Do you ever get times when you write whole chapters just so you can get to one scene you really want to write? Because that's what happened these past few days. 3 chapters 3 days in a row, I am on fire! But I'm absolutely not uploading tomorrow, as I don't have much of a plan for the next chapter yet. But I know exactly what's going to happen in this one, as I've had this plan for ages. In other words, this one is going to be longer than the recent chapters have been. So, let's get on with it shall we.
Chapter 34:
Trouble in Paradise
Galar is abuzz with excitement. The Masters Eight Tournament is in full swing, with some amazing battles throughout the week. New faces and old appeared on the arena, from Champion Cynthia of Sinnoh, to an upstart from Postwick named Gloria, who managed to get all the way to the final round last year. Cameras record every second of the battles, and people from all over the world tune in to watch their favourite battlers compete against each other.
But now, the final round is in full swing, with Ash defending his title as Monarch, and his friend Iris, Champion of Unova, is trying to take it from him. At first, their battle was neck and neck for most of it. They drew in the first bout, with Iris's Druddigan and Ash's Noivern taking each other out at the same time. Then, Ash pulled ahead with Glalie vs Garchomp, only for iris to bring it back to all square with Excadrill. Then, Iris managed to pull ahead by defeating Ash's Lucario, much to everyone's surprise, but Ash brought it back to all square again with Charizard. Everyone assumes this will be the end of the match, but Iris manages to surprise everyone again by defeating a weakened Charizard with her Emolga. Pikachu is brought out next, and defeats Emolga with no problem. Then, Iris brings out Dragonite. Pikachu tries his hardest to beat him, but for some reason, Ash's head isn't fully in the game. As a result, Dragonite is able to win. And then, Iris just adds insult to injury by healing him.
"Alright then," Ash growls to himself. "If that's how you want to play." Then, he releases Greninja. "So, you've managed to bring me down to one pokémon!" said Ash confidently. "But now, you've got to deal with this guy! GRENINJA, LET'S GO!" Ash and Greninja mimic movements like they're about to perform a Z Move, then a column of water erupts around Greninja. When it clears, Greninja now resembles Ash. Ash-Greninja takes the stage. The crowd goes wild at this, always eager to see Ash's second Ace appear. Immediately, Ash-Greninja races towards Dragonite, so quickly it's as if he teleported. He appears right in front of Dragonite with a Water Shuriken in his hand, and slammed it into Dragonite's chest. The dragon is hurled backwards a few metres and hits the ground. Ash-Greninja suddenly appears on top of him and uses Arial Ace. He tries to use it again, but Dragonite manages to avoid the attack. Then, he uses Dragon Claw and strikes Ash-Greninja in the chest. Ash feels this pain, and suddenly feels his anger flare. At that moment, Ash-Greninja goes berserk.
Before Ash can even give an order, Ash-Greninja cries out in anger and uses Arial Ace, kicking Dragonite across the arena. Before the dragon can even get back up, several Water Shurikens come flying at him. Dragonite is hit by them all and thrown farther. He uses his wings to steady himself, then throws a Thunder Punch. Ash-Greninja dodges it, and kicks him. He runs and jumps about, almost like teleporting, striking Dragonite every few seconds. "Greninja!" Ash calls, "stop!" But Ash-Greninja doesn't stop. He continues to pummel Dragonite, despite the fact that his opponent has stopped fighting back. Ash tries again to order Ash-Greninja to stop, but again, Ash-Greninja ignores him, and uses Arial Ace one last time. Dragonite is knocked out by this and hits the ground. But before the ref can call it, Ash-Greninja is on top of him and summons a Water Shuriken. He raises it up and is about to strike Dragonite, when Ash cries out, "GRENINJA, STOOOOOOOOOOOOP!" Channeling a tiny bit of Aura into his fist, Ash punches himself in the arm, causing him a great deal of pain. But, it manages to snap Ash-Greninja out of this state.
Ash-Greninja gets rid of the Water Shuriken and climbs off of Dragonite, allowing Iris to call him back. While she chooses her last pokémon and the ref recovers from what just happened, Ash has a quick conversation with Ash-Greninja. "What the Mirror World happened!?" he asks. He isn't angry, just shocked, and Ash-Greninja can tell. "I don't know," he replies. "After I got hit with that attack, you seemed to become quite angry. In that moment, I suddenly lost control!" Ash nods in understanding. "Do you want me to undo the Ash-Greninja form?" he asks. Ash-Greninja shakes his head. "She's only got one pokémon left now, and I think you know which one that is," he says. "If we cancel it now, you can kiss your title as Monarch goodbye." Ash can't help but chuckle at that. "Don't threaten me with a good time," he jokes. "But I understand. We'll keep it going for now. But if that happenes again, I'm cancelling it immediately." Ash-Greninja nods. "I agree with that plan," he says, then he sets his gaze back across the field.
