After his adventures in the Galar region Ash returns back to Kanto and focuses on battling through the World Coronation Series, as of now he's already been scheduled for a battle challenge from a trainer at the Rock Tunnel entrance in Lavendar Town. Ash felt a sense of relief getting to travel again "Galar was fun but right now I'm just happy to be traveling and regular battling again right buddy" Pikachu happily agrees "still though after taking on Chairman Rose and Eternatus I'm feeling pretty confident" Pikachu also agrees and is anxious to see what happens.
Soon enough they reach the rock tunnel to see that it was like a huge, unmanned quarry with so many tunnels and boulders everywhere. While looking around Ash didn't see anyone to battle until his phone chimed "a battle challenge has been issued" he then heard a deep voice "ya goin for it aren't ya" Ash turns around and sees up on a ledge a large moustached miner with a huge pickaxe and a Gurdurr by his side, they then leap down and ask "you must be Ash, you're in the Great Class aren't ya" Ash replies "sure am mister" and the miner introduces himself "call me Dozer and we've worked hard to work our frames into tip top shape which makes us as trained up as you can get". Both their phones chime asking, "do you wish to accept or reject it" and at the same time they say, "I accept".
A Rotom Drone arrives and announces "you have been approved for an official Pokémon World Coronation Series Great Class battle, the challengers today we have Ash Ketchum verses Dozer" the drone then displays a scoreboard showing two Pokémon slots "each of you is allowed to use two Pokémon each so will both challengers please bring out your Pokémon, 3…2…1…go", "all right Gurdurr let's show em some real steal" Dozer sends in his Gurdurr "Gliscor I choose you" Ash throws out his poke ball and releases Gliscor, and the drone announces "battle begin".
Gliscor rushes in using X-Scissor but Gurdurr counters this with High Horse Power slamming Gliscor into the stone wall, however in a pile of rubble Gliscor breaks out and charges straight in and then uses Stone Edge but Gurdurr tried to attack with Focus Blast but Gliscor's move was just too fast making Gurdurr slam into the wall this time. Gurdurr was feeling weak but got back in and attacked with focus blast with launched Gliscor into the air but he was still in this battle, Gliscor rushed in with Fire Fang but Gurdurr used his steel girder to block the attack in which Gliscor clamped onto. Both were locked onto eachother but broke away and backed off to tried and find another way to attack, when they got too far distance from eachother Gurdurr ran in and built-up power to attack with Brutal Swing but Gliscor also charged in using Giga Impact and once both moves collided a huge smoke cloud was formed. When the smoke cleared both Gliscor and Gurdurr were both knocked out in which the drone announced "both Gliscor and Gurdurr are unable to battle", the scoreboard showed both trainers' slots turning grey.
They both returned their Pokémon in which Ash tells Gliscor "you did great take a break" while Dozer said to Gurdurr "thanks pal leave the rest to me, alright Rhydon let's end this here and now" Dozer releases Rhydon who stands tall and strong, Ash then sends out his second Pokémon "Tauros I choose you" he sends out Tauros who stomps his feet and snorts ready to battle. Tauros begins to first run around Rhydon and use Double Team to duplicate itself so Rhydon becomes confused on which is the real one, so it starts using Tail Whip to try and find it but as it almost gets rid of the fakes the real Tauros comes from behind it and uses Stomp right in Rhydon's back making it fall to the ground. However, Rhydon quickly gets up and hits Tauros with a Mega Horn knocking Tauros back and off its feet but it does get up and rushes in with a Horn Attack but Rhydon uses Rock Blast and hurls a load of hardened rocks at Tauros but he charges through until he headbutts Rhydon in the gut knocking him back. Rhydon retaliates by using Earthquake and damages Tauros from a far but Tauros gets back at it and uses Fissure and opens up the ground underneath Rhydon making it fall into a pit. The drone got in closer to see Rhydon unconscious in the pit so it announced "Rhydon is unable to battle, Tauros is the winner which means the victory goes to Ash".
Ash was happy to hear this so he goes to check on Tauros "you were awesome Tauros" Tauros was happy as well so it licked Ash's face, Dozer returns Rhydon back into its poke ball and says, "man looks like we lost". The drone then made another announcement before flying off "as a result of today's battle there has been an immediate change in the Pokémon World Coronation Series rankings", Ash checks his phone to see that he's now ranked 381 "nice my ranking went up". Before leaving Dozer said to Ash "not bad kid not bad but keep training if you want to get to the Masters 8 and one day Leon himself" Ash nodded his head assuringly and said "right you are". As Ash leaves the Rock Tunnels and makes his way to back to Pallet Town he was being watched by a green haired trainer with a tie alongside a Gallade.
