Greetings, Mgunnels3 here, and welcome back to A Promise Kept Ash's Johto Journey. Let's get this chapter going, shall we?
Chapter 41: Pride of a fire type
"Human Speech"
"Pokemon Speech"
The battle between Ash and Macey was about to begin as Cyndaquil and Slugma were ready to battle each other.
"Slugma vs. Cyndaquil, let the battle begins," the ref announced.
"Slugma uses Sludge bomb," Macey commanded her Pokemon, who fired Sludge right at Cyndaquil.
"Cyndaquil use a Flame wheel," Ash commanded her, dodging the attack and rolling right at Slugma. "Takedown now," Ash commanded Cyndaquil, who slammed both of her feet at Slugma, sending it back.
"Ugh, not good, Slugma return," Macey returned Slugma to its ball. "Rapidash, come on out," Macey sent out her next Pokemon.
"Cyndaquil, return," Ash returned Cyndaquil to her Pokeball. "Houndoom, come on out," Ash sent out his next Pokemon.
"Rapidash, use Takedown and then Double Kick," Macey commanded her Pokemon, who charged in at Houndoom.
"Faint attack now," Ash commanded, who disappeared and slammed right at Rapidash, sending it to Macey.
"Swift now," Macey commanded her Pokemon, who launched a flurry of stars right at Houndoom.
"Flamethrower now," Ash commanded his Pokemon, who launched a stream of fire at the Swift, hitting Rapidash. "Reversal now," Ash commanded Houndoom, whose horn glowed and slammed right at Rapidash, knocking it out.
"Rapidash is unable to battle Houndoom wins," the ref announced. Macey returned Rapidash to its ball. Houndoom puffed his chest upon winning this battle for Ash's and Charizard's sake.
"This was a strong display of strength and pride of a fire-type ladies and gentlemen, and it shows with Houndoom here," the announcer said.
"Slugma comes on out," Macey sent out her next Pokemon as Ash returned Houndoom. Given what she had seen on Ash's team, Macey was worried again.
"Cyndaquil, come on out," Ash sent out his next Pokemon.
"Slugma, use a flamethrower," Macey commanded her Pokemon, who fired a flamethrower at Cyndaquil.
"Flame Wheel now, Cyndaquil," Ash commanded her, who rolled right at the flamethrower covered in it. Macey was surprised by this. "Now flaming Double Kick," Ash commanded her, slamming right into Slugma's body and feet, knocking out Slugma.
"Slugma is unable to battle Cyndaquil's win, Macey has one Pokemon left, and Ash still has three Pokemon," the ref announced as Macey was now eating her words as to what she said earlier. Now she sees why her grandfather talked about Ash a lot every time she last saw him. "Hey, Macey, don't think that you regret what you said earlier doesn't mean that you can't still give it your all," Ash said to Macey, who was more determined to win now upon hearing this.
"Your right. I'm a gym leader's granddaughter. Don't think that this is the end, Ash, Quilava. Come on out," Macey sent out her last Pokemon.
Ash noticed Cyndaquil was exhausted from all of this and returned her to her ball.
"Charizard, come on out," Ash sent out his last Pokemon, fire-starter vs. fire-starter. Charizard and Quilava stared at each other. Their Pride was on the line, not just winning for their trainers. Ash noticed this and knew that Charizard was still mad from what Macey said.
"Charizard use Flamethrower," Ash commanded his Pokemon, who fired its attack at Quilava. "Fire Blast now," Macey commanded her Pokemon, who launched its attack, fizzing out the flamethrower.
"Flame wheel now," Macey commanded her Pokemon, who spun at Charizard in a ball of flames.
"Mega Punch now," Ash commanded Charizard, who landed a punch at the Flame Wheel, knocking it out of it.
"Quilava use Return," Macey commanded her Pokemon, who slammed right into Charizard's body, but Charizard grabbed Quilava, and Macey was surprised.