By this time, Iris has returned Dragonite and summoned her final pokémon, Haxorus. "Well, that was certainly a shock," she call to Ash. "But this doesn't mean you'll win. Because I've got a little trick up my sleeve, curtesy of my beloved girlfriend." Then, she taps the key stone she stitched into her dress, right over her heart. "Haxorus, Mega Evolve!" The audience is filled with anticipation at this, as she hasn't used this yet, despite getting it last year. Haxorus grows in size, and gains two more blades on his face, as well as some on his elbows and tail, making it look like a battle axe. His armour plating becomes thicker, and two big red and black wings sprout from his back. If Ash is being honest, it's definitely the coolest Mega form he's ever seen. And now, he will defeat ready Greninja?" he asks. In response, Ash-Greninja rolls his shoulders and bounces in place a bit. Ash smiles. "Good to know," he replies, out loud this time.
Ash-Greninja starts them off with Water Shuriken, but Mega Haxorus slashes it away. Then, he charges forth and uses Outrage. Ash-Greninja gets hit by this, and Ash feels his pain. Luckily, this time he doesn't get angry, and Ash-Greninja stays in control of his actions. He leaps around the arena and uses Double Team to create copies of himself. Mega Haxorus gets rid of all of these clones with Dragon Breath, but by then, Ash-Greninja is already over his head. He slams down with Arial Ace, then wraps his tongue around Mega Haxorus's body, before flinging him across the arena. But before he can let go, Mega Haxorus uses his newfound wings to take to the air, carrying Ash-Greninja with him. As people watch, Mega Haxorus spins Ash-Greninja around, before throwing him back down to earth, just like Ash often gets his Charizard to do. Ash-Greninja plummets back down to earth, but at the last moment, he latches his tongue to the roof of the stadium and propels himself upwards. He reaches Mega Haxorus is seconds and kicks him straight in the face, causing him to slowly fall to the ground. Ash-Greninja hitches a ride on his back, then when they're low enough, he uses Arial Ace one last time to knock Mega Haxorus to the ground, hopping off of him as he does.
Everyone watches as Mega Haxorus struggles to get up, theb falls back down and goes back to normal. "Haxorus is unable to battle!" the ref declares. "Making reigning Monarch Ash Ketchum the winner of this year's Masters Eight Tournament!" The crowd goes wild at this, as both Ash and Iris return their pokémon and walk up to each other, before shaking hands. "Sorry about Dragonite," says Ash as they do. "I genuinely have no idea what got into Greninja. Not even he knows why he went ballistic." Iris shrugs it off. "Don't worry about it," she says. "Everyone knows you wouldn't have done that on purpose." Ash gives a hollow laugh at this. "Yeah, give it a day or two and all of the reporters will be asking me whether or not I ordered Greninja to go nuts," he says. Iris laughs in agreement. "I know what you mean," she replies. "For the next week, the only questions I'll be getting is when Georgia gave me that key stone. Or if I'm still certain I'm a lesbian." Ash winces at that. "If they do ask that, you've my permission to use Charizard to scare them away," he tells her. Iris thanks him, then the two head off to the changing rooms for the closing ceremony.
Up at the stands, Serena and Georgia sit together throughout the match, sharing banter over who's partner is going to win the match. But this banter stopped when Ash lost control of Ash-Greninja. She watched with growing concern as Ash repeatedly ordered Ash-Greninja to stop, and even winced when he was forced to punch himself in order to regain control. Her concerns were put to rest when the rest of the battle went without another incident, and Georgia swooning slightly when Iris called her "my beloved girlfriend" certainly helped calm her down. But then, the cloning ceremony of the Masters Eight happens, and Serena's concerns come back. She watches as Chairman Leon gives the closing speech, congratulating Ash on winning once more, and Iris for being the runner-up. Iris beams up at the crowd, wavingnto them and blowing Georgia a kiss, but Ash's smile seems forced. By the look in his eyes, Serena can tell that there's a few things on his mind. But, he forces a smile when he's handed the trophy, and waves to all his cheering fans. Like Iris, he blows a kiss to Serena, this one double handed. Despite her concerns, she can't help but feel flustered by the gesture. She continues to watch as the ceremony comes to a close. Then, the everyone in the stands begin to exit the stadium.
Serena tries to meet up with Ash at the entrance, but she'd forgotten to wear her disguise to the stadium, and is quickly swarmed by reporters, all of them asking her for her opinion on the battle, and how Ash did. Of course, one or two of them are on Ash-Greninja going nuts, which she addresses by saying that Ash would never make his pokémon do that, and if they actually paid attention to what's going on in the world instead of looking for something that'll sell papers, they'd notice that Ash had screamed at Greninja to stop a few times. This shuts them up, and allows her to push past them and get to where Ash is supposed to be. But when she gets there, she hears the unmistakable sound of Charizard roaring. Looking up, she sees Ash flying away on his back, while reporters and Paparazzi call for him to come back. Despite her anger at these people, she's more concerned for Ash in this moment. So, she releases Sylveon and orders her to use Fairy Wind. Once the area is covered in the stuff, Serena uses the makeshift smoke bomb to sneak away from the crowd and get to Ash's house.
