Two days later
"Samurott, Ice Beam."
"Dodge it Sceptile."
The students of the academy were now on full throttle. After the announcement, they started to work extra hard and gave effort on what they were capable at. The battlefields, studios and research facilities were all extremely busy. The girls were all occupied within their fields. May and Dawn were working hard with their fellow coordinators. Serena, even not participating helped out the other performers and practiced herself as well. Brock, Gary, Goh and Cilan were exercising for the practical field exam. As for the others, they were giving everything they had in training. Right now, Ash along with some of his friends and rivals were training in an indoor gym, all to themselves.
"That's enough for now," the raven haired trainer said.
"Phew. Your Samurott is really fast," praised Sawyer as he returned his Sceptile.
These two and the others were having a spar with their pokemon as a warm-up session.
"You can always use Frenzy Plant to evade super effective moves like that," Ash said as he stroked Samurott's neck.
"Keeping distance... good point," Sawyer muttered as he wrote down on his notebook.
"Hey Ash?" a voice called out across the battlefield. He looked at the direction and saw Cameron having a battle with Kiawe.
"Yeah?" he called back.
"Any suggestion to dodge a Z-move?" he asked causing Kiawe to fall anime-style.
"What?! You can't just dodge something like that," he said fiercely.
Ash thought about it when Max replied instead.
"Well, Z-moves cover a large area so, even if you use a flying type, it will take damage," he said analytically as Kiawe buffed his chest with pride.
"You can always use Dig or Protect," Ash said simply.
Everyone gave him an incredulous look and facepalmed, not being able to think of such a simple answer.
"Alright, thanks," Cameron said as his fire type opponent grunted in annoyance.
"Really Ash? What do you feed that thing?" a voice of a girl said as she came towards them on her rolling skates with a panting Lucario behind.
"Oh hey Korrina how's your-?" Ash started when the gym leader interrupted.
"Don't hey me," she said with a pout and pointed behind her. A large round pokemon could be seen lying on the ground.
"Lucario has been hitting your Snorlax for the last half an hour. And that thing hasn't move a muscle heck even faint," she complained as her Lucario chorused with her too.
Ash and Sawyer sweatdrop at her child-like attitude.
"Well in that case, you can train with my Samurott then," the harem king said pointing at his water type.
"Thank you Ash. Let's go Samurott," she said excitedly as the formidable pokemon followed her with a nod.
After she was gone, Ash turned to his rival.
"I know that we all have come here to train, but it almost feels like I am training you guys instead," he said.
"Well, I think that's pretty obvious Ash," a familiar voice interrupted before Sawyer could reply. They turned around to see two person approaching them. One of them had red woolly hair with gray eyes. He was wearing a yellow shirt with red loose pants. The other had green hair with similar colour eyes. He was wearing a sleeveless black vest with orange pants.
"Its the Sinnoh Elite Four members Flint and Aaron," Sawyer stated excitedly with bright eyes.
Both of them just smiled.
"Aaron, Flint," Ash greeted them by shaking their hands. "What brings you two here?" he asked.
"Just came to visit the Champion, what else?" Aaron said with a laugh.
"Trust me, it still feels like only yesterday we met at Sunnyshore City," Flint said reminiscing the memory.
"Yeah. Who knew you would come so far? Cynthia's been itching for a battle with you," Aaron said.
"Good to know. I would love to have a battle with her too," Ash said with a smile, remembering his Champion friend.
"Wow, even the strongest Champion wants to battle you," Sawyer said with astonishment.
Flint laughed. "Who wouldn't?"
Something clicked in Aaron's mind as he saw the perfect opportunity right before him.
"Speaking of battles, wanna have one Ash?" he said with a smirk.
Flint looked at him incredulously.
"Even I am not stupid enough to do that," he commented at Aaron's bold proposal.
"You are just scared, I am not," Aaron countered back and looked at Ash. "So?"
"Sure, let's do this," Ash said with a confident smile.
"That battlefield just cleared up," Flint said pointing at the field where Kiawe and Cameron just finished their training.
"Great then let's go," Aaron said with enthusiasm as he sprinted towards it.
"Hey, what's going on?" asked Korrina who came back from her training too.
"Roaar," Ash's Unovan water type gave a small growl as it nuzzled against its trainer.
Ash petted it and smiled. "You guys done with your training?" he asked and returned Samurott.
"Yeah. It was a blast. So what are you guys upto?" she asked again, a bit impatiently.
