And here is the finale to Ash vs. Alain, and to an extent, the last main chapter of Battling on the Whims of Eight!
As before, hope you enjoy the climax to Ash and Alain's rubber match!
At the same time, both Trainers shouted, "Stone Edge!"
Heracross flashed white for a moment, twin rings of small pointed stones surrounding his body like a veil, while across the field, Kingambit punched both of his hands into the ground. From where Kingambit had struck, sharp pillars of rock erupted out of the ground, racing towards Heracross. Taking flight, the Bug-type dodged past Kingambit's Stone Edge before firing a couple of rocks from his veil.
Kingambit watched as his Stone Edge began to follow Heracross, the rocks sharply curving to follow the Single Horn Pokémon as he flew towards Kingambit. Noticing that Heracross' arms were glowing orange, Kingambit stanced himself, his right arm taking on a pale blue glow. Once his Stone Edge stopped following Heracross, Kingambit raised his right arm as the Bug-type swung with Arm Thrust, the Fighting-type attack being blocked with his own Aerial Ace.
The two Pokémon stood at a standstill for a moment, neither willing to give up. Slowly but surely, Heracross began to overpower Kingambit, forcing him towards the floor. Growling, Kingambit swung his left hand upwards, slashing a pink trail across Heracross' body that subsequently exploded, destroying his Stone Edge shield and forcing him to retreat.
Heracross winced, rubbing the area where Kingambit had struck him with Psycho Cut before taking flight once again. Instead of flying towards Kingambit, however, Heracross flew full speed into the ground horn-first, cracking a good chunk of the ground in front of him.
Shaking off his momentary confusion, Kingambit stood on guard, watching as Heracross struggled for a moment, before unearthing a large chunk of the floor. As the rocks began to fall, Heracross sent them flying towards Kingambit with a flurry of Arm Thrusts. Kingambit began blocking and striking the oncoming storm of rocks with a combination of Psycho Cut, X-Scissor, and Iron Head, making sure to keep his eyes on Heracross in case the Single Horn Pokémon tried anything.
Sure enough, Heracross fired a smattering of Pin Missiles to distract Kingambit as he punched the ground, causing the arena floor to heave as he used Earthquake. Kingambit stumbled on the uneven terrain as he smashed the last of the rubble, attempting to right himself as Heracross quickly flew in and battered him with Arm Thrust. The final hit pushed Kingambit across the field and the Big Blade Pokémon momentarily collapsed to his knees to take a breather.
"Alright Heracross, wrap this up! Use Close Combat!"
Nodding, Heracross replied, "Got it!" as his fists and horn glowed orange. Taking flight once more, he darted towards Kingambit, ready to finish the job. Upon closing the distance, Heracross wound up his right fist, preparing to strike.
"Sucker Punch!"
From the ground, Kingambit jabbed with his left hand with such force that Heracross doubled over in shock.
Smelling blood in the water, Alain clenched his fist and commanded, "Now! Aerial Ace into Psycho Cut!"
Kingambit's right hand glowed with a pale blue aura as he slashed upwards, the near miss catching Heracross off guard, and the aura flashed after making contact, changing to pink as Kingambit brought his arm downward. Psycho Cut nailed Heracross right on top of his head, and the Bug-type was sent sprawling. Surprisingly, Heracross was still not out of it, and after hefting himself up to his feet, his horn began to glow a dull green as he glowered right at Kingambit.
"Oh? This should be interesting," Kingambit mused to himself, a cold smirk working its way onto his face as the blade on his head gleamed silver. Heracross proceeded to fly in, jousting with a Megahorn that was met with Kingambit's Iron Head.
Once again, both Pokémon were stuck in a blade lock.
"Come on Heracross, beat that overgrown chess piece!"
Meowth looked down at Jessie, who was leaning over the rail with Wobbuffet next to her, and snarked, "Ya know Jess, I think you take dis a bit too seriously..." as he sat back down on Wobbuffet's head.
James and Angie, sitting in their chairs, watched as Jessie and Meowth began to snipe at each other, the former chuckling, "This always happens whenever we watch the twerp's matches," as he ate some chips.
Out of the corner of her eye, Angie noticed that Morpeko's Poké Ball jiggled on James' belt, and she asked, "Hey, is your Morpeko-"
Morpeko burst out of the Poké Ball in a blur of black and purple, proceeding to swipe Angie's food before bolting.
