Chapter 22: Promise
In the stands, Blue looked confused at the battle.
"What is the Professor doing?" she asked.
"That old coot is quite the bad man," Agatha replied, realizing Oak's intentions.
However, her pupil was observing Ash's Butterfree closely.
"I see…," the teen uttered in understanding, noticing the blue cloth around the Pokémon.
"Choice Scarf, is it?"
The teen then observed as for every [Energy Ball] Butterfree shot…
He got even faster.
"Your friend is rather crafty," Karen said to Blue.
"Using Choice Scarf boosts Butterfree's Speed," she explained to the girl.
"But it locks it in [Energy Ball] for the rest of the battle."
"However, ranged attacks are probably the best options for the kid…"
"Since he's wary of Professor Oak."
"Not only that, Butterfree's precision must be…"
She hypothesized the possibilities.
"…I see."
"Compound Eyes."
An ability that boosted accuracy.
"Furthermore, Butterfree is a special attacker," the teen continued surmising.
"Intimidate lowers only the Attack stat, meaning nothing to Butterfree."
"Very astute observation, Karen," Agatha praised.
"But you made a single mistake in your observation..."
Karen looked at her mentor with a confused expression.
Her eyes asking the old woman to elaborate.
"Who said Tauros' ability was Intimidate?"
The [Energy Balls] connected.
A critical hit among them.
It rendered Tauros visibly wounded.
'We can do this!' Ash thought with a hopeful smile.
Then it was gone.
"Alright, my turn," Oak announced.
Suddenly, Tauros began emitting a powerful force. The beast mooed with amazing spirit.
The battlefield began vibrating at its declaration.
"What the?!" Ash blurted out in a panic.
"Tauros, [Payback]." Oak simply called out.
And the bull rocketed towards Butterfree.
The butterfly's Speed boost did not matter to the beast.
For it was already over before Butterfree could react.
Tauros attacked with a tremendous charge. The poor butterfly's body flew across the battlefield.
And landed on the Gym's wall behind Ash.
A deep crater in his wake.
With a mighty bellow, Tauros announced its victory.
Butterfree was unable to battle.
Ash stared at the bull in shock, his mind piecing the puzzle.
Recalling his Pokémon, he uttered out his hypothesis.
"Anger Point…"
An Ability that maximized the Attack stat after taking a critical hit.
"Correct, Ash," Oak confirmed.
"One of Butterfree's [Energy Ball] landed a critical on Tauros."
"I was waiting for that moment. That's why I didn't attack."
'The professor was one step ahead...' Ash thought.
"Now tell me, Ash," the man smirked.
His expression matching his younger self back in his glory days.
"Can you defeat me?"
Tauros faced the boy.
Its body pushed to its limit thanks to Anger Point.
Its angry eyes shining like ominous stars.
"MOO!"
Ash looked down, his cap's visor covering his face.
"Red…," Blue muttered out in worry.
Worried her friend might relapse back to his depressed state.
"That's obvious, isn't it?" the boy replied to the professor.
And he faced his opponent.
His crimson red eyes seemed to shimmer.
"It's not CAN I defeat you…"
His next PokéBall burst out.
Smouldering flames surrounding his side. A thunderous roar rumbled the Gym.
An orange dragon awaited his Trainer's instructions.
"It's I WILL defeat you!"
Clutching his locket, he recited his Pokémon's mantra.
"There's only one road!" he cried out.
Oak was overwhelmed at the boy's indomitable willpower.
And proud at how far his pseudo-grandson had come.
"And we walk it together!"
Charizard nodded with Pikachu pumping his fists.
"That's why…"
His mind drifted to Serena.
Imagining her far away from him. A single path.
He reached out his hand. And he came back to reality.
Tauros in front of him. Ready to battle.
Ash used his already outstretched hand.
And pointed towards the gigantic Tauros with a crazed smile.
"You're in our way!"
And the second bout began.
"Charizard, [Flare Blitz (Fake)]!" Ash instructed.
The orange dragon spun its body.
Tucking his wings close to his body.
His [Flamethrower] spiralled around his body.
And he charged.
This shocked Oak as he was witnessing Ash's knack for imitating moves for the first time.
Pokémon could learn a very diverse moveset.
Once learnt, it was rare that one could forget unless taken to a Move Deleter expert.
Because of that, battles had to limit Trainers' Pokémon moveset to 4.
This was to create fair play among the combatants.
A foul if one were to use a fifth move.
Another would be intentional harm towards Trainers or lethal force.
As well as interference of the battle.
These became the foundation rules for Pokémon Battles.
But Ash had created a loophole, although unintentionally.