"Ash is going to have a battle with Aaron," Sawyer explained.
"This I gotta see," Max said, chiming in.
"Hey you are Flint, right?" Kiawe said as the trainer looked at him.
"Ah yes. And I believe you are Kiawe, the Alolan Elite Four. Am I right?" Flint questioned back, smiling.
"Yeah. I am a fire type specialist too," the shirtless trainer said as they shook hands.
"You don't need to tell me. I can see the fire in your eyes," Flint said, nodding.
"Literally," Cameron muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Oi Ash," Aaron called out to him across the gym. Ash looked to see him already in position waving his hand.
"Coming," the raven haired trainer said as he sprinted towards the opposite side of his opponent.
"Let us take a seat everyone," Flint suggested as they nodded and went to the stands to watch the battle.
The drone was automatically activated as the trainers were ready to fight. It scanned the trainers before asking the format.
"Your call," Ash said to Aaron, not caring about the battle format.
Aaron thought about it for a moment before replying.
"2 on 2."
The drone rotom started doing some calculations and processing before it started the formal referee talk.
"This is an unofficial battle between Champion Ash and Elite Four Aaron. Each trainer will have the use of two pokemon. The rest of the rules are the same shit so, I won't bother to say it," it said casually in its automated voice, causing everyone to sweatdrop.
"Battle Begin."
"Alright, let's go Vespiquen," Aaron called out first as he threw a pokeball. The white light faded as a bee-like Pokémon materialised with yellow and black striped abdomen resembling an elegant ballroom gown.
'Hmm. Pikachu is back in my room, Samurott has just trained and Snorlax is sleeping,'Ash thought. He has called back almost all of his pokemon from the HQ.
These pokemon were his underrated ones and he thought they could use some training too. With that thought, he took out a pokeball.
'It's been a while, but I know you will do great,' Ash thought with a smile as he threw the pokeball.
"Why would he choose that?" asked Max in wonder.
"He is at a big disadvantage here," analysed Cameron.
"Maybe, but you can't assume anything for now," said Flint with a smirk.
"Knowing Ash, he must have an ulterior motive," said Sawyer, smiling.
"Let's see how this turns out for him," Kiawe said with a serious frown.
"Yay, go Ash," cheered Korrina.
The Herb pokemon gave a soft cry and took a battle stance, eyeing its opponent.
"Don't know what you are thinking, but we are not holding back," said Aaron as he called out the first move.
"Vespiquen, use Bug Bite."
The Beehive Pokemon cried and dashed towards the fully evolved grass type starter of Johto.
"Wait," Ash said calmly as Meganium nodded.
When Vespiquen closed the distance enough, he gave his command.
"Grab and slam it with Vine Whip."
Just like a flash, The Herb Pokemon shot two vines from its body and stopped Vespiquen in its tracks completely. The Bug type was shocked and tried to break free before it found itself harshly slammed to the ground.
"Wow, fast," said Sawyer.
"Vespiquen, are you alright?" Aaron asked in worry.
The pokemon shook its head and went back up to its battle stance. It looked and at its trainer and cried.
"That's great. Now use Venoshock," Aaron called out the powerful poison type move.
Vespiquen threw a special poisonous liquid with a fast pace at Meganium. Aaron expected Ash to make a move or even tell it to dodge the super effective attack, but he was utterly surprised when the poison made direct contact with the grass type.
When the dust settled, Meganium appeared to be just fine, standing with a confident smile.
"What?!" Aaron exclaimed in shock.
"It didn't do a thing?" asked Flint with the same expression.
There was a faint white glow around the grass type's body, which didn't go unnoticed by Max. He adjusted his glasses and instantly figured out what happened.
"That's it. Meganium used Safeguard," he said, proud that he figured it out.
"Oh, so that's why the poison didn't do a thing," said Kiawe.
"So that's the case huh," muttered Aaron.
"Use Solar Beam."
Aaron was shocked when he saw the grass type already finished charging up the powerful grass type move by absorbing the rays of sunlight from the gym windows.
Aaron was stunned, but he had something that can stand up against moves exactly like that.
"Defend Order," he commanded.
Suddenly out of the blue, hordes of bees surrounded around Vespiquen acting as a shield. The Solar Beam connected with a huge explosion. When the dust settled, the Beehive pokemon seemed to have taken less damage as its underlings vanished.