"Seismic Toss now, Charizard," Ash commanded his Pokemon and slammed Quilava. Quilava got up from that as Charizard thought that would end this battle.
"Quilava, use Thrash now," Macey commanded her Pokemon, attacking Charizard wildly and landing blows at Charizard.
"Charizard use Dragon Rage," Ash commanded him, who fired something, but it was a new move. Dragons breath hits Quilava and paralyzes it on top of confusion from the thrash attack. "Charizard, end this with Flamethrower," Ash commanded Charizard, hitting Quilava and knocking him out.
"Quilava is unable to battle Charizard wins; moving on to the top 124 is Ash Ketchem from Pallet Town," the ref announced as Ash ran over to Charizard, who let out a prideful flame of victory cause of this.
"You did great, Charizard, not to mention all of you guys," Ash said to Charizard. Charizard nodded.
"Yeah, but won't lie, the kid knows what she is doing and raised a good fire type with that Quilava, just need to keep that mouth in line if she wants to be better than that," Charizard admits as Macey walks over to Ash.
"Well, Ash, you managed to beat me, but we will face each other again at the league," Macey said to Ash, who chuckled and held a hand for a handshake which she happily accepted. The two went their separate ways as Ash was in the tunnels with Charizard.
"What a pathetic display out there?" A young man with purple hair and a bluish-black vest jacket with a serious look on his face. Charizard would get all riled up at him, but Ash held his arm at Charizard to stop him, which made the young man curious about this.
"Look, I know that this battle ended with a 3-0 victory, but that is your opinion on what you think is easy or not," Ash said to the young man, who was taken aback by this.
"I wasn't referring to you," he said as he was about to say something, only to hear a voice call out to him.
"I think that is enough from you, Paul," a voice said from the hallway. It was Drew who had his arms crossed upon hearing all this. "Your match is next, so you might want to go there before you get disqualified," Drew said. Paul sighed and nodded before leaving. "He might be arrogant and release weak Pokemon, but he isn't as abusive as worst trainers," Drew said to Ash, who was shocked upon hearing that last part.
"You know him, Drew?" Ash asked Drew, who nodded.
"Yeah, he visited Hoenn a year ago. We had a battle, and our match ended with a draw. He's from Sinnoh, but like me, Tyson and Harrison, the latter of the two, are in the Tournament and are going to other regions as well," Drew said to Ash. "Don't let what I said about him get to you, Ash. A word of warning he know's what he is doing and shows that he isn't just all talk," Drew said before leaving Ash and Charizard.
Ash and Charizard headed back to the locker room for the trainers and watched the rest of the first round, and saw that Drew wasn't joking. Paul won with only a few moves with only one Pokemon. The rest of the Tournament was now down to the top 124 trainers as Casey, Drew, Blaine, Clair, Moore, Flannery, and everyone else made it through to the next round.
"With the next round coming, the three blocks of trainers are now down to two," The announcer said as the board showed what he said. "All the trainers from Block A and a half from Block B are now in the first block. The rest in Block B and the Entire C Block are the second for the next round's battles."
Ash was in the first match again, and it was him against Flannery in the next battle. Ash had never seen her before but noticed that she looked stern. Paul was in the latter part of the bracket, and Casey and Sakura were in the top part of the second block of the Tournament. Ash knew that he wasn't going to win these battles that easily.
With Ash moving on to the next round, Ash is up against a new trainer related to a gym leader. What else is in store for him? As the Tournament continues.
Stay Tuned.
Done and done. Man, this was fun to write. Before anyone asks me in the reviews about Paul, no, he's not going to be in the Silver Conference as, at this point, he's taking part in the Indigo League but will be seen in another tournament later on. And no, Chimchar isn't on his team in this story, as by the time Ash is in Hoenn, he will be returning to Sinnoh because, later in my trilogy will explain and be a part of what I'm planning on the final story. That said, it's Ash against Flannery's next chapter. See you next time.