Chapter 128: Narrowing the Chaser Chase

A few days after Ash's Promotion match, Ash and Goh were off to Hoenn for another Project Mew mission. Right now, they were riding a Wailmer to the Sea Mauville for the briefing.

"Sea Mauville?" Ash asked curiously. "I never heard of that when I was in Hoenn."

"It was built two years ago and didn't last long," Goh responded. "It was supposed to be a resource mining platform, but after a few accidents the project was scrapped. A few months later, it was turned into an aquatic Pokemon preserve."

"Cool," Ash nodded. Before long, the platform came into view, where they found Danika waiting for them.

"Hey, guys!" She said eagerly as they climbed off. "Thanks Wailmer, I'll take it from here."

Wailmer squealed, waving her flipper goodbye as he swam away.

"How've you guys been?"

"Great! I can't wait to win some more tokens."

Danika chuckled, before turning to Ash.

"Ash, I saw your match against Flint the other day. Congrats on making it to The Masters Eight!"

"Thanks! My Pokemon and I worked really hard."

Danika then motioned towards the entrance.

"Just head on down to the basement. We'll get started in half an hour."

"Alright!" Ash cheered. "Let's do this!"

But Danika stopped him.

"Sorry, but this mission is for challengers only. You can, however, stay up here with me and watch."

Ash groaned, but complied.

"Ah man, this would've been great practice for The Masters Eight!"

"Don't worry Ash, I've got this!"

"Yeah you do!" Ash cheered, giving him a thumbs up. "Good luck!"

"Pika Pika!"

Goh smiled, and walked down the stairs.

Once he was in the basement, he scanned the area. Surprisingly, he didn't find either any of the other challengers or something to indicate what his mission was, but instead found an empty storage room.

"Well, this is odd."

Just then, his phone went off, indicating he had a call. It was from Danika.

"Alright, challengers, today's mission is survival. Be the last challenger standing to clear it. Each of you are allowed one Pokemon, and the mission will last until we have a winner. And your time starts NOW!"

After that, the screen changed, showing a map of the facility, with hundreds of red dots scattered around.

"I guess the red dots represent the other challengers. And it looks like one of them is right BEHIND ME!"

Goh whipped around to find Gary right behind him.

"Easy there, Goh. I don't want to fight."

"Well, that's odd, considering that's the whole point of the mission."

Gary chuckled.

"Maybe so, but there's no rule that states we can't team up."

Goh was about to say no, but reconsidered it.

"Alright, but no fighting until we're in the final two."

Gary chuckled.

"Please, like I'd be that stupid. Let's see what we're dealing with here."

"Right. Go, Cinderace!"

"Blastoise!"

Gary chuckled.

"You do realize that I have the type advantage, right?"

But Goh wasn't worried.

"Don't worry, we can take care of ourselves."

"There they are! Hippowdon, use Mud Bomb!"

"Get down, Cinderace!"

"Blastoise, use Hydro Pump!"

Blastoise stepped in front of Cinderace, taking the hits before blasting Hippowdon, knocking him out.

"Phew! Thanks for the save."

"What are partners for?"

Suddenly, Goh noticed a shadowy figure about to attack Blastoise.

"Get down!"

"Leaf Blade, Shiftry!"

"Blaze Kick, Cinderace!"

Shiftry leapt from the shadows, but Cinderace was quicker, kicking him with feet on fire, knocking him out. A drone emerged, observing the two's condition before making a verdict.

"Shiftry and Hippowdon are unable to battle! Trainers, please return to the top deck."

The two trainers grumbled, returning their Pokemon before slinking off to the surface.

"Man, that was close," Gary said. "Thanks for the save."

"Hey, what are partners for?"

"Vikavolt, use Spark!"

"Dodge, Pidgeot!"

Unfortunately for his opponent, Sterling's VIkavolt was faster, ramming into Pidgeot and sending her to the ground out cold.