Angie let out an indignant noise and was about to get out of her seat to give chase, but James, with a resigned sigh, recalled the Electric-type back into its Poké Ball before passing Angie a fresh bag of chips, muttering, "Sorry 'bout that."
Giving a shrug that indicated that there were no hard feelings, Angie turned her attention back to the match, watching as Ash's Heracross broke the lock to dodge an attempted Guillotine from Kingambit, the Bug-type taking a moment to regain his bearings before using Pin Missile.
After managing to partially block Heracross' Pin Missile, Kingambit snarled and stomped on the ground, creating a singular Stone Edge pillar that blocked the Bug-type attack. Stomping out from behind it, Kingambit made his way over towards Heracross, left hand raised and glowing pale blue as he brought down an Aerial Ace.
Heracross rolled out of the way before using Rock Blast, Kingambit raising his arms to block the oncoming storm of pebbles. While his opponent was distracted, Heracross lunged forward with Arm Thrust, which Kingambit blocked with a dual slash of Aerial Ace, forcing them into a blade lock yet again.
This time, however, Heracross was prepared, and used Bullet Seed at point-blank range, nailing Kingambit in the eyes and causing him to stagger. As the Big Blade Pokémon faltered, Ash called out, "Heracross, wrap this up with Close Combat!" Heracross proceeded to pummel Kingambit into submission with the Fighting-type attack, his finishing blow catapulting the Dark-type into the arena wall with full force. Once he was finished, Heracross collapsed to all fours, carefully watching the dent in the wall to see if Kingambit was still raring to go.
Kingambit rose out of the dent he had made... and promptly collapsed to the ground with a groan, the crowd coming alive after several tense minutes of having watched Kingambit and Heracross duke it out.
"Kingambit is unable to battle, Heracross wins!"
"YES!" Ash cheered, watching as Kingambit's icon on the scoreboard finally, finally went dark, leaving Alain with just Charizard. "Way to go, Heracross!"
In the stands, Serena breathed a sigh of relief, taking her hand off her chest. "Thank Arceus that Kingambit's out..."
"All that's left now is Charizard, he's got this in the bag!" Dawn confidently said, Piplup excitedly waving his pom-poms while Pikachu and Kirlia cheered next to him.
Next to them, the Maple siblings exchanged a high-five, their eyes glued to the battlefield as they waited for Alain's Charizard to come back out.
Alain smiled in spite of himself as he returned Kingambit. "Good job, Kingambit, I'll make sure to finish this for you." Looking at his wrist, which housed his Mega Ring, Alain unclipped Charizard's Poké Ball and said, "Alright Charizard, it all comes down to this!" as he threw the capsule out onto the field.
The Fire-type emerged from his Poké Ball with a mighty roar, taking a moment to snort out a puff of smoke as he focused on Heracross. Looking back to his Trainer, who said, "Remember what I told you, Charizard!" Charizard nodded and looked back at the Bug-type, who was getting back up to his feet. Waiting until Heracross had assumed a fighting stance, Charizard tilted his head in Heracross' direction. Upon seeing Heracross nod, a satisfied Charizard nodded back and took flight as the referee waved his flags down.
"Battle begin!"
"Charizard, use Air Slash!"
"Stone Edge, Heracross!"
As Heracross launched a volley of pointed stones towards Charizard, the Flame Pokémon rolled through the attempted Stone Edge as his wings began to glow a pale blue. Once he had dodged the last of the rocks, Charizard flapped his wings, sending a couple X-shapes of Flying-type energy barreling towards Heracross, who was too exhausted to dodge.
Both of Charizard's Air Slashes hit their mark, and Heracross dizzily did a pirouette before collapsing to the floor, groaning, "Hera..."
"Heracross is unable to continue, Charizard wins this bout!" Heracross' icon went dark on the scoreboard, causing audience members who had been present for the Kalos League finals to roar in approval once they realized what the final matchup of the Full Battle would be.
Ash gave a satisfied nod as he recalled Heracross, whispering, "You did amazing out there, Heracross, get yourself a nice long rest." Clipping Heracross' Poké Ball back onto his belt, Ash took Greninja's capsule out and threw it into the air, yelling, "Alright Greninja, LET'S FINISH THIS!"
