"It's funny to see each other this way Ash," said Tobias with a smirk.
"Well, what can I say? Couldn't have a better chance like this as a rematch, could we?" said Ash, chuckling.
"I should have known you weren't any ordinary trainer when you performed so well against my legendaries back at the Sinnoh League," Tobias said with a serious tone.
"I still lost that match," Ash uttered quietly, "But I am going to win today," he now spoke with determination and confidence.
Tobias smirked. "Let's just see about that, shall we?"
Referee decided to finally make the call.
"This is an official battle between Champion Ash and Challenger Tobias. Each trainer will have the usage of six pokemon. The battle will be over when either side pokemon are unable to battle. Substitution and Mega evolution are allowed. Trainers, send out your first pokemon," he said as Tobias took out a pokeball.
"I might have changed my battling style over the years," Tobias said as he enlarged the ball.
"But I always begin a battle with these one," the trainer finished and threw the pokeball.
The crowd erupted into cheers and shouts when Tobias's signature pokemon materialised in the battlefield. The Pitch-Black pokemon opened its only exposed blue eyes, similar to its trainer and released a dark aura around the stadium, reminiscing people's darkest fears.
"Geez wh-what's with the cr-creeps," Bonnie stuttered as she rubbed her skin to stop the fidget.
"Ye-yeah. That's one creepy pokemon," said May.
"Darkrai is known as the pokemon of nightmares, so it's quiet usual to feel frightened in its presence," said Lillie.
"I remember the time Ash and I visited Newmoon Island in search of a Darkrai," Goh said as the others looked at him.
"We never got to catch it, but it sure gave us a multitude of bad dreams," Goh said with a shiver as he recalled the memory.
"And Tobias's darkrai is well trained and strong too, not to mention his other legendaries," said Brock with a frown.
"Why isn't he a Champion or Elite Four yet, if he is so strong?" Calem asked in a genuine tone.
"He is a mysterious one," Gary spoke this time. "I don't think he is after the titles or anything. He just wants to battle against strong trainers around the world, same reason he has challenged Ash for." The others looked at Gary and thought about it. It sure was very cryptic and mysterious.
"Look. Ash is about to release his first pokemon too. I wonder who will he choose?!" exclaimed Sawyer.
'I think I know,' thought Brock before looking at the battlefield.
"You have defeated it before and I believe you can do it again," Ash whispered to the pokeball in his hand before throwing it.
"I choose you."
A green bipedal pokemon appeared. Its sharp deadly eyes narrowed at its opponent like hunting for a prey. It pulled out its signature twig and put it in its mouth. The forest pokemon sneered when it saw the nightmare pokemon. Darkrai glared back at the gecko, recognizing one of the very few pokemon which had managed to defeat him.
"Battle Begin," the referee gave the call as Ash gave his command instantly.
"Use Leaf Blade."
Sceptile dashed towards the dark creature at a ridiculous speed, with long agonizing glowing blades of leaf.
"Use Poison Jab," Tobias countered as Darkrai's fist filled with the poison energy and countered the gecko.
Both pokemon collided with an explosion. The dust cleared and everyone saw how ruthlessly they were at each other's throat, slashing and punching, looking for an opening to strike. Everyone looked awestruck as they continued to watch the battle.
"W-what power," muttered Trip, who was standing in a balcony, taking pictures.
"They are even," nodded Brendan.
"A-ash's Sceptile i-is strong," stuttered Sawyer with wide eyes.
"Told you," Max said proudly. "He's the one who inspired me so much on our journey and I ended up choosing Treecko as my starter," he said.
"He has so many strong pokemon, yet he won the Alola League just using his new team. He really is a good trainer," said Lillie as some of them nodded.
"So cooool," May said dreamily.
"Yeaaah," Dawn and Serena said in the same dreamy tone.
Anabel was sitting close to the group. She smiled as she saw the boy battling with so much determination.
"Look for an opening," ordered Tobias.
Darkrai managed to spot one, but as he was about to hit it with the super effective move, Sceptile twirled around swiftly and striked Darkrai in the gut with the sharp blades and sent it back. It grunted in pain as Sceptile smirked.
