked at how quickly Paul lost his first two Pokémon.

Right now it was Jason's Feraligator battling against Paul's Pupitar. Ash had no reasonable idea how Paul managed to catch a Pupitar but he clearly did.

Unfortunately for Paul his Pupitar was not only out matched by the Feraligator but was at a bad disadvantage type wise considering it was a rock and ground type. That wasn't to say that Pupitar was weak, he could feel the earthquakes several floors up.

It was all for not as a massive Hydro Pump took Pupitar out of the fight. Ash didn't know who this Jason guy was but he had some real power houses on his team.

He would go with Metang, Pikachu and Hydro. Pikachu was fast enough to avoid anything that was thrown at him. Metang was a hard counter for anything other than a powerful fire type or a dark type that was sturdy enough to take steel type attacks. And of his entire team Hydro was the most experienced in battle, he has been with Ash the longest and could react to situations without having to wait for Ash to order him if necessary.

"There we have it folks!" The announcers voice sounded out over the television. "The finals will begin in one hour between the rookie sensation Ash Ketchum and Jason Silver for the title as champ of the first ever S.S. Anne tournament!"

Ash nodded to himself, he had an hour to work through a strategy to deal with some of the Pokémon he had seen Jason use during the tournament. So far he had seen the Bisharp from Unova and that huge Feraligator that tore through Paul's entire team, not much to go on but he'd manage.

"My advice, battle as hard as you can before he gets going. He usually lets his Pokémon battle for him unless his opponent shows skill. Take him down before he takes you seriously." The same man in the hoodie said suddenly as he appeared next to him.

Ash turned to the random guy from earlier with a raised eyebrow. "And who are you?" He asked.

The man waved a hand at Ash. "Don't worry about that, but good luck out there champ."

Ash watched bemused as the man quickly walked away while making sure that his hood stayed on and that nobody noticed him. "Ok weird guy." Muttered Ash to himself with a shake of the head.

---

The afternoon sun had begun to sink in the sky giving an orange glow to the battlefield. Ash slowly walked down the hallway toward the arena while taking slow and easy breaths, this would be his toughest battle yet.

Right as he exited the hallway the announcer began. "There he is folks! Ash Ketchum the rookie from Pallet Town had managed to climb his way all the way to the finals!" Jason stepped out from his hallway bringing attention to himself. "And Jason Silver! The seasoned battler hailing from Cerulean City!"

Both trainers stood on their platform and waited for the ref who was walking out to the center of the battlefield. "This will be a three on three match! The Blue trainer- Jason will be releasing his Pokémon first."

Jason wasted no time and threw an Ultra ball into the air.

Ash was prepared, he had a versatile team all of which were experienced battlers that were ready for variety of situations. Metang had become a very reliable part of the team, Pikachu was his fastest Pokémon and had some decent power and Hydro was his starter all three were ready for anything.

Except for a Salamance, a large one that was snarling impatiently as it stomped and stretched its massive wings to ready itself for the incoming battle.

He wasn't sure what he could do against that, Blast was his strongest fighter power wise but hasn't fully mastered his new form. Pidgeotto was a fair flyer but wouldn't be able to scratch the absurdly powerful dragon even with Brave Bird.

Nothing less to do but try, Ash released Pikachu first. The small yellow rodent turned back to Ash and looked at him as if he was crazy. If he were honest he couldn't blame Pikachu for being overwhelmed, Ash certainly was.

"Begin!" Shouted the ref.

Salamance flapped its massive wings once and exploded into the air creating a powerful gust of wind that push Pikachu back several feet. Ash planned to take down the terror of Hoenn if it was the last thing he did in the tournament, it was likely going to be the last thing he did.

"Blitz around the arena then Thunderbolt use every bit of power you have!" Ordered Ash, it was self explanatory for Pikachu to use all of his power against an opponent that was vastly more experienced that him but he said it anyway.

Pikachu became a yellow blur of motion as it erratically moved around the field. Lightning crackled around Pikachu's cheeks as he prepared a Thunderbolt.