Materializing in the air, Greninja landed on the ground in a three-point stance before standing upright, arms folded as he stared directly at Charizard. Across the battlefield, Charizard grinned as he smashed his fists together, electricity crackling off of them.
Looking towards Ash, Alain began, "So..."
"It's come to this, like you thought it would," Ash chuckled. Clenching a fist, he continued, "We're winning this, no matter what!" In front of Ash, Greninja gave the slightest of smirks underneath his tongue-scarf.
With a grin, Alain brandished his Mega Ring, which began to glow with a multicolored light as he gathered his thoughts.
Charizard.
Before he had left Shalour City to work for Professor Sycamore in his Lumiose City lab, Alain was given his mother's Charmander, a loyal companion to the Kenshi family, as a parting gift. When working with Sycamore, both him and Charmander were enthralled by the Professor's research on Mega Evolution, which led to him wishing to help the professor out by discovering Mega Stones around Kalos.
It was then that him and Charmander—now a Charmeleon—first crossed paths with Lysandre. As terrible a man as Alain knew he was now, he still played a crucial role in both his and Charizard's growth together, courtesy of the gifts he bestowed upon Alain: a Mega Ring and a Charizardite X. From there, Charmeleon would evolve into Charizard, and the two of them developed an almost unbreakable bond between each other as they began battling other Trainers capable of Mega Evolution.
When Alain's journey through Kalos took a dark turn after Team Flare became more active in their pursuit of the Zygarde cores, it was Charizard who kept him grounded and reminded him of what was at stake.
Charizard had been with Alain for many years through thick and thin, serving as a partner, confidant, and most importantly, a friend.
The bracelet on Alain's wrist grew warm as Charizard himself began to change, undergoing the same transformation Ash's did in his bout against Iris. When the light faded, Mega Charizard X stood tall on the battlefield, letting out a roar before shooting a jet of dragonfire into the sky to show off.
"Pika!"
Serena looked down in her arms and noticed that Pikachu had his arms crossed with a slight pout on his face. Giggling, she asked, "I bet you wish you were down there too, right Pikachu?"
"Chu..." Pikachu conceded, nodding while his ears drooped. Serena began to ruffle his fur, and he purred before adjusting himself to be more comfortable in her grip, the Pokémon Performer letting out another giggle as he did so.
Dawn regarded the scene with some amusement as she said, "Pikachu probably wants another shot at Alain's Charizard, which I'm not surprised by considering how that particular matchup went two years ago." Turning to the Maple siblings, she stage whispered, "Pikachu got flattened by Charizard after he took out Alain's Tyranitar and Metagross, and you know how he gets when it comes to his individual win-loss record sometimes..."
May and Max nodded, remembering that Pikachu had been in a sort of funk in the short period between the Ever Grande Conference and Ash's battle with Noland about his loss to Tyson's Meowth.
"Pika..."
Max's Kirlia stepped towards Serena and looked up to Pikachu, asking, Was it really that bad?
"I don't want to talk about it."
On the other side of the battlefield, Ash extended his right hand and balled it into a fist, gathering his thoughts as well.
Greninja was a Pokémon a lot like him in many ways, a fact that was not lost on Ash and his friends throughout his Kalos journey. From the beginning, even as a Froakie, Greninja proved headstrong, protective, and loyal, traits that allowed him to take to Ash's training routines with aplomb, working hard to establish himself as one of Ash's key battlers in a team that had many, many impressive victories under their belt.
When he evolved into Greninja and first displayed the Bond Phenomenon, however, the two briefly lost themselves in their pursuit to unlock its full power, resulting in a devastating loss to Wulfric. The two of them went through some extensive soul-searching in the aftermath, and after coming to a mutual understanding, they were able to master the Bond Phenomenon.
It was their bond that played a big part in allowing Ash to finally win his first League conference.
Their year-long farewell in the aftermath of the Kalos Crisis was incredibly hard on both Trainer and Pokémon, as Greninja and Ash both had their thoughts drift towards the other on a frequent basis. When they finally reunited at the tail end of Ash's vacation in Alola, it was a heavily emotional affair that saw Ash and Greninja take a walk along the shores of Melemele Island to catch up.