Tobias greeted his teeth. He was to be more careful because the same Sceptile who defeated his Darkrai before is now on a Champion level. He has to be more decisive.
"Use Calm Mind," he said as Darkrai focused its mind and calmed its spirit, also raising his attack and defence stats.
"Get close and use Shadow Claw." Darkrai started to close the distance quickly with the attack.
Ash looked unfazed as Darkrai hit Sceptile with the attack. It kept hitting it as Sceptile gritted and tried to endure the pain, because it knew what exactly Ash was planning.
'Something's wrong. Why isn't he attacking?' Tobias thought, frowning.
When Darkrai spreaded its arms for the final blow, Ash smirked.
"Now."
Sceptile's arm blades glowed and he striked Darkrai crossing his arms at a blinding speed, sending it to the air.
Tobias's eyes widened when he realised what had happened.
"Amazing. Sceptile took the attack from Darkrai and scored a direct hit with a super effective X-Scissor," the announcer said as the crowd cheered.
"While it's in the air, use Double Kick," Ash said not giving his opponent a chance.
Sceptile jumped high and gave Darkrai a multitude of kicks before smashing it to the ground. The crowd was yelling in shock and excitement.
"How-wha-?" Sawyer said dumbfoundedly.
He hasn't written a single note since the beginning of the battle.
"Sceptile's agility and speed has increased by a million folds than before," said Max with the same expression.
"I never imagined a mythical pokemon like Darkrai can be dominated over so easily," Calem said in an impressed tone.
"Ahhhh man, how is he so strong? I really need to know how he trains his pokemon," Cameron yelled clutching his head. His Lucario shook its head.
"That boy never fails to impress me," said Professor Rowan.
"Let's see if you can win this time Ash," Paul said with a small smile.
Tobias knew that at this rate, Darkrai will be knocked out anytime soon. Two suoer effective moves already made it weak. So he needs to make a quick change of plan.
"Darkrai, return," he said, surprising everyone.
"Tobias is returning Darkrai. What could he be planning?" the announcer questioned.
'That's new,' Ash thought.
Tobias looked at the forest pokemon who was standing with pride, crossing its arms as if waiting to beat down his next pokemon too. The mysterious trainer smirked as he unclipped a pokeball before throwing it to the field.
A brilliant graceful sky blue pokemon landed on its feet. Its quadrupedal body embarked white crystals, white flowing ropes with a flowing violet veil on its back.
The pokemon gave a cry and took a battle stance.
"SUICUNE??!!" yelled Goh, seeing the aurora pokemon.
"Tobias surely lives up to his title as a legendary trainer," the announcer said as the crowd cheered and awed at the sight of the legend.
"Another legendary huh?" said Brock raising an eyebrow.
"Geez Goh, why are you freaking out?" asked Gary, a little bit irritated.
Goh composed himself before replying.
"Well Ash and I have encountered it before," said Goh. "I couldn't catch it, but seems like someone else did," he said looking at the battlefield.
"It's so amazing. I never thought I will get to see one," Lana said with gleaming eyes.
"How many legendaries have you and Ash encountered?" asked a curious Max.
Goh thought about the times they met legendaries and mythicals when they were research fellows. It was actually a lot.
"A bunch of," the boy replied, chuckling nervously.
"Ash still has a advantage over it," said Sawyer.
"I don't know if that's going to help," said Brock.
"Huh, why?" asked Max.
"If I remember correctly, Suicune has a bunch of powerful Ice type moves, so it can be a problem for Sceptile," said Goh as the others looked a bit tensed before they continued to watch the battle.
'So he has Suicune huh?' thought Ash.
Tobias started first. "Use Surf."
The aurora pokemon cried and summoned a giant wave of water as it swamped everything around it. It got on top of it and assailed towards Sceptile with a high speed.
As the wave got closer, Ash commanded.
"Leaf Storm."
Sceptile vanished from its spot with a blur startling Suicune. It suddenly appeared on top of the legend as it summoned a mighty blast of storm created with the leaves from its tail, and blasted Suicune towards the ground, breaking the Surf attack in half. There was a small ignition from the impact.