While Pikachu was preparing his attack, Salamance had rose incredibly high into the sky. The blue dragon suddenly dove straight toward the battlefield so fast that Ash could barely follow the blur.

Ash and Pikachu were unable to process what Salamance was doing before the dragon crashed directly into the battlefield with enough force that the explosion instantly blasted Pikachu back into the psychic barriers.

Ash numbly recalled Pikachu as he stared blankly toward the battlefield. The terrain was cracked and broken with a huge crater in the center that was Salamance's point of impact. The sheer force of the crash had to have been stronger than Pupitar's earthquake considering it didn't even come close to destroying the ground of the arena during its battle.

"What an incredible show of power! How will Ash Ketchum stand against the unstoppable force that is Salamance!" The crowd and the announcer were far more interested in the outcome of the battle than Ash was at this point.

Ash reached back to the five Pokéballs attached to his belt, he grabbed Metang's ball and sighed. He tossed out the ball and the levitating steel and psychic type Pokémon took to the field with the same immovable confidence it was known for.

"Salamance took out Pikachu! Confusion then Meteor Mash!"

Metang's eyes glowed at the news about Pikachu, it didn't necessarily have emotions but Metang's hive mentality made it so that it didn't like for anyone close to it to be hurt.

Salamance was lazily flapping its massive wings slow enough to just hover in the air right above the battlefield. Ash could see the all the muscles coiling and the incredibly thick scales twitch with every movement. Nothing short of Snor's Hyper beam would make that monster of a Pokémon feel any sort of pain.

It was no longer about winning the battle, it was about taking down the monster hovering in the air.

The ref signaled for the start of the match and Metang immediately activated Confusion. Salamance's head twitched slightly before it zeroed in on Metang. Blue draconic energy exploded around Salamance before it charged toward Metang.

Both large claws locked together magnetically before steel type energy coated Metang's arms and quickly became thicker and thicker as Metang prepared Meteor Mash.

Both Hoenn pseudo legendaries charged each other while being surrounded by a storm of their natural energy. Meteor Mash and Dragon Rush clashed and for an instant nothing happened, both energies swirled and gurgled as they merged before an immense explosion overtook the field.

Ash instinctively turned away from the explosion as it impacted against the barriers. The smoke was slowly starting to clear and the two Pokémon were revealed. Metang was unconscious on the ground while both red eyes flickered off and on.

Salamance looked noticeably tired as it hovered in the air, both wings had soot and most of its front looked hurt from the direct impact of Meteor Mash. Ash sighed tiredly, of course a halfway mastered Meteor Mash wasn't enough to do any real damage.

For a moment Ash considered using Hydro like he planned, he was skilled enough but he didn't have the raw power necessary. Instead Ash tossed out the Pokéball containing Blast. On being released from his ball Blast lost his superior demeanor and stared seriously at Salamance who regarded the Dragonair with slight interest.

Not paying attention to the announcer Ash called out his orders. "Metang and Pikachu were taken out in one hit! Dragon Dance then Dragon Rush!"

Dragon Dance was Blast's project that Ash gave him before he initially sent him to Oak's to get used to his new body. It was a simple move that only really required having good control over his draconic energy and being able to keep a constant steam circulating in his body while he attacked.

Blast let out a deep horn like roar as red and purple energy swirled around him as he increased his offensive abilities. The dragon energy began to swirl around Blast as Dragon Rush started to activate, the move created a cone of power around the Dragonair that increased the pressure on the battlefield with the dense energy surrounding him.

Salamance similarly prepared Dragon Rush but it was noticeably easier to form and the cone surrounding it looked thicker and far stronger.

The two dragons exploded toward each other, Ash clenched his fists as Blast neared the fully evolved dragon with his strongest move. Both dragons slammed into the other at incredible speeds to supplement their already powerful moves even further.