Even though Ash never liked playing favorites, the special nature of his and Greninja's bond was undeniable to him. His vision momentarily flashed blue as their movements began to sync, the Water-type being engulfed in a massive column of water as he underwent his transformation.
Once his transformation was completed, the column focused itself into a pair of watery Vivillon wings on Greninja's back, and then flashed before changing again into a large watery shuriken as the crowd roared.
Greninja's body was now mostly dark blue save for light blue X-shapes on his thighs and a cream-colored Y-shape on his torso, and his head now featured black and red markings—the red ones being in the shape of a Z—that were styled in the same way as an actual hairstyle. Reaching for the shuriken on his back, Ash-Greninja beckoned towards Charizard to bring it, the Flame Pokémon responding by smashing two Thunder Punches together with a grin.
Waving his flags down for the final time, the referee said, "Battle begin!"
"Alright Greninja, the field's yours!"
"Dragon Pulse!"
With Ash's direction, Greninja took initiative and used Water Shuriken, flinging the shuriken from his back towards Charizard, who took flight and shot a blast of green-and-purple energy which intercepted the throwing star. The attacks exploded in a violet starburst, and Greninja followed up by using Double Team, generating a set of eight clones that lunged at Charizard, kunai brandished.
Two of the clones were hit with a Flamethrower and vanished in a puff of smoke. Charizard hit one into another with Brick Break before firing a series of Air Slashes into the remaining four, using the improvised smokescreen to fly in close and swing a Thunder Punch onto Greninja, who blocked with his shuriken before resetting to a neutral position.
Greninja proceeded to charge forward, rolling through Charizard's Dragon Pulses and Air Slashes before jumping up and landing a flurry of kicks with Aerial Ace. Before he could get away, however, Charizard grabbed Greninja by the foot and swung him over his head, throwing the Ninja Pokémon down to the ground.
Ash doubled over slightly, clutching at his stomach as Greninja hit the floor. Once the sudden jolt of pain subsided, Ash watched as the Water-type pushed himself to his feet and reassumed his stance. "Change of plans, Greninja, force him to fight on the ground! Ice Beam!"
With a nod, Greninja performed a series of jutsu symbols in his hands, generating a cold ball of Ice-type energy. Once he was satisfied, Greninja crushed said orb, allowing the Ice-type energy to flow through his right arm. Looking up, Greninja pointed a finger gun towards Charizard and fired an Ice Beam burst as if he were an Inteleon, the beam of pure Ice-type energy whistling past Charizard's head.
With a quiet growl, Charizard began taking a more evasive approach to the battle, dodging the Ice-type 'bullets' Greninja was firing from the ground. Once there was a lull in Greninja's barrage, Charizard inhaled and shot a Flamethrower and Dragon Pulse at the same time, the Dragon-type attack creating a tricolored spiral with Charizard's blue dragonfire as it washed over the arena floor, not only heating up the floor but also causing small purple explosions of Dragon-type energy to burst out of fissures in the ground.
As the ground became increasingly unstable, Greninja thought to himself, Well, it's worth a shot, before channeling the last of the Ice-type energy in his arm into his shuriken and kicking it upwards towards Charizard. Once he had let it fly, Greninja, not even bothering to check if his attack had landed, immediately got clear of the general vicinity as the floor he was standing on exploded in a wave of fire and Dragon-type energy. Once the heat subsided, Greninja cautiously reached to his back as he took a couple steps towards a part of the battlefield that hadn't been torn up by Charizard's attack.
Behind you, Greninja!
Eyes widening, Greninja quickly hoisted his shuriken off his back and whirled around, raising it like a sword as Charizard slammed a Brick Break against the shuriken, causing it to shimmer and break immediately after. Noticing that Charizard's wings were iced up, Greninja generated a pair of kunai in his hands, one watery and the other crackling with Dark-type energy, and proceeded to go on the offensive, Charizard taking on a similarly dual-typed defense by using Thunder Punch and Brick Break to keep the Ninja Pokémon at bay.
Greninja managed to land a pair of slashes with his kunai just as Charizard delivered a brutal Thunder Punch haymaker to his gut, blasting him across the field and causing Ash to double over, winded.
Cynthia cringed as she saw Ash clutch his stomach, muttering, "That transformation really takes a toll on him, doesn't it?"