"What just happened?" asked Cameron in a surprised tone.
Flint smirked. "That's his special technique. Using Vespiquen's grubs as defence or attack its opponent," the elite four member explained.
"That's really impressive," said Korrina.
"Not bad," Ash said with a smirk.
Aaron smirked back. "Wait till you see this. Vespiquen, Attack Order."
The bees from before was summoned again as they all bolted towards the grass type at a fast speed. Before Meganium could comprehend, the group of bees started to attack it fiercely as the pokemon cried in pain.
"Petal Blizzard," Ash countered, still in a calm voice.
Meganium summoned a powerful storm of petals which instantly knocked all those pestering bees away from the grass type as they returned to their queen.
"Nice Ash. But its just starting. Use Revenge," Aaron commanded as Vespiquen once again approached Meganium with a dangerous speed.
"Counter with Vine Whip," Ash called out again as both pokemon started to battle each other in a close ranged combat. They seemed pretty equal, dealing some damage respectively as they went back to their position.
"Attack Order, once more."
Vespiquen summoned its underlings again as darted towards the grass type.
"Not this time. Surround yourself with Petal Blizzard," Ash countered. Meganium summoned the storm of petals and instead of attacking the bees, it surrounded itself with it.
"What is he upto?" Aaron muttered nervously.
The bees tried their best to attack Meganium, but couldn't seem to get through the powerful defence it created. Slowly, the killer bees soon went back to their hives.
"Meganium, Solar Beam," Ash commaned as the grass type started to gather energy of the sun in the flower around its neck.
"The result will be the same Ash, no matter how many times you try," Aaron said shaking his head.
"On the ground," Ash said with a smirk.
Meganium finished charging up the move once more. Instead of aiming at Vespiquen, it used the move and blasted the battleground to piles.
"What? Why will he do that?!" Cameron stated his shock.
"I know that Ash always has some trick up his sleeve, but I don't see any reason to that," said Sawyer thoughtfully.
"Use Vine Whip and throw the rocks," Ash commanded with a smile. Meganium looked around and saw the rocks that now appeared on the battlefield due to the impact of the Solar Beam. It grabbed the rocks with its Vines and started to throwing them non-stop at Vespiquen. The bug type just flew in its place as the rocks hit it with sheer force. The pokemon cried in pain.
"I take back what I said," Sawyer said in a defeated voice.
"No way. He used Solar Beam to destroy the field and then throw the rocks from it at Vespiquen," said Flint with utter surprise.
"And rock type attacks are 4× effective against a bug and flying type like Vespiquen," stated Max.
"So, you mean to say he created his own rock type move?" asked Cameron in a concluded tone.
"Should have expected something like that from him," Kiawe said with a chuckle, shaking his head.
"It will be an understatement to say Ash is unpredictable," said Korrina.
"Who are you?" Aaron asked in a defeated voice as Meganium finally stopped its attack, leaving a very injured Vespiquen.
"I am you, but stronger," Ash said with a chuckle.
"Very funny. Can you battle Vespiquen?" he asked the bug type who gave a nod, not giving up just yet.
"Give everything you got in this one Giga Impact," Aaron said, in a mind to finish this battle.
Vespiquen used all of its energy and surrounded itself with energy before it stormed at Meganium with the powerful normal type move.
"Wait for it," Ash muttered quietly, only so that Meganium could hear. She nodded back.
When the Giga Impact was just a feet away, Ash commanded.
"Now!"
Meganium immediately used its vines and pushed them on the ground as it jumped above swiftly, completely avoiding the move. Vespiquen was startled as it stopped the attack and looked around in confusion.
"Finish this with Body Slam."
"Vespiquen, above you."
Before the bug type could comprehend, Meganium used its weight adding the force of gravity as it slammed into Vespiquen crushing it to the ground. The Herb Pokemon got up and walked to its trainer as the dust settled to reveal the results.
"Vespiquen is unable to battle, duh. The winner is Meganium," the drone rotom announced.
"Something's wrong with that rotom," said Max annoyingly.
"Woo hoo great battle Ash," cheered Korrina.
"What an outstanding strategy," said Sawyer.
"This makes me so hyped for the tournament," said Cameron excitedly.
"Yeah. Can't wait to start," agreed Kiawe.
'And to think he wasn't even using his strongest pokemon. Cynthia's up for a big challenge,' thought Flint with a small smile.
"Take a good rest Vespiquen. You were awesome," Aaron said returning his pokemon.