Once again the clash caused a huge explosion with a boom loud enough that Ash's ears rang and was bright enough for Ash to see spots. The thick smoke hovered over the battlefield keeping Ash from seeing what exactly happened to Blast. He wasn't dumb enough to think that he won that battle but he was at least hoping that his dragon wasn't too injured both Umbreon and Metang were likely in a bad place.

The Psychics around the field slowly pushed the smoke away from the battlefield to reveal the fallout. The arena floor was in ruin, the concussive force behind two Dragon Rush's meeting was enough to shatter the already ruined ground for there to be nothing flat larger than half a square foot. The barriers were noticeably strained as it was still glowing with power as Alakazam and Mr Mime were force to suddenly increase the thickness of the shields right before the clash.

Salamance was breathing heavily as it stood on the crumpled floor of the arena. Both wings were pulled in and one eye was closed. On the other side Blast was sprawled on the ground failing in his fight to stay conscious. Ash called it for his prideful friend and recalled the dragon back into his Pokéball.

"AND THERE WE HAVE IT!" Roared the Announcer after seeing the fallout. "ROOKIE KETCHUM STOPPED DEAD IN HIS TRACKS BY TRAINER SILVER!"

Ash quickly walked off of the field to hurry towards the Center, he knew that the three involved in this hopeless battle were going to need to be looked at by Nurse Joy.

Running to the elevator he quickly jumped in as the doors were closing. Breathing a sigh of relief he tapped the button for the main deck and waited.

"Tough break buddy." A feminine voice said consolingly.

Ash turned and his eyes widened in shock, he somehow completely missed a stunningly beautiful women standing in the elevator. She was about his height with long red hair, she had a curvy body that was hugged tightly by her white dress.

Regaining his composure he nodded tightly to her, "Thanks, not much I could have done at my level." Ash knew it was the truth but he didn't have to like it.

The beautiful women put a hand on his arm, "I bet that doesn't make it easier. So whats next for the rookie sensation?" She asked seemingly interested in him.

Ash shrugged, "Not sure why?"

The women shrugged with a slight giggle. "I don't really care just curious." The elevator doors opened on the main deck.

Ash quickly stepped out, he wanted to get away from the strange women as quickly as possible. She waved at him as the doors closed causing him to shake his head.

What's with him and meeting strange people?

---

The ceremony was as grand as he would have expected from the illustrious Silph Co. Fireworks blasted into the night sky as Jason, Gary, Paul and himself all stood on the completely repaired arena.

"I can't believe this guy had a monster like that up his sleeve." Muttered Gary to him. The Oak hadn't been as angry as Ash expected after his loss and was surprisingly, Ash wouldn't necessarily say kind, but nice after Ash's loss.

Paul grunted on the other side of Gary, "All of his team were monsters, Feraligator took a Thunder from Electabuzz then went on to beat Grotle. He was on a completely different level than all of us."

Ash nodded to himself at Paul's words. That Jason guy had a team that was likely above eighth badge level and here he was battling them in a tournament. Ash seriously doubted that he needed the free trip to the Safari Zone, guy already had some real monsters on his team.

The sound of heels drew Ash's attention from his thoughts. Coming onto the stage was the same beautiful women from the elevator earlier. She wore a bright smile as she looked into the cameras that flashed repeatably once they noticed her.

"Thank you all for coming!" She cheered with a clap, her attitude was bubbly and gleaming white teeth shined behind her million dollar smile. "My name is Arianna and I am the Silph Co. Vice President of Public Relations. I will be the MC for the award ceremony."

Her voice was heard by every passenger thanks to all the microphones in front of her. She then gestured to Paul and Gary. "These two rookies fought with all they had and made it to the semi finals! For that we at Silph decided to award them both third place!"

Cheers were the crowds response to Arianna's news, "For third place Silph has gifted both of you a cash prize as well as these-" Arianna gestured to the two Silph employees next to her who held up two boxes both containing five ultra balls. "We hope these two rookies put these to good use!"