With a similarly grim expression, Diantha nodded. "He passed out in the middle of a friendly match with me in Kalos when he tried to push that Bond Phenomenon thing to its limits. And judging from what I've heard from Alain, Greninja sustaining enough damage will break the connection between the two. I'm hoping the match doesn't get to that point, but with Charizard and Greninja's rivalry, well..." Cynthia nodded in agreement, and a sudden bang made the two turn their attention towards Greninja, who barely managed to block another Thunder Punch with his shuriken.
Behind the two Champions, their respective ace Pokémon were helping themselves to a bag of popcorn, Gardevoir using Psychic to levitate pieces into Garchomp's mouth.
In another chair, Leon watched the match with vested interest, taking note as Alain's Mega Charizard used an errant Scald from Greninja to superheat a Metal Claw that he promptly raked across Greninja's face. His own Charizard was watching Alain's, chin cupped in thought.
Steven and Lance watched as Charizard used Blast Burn, causing a series of molten fissures to race along the ground while on the other side of the field, Greninja jammed his shuriken into the ground, creating watery fissures of his own that intercepted Charizard's Blast Burn in the middle of the field, causing a massive explosion that rocked the entire stadium. Tenting his hands, Lance muttered in awe, "Such power... what an incredible Greninja." Steven said nothing in turn, silently watching to see who would have the advantage once the smoke cleared.
Roaring, Charizard used Dragon Claw, his arms surrounding themselves in teal Dragon-type energy as he took a swing at Greninja. The Ninja Pokémon ducked the first one and blocked another with Aerial Ace, the two engaging in a short melee that tore up the ground around them as they dodged, parried, and struck one another.
Greninja finally managed to find an advantage by jabbing once at Charizard's neck to stun him, followed by a hard punch to the Fire-type's gut. As Charizard doubled over, Greninja jumped up and delivered a wicked axe kick to Charizard's head, driving him to the ground. Rather than press his advantage, however, Greninja collapsed into a three-point stance to catch his breath. Once he saw Charizard begin to stir, he gave a concerned look towards Ash, who seemed similarly exhausted. The two locked eyes for a moment and came to a silent agreement to see the match through to the bitter end, standing up in sync to face Alain's Charizard, who had also pulled himself up from his crater in the ground.
"Flare Blitz, let's go!"
Charizard breathed a stream of dragonfire that shrouded itself around him, melting the ice from his wings as he took a moment to leer down at Greninja. The Water-type simply gave a cool stare back, completely unperturbed. Charizard then barreled forward, just barely missing Greninja, who prepared another Ice Beam in his left hand.
Whirling around, Charizard continued to give chase, Greninja playing a somewhat odd game of keep-away by covering his tracks with stalagmites formed from Ice Beam. Eventually, however, Charizard finally managed to corner Greninja and shoulder tackled him. Watching as the Ninja Pokémon was blown across the field, Charizard landed on the ground, wincing as his body crackled with blue lightning... and then promptly letting out a startled grunt as Greninja's Spikes erupted out of the ground, hurriedly taking flight once more.
Greninja willed himself to stand, ignoring the smoke curling off his body as he used his shuriken as a support, glowering up at Charizard as his eyes glowed gold. The glow spread across his body and he let out a guttural croak, the aura releasing itself in the form of gold rings of Psychic-type energy.
Charizard was pushed across the field thanks to Greninja's Extrasensory, and with a snarl, he flapped his wings, releasing a salvo of Air Slashes.
Greninja quickly spun his shuriken so that the flat end would be facing outward, bracing himself as Charizard's attack slammed into his makeshift shield. Once the assault was done, the Ninja Pokémon performed a series of jutsu symbols before using Double Team once more, creating another set of eight copies who threw their shurikens at Charizard before vanishing in puffs of smoke.
With a snarl, Charizard reared up and launched a spread-out Flamethrower which vaporized half of the incoming projectiles, before using Thunder Punch to vaporize another two. However, he had no such answer for the remaining two, which hit him square in the face. Flying forward so that he would be on Ash's side of the field, Charizard landed on the ground to regain his bearings for a moment before taking flight, preparing a Thunder Punch as he bore down on Greninja.