"Pidgeot is unable to battle! Trainer, please return to the top deck."

"Aw man," the hapless challenger sighed. "There goes my chances."

Sterling scoffed, leaning against a wall as his fallen opponent sulked away.

"Pathetic."

"Well, look who we have here?"

Just then, a silver haired woman approached him, a Liepard slinking behind her in the shadows.

"Lyla," Sterling sneered. "I take it you want a rematch?"

"Tempting, but not yet," She said. "Instead, why don't we team up? That way we can take out more challengers."

Sterling thought about it for a minute, before agreeing.

"Fine, but no funny business."

"Come on, do you really-"

"Yes."

Up on the surface, Danika and Ash viewed the camera footage. One by one, the remaining challengers started to group together.

"Awesome! Two heads are always better than one," Ash cheered, to which Danika nodded.

"Teamwork is the key to Project Mew's success," she agreed. "Still, this will make narrowing them down difficult."

With a sly smirk, she took out a remote and clicked the button.

"What was that?" Ash asked.

"Just a little something to spice things up."

As Goh and Gary made their way down a long corridor, about to make their way up a flight of stairs when a side panel opened up, unleashing a horde of Koffing who bounced down the hall, using Smokescreen as they went. Unfortunately for Goh and Gary, they were right in their path, the heavy smoke making it impossible to see.

"This is no good. Cinderace, use-"

But Gary grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away.

"Don't waste the energy, and keep your arm around your mouth!"

Nodding, Goh followed his lead as they ran down a different hallway. But they didn't get very far down it either, as a flock of Jumpluff came skipping down, spraying Sleep Powder as they went.

"Dang it! They don't make it easy, do they?"

"No," Gary agreed. "Come on, we can hide out in this storage closet until they pass."

Meanwhile, Sterling and Lyla were running from a swarm of Magby, who were gleefully spewing Smokescreen into the air. They ran down a corridor to get away from them, but had to duck down a different one when they saw Roselia coming through with Sleep Powder.

"Man, they really want to cut the dead weight."

"If that's the case, I should toss you out there."

Lyla could barely contain her rage.

As Danika was hoping, her distractions worked. Many of the challengers started to drop out, either being defeated by the Pokemon she sent in or being finished off by other challengers. Before long, over half of the challengers had been ejected.

"Looks like Goh and Gary are still in the running," she commented.

"Of course they are!" Ash cheered. "Once they set their minds on something, nothing can stop them!"

"Pika!" Pikachu cheered from beside him.

"Maybe so," Danika chuckled. "But do they have what it takes to go all the way?"

Hours passed, and the challengers were dropping like flies. Goh and Gary did their best, working together to take down anyone they came across. Occasionally they would have to stop to heal Cinderace and Blastoise, but in the end their hard work was pulling off.

At the moment, they were resting against a wall. There were only two other challengers left, and they wanted to make sure they were ready for when they appeared.

"Who else do you think is left?" Goh asked as Gary handed him a water bottle.

"Don't know, but they've got to be tough to have lasted this long. We're not going to be in for an easy time, that's for sure."

"Vikavolt, use Thunderbolt!"

Suddenly, a huge bolt of lightning shot out, striking Blastoise. Sterling came around the corner, grinning wickedly. Goh snarled, remembering his last encounter with him.

"Cinderace, use-"

"Night Slash, Liepard!"

Before Cinderace could jump in to help, Lyla's Liepard had already jumped in, slashing at him and keeping him from joining in. Lyla giggled at the sight.

"Sorry, but I'm your opponent today!"

"Great," Goh snarled. "Gary, can you handle this guy on your own?"

"I don't have much choice, do I? Blastoise, use Hydro Pump!"

"Pyro Ball, Cinderace!"

Cinderace quickly fired off his signature attack, blasting Liepard back. Blastoise's attack also hit, but that barely slowed Vikavolt down.

"Liepard, use Sucker Punch!"