More cheers sounded out and Ash smiled when he saw Paul and Gary's gobsmacked faces when they opened their checks.

"Next we have a crowd favorite! Our rookie sensation- Ash Ketchum!" The cheers before were nothing compared to the eruption of applause that sounded after they heard his name.

Arianna waited for the applause to die down before continuing, "For second place Ash will receive the same prizes as third place as well as this!" She pulled out a small piece of paper and handed it to Ash.

Looking down he felt his heart stop, it was a free certificate for one free TM in the Celadon Department store. Basically it was his chance to buy a permanent Hyper Beam TM once he got to Celadon. The tens of thousands if not over one hundred thousand for a permanent Hyper Beam being completely covered as a prize was a much better prize than he was expecting. Not to mention the cash and five ultra balls.

"First place we have Jason Silver! A veteran trainer who came out on top thanks to his years of experience in the battlefield!" Applause sounded out again but not near as excited as they were for Ash a moment ago. It was true that an underdog story touched more than the vastly more experienced battler winning out because his Pokémon were so superior it wasn't even worth battling over apparently.

Ash tuned out the noise as Arianna explained that along with all the other prizes handed out Jason would be allowed into the Safari Zone the next time he was there completely on Silph Co's dime. It was a great prize, Ash had no doubt in that regard but it didn't seem to him to be all that great. From what he read the Safari Zone, while having some really rare Pokémon, had strict rules against challenging Pokémon. You have to befriend them or capture them with bate and a Safari Ball.

He was sure that any Pokémon worth the trouble of convincing to join your team likely wouldn't be interested in joining without battling first. Blast wouldn't have liked him if he hadn't seen Pidgeotto win against Paul's Grotle beforehand.

As the last wave of applause died down Ash payed more attention.

"Thank you all for coming! We wish you a fun time on the S.S. Anne!" With that final statement Arianna quickly rushed away from the stage off to the closest hallway likely to ride an elevator to the VIP section. Considering she was a VP in the company that owned the boat she likely had a top tier room.

Gary yawned next to him reminding Ash of his presence. "Well not that this wasn't fun but I'm out of here. Kadabra said we're still close enough that he can teleport us back to Vermillion."

The Kadabra in question appeared with a flash of his Pokéball release. Gary gave a wave and rested his hand on the Pokémon's shoulder. "See you two at the Indigo Conference." With that Gary was instantly transported away.

Paul left without a word to Ash seemingly done for the day as well.

With a yawn Ash decided that he was done himself. Turning over to the east side of the ship he walked toward one of the hallways. He had a comfy bed and he was going to use it.

---

It was the smell of smoke that woke him.

Ash shot up from his bed and all of his Pokémon roused from their sleep at his sudden movements. Taking a few sniffs Ash smelt smoke and the room looked a little hazy from the low amounts of smoke coming into the room.

"Everyone up! We got a situation!" Shouted Ash, Hydro was the first to shoot up with the others slowly following. Blast was the only one to ignore him and stay curled up on the bed. Ash was saved from having to wake him when Pikachu tapped the dragon lightly giving him a small shock.

Before Blast could respond to the shocking awakening a boom sounded out and the ship groaned from whatever hit it. Ash threw the door open and looked down the hallway.

Cracks lined the walls and ceiling and some of the rooms had fires in them. Two men were laughing as they walked down the room while tossing a Pokéball up in down in their hands.

They noticed Ash and quickly tossed their Pokéballs releasing two Houndoom that barked and growled at Ash. "Take that brat down and get his Pokéballs!" One of the two men said and the two dark and fire types quickly rushed into action.

Ash dove back into his room to escape two charging Houndoom. Right as the two dogs rounded the corner into the doorway to Ash's room they were blasted by a combination of water, lightning, darkness and dragon type energy. Both Houndoom yelped in pain and crashed back into the wall, right as they were about to get up Metang slammed into them with a powerful Metal Claw knocking them out.

Ash ran out the room and pointed to the two men, "Metang knock them out with Confusion!"