Once Charizard had closed enough distance, however, Greninja kicked his shuriken up before launching it at Charizard with another Aerial Ace kick, the impromptu Water Shuriken hitting Charizard in the gut and causing him to lose focus. From there, Greninja grabbed his shuriken and smashed it into the ground, throwing up a large amount of rubble, that, after a moment, began to rain haphazardly onto the field.
Greninja then began to put the pressure on Charizard, using his shuriken like a boomerang to force Charizard into the range of his makeshift Rock Slide. As Charizard continued to sustain damage, both from Greninja's assault and Rock Slide, Greninja's hands began to glow purple, and once it was ready, he used Gunk Shot, shooting a blast of Poison-type energy... that ended up missing, and Charizard capitalized on that small window of opportunity by hammering at Greninja's shuriken with Brick Break. Once he finally managed to shatter the shuriken, Charizard's right hand crackled with electricity as he used Thunder Punch, slugging Greninja so hard that he was once again blasted across the field.
After a while, Greninja's Rock Slide finally finished, and Charizard buckled to one knee to take a breath. On the other side of the field, both Greninja and Ash rose from all fours, willing themselves to their feet, with Greninja using his shuriken as a support once again.
Alain determinedly said, "We're winning this once and for all! Charizard, USE BLAST BURN!" punching his fist down to the ground for emphasis.
In turn, Ash mimed reaching his right hand towards his back and raised it upward, Greninja doing the same motion. "Water Shuriken, Greninja, give it all you've got!"
Standing up, Charizard roared as his body cloaked itself in dragonfire that channeled its way towards his hands. Rearing up, he punched the ground, creating a series of superheated fissures that began to race along the earth towards Greninja.
On the other side of the field, Greninja hurriedly crushed an Ice Beam in his hand and raised his shuriken high above his head, watching as the Ice-type energy in his hand channeled itself into the shuriken, turning it pale blue and freezing it solid as it continued to grow in size. The shuriken morphed into a humongous blue disc moments later, and Greninja hurled it at Charizard with all his might, leaving himself wide open for the oncoming Blast Burn.
Both attacks landed direct hits, causing a swirling mixture of hot and cold air to envelop the entire stadium. Once the winds settled and the smoke cleared, Charizard and Greninja were both revealed to be still standing in spite of everything. The two Pokémon stared at one another without a word, both waiting to see who would fall first between them.
After a long silence, Greninja stumbled and fell to a knee... while Charizard slumped forward with a groan, reverting back into his base form.
"Charizard is unable to battle, Greninja wins! As Alain no longer has any Pokémon left to battle with, this Full Battle goes to Ash!"
The crowd came unglued at the result, Charizard's icon going dark on the big screen and highlighting Ash as the victor.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Greninja ended the connection between him and Ash to relieve his Trainer of the strain the match had put on him before collapsing to the ground.
Ash and Alain hurried onto the field to help their respective partners back up to their feet. The two Trainers met in the middle of the field, and after a moment of silence, they both had a silent handshake, no words needing to be spoken. On their sides, Greninja and Charizard also shook hands, Charizard growling, "Nice match."
Under his tongue scarf, Greninja smiled and replied, "Likewise."
Both Pokémon were returned to their Poké Balls not long after, and the two Trainers exited the stadium to a raucous round of applause.
"Alright Mr. Ketchum, your Pokémon should be back up to battling shape!" Nurse Joy said as she passed Ash a tray of six Poké Balls. "Good luck in the final bracket!"
Ash clipped the six Poké Balls to his belt and said, "Thanks, Nurse Joy," as he walked out of the stadium's Pokémon Center and onto a nearby training field. Taking a moment to send May, Dawn, and Serena a text, Ash clicked all six Poké Balls and his entire team for Alain's match emerged, the six of them looking rather pleased with themselves.
"Muuuuuuuk!"
Ash laughed as Muk tackled him in a hug, the other five letting the Poison-type have his moment before helping their Trainer out from under him. From there, Staraptor lightly cuffed Ash on the shoulder while Gigalith gently nudged him. Houndoom happily barked before licking Ash's face, and Heracross perched himself on Ash's head, having a moment before Greninja carried him off. Lastly, the Ninja Pokémon looked his Trainer dead in the eye and nodded, the two giving each other a fist bump.
"Hey! Ash!"