As Ash was making his way back home he then hears a voice "your battle I watched the whole thing" he looks over to the ledge to see the trainer that observed his battle against Dozer, he then slides down the ledge and walks towards him "your Pokémon sure have a lot of power but how do they do against an opponent faster than them" Ash then becomes confused by this guy and asks "uhm who exactly are you" and the trainer replies "the name's Rinto and I'd like to challenge you to a battle if you think you can handle it". Ash's phone then chimes and announces, "a battle challenge has been issued so do you wish to accept or reject it" never turning away from a challenge Ash happily accepts it "an official battle has been registered".
Pretty quickly the Rotom Drone arrived again "for today's battle we have Ash vs Rinto" the drone then displays a scoreboard showing two Pokémon slots "all right for today's battle each of you is allowed to use two Pokémon will both challengers please bring out their Pokémon", Ash throws his poke ball out first "Bayleef I choose you" Bayleef is sent out and happy it gets a chance to battle then Rinto throws his poke ball out "let's go Honedge" Rinto sends out a Honedge. The drone starts the battle "in 3…2…1…go battle begin".
Bayleef starts the battle by using Razorleaf and whips up a storm of razor-sharp leaves while Honedge boosts its attack power with Swords Dance, and though Bayleef lands a direct hit Honedge takes very minimal damage. Honedge then uses Shadow Sneak and vanishes into the shadows and reappears right behind Bayleef and delivers a swift and ghostly strike. To regain the advantage Bayleef uses Synthesis to absorb energy from the surrounding environment in which a burst of revitalizing energy pours over Bayleef heals its wounds. Honedge then takes offensive and charges toward Bayleef with an Iron Head striking a direct hit but Bayleef retaliates with Energy Ball but Honedge attempts to destroy it with it's blade however it wasn't fast enough and gets damaged by the attack. Bayleef attempts to grab Honedge with Vine Whip however Honedge uses Scared Sword and it's blade begins glowing and in one swoop it strikes a critical hit against Bayleef and knocking it out. The drone came in closer and announced "Bayleef is unable to battle" the scoreboard changed of Ash's slots grey meaning he only has one Pokémon left.
Ash returns Bayleef back into its poke ball "you did good Bayleef take a break, gotta admit Honedge is quick on its feet…blade I guess" Rinto then replies, "there are three key aspects of battling strength, speed and strategy the hard part is trying to combine them all", Ash then sends out another Pokémon "Leavany I choose you" Leavany emerges while looking and standing Gracefully. Honedge once again uses Swords Dance again however Leavany immediately shoots a Stringshot at it in which it covers Honedge's eye preventing it from even seeing. Unable to see Honedge cannot attack with precision so Leavany attacks it multiple times using Leaf Blade, Leavany continues to do so until Honedge cannot take anymore and falls. The drone came in closer for a better look and officially announced "Honedge is unable to battle" this time the scoreboard changes one of Rinto's slots grey making it all even out, and the winner of this round ranks up.
Rinto returns Honedge and appreciates it's efforts "you did well Honedge, I gotta give credit Ash your one tough opponent, okay let's finish this Gallade" Rinto sends out a Gallade who stands proudly but readies his stance for a battle. Both Gallade and Leavany were quick on their feet with Gallade using Close Combat and Leavany using X-Scissor, both were colliding with eachother at incredible speeds and dealing damage to eachother. Getting at a safe distance Gallade shot a Pyscho Cut but attempting to counter this Leavany fired an Energy Ball to stop the attack which created a dust cloud which Leavany took the opportunity to sneak attack from the cloud and shot a Stringshot tying up Gallade's legs preventing him from moving however it still remained strong so when Leavany tried attacking using Z-Scissor, Gallade defended itself using Night Slash but when Leavany managed to get close enough it immediately hit Gallade with a Leaf Blade and knocked it out. The drone came in closer and announced "Gallade is unable to battle Leavany is the winner, which means the victory goes to Ash Ketchum".
Leavany goes back to Ash and hugs both him and Pikachu in joy of their victory, the drone then also announces "as a result of today's battle there has been a change in the World Coronation Series Rankings", Ash looks at his phone to see that his rank is now 184th place. Rinto then carries Gallade on his back and congratulates Ash "not bad Ash it seems me and Gallade need to train a bit more, thanks for the battle" they both proudly shake hands and Ash states "tell you what let's both give it everything we got".
Everyday our hero gets stronger and more smarter in every battle he takes, the World Coronation Series is in full swing so stay tuned as the journey continues.
