Chapter 11

A few days later Ash had made it through all the preliminary rounds (which seemed pretty easy) and had made it to the top 16.

"So," said Latios, "your first battle is with Gary huh?"

"Yep!" said Ash, "and with you guys, I'm sure that we can win! Speaking of which, Latios, could you do me a little favor?"

"Sure Ash, what do you need?"

"Well, I was thinking," replied Ash, "I really want to battle Gary myself and I know you can use an illusion to look like me so…"

"You want me to make a disguise of you so that you can battle as one of your own Pokemon?" asked Latios.

"Yeah, that's the idea," said Ash.

"Are you sure Ash?" asked Pikachu, "It seems a little risky…"

"I'm sure," said Ash, "besides, I've always wanted to take Gary down myself."

"How are you going to give commands?" asked Latias, "I mean, you'll probably have to be in your Pokeball and you can't give commands from in there."

"Hmm…" said Ash, "that is a problem,"

"Couldn't you just send the messages directly to Latios since you can communicate telepathically?" asked Pikachu.

"Oh yeah, I didn't think of that," said Ash, "so how about it Latios?"

"Only one thing," said Latios, "I can't imitate your voice."

"Oh," said Ash, "guess that can't be fixed."

"I can!" said Latias.

Everyone in the room took a double take.

"You can do that?" asked Ash.

"Yeah," said Latias, "here, I'll show you. 'I'm Ash Ketchum and I want to be the world's greatest Pokemon Master!'"

Ash nearly jumped out of his seat. "How did you do that?"

"Yeah," said Latios, "even I can't do that,"

Latias blushed slightly. "Well, I just take the sound frequency from Ash's voice and then use a small psychic wave to make my voice match the same frequency."

"Hmm, I never thought of that," said Latios, "let me try, 'I'm Ash Ketchum and I want to be the world's greatest Pokemon Master!'"

"That didn't sound quite right," said Pikachu.

"Yeah, it doesn't really sound like him," said Skye.

"Well," said Ash, "I guess I can tell both of you what to say and Latias can say it and Latios can mouth it!"

"And I can use sight sharing so you can see what's going on on the battlefield!" said Latias.

"Great!" said Ash, "Now we can go defeat Gary!"

"Who are you going to pick for your team though?" asked Pikachu.

"Well, I'll pick you of course," said Ash, nodding to the electric mouse, "and other than me, I think I'll use Charizard, Skye, Bayleef, and Totodile."

"That sounds like a good team," said Latios, "it doesn't have any clear weaknesses especially since Skye can change types."

"Even if his team was weak to a certain type," said Pikachu, "he thinks of such insane strategies that he could probably win anyway."

"Alright then," said Ash, "if everything's settled, we should probably practice battle commands so that you guys can react fast enough,"

"Ready when you are," said Latios.

2 Hours Later…

"Hmm," said Ash, "this doesn't seem to be working,"

"Yeah, sorry," said Latias, "I just can't call commands fast enough,"

"Don't worry, it's not your fault," said Ash, stroking Latias on the head, "but there's got to be a way to make this faster."

"*huff* or maybe Pikachu is just too fast," panted Skye, who Ash had been trying to command through Latios and Latias. The commands had gotten through, but the delay between Ash telepathing the command, and Latias saying it had been just enough time for Pikachu to doge the hit or attack Skye first, effectively negating Ash's counter.

"I got it!" said Latios, "Ash why don't you just direct the commands directly to Skye, and since you're giving the command directly to Skye, she can immediately act on the command, rather than waiting for Latias to give it."

"That's a great idea!" said Ash, "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you can't," replied Pikachu flatly.

"I can too!" said Ash.

"Only when it involves food or battles," said Pikachu.

"It does involve battles," Ash retorted.

"Yes," Pikachu agreed, "hmm… maybe I should have said when you're actually battling,"

Ash facepalmed and shook his head, "Whatever. Anyway, now that that's settled, why don't we all have a nice long break, after all, I want everyone to be well-rested for tomorrow."

The Next Day…

"Well guys, I guess it's time," said Ash.

"Yep, let's go crush some Gary!" said Pikachu.

"Alright then," said Ash, "Latios, here's my pokeball belt with my team and…" Ash tapped the button on his pokeball to return himself. "Ok, all ready Latios, Latias,"

"Ok, starting sight-sharing," said Latias, while Latios made an illusion so that he looked like Ash.

From inside the pokeball, Ash could see around him thanks to Latias' sight-sharing. "Great job guys! You know what to do now,"

"Right!" said Pikachu, jumping on Latios' shoulder.

The group had just walked into the stadium when Gary suddenly walked behind them.

"How's it going Ashy boy?" asked Gary.

Note: from this point on, (until the end of the battle) assume everything said by Latios will be repeated by Latias and telepathy by Ash, as it is tedious to write 'Ash telepathed this, then Latias repeated it'.

"What do you want Gary?" asked Latios, disguised as Ash.

"Just wondering if you're prepared to lose," said Gary, "you might have made it this far, but I'm afraid this is as far as you'll go,"

"We'll see about that," said Latios, as he walked into the stadium, with Latias following them invisibly.

"Oh, don't forget," telepathed Ash, "wait to use me until none of my Pokemon are left. That is, if Gary manages to defeat them all,"

"Don't worry," said Pikachu, "we'll show him,"

"Yeah!" said Latias, "and we'll be cheering you on every step of the way,"

"Don't worry," said Latios, "I'm pretty sure I can keep up my Illusion even if Gary cracks everyone up with his failures."

"It won't be easy," Ash laughed through telepathy, "I heard Gary brought a whole squad of girls to cheer him on during his battles!"

"That sounds just like him," said Pikachu, "didn't he have a squad of cheerleaders when we saw him earlier on our journey?"

Ash's telepathy was interrupted by the announcer's blaring voice. "Ladies and Gentlemen, today, we are proud to present a battle between Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak!" The crowd went wild. "This match will definitely be exciting," the announcer commented. "Both trainers are from the same town! Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and Gary Oak, also from Pallet Town! Gary Oak is the grandson of the world-famous Professor Oak, and Ash Ketchum is the Champion of the Orange League. I'm sure we'll get to see some interesting battling skills! Now, let's see what battlefield they are going to fight on!"

Everyone watched as a giant screen lit up one side of the stadium. On it were pictures of Ash and Gary, along with six black boxes next to each of them, representing their 6 Pokemon. In the center of the screen was a wheel with different colors to show who would send out a Pokemon first.

"And it looks like Ash Ketchum will be sending his Pokemon out first!" The announcer commented."

"Go Bayleef!" yelled Latios.

"Let's go Nidoqueen!" shouted Gary.

The Ash vs. Gary battle has started!

Sorry for the wait, but I'm working on three books at once, so I have to alternate working on them.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you did don't forget to leave a review, it really encourages me to continue writing!

Also, don't forget I have a Discord server! (link on my profile page)

P.S. There will be no MAJOR Altoshippping in this story. However, it will be hinted on a lot, and I'll get plenty of little Ash x Latias scenes for you Altoshippers out there.