Turning to the source of the voice, Ash smiled upon seeing Angie, replying, "Hey Angie, nice to see you again! How'd you like the match?" as they gave each other a high-five.
"It was awesome! You had me on the edge of my seat for the last part of the match with all those hits Greninja was eating." Greninja jokingly flexed on the side, causing Angie to laugh. "Anyways, Team Rocket asked me to pass a message along if I saw you."
Raising an eyebrow, Ash asked, "What'd they say?"
"They wished you luck before leaving the stadium... something to do with that Morpeko of theirs, from what I recall."
Ash could only smile at that. The Team Rocket trio were his oldest enemies, but also his fiercest supporters whenever the chips were down.
"Anyways, I need to go call my parents, so good luck and knock 'em dead, you big dummy!" Angie said as she playfully cuffed Ash on the shoulder, calling out, "See ya!" as she ran off to the main lobby of Wyndon Stadium.
As Ash waved back, his Rotom Phone buzzed, New message from Dawn Berlitz!
Blitz 'n' Berlitz: Hey Ash, congratulations on the win! We're almost at the training field you said you were at, and well... Cynthia found us and asked to tag along because she has something she wants to ask you.
Ash reacted with a thumbs-up emoji before pocketing his Rotom Phone, and sure enough, Dawn, May, Serena, Max, and Cynthia rounded the corner, Pikachu having perched himself on Serena's shoulder. "Hey guys!"
Pikachu leaped off of Serena's shoulder and onto Ash's, playfully saluting Serena's way and causing the Pokémon Performer to giggle.
Stifling a few chuckles of her own, May said, "Pikachu was perched on Serena the entire match..." Ash gave a glance towards Pikachu, whose embarrassed expression served as confirmation of May's statement, causing a hearty round of laughter between all six Trainers.
When the laughter died down, Cynthia turned to Ash and began, "So, Ash, about my request... I was wondering if you'd like to join me and the other participants of the Masters Eight at the Bar Glowbro tonight for dinner?"
Ash stole a glance towards his friends, who all gave him a thumbs up and a nod. Serena in particular said, "Ash, you'll be able to see us at anytime, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we would never fault you for saying yes," giving him a reassuring smile as she finished.
Giving a grateful smile towards Serena, Ash turned back to Cynthia and said, "Sure, what time? I still need to choose my team for my match against Steven tomorrow."
Putting a finger to her chin, Cynthia said, "I think Diantha said 8 o'clock tonight, which should give you a few hours."
"Sounds good to me."
With a smile, Cynthia said, "See you there," taking the time to exchange pleasantries with Dawn, Serena, and the Maple siblings before walking away.
Once she was gone, Dawn took initiative and gave Ash their trademark high-five, exclaiming, "That match was incredible, Ash, you and Alain both really stepped your games up for this!"
May and Max were next, the older Maple sibling repeating similar sentiments before adding on, "You're gonna do great tomorrow! Steven may be good, but we know you're better!" pumping her fist excitedly.
Max looked up towards Ash, adjusting his pendant for a moment before saying, "Good luck out there, Ash," extending his hand for a fistbump which Ash reciprocated.
Finally, it was Serena's turn. Sweetly smiling, she said, "Do your best, I know you'll be the one to win it all," giving him a hug. When the two parted, their faces had turned equal shades of red, a fact that was not lost on Dawn and the Maple siblings.
The blush on Ash's face lightened a little as he said, "Thanks for being here to support me, guys, it means the world." Returning all of his Pokémon, he turned to look at his friends one more time and smiled, finishing, "See you all tomorrow!" as he ran off to his hotel room.
As the four Trainers watched their friend leave, Dawn, May, and Max all looked towards Serena, smug expressions on their faces.
Serena rolled her eyes, but couldn't resist a few chuckles. "What do you say we all go shopping for a while?"
Dawn and May readily agreed, May dragging her not-as-enthusiastic brother along with her friends towards the Wyndon Mall.
In his hotel room, Ash began looking through his room's PC, trying to put together a team for Steven. "Hm... Krookodile and Snorlax for sure, Kingler too..." Looking to his side, he asked, "What do you think so far, Pikachu?"
Pikachu tilted his head in thought, evaluating the roster. Krookodile and Snorlax were both good picks, Krookodile type-wise and Snorlax for his sheer power, and Kingler was also a strong battler who always pulled his weight. That being said, however, the team seemed a little too slow for his liking, and he said, "Pikachu, chu pika?"