Metang's eyes glowed with psychic energy, both men screamed as their minds were warped by the powerful psychic power. The rest of Ash's team made their way into the hallway, Ash turned to them seriously. "We need to get to the main deck, thats where the explosions keep happening."

Another tremor shook the ship making Ash stumble, he was held steady by Metang's psychic abilities. Taking a deep breath Ash brought out several Pokéballs, "Some of you are too big to run through these hallways, so for now Pikachu and Umbreon will stay out."

Some sounds of protests mostly from Blast and Hydro came out making Ash smile at their concern. "Don't be like that, both of them are plenty strong and I can always release you all if I need you."

Umbreon barked at the team seemingly upset that they didn't believe that she could protect their trainer, Ash bent down and scratched her ears to calm the dark type. Pikachu jumped up and settled on his shoulder while sniffing the air.

Ash recalled the rest of his team and quickly started to make his way down the hallway toward the nearest stairway. He wasn't going to risk the elevator in a fire. Rounding the corner toward the staircase he was met with more people raiding the rooms this time with Grimer and Koffing.

"Take em down." Ash said and Pikachu and Umbreon quickly jumped into action.

Yellow lightning blasted toward the two Pokémon while Umbreon assaulted the Grimer with Confusion completely finishing the poison type off with the one attack. The trainers sputtered in shock at their Pokémon taken out so quickly.

"You two morons! Head down to the deck and help Arianna with the Hoenn guy!" A deep voice roared from inside the room they were raiding.

Out walked a man in an all black business suit with a red R on the breast. He had a scowl on his face as he eyed Ash. "So its the rookie from the tournament. I'll finish you quick."

The man tossed out a Pokéball and a huge fifteen foot purple snake Pokémon appeared. The Arbok hissed and swayed hypnotically as it glared at Pikachu and Umbreon.

"Umbreon use Confusion then Dark Pulse. Pikachu use Iron Tail."

Pikachu zapped off of Ash's shoulder and in a flash the yellow rodent's tail glowed with the he familiar steel type energy. With agility that Pikachu was known for he jumped and slammed his tail onto the top of Arbok's head causing it to face plant on the hard ground. Arbok was about to bite down on the electric type but before the large snake could it screamed out in pain.

Umbreon was staring intently at the large poison type as it writhed on the ground in pain. The dark type built up her natural energy while mentally assaulting the large snake Pokémon with Confusion. The tight beam of dark energy slammed into the snake's neck with a nasty crack.

"Thunderbolt!" Ordered Ash, Pikachu quickly blasted the snake with a yellow bolt of lighting getting another scream out of the snake before it collapsed onto the floor.

The man sneered at Ash, "To think you'd take down Arbok you brat." He was fishing around his pocket likely looking for another Pokémon.

Ash didn't even bother responding to the criminal and signaled for Pikachu to zap the man. Right as the rocket member was about to release another Pokémon he was assaulted by thousands of volts of electricity sending him to the ground in a smoldering heap.

"We need to get to the main deck, they're doing something." Pikachu and Umbreon sounded out their affirmative and Ash rushed down the hallway.

Making it out to the main deck Ash surveyed the chaos. Hundreds of Pokémon were in an all out brawl, flying types screeching in the air as they ripped into each other with their sharp talons. ACE trainers and their Pokémon were bolting around the main deck trying to get the passengers to the Alakazam's so they could be teleported away from the ship.

Before Ash could jump into the battle he heard a roar so loud that it shook him to the bone. He whipped his head around to find the source of the noise. Toward the front of the ship an absolutely massive Dragonite was battling with a Metagross.

Ash wasn't totally sure but he suspected that a rocket executive was battling with Lance. If their conversation yesterday was anything to go by then the executives were at elite four level so Ash was definitely going to stay clear of that battle.

"We need to make sure that everyone gets off the ship. It doesn't look like it will be staying afloat much longer." Ash said to Umbreon and Pikachu before he tossed out Metang's ball.