Instead of using a fifth move, he merely imitated its appearance and its power.
Although the (Fake) moves were slightly underpowered from the originals…
The sheer versatility gave the boy the upper hand.
"[Body Slam]!" Oak commanded to his Pokémon.
Back to the battle, the two beasts rushed towards each other.
Their clash manifested a blast of heated gusts of wind.
A certain Galarian physicist's third law came into play.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
And the two Pokémon recoiled backwards simultaneously.
Charizard was hurt badly due to the Attack-maxed Pokémon.
But still stood tall.
Tauros was also in the same position.
The effects of the accurate [Energy Balls] from Butterfree started to show. The parts aimed on his body cried out in pain.
Oak had forced Ash into a contest of strength by destroying his thought-out plan with Butterfree.
Ash grinned and abandoned strategies.
'Screw the plans, those were Green's thing,' he thought.
'I'll just make it up as I go.'
The raven-haired boy could not stop grinning.
He was enjoying the battle. Charizard sharing the same feeling.
The orange dragon had not felt this overwhelmed since Giovanni's Nidoking.
"Charizard, we're doing that!" Ash called out to his Pokémon.
Charizard knew his Trainer's instructions and assumed his battle stance.
Roaring again to show off his strength.
"Tauros, [Body Slam] again!" Oak commanded, wary of Ash's remark.
"[Flamethrower]!"
A wall of flames blocked the bull's assault.
But Tauros kept going.
Through the flames.
Unexpectedly, behind those flames, Charizard had disappeared.
"Tauros, behind!" his Trainer cried out.
But it was too late.
Charizard held the orange bull from the back and brought it into the air.
Spinning all the way to the Gym's ceiling.
Then sped his way down.
"[Seismic Toss]!" Ash called out.
"Roar!"
Charizard let out a powerful roar and plunged Tauros into the ground.
The battlefield exploded into a dust storm.
Blue and Karen shielded their eyes from blast.
Agatha still unflinching at the impressive display of strength.
"Ho… What a strong Charizard…," the old woman said to herself.
"It reminds me of that young man from Galar."
When the dust cloud settled, one of the battlers were down.
Charizard had been defeated.
Tauros was enraged.
Its body twitching as if it were holding back its murderous intent.
Ash was shocked and returned Charizard.
"Thanks, buddy," he thanked his starter.
"Leave the rest to us."
He then turned to his ace with a grin.
"Pika Pikachu!" the mouse squeaked, raring to go.
And the Pokémon stepped into the battlefield.
"That must be [Thrash] right? Professor?" Ash asked aloud.
"Yes, Tauros used it to break free from Charizard's hold as well as dealing damage to him at the same time," Oak explained.
"It's now the last battle, Ash."
"Give it your all."
The man smiled with a sharp look.
Agatha from the stands seemingly giddy at Oak's expression.
"Let's go, Pikachu!" Ash yelled out to signal the end.
Blue and Espeon were visibly delighted.
Especially the purple feline as she watched Pikachu with starry eyes.
Pikachu took his position, electricity sparking on his red cheeks.
The last battle started.
"Disorient it with [Quick Attack]!" Ash called out.
Pikachu then sped around the battlefield.
Turning into a yellow blur.
The raging Tauros then slammed its hooves around violently.
[Thrash] was a move that makes the user rampage with enormous power.
The drawback of such a powerful move was that the user would gradually become confused if used for too long.
Ash saw his win condition.
He had Pikachu run around the field to throw off the rampaging beast.
Both to prevent Pikachu from getting hit as well as throwing off Tauros.
Ash hoped that the latter would get the bovine confused sooner.
Pikachu was not very durable unlike Charizard or any of his other Pokémon.
His strength lied in his speed that he cultivated in memory of his late rival.
Since Giovanni's defeat, the mouse trained the most out of Ash's team.
He felt useless ever since he tried to save his Trainer from Nidoking.
And facing the Tauros now…
He would become lightning itself.
The electric mouse went even faster. Simultaneously dodging the beast's rampage.
Maxed Attack and STAB*. (Same Type Attack Bonus)
One hit was all it would take.
Pikachu's body began to crackle with sparks.
Ash knew what was coming and began to find an opportunity.
His shimmering red eyes grew slightly brighter.
This did not went unnoticed.
Oak and Agatha. As well as Blue and Karen.
'Find it,' he ordered his brain.
And the world slowed down.
His senses caught everything:
Tensed muscles.
Sweat that formed on the bull.
The quietest rasp of air.
State of mind.
The bull's anger.
And finally... fatigue.
His opportunity had come.
"Pikachu!"
The electric mouse created distance from the tired beast.
The crackles of sparks turning into an armour of yellow lightning.