Tobias froze on his spot. He couldn't believe what he just saw right now. No has ever broke through Suicune's water type move like that. The crowd was jaw dropping as well as cheering for the amazing stunt.
"You know what? This is getting old. So I'm just going act like it was normal," Gary said, trying to keep his voice calm. No one bothered to reply him. Because he was a simp. Actually no. They were now really focused on the battle to think about anything else.
"Suicune, get up and use Blizzard," Tobias commanded hastily as the aurora pokemon got up and blasted a force of cold wind from its mouth, sending a cold seismic wave to the whole stadium. Sceptile flinched in pain from the super effective move.
"Use Ice Beam," Tobias said with a sneer.
"Dodge it," Ash said as calmly as possible. The forest pokemon jumped and barely managed to dodge another super effective move.
'Not good,' Ash thought and did the similar thing Tobias did few minutes ago.
"Sceptile, Return," Ash said and returned his powerful grass type ace.
"Take a good rest. I'll need you for later," he said before putting the pokeball away.
"And Ash has decided to return his pokemon too. Let's see who will he put up against a legendary pokemon," the announcer yelled as the crowd got restless.
"Smart choice," Kiawe said with a nod.
"I wonder who will he use next?" asked Mallow.
Ash took out a pokeball. He knew if one pokemon could trimuph over Suicune, it was this one. He threw the pokeball.
A large bipedal bird like pokemon materialised. It had huge brown wings which contained feathers sharp as knife. Its head was hidden inside a bush of leaves which looked like a hoodie. It stood on its big and sharp talons, before soaring to the sky with a cry.
"And Ash's next pokemon is Decidueye folks, very rare and uncommon in Kalos region, but native to Alola," the announcer said as many spectators were taking pictures of the mysterious predator.
"No way is that---?" Kiawe spoke, his voice barely audible.
"Rowlet??!!" the alolan girls said in disbelief.
"What about it?" asked Clemont.
"Well," Mallow started, "It's weird to see Rowlet evolved to its final stage," she said trying to explain.
"Assume that it's just as weird as his Pikachu evolving to a Raichu," Lana said making the matter crystal clear.
"That's..... understandable," said Clemont with a sweat drop.
Decidueye was standing vigilantly, glaring at its opponent. Suicune did the same.
'It's a grass type too. Adding the wings and its ghost typing. I need to finish these fast,'
Tobias thought before commanding.
"Use Hail."
Suicune cried and it started to snowfall from the sky, dropping the temperature and inflicting damage on Decidueye.
"Aaaaah I hate the cold," Iris complained.
"Don't be such a kid," May said taking the chance, as all of them started laughing. Iris just huffed in annoyance, still shivering from the cold.
"Use Blizzard full power," Tobias commended as everyone's eyes widened.
"Oh no that's big trouble," said Clemont.
"Ash, do something quick," yelled Misty.
"Come on Ash," muttered Serena.
Adding with the hail, the blizzard turned extremely powerful and vigorous as it bolted at Decidueye.
"Use Hurricane on yourself," Ash said plainly.
The Arrow Quill pokemon nodded and soared to the sky. It started to spin on its body spreading its wings. Soon, a powerful tornado surrounded Decidueye as it kept spinning faster and faster. The blizzard collided with the hurricane. Instead of attacking the ghost type, the hurricane followed up and cancelled the blizzard, as the aurora was swept off its feet due to the force of winds. People were holding onto their seats tightly, trying not to fly off.
Dawn was silently cursing Ash because her hair was attempting to be ruffled and messed off, and ya'll how she will look like when that happens.
The winds eventually died down as the abrupt changes of weather finally stopped. Suicune was exhausted as it landed on its feet, trying to keep its balance.
Tobias was going to command, but Ash was faster.
"Spirit Shackle."
Decidueye prepared its signature move and shot an arrow at Suicune from underneath its feathers. Before it could react, the arrow got strucked on the water type's shadow, preventing it to move an inch. It struggled to break free, but in vain.
"Brave Bird."
Decidueye engulfed itself with a blue aura and darted towards the helpless legendary at a frightening speed. The attack hit, causing a small yet terrifying explosion. The bird took some recoil damage too adding the Hail, as it stood on its previous position after using the attack. The dust cleared and revealed a knocked out Aurora pokemon, lying on the ground.