Seriousness washed over Ash as Metang surveyed the battlefield. "Is there anyone by themselves?" Red eyes flashed as psychic energy spread out from the Hoenn Pokémon.

Seeing that Metang found someone he gestured for it to go. "Take me to them."

---

The top floor of the S.S. Anne was in ruins. Paintings and luxurious rugs were burnt and walls were destroyed by some sort of explosion.

Metang levitated to the the room at the end of the hall and smashed it with Metal Claw. Ash ran inside but right as he entered the room he was hit in his ribs by something strong and solid.

"Oh! I'm so sorry Ash!" Ash groaned and looked over to see an apologetic Melanie as she patted her Bagon on the head. "What are you doing here!?"

"Im here to get you out of here, the ship's going down." Ash said in a hurry while reaching out for her to grab his hand. "The ACE trainers have set up Alakazam's so people can get off of the boat. We have to hurry or were going to have to swim!"

Another thunderclap sounded out and the entire ship tipped to the side causing Ash and Melanie to fall over. Both quickly jumped back up and ran out of the room.

Fires started to spread from the lower levels and smoke started to fill the hallway. Ash tossed out Hydro's ball so that he could put out the fires so they didn't pass out from smoke inhalation.

"What's going on!" Shouted Melanie as she quickly closed the door to the stair case that was a burning inferno making it impossible for them to get back to the main deck.

"These team rocket jerks are attacking the ship! We got to get out of here the fires are starting to spread, if we don't hurry the ACE trainers may cut their losses and leave the ship." Ash said frantically as he ordered Hydro to put out the fires.

Compact beams of water blasted against the walls putting out fires as quickly as they sprouted up. Smoke started to fill the hallway and Ash pointed toward the wall, "Hydro blast the wall we need to let the smoke out!"

A tight water pulse smashed into the wall making a large whole, several more followed the first and after a few seconds a huge doorway was open. Ash and Melanie quickly rushed out to the top walkway.

Ash could see many trainers riding away on their Pokémon either in the water or in the air. "I'm going to have Metang carry us down to the main deck."

Melanie nodded and Ash tossed out the Pokéball with Metang. "Can you carry us back down to the main deck or to an Alakazam!" Metang hummed and lowered itself allowing both of them to climb on top.

As they were being lowered several rocket members noticed them, "That's one of the targets the kid with the Metang and Dragonair!"

Ash and Melanie lowered themselves on the back of Metang, "Psyshock! Get them off of us!"

Pink psychic energy crackled between the two large claws, bolts of energy blasted the team rocket Pokémon as Metang lowered them. Streams of fire tore into the air toward Metang, psychic energy surrounded them as the fire approached them.

Flames washed over the barrier that stayed strong under the intense flames. When the fire died down bolts of psychic energy shot out toward the two Houndoom taking them out quickly. Ash reached back and tossed out another ball.

Blast materialized in the air and quickly steadied himself by manipulating the air currents. "Blast we need you to keep us safe until we get back to the bottom floor."

A deep growl came from Blast as he quickly returned fire at the attacking Pokémon on the floors that they were passing. Two Golbat flew out toward them with glowing fangs dripping with dark purple poison.

Before the poison type could reach them Blast intercepted it with a powerful Dragon Rage that sent them to the ground. Blast circled them protectively and would quickly smack down any approaching flying type without restraint.

Metang finally lowered them to main deck and allowed them to get off. Blast shot an Ice Beam at a Murkrow that was about to attack them with Nightshade.

"Metang where are the Alakazam? We need to get out of here!" Ash asked frantically, he didn't plan on going down with the ship.

"Ash!" Ash whipped his head around to see Steven of all people running up to him with his signature Metagross floating behind him. "You need to get off of the boat now! All the league trainers and Silph trainers are gone we thought all the passengers were off already."

"No Melanie was still up at the top so Metang and I went and got her." Explained Ash, "Wait how will we get off if their aren't any Alakazam's left how are we getting off the ship?"