With a final cry, Ash called out his final attack.
"[Volt Tackle]!"
And the electric mouse rushed with a battle cry.
"PIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKA!"
A streak of yellow manifested.
Oak and the observers looked at… nothing.
Their eyes could not follow Pikachu.
A second too late.
And a resounding burst of electric blasted Tauros.
Knocking the beast backwards to the wall behind Oak.
Pikachu had repaid Tauros back for his attack on Butterfree.
Ash blinked, wondering what had happened to him.
But that thought was cut short when he saw his opponent on the floor.
Tauros had fainted.
And Ash had won.
"Yes!" Ash cried out in joy, rushing to hug a tired Pikachu.
"Pikapi!" the mouse squeaked happily.
Oak returned Tauros and made his way to the raven-haired boy.
"Congratulations, my boy!" Oak exclaimed jovially.
"Looks like Tauros and I are getting older, haha."
"Thanks Prof- bwargh!"
Blue had tackled Ash to the ground.
"What was that, Red?!" she asked, astonished at her friend's eyes.
"[Volt Tackle]?" the boy questioned, not knowing what she meant.
"Also get off. You've gotten heavier," he blurted out.
A slap echoed in the battlefield.
Blue huffed at Ash, totally forgetting about his eyes.
"Ahem," Oak coughed and gave Ash his last Badge.
"Here you go, Ash. The Earth Badge."
"Thanks a lot, Professor! That was a great battle!" Ash thanked the man, a red handprint on his face.
"It made me realize just how much stronger we gotta get."
"Bah, you did well enough, child," Agatha said, waving about his doubts.
"You were up against an Elite Four-level Pokémon after all. Although Tauros has been getting on in years."
Oak nodded.
"She's right, Ash. But your head is in the right place," Oak told Ash with a smile.
"There are even stronger Trainers out there. Both Agatha and Karen included."
"And you did good impressing an Elite Four as well as an Elite Four Candidate."
"...Eh?"
Now Ash was shocked.
He was in the presence of an Elite Four. The strongest Trainers that he knew of.
"You did an excellent job, Ash," Karen praised with a smile.
"Pikachu!" the electric mouse thanked gratefully.
"Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Besides…" the boy thanked as well.
Ash then held his locket and stare at it longingly.
"I have a promise to keep," he said with a tender smile.
Blue and Oak looked at him and smiled in understanding.
Agatha faced Karen with a smirk.
"The boy's a lot like you, sweet Karen," the old woman said.
Karen merely smiled while caressing a certain PokéBall at her hip.
"Welp. Looks like it's time for me to go," Ash said, turning to leave.
"You're leaving already, Red?" Blue asked.
Blue wanted to find Gary with him.
A part of her wanting to find the orange haired boy.
Even though he had said those harsh words to her and Espeon, she still missed him dearly.
Another part of her hoped that the trio would stay together until the Grand League started.
But she knew how Ash was.
"Yeah, I'm gonna have to train even harder for these next 2 months if I want a shot at winning the Grand League," Ash explained.
Ash then removed her hat and patted her head.
Ruffling her hair in the process.
"I'll see there, Bluey," he teased with his signature toothy grin.
The girl tearing up and hugged her friend.
"Oi, oi, it's just 2 months. We'll see each other soon," Ash chuckled, returning the hug.
"In the meantime, go find that show-off."
"You still like him, don't you?"
Ash had known for the chestnut-haired girl's affection for his rival a quite a while.
He suspected Gary felt the same way, but he did not pry.
Blue nodded.
"Then I'll get stronger!" Ash exclaimed with another grin.
"Strong enough to knock some sense back into him!"
The boy wanted his close friends to be happy.
And he did it the way he knew how.
"I promise you, Blue."
Blue smiled and let him go.
"Nice seeing you Professor! Miss Agatha and Karen as well!" he shouted from the exit before sprinting to the PokéCenter.
And the raven-haired boy and his Pikachu were gone.
…
Tweet, tweet!
A little robin tweeted as it nested beside a brown-haired woman.
"Breakfast is ready!" the woman called out towards a room upstairs.
…
No answer.
"Sigh… Fletchling, be a dear and wake her up," the woman sighed.
"Tweet, tweet!"
Fletching the flew up the stairs.
And into a room with its door ajar.
"KYAAAH!"
A shriek was released.
Footsteps rushing downstairs.
"Mom! I told you not to do that!" a voice cried out.
The quest for 8.
"Good morning to you too," the woman greeted.
Now achieved.
An 11-year-old honey blonde haired girl stared…
The festival draws near.
"Serena."
Chapter 22: Promise
With her bright blue eyes.