"Great job," Ash said with a thumbs-up. Meganium smiled and nuzzled against Ash, after lowering her long neck.
"Nium?" it asked.
"I am doing great. Thanks for asking," Ash said as he stroked his favourite grass type. The pokemon cooed in delight.
"Go Drapion," Aaron's voice interrupted them as they looked to see him with his ace pokemon.
"Meg?" it asked.
Ash shook his head. "You did great. I want to give others a chance too," he said as Meganium nodded in understanding. She was pretty tired too from the first battle. Ash didn't want to hurt her anymore.
"You deserve a good rest," he said and returned her. Just after he did that a voice interrupted.
"Hey. I didn't say anything about substitution," the voice of the drone rotom chimed in.
"Well, you didn't say anything clearly you piece of trash," Max yelled back instead.
"Why you pesky little-" the device started angrily when Ash stopped it.
"Substitution or not, I won't use her anymore," he said firmly and unclipped another pokeball.
"Seismitoad, I choose you."
The vibration pokemon materialised on the battlefield and gave a battle cry, its red eyes gazing at Drapion with interest. The scorpion pokemon glared at it.
"Alright then, Battle Begin," the drone said.
"Drapion, use Pin Missile," Aaron commanded as the Dark/Poison type shot green sharp spikes at a rapid succession.
"Counter with Muddy Water," Ash said. The Water/Ground type striked with muddy water from its mouth. Even against a bug type move, the water type attack managed to cancel it out.
"In that case, use Ice Fang," Aaron commanded. Drapion's fangs infused with cold energy as it darted at its opponent.
"Use your Ice Punch," Ash commanded with an ice type move as well.Seismitoad nodded and gathered ice power in its fist as it clashed with Drapion's fangs. Both were at a stalemate and pushed back moments after.
"Cross Poison."
Drapion crossed its claws accumulating poisonous energy and slashed them at Seismitoad, who in return just took the attack head on, taking no damage due to its resistance against poison.
"Sludge Wave."
This time Ash commanded a Poison type attack as Seismitoad unleashed a wave of poisonous liquid at Drapion, who took the attack head on similar to its opponent and stood without taking any damage.
"Such a waste of moves," Ash said with a sigh.
"Couldn't agree more," Aaron said laughing.
"They are just playing with poison, literally," commented Max.
"Well Seismitoad does have the advantage here," Flint started. "But to me, they look even," he finished.
"Use Hyper Beam now."
Before Ash could anticipate, the powerful beam struck Seismitoad directly and send it flying.
"Yes," the bug type expert said triumphantly.
"Wow a direct hit," said Korrina the obvious.
"This could be a problem," Kiawe muttered tensely.
"Can you still battle?" Ash asked the fallen Seismitoad warily. After a few attempts, the vibration pokemon got back up and nodded at Ash, saying its ready to fight.
"Sorry about that," he apologised for not thinking quickly.
'Time to think of a strategy,' Ash thought with a frown. He looked around yhe battlefield and checked through Seismitoad's moveset in his mind. An idea seemed to have formed right then.
Aaron gulped. 'Don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about this.'
"Okay Seismitoad, use Bulldoze around the battlefield," Ash called out his attack. The water type nodded and started to run around in circles, stomping the battlefield at the same time. Slowly, but surely, a huge storm of dust started to conjure up covering both the pokemons in it.
"Drapion, stay on your guard," Aaron yelled out to his pokemon.
The dust continued to stay for a couple more moments before it finally started settling. The scene which was revealed before them shocked everyone except Ash.
Seismitoad was panting hard from all the running, but Drapion was the worst. It looked very hurt and was already on its knees.
"DRAPION!" Aaron exclaimed, worried for his partner.
"What the heck just happened?" Kiawe asked incredulously.
"No.....idea," Sawyer and Max said in unison.
"Maybe Seismitoad attacked it when it was all dusty?" assumed Cameron.
"Or..." Flint said trailing off as he finally understood the reason. "Oh boy Ash, you did it again," he said with a laugh and shook his head. The others looked confused.
"Did what?" asked Korrina.
"Ash commanded Seismitoad to use Bulldoze while running around the battlefield. This caused a huge storm of sand and dust to conjure up, which sort of acted like a Sandstorm. And also there are many pieces of rocks from the earlier battle," he explained as Sawyer immediately understood the rest.