"I'm not swimming to Fuchsia." Melanie commented as she looked at the former Hoenn Champion worriedly.

Steven snapped his fingers and another Alakazam teleported next to them, "The league lent me him for the time being. He'll-"

Everyone fell to their knees as a massive amount of pressure ripped into the ship. Massive cracks formed on the foundation and a loud groan sounded out. Everyone looked to see the entire right side of the ship as it started to crumble and collapse under the incredible pressure.

Water exploded out from the cracks in the floor as the ship stared to sink under the pressure. Steven and Metagross managed to pull themselves to their feet. The Metagross quickly formed a bubble of psychic energy around the three of them allowing Ash and Melanie to climb back to their feet.

"What the hell was that!?" Screamed Melanie as she tried to catch her breath from the shock.

Ash recalled Blast and Metang as the Water started to rise higher and higher. "I don't know but it doesn't matter, we need to get off of the boat!" Yelled Ash as he started to hold onto the railing as more and more water started to fill the boat.

Steven nodded, "Alakazam get us out of here, the meeting point is in celedon." Somehow he was keeping his composure under these terrifying turn of events.

Alakazam raised both spoons and started to glow as it prepared the teleportation. Right before Alakazam moved to teleport them Ash was knocked off of his feet by another tremor.

Ash climbed back to his feet and saw that Steven and Melanie were gone and he was alone. The pressure from before picked up again making Ash unable to climb higher to avoid the rising water levels. Beneath the surface in the water a blue light grew brighter and brighter as it got closer to the ship.

As the light deep in the ocean rose so did the water around it. The water didn't spread into the ship however, it seemed to move as it was a solid object. What ever was in the light was capable of picking up the very ocean itself. The pressure surrounding the water was so strong that more and more of the ship was crushed and sunk into the depths of the ocean.

Millions of gallons of water rose high above the ship as the light was finally at the ships level. From within the light Ash could make out a strange figure that was covered in some sort of technological helmet and gear, the blackout glass face cover couldn't contain the endless power that was shining in the eyes of the monster.

The air became heavy and the monster raised its right arm toward the already broken side of the ship. Air condensed in on itself before a thunderclap sounded out and the entire right side of the ship disintegrated instantly under the improvised air cannon. The monster didn't skip a beat as it raised its arm in Ash's direction.

Ash tried to move out of the way, tried to move in any direction to save himself from the monsters incredible power. Shrieking winds converged on the space in front of the monster's hand as the air condensed tighter and tighter as the air cannon prepared to fire.

Human leave this place you are not necessary yet.

Ash screamed as his head was assaulted by a powerful psychic power to allow the monster to speak with him telepathically. He tried to tell the monster that it was impossible to move but he couldn't even move his lips to form words.

Pathetic to have such weakness to my presence. I will send you away, I have foreseen your presence taking part in a future event so I will not smash you today.

More pain assaulted Ash's head as the monster spoke to him. The condensed ball of air was dissipated by the monster absentmindedly, the ease in which the monster released the attack that disintegrated half a mile of the worlds best ship in an instant was terrifying.

Ash screamed as the monster pointed one of its three fingers at him and he felt his body fold in on itself. The crude form of teleportation made Ash feel like he was being squeezed into a bottle.

The last thing Ash saw before he blacked out was a silver haired man running over to him.

---

Author's Notes

Thanks for all the OC's for everyone who sent in their own.

Now I want to say that I hated writing this chapter. I tried to make it original but this is usually done by every story on this site. The template was a tournament then the raid but everything I wrote seemed either over the top or dumb.

I decided to go with a chaotic situation that Ash was trying to wade through. The perspective of the story is Ash's, he's not going to know everything on sight instantly like some stories I've seen. He wasn't going run over and help Lance in his battle when he knew his team wasn't strong enough. He did go to help someone out of his heroic instincts. Next chapter will be soon but school is keeping me busy so don't expected it in three days like I have somehow been able to update recently.