"Good idea, Pikachu, I'll put Swellow on the roster for tomorrow." Ash then proceeded to add Swellow to his lineup for Steven, leaving only two empty slots. After a brief moment of consideration, he added Absol and Lucario onto the roster to round out the team, and Pikachu voiced his approval. "Alright, we'd better get-"
Incoming video call from Cynthia Shirai!
Pulling out his Rotom Phone, Ash rotated the device horizontally as Cynthia's face came onto the screen. The Champion of Sinnoh flashed him a brief smile before saying, "Hey Ash, just wanted to give you one last quick heads-up: there's no need for formal attire, so just come dressed in whatever you feel comfortable in! See you there!" Cynthia proceeded to end the call, and Ash took a moment to check the time.
Upon seeing that it was half past 7, Ash gestured for Pikachu to hop onto his shoulder before grabbing Pidgeot's Poké Ball, calling out, "Alright buddy, let's get going!" as he dashed out of his hotel room. Once out of the building, Ash sent out his Flying-type, who preened herself for a moment before motioning for Ash to hop onto her back. "Alright Pidgeot, take us to the Bar Glowbro!"
Nodding, Pidgeot took off with a caw, flying over the Wyndon skyline as she searched for her Trainer's destination.
And that's the last battle done! There'll be a small little epilogue done for kicks but as it is, the main plot is complete.
I had a ton of fun writing this story, and I guess as a nice little afterword, I'll offer some commentary on each battle I wrote.
Iris: her match was my first serious attempt at a Pokémon battle, and it's pretty obvious looking back that I had some growing pains to work out when writing it. Namely, Charizard's battle scenes were the only ones that really seemed to click in hindsight; some of them were either too long—I blame Dynamax for a part of this—or too short, a particular offender of the latter being Glalie vs. Kingdra. Iris' team was a mix of her team from the mainline games and anime, notable inclusions and omissions being Dragalge and Emolga respectively. The theme used was Iris' own battle theme from Pokémon Black 2 & White 2, one of my favorite Champion themes of all time.
Diantha: I sincerely think Diantha was my best-written battle of this entire story. I had a ton of fun playing up classic movie clichés for the vast majority of her Pokémon, which was a 1:1 representation of her team from the mainline games. Funnily enough, her battle felt like writing a wrestling match, especially fitting considering that she owns a Hawlucha. Since Diantha's got a bit of a reputation for being a pushover in the games, I also made the decision to make her a more difficult opponent, a (close) victory over Ash seeming like a good way to establish her cred and show she's deserving of her spot. Gardevoir especially was a ton of fun to write, though I must say I thought the battling she did in base form was better-flowing than her battles in Mega form. The theme used for Diantha's match was Icefield White Knight from UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late [cl-r], something I felt fit the fast-paced and somewhat choreographed nature of this match.
Lance: I had high expectations for myself when writing Lance, so even though I did have fun writing his battle, I can't help but feel like I disappointed myself in that regard. For me, Aerodactyl was absolutely the high point in writing this battle, I really got to go all in on the call-backs to Ash's beginning as a Trainer and Aerodactyl himself was a ton of fun in terms of combat and character, specifically with my turning him into an asshole with an eight-year grudge. As stated, I did NOT like doing the Dynamax at all, it killed all the momentum I had and left me struggling to finish up the battle, though I did like using Tauros as an analogue to RBY OU. The theme used for Lance's match was the Magician's theme from House of the Dead, which was mainly because I really like that battle track.
Alain: Alain's match was saved for last because I really wanted to make this special, especially considering that Journeys screwed Alain pretty hard. With the revisions made in my take on the anime, this match was intended to be—in wrestling terms—the rubber match, or the climax of their rivalry against each other. Kingambit and Greninja were tons of fun to write, especially with their brief scuffle that I tried to make like Princess Mononoke. Fun fact: I think Charizard vs. Greninja is the single longest individual Pokémon battle I've ever written. The theme used here was X vs. Zero from Mega Man X5, a fast-paced and dramatic theme that I felt really fit their rivalry, and this battle in particular being a rubber match made it even better in my eyes.
Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for the epilogue as well as my next story!
-Krosshair