The crowd was silent for a moment as the referee spoke after a long time.
"Suicune is unable to battle. Decidueye is the winner, meaning Ash is the victor of this round," he declared as the audience was delighted and started screaming, wanting to see more battle between this two trainers.
"Amazing. Champion Ash has taken out one of Tobias's legendaries using incredible skills and tactics," the announcer said.
"Talk about countering Blizzard like that," Clemont said, finally letting out his long held breath.
"Not gonna lie, but even the other Champions has something to learn from him," Brock said, proud of his best friend.
"He really has worked hard to reach this level in such a short time," said Serena, unintentionally touching her lips as she said so.
"Yeah," Dawn agreed mimicking the same gesture.
"Ashy-boy always talked about to be a Pokemon Master. I always made fun of him for that, but now...." Gary didn't finish the statement as everyone understood what he meant.
Tobias returned Suicune and took out another pokeball. He saw Ash returning Decidueye as well. Tobias smiled.
"No one deserves to be in that spot except you Ash, and you've proven that point," he said.
Ash smiled back. "The battle is still not over so, let's give it our all."
"Agreed," Tobias smirked and send out his another legendary, the eon pokemon, Latios.
"And Tobias's next pokemon is Latios," said the announcer.
The blue jet like pokemon took a battle stance, ready for any challenge.
Ash smirked. The opportunity was perfect.
He slowly pulled out his luxury ball from his belt. Tobias looked at it and was beyond surprised. Pokeballs like that were goddamn expensive and it was never used to catch any ordinary pokemon. He was suddenly cautious, waiting for Ash to bring out whatever is inside.
"I was waiting when you will bring out your Latios," Ash said astonishing Tobias.
'He was expecting?' Tobias thought bewilderedly.
Ash threw the pokeball and out materialised a pokemon both their opponents were shocked to see.
"Unbelievable," the announcer screamed along with the rest of the people.
"WHAT?" Goh yelled the loudest in absolute disbelieve.
People were shouting with excitement and astonishment. Many started snapping pictures of the two legendary speed Gods in the battlefield.
"Ash never informed to me about it," said Oak with a shocking look.
The similar looking jet like pokemon was squinting its yellow beaded eyes in confusion. Its downed glossy body was red instead of blue which was refracting light.
"Believe it or not folks, but Champion Ash is also in possession of a legendary pokemon as well," the announcer exclaimed excitedly.
'They are screaming and shouting just by seeing Latias? What a bunch of kids,' Pikachu thought with a yawn before going back to sleep on the ground, curling up in a ball.
"What a cutie!" Bonnie exclaimed her usual dialogue.
"Amazing. So that's a Latias?" asked Lillie.
"Ashy-boy has been busy alright," said Gary with a chuckle, not much surprised like the others.
Latias was startled at first, but now a bit frightened as she was in the middle of a huge crowd of people out of the blue. She wasn't liking the screaming and shouting very much, until she turned around.
Ash's eyes met with hers as the boy gave one of his beautiful and warmth radiating smile. Latias instantly felt relaxed and happy, as she squealed with a cute cry before dashing towards the trainer in a flash.
'Oh no,' Ash thought as the eon tackled him hard to the ground with a hug, happy to see him again.
"Awwwww," was the reaction of the most of the crowd.
"Such a strong bond and mutual interaction between a legendary and human is very rare to see," the announcer complimented.
Misty had vague thought in her head as she nudged the doctor beside her.
"Hey...Brock?" asked Misty.
"Yes. It's the same one," Brock said smiling as if he read her thoughts.
"Two legendary Dragon type pokemon, wowwww," said Iris can't seem to hold her eagerness anymore.
"Ouch, ah hey girl. I am really happy to see you as well," Ash said petting her head as the eon cooed in delight. She let go of him and greeted the yellow mouse, who was happy to see her too.
Tobias's Latios smiled seeing the interaction and had a random thought about how would his trainer react if he tackled and hugged him like that? Latios turned around and looked at Tobias. Tobias instantly