When she gets there, she finds him standing over his kitchen sink, clearly having just thrown water on his face. "Ash?" she says softly. Ash doesn't look around, but he tenses. "So," he says. "I suppose you also want to know what happened with Greninja?" The accusatory way in which he said that hurt, but she ignores it. "No," she says. "I don't. It happened, and you got it under control. I'm here because I'm concerned about you." Ash turns to look at her. Now that she can see him up close, it's easy to see the stress in his eyes. "What do you mean?" he asks. "I'm fine. Just got a bit of a fright during the battle. That's all." But that isn't all, and Serena can tell. Ash is trying to hide something from her and the others, and she's determined to find out what. "But that's not it," she says. "I can tell there's more going on than you're telling us. I'm here for you, you can talk to me." Ash looks at her for a few seconds, before turning away. "There's nothing to talk about," he tells her, "I'm fine."
But Serena isn't about to let this go. "Ash you're not fine!" she insists. "You're changing! You've become angrier, more closed off, even scarier." Though she can't see his face, Serena can tell that he's suddenly feeling guilty. "Brock called me," she goes on. "He said that he detected traces of Aura in your blood." At this, Ash looks back at her with confusion. "That's impossible, how?" he asks. Serena explains to him how Brock extracted a bit of his blood and tested it, then called Riley about it. Ash closes his eyes at this, and turns away again. "So, you're not just not using your Aura," Serena finishes. "You're actively suppressing it! Why? It's clearly hurting you!" Ash doesn't say anything at first. He just stares at his hands, which are shaking. "I killed someone," he says finally. "This power that I have can kill someone. All it takes is for me to lose control for just a second, and someone dies. I got lucky that it was a bad person that time. But what if next time it's you, or someone else I care about."
"But that's no reason to suppress your power like this Ash," Serena argues. "By doing this, you're just hurting yourself!" "I don't care!" Ash snaps. "I'd rather hurt myself than kill anyone else, be they friend or foe." "But you aren't just hurting yourself!" Serena argues. "By doing this to yourself, you're hurting us, your friends. It hurts us to see you like this! All you'll do is drive everyone away!" Ash tenses at this again, but then he relaxes. "Serena, could you leave me alone for a bit," he asks her. This causes Serena's annoyance to grow. "No!" she says firmly. "Not until you've come to terms with the fact that what happened in Kalos wasn't your fault, and you shouldn't be pushing your power down like this. You're only hurting yourself, and it's driving everyone else away!" "Serena, stop!" Ash asks. But Serena doesn't stop. "I know you probably see yourself as some irredeemable killer who doesn't deserve friends, but that's not what we see! We still see you for the way you are. The Ash Ketchum I fell in love with is still here, and I will help you find him again!"
"ENOUGH!" Ash screams, spinning around to face her. When he does, a small burst of Aura bursts out of him, knocking her back a few centimetres. She looks at her boyfriend, who's glaring at her. To her shock, his eyes are glowing red. Then, she feels something she never thought she'd feel around Ash. Fear. She was afraid of him. Ash clearly sees this, and the anger disappears from his face, his eyes returning to normal. Now he looks guilty. "Serena, I-" he starts, but she cuts him off. "No, it's fine," she replies, tearing up. "I'll leave you alone." She turns to go. "Come and find me when you're ready to actually listen to your girlfriend!" Then, she runs out the door, her heart breaking.
When Serena leaves the house, Pikachu zaps Ash with Thunderbolt. Ash swears and rounds on him. "You deserved that," Pikachu tells him. Ash slumps at this. "I know buddy," he replies. "I'm an awful boyfriend. But I can't use my power anymore. Not if it means I could kill someone." He pulls out the pendant around his neck and stares at it. "Come on you useless thing," he tells it. "Sir Aaron told me you'd show me him if I was in need of advice. Well I am, so show me him!" Nothing happens, which makes him throw it across the room in anger. Pikachu watches him do this, fearful of getting to close. As he watches, Ash begins to glow blue. But he clenches his hands and squeezes his eyes shut for a few seconds, before the glowing stops. Then, he turns to face Pikachu. "Go with her Pikachu," he says. "Make sure nothing happens to her. I need a few minutes to myself." Pikachu's cheeks sparkle. "You go with her!" he says. "You're the one who upset her! You go and apologise!" "Pikachu just-!" Ash snaps, his voice growling. "Just, do as I ask, please." His voice has started to growl a lot more recently, which concerns Pikachu. The mouse pokémon glares at Ash, before following after Serena. "They're all right," he says as he leaves. "You're changing. You're no longer the trainer I travelled the world with!" Then, he exits the building. As he follows after Serena, he hears the sound of Ash smashing apart his furniture, before bellowing with rage.
As you can see, whenever I actually know what's coming, the chapters are longer. But yeah, Ash is really starting to get worse huh. I won't blame you if you start to hate him as this volume progresses, as that's kinda what I'm trying to do here. Also, I think I'm really starting to get the hang of pokémon battles. That battle between Iris and Ash was a lot of fun to write. But yeah, that's that for the daily uploads. Like I said, I don't have much of a plan yet, but I'm working on it. See you all on Tuesday with the next chapter.