"And if that was a Sandstorm, than it was super effective against Drapion since ground type moves are its only weakness," he said catching onto the point as Flint nodded in approvement.
"He used a ground type move to create another ground type move? Genius," Max praised the peculiar strategy of his idol.
"Also keeping distance too. Talk about thinking on your feet," Kiawe said, impressed.
"Are you ok Drapion?" he asked. The dark scorpion got up and roared, not willing back down so easily. But Aaron knew he had to finish seeing how injured it look.
"It has been awesome battling you Ash. But sad its going to end right here," he said.
"It's always fun battling strong trainers like you Aaron, let's say we finish this," the raven haired agreed.
"Gladly. Drapion, use Hyper Beam." The Ogre roared and started to charge up the powerful orange colored beam. After finishing, it striked the attack at Seismitoad.
"Use Bulldoze with everything you got. Cut right through that Hyper Beam," Ash said determinedly.
Seismitoad cried and charged boldly at the upcoming attack, taking it head on. It was very tough, but after the beam subsided, the Water type wasted no time and slammed into Drapion with the ground type move.
After a full minute, the drone declared the battle.
"Drapion is unable to battle. Sexmetoad wins. The winner is Champion Ash and now get the hell outta here," the automated voice said in a rude way.
"Okay, that's it," Max said as ran towards the device to shut it down for good.
***
"How are the preparations?" asked Damon, chewing a gum as he worked on his laptop.
"Everything is in place just like you said sir," the grunt said with a salute.
"Hmm. Excellent. Are the device working well?" he praised and asked again.
"Yes sir. The devices have been positioned in the perimeter of the academy," the grunt replied.
"Why isn't this damn woman picking up my phone," Damon cursed as he scrolled through his phone furiously.
"Ehm."
A gentle yet terribly cold voice interrupted them as they turned to look at the white haired woman, standing by the door with her arms crossed.
"Care to repeat what you just said?" asked Medea in a sheer cold voice. Damon and the grunt gulped as they felt a chill through their spine. Damon recomposed himself.
"O-oh my dear lady Medea," he said in a sweet voice as he stood up nervously. "I was just talking about a female grunt hehe," he tried to give an excuse.
"Since when do you 'call' your grunts?" asked the woman in a simple tone. The grunt stiffled a laugh.
Medea sighed. "I was coming here anyways so, I didn't pick your phone," she explained quickly, not interested to carry on this act.
"So what did you came here for?" asked Damon.
"Time, Date and Place for our attack on that stupid Academy," she said in a bold tone, not seem to be very happy. Damon looked shocked.
"Wait its not-"
Medea slammed her hands on the desk almost breaking it as Damon stepped back, visibly scared as the grunt already sprinted out of his office.
"I AM DONE WAITING," she yelled. "I am itching to get my hands on that Academy."
Damon retained his calm demeanour as he looked at Medea.
"I understand," he said and smiled. "But good news is...."
"Its sooner than I think?" she guessed the next part of his sentence as Damon nodded.
"Yes. How did you----?"
"You've been saying that for the past two weeks," she answered irritatedly.
The elite member just laughed.
"Such an interesting lady," he said. "But this time, it's not a deceit." With that Damon turned around his laptop so that she could see the screen. What she saw was a map of the location of their target. It had many red markings on many places. Damon seemed to have read her mind.
"The red markings are the secluded spots where we have hidden our machines and devices. Agent Black is there too. The airship is loaded as well. Our armies are booming and...."
"Don't you dare test my patience you cunt," Medea said, clenching her fists. "I am going to ask this only once. Why.Aren't.We.Attacking.Yet.?" she asked, gritting her teeth pausing between each words.
Damon smirked, not intimidated by the woman this time.
"The perfect opportunity," he replied simply, closing his eyes.
"Meaning?"
"Remember that I mentioned about my distraction for Ash Ketchum?" he asked.
"Does it really matter? Why are you scared of one single person?" Medea asked with a sigh.
"Because he's the protagonist."
"I beg your pardon?"
Damon coughed.
"I don't want to take chances. Besides, its going to take place if my plan is going accordingly," he said as he sit down on his seat.
"So according to your so-called plan,"
Medea started sarcastically. "When will we strike?"
Damon put his fingers on his lips, smiling as he just stared distantly at his laptop screen.
Medea rolled her eyes. "Hopeless," she muttered and started storming out of his office before the man's answer stopped the woman in her tracks.
"Tonight."