Before CInderace could pursue, Liepard pounced again, dealing a hard punch to his gut, making him keel over.

"Counter, Cinderace!"

Quickly recovering, Cinderace kicked Liepard hard, sending her flying back to Lyla's side of the field. To Lyla's surprise, the tuft of fur on Cinderace's head began glowing orange.

"Now, Double Kick!"

While Liepard tried to pick herself up, Cinderace had already jumped on her, dealing two more hard kicks to her. Liepard groaned, before collapsing in defeat.

"Liepard!"

Blastoise's howl of pain was enough to draw Goh's attention back to his comrade.

"Now VIkavolt, use Zap Cannon!"

"CInderace, use Mud Shot and get in between them!"

Cinderace jumped, sending chunks of mud flying at Vikavolt, which did nothing.

"Are you stupid? That'll do nothing for you!"

But Sterling was wrong, for when Vikavolt rammed into Cinderace it had absolutely no effect, other than Cinderace's head fur now being a light brown.

"Now use Flame Charge!"

Cinderace locked his arms around Vikavolt, preventing it from escaping as Cinderace threw them both into a nearby wall. When the dust settled, Cinderace was now standing tall, but Vikavolt was unconscious.

"Vikavolt and Liepard are unable to battle! Challengers, make your way to the entrance!"

Sterling and Lyla scowled, but complied.

"This isn't over!" Sterling warned as he left. "I'll get you next time."

"Oh, get over it, you big baby," Lyla said as she ushered him out, leaving Goh and Gary as the final two.

"Well Gary, I guess this is it," Goh said. "May the best challenger win!"

But to Goh's surprise, Gary took out Blastoise's Pokeball and returned him.

"Challenger Gary has forfeited the competition! Which means Challenger Goh is the winner!"

"Congrats," Gary said, but Goh was still shocked.

"Why? You had the type advantage?"

Gary chuckled.

"Come on, don't tell me you expected me to not notice Cinderace's ability?"

Goh chuckled.

"Well, I was kind of banking on you not knowing about it."

Gary smiled.

"I'm almost impressed. Professor Magnolia emailed Gramps to ask him for his opinion on her research on The Galar starters, and he let me read some of it. It mentioned Libero as Cinderace's hidden ability. Still,to get one with it is rare."

Goh chuckled.

"Well, we didn't know about it at first. We only found out when he was training with Lucario. I was hoping to use it as a secret weapon, but I guess that plan backfired."

Gary just waved him off.

"It might've worked,or it might not have, but that battle with Vikavolt did a number on him, and I didn't want to risk it. Besides, it was your quick thinking that won in the end, so I figured you earned it."

Goh smiled.

"Thanks."

"Now come on, the rest of them are waiting for us."

Danika smiled as the two of them reached the surface.

"Congratulations, Goh! As a reward for your victory, you've earned three tokens. Gary, for coming in second place, you've earned two. And Sterling and Lyla will get one each."

Goh couldn't help but shoot a cocky smirk at Sterling, who just huffed and looked away. Before anything else could be said, Danika's phone began ringing.

"Oh, it's Quillon! The other site must have just finished as well."

After pressing a few buttons, Quillon's image replaced the empty camera feed.

"How'd it go, Quillon?"

"Horace won on our end, but that's not why I'm calling. I just got a call from Professor Amaranth, the rainy season over Faraway Island is expected to end early this year, so we'll need to speed up the process. Here's the current rankings."

The screen changed to show the top challengers and how many tokens they had.

"We'll be contacting all of you with your final missions soon. Good luck."

With that, the call ended, leaving Goh to contemplate the results of today. According to the rankings, he was in top three of challengers, which was good. But the competition was fierce, with a lot of people being either at the same number as him or just one lower. He'd have his work cut out for him in the final mission. But as long as he had his Pokemon, he knew he'd prevail.

"Look out Mew, I'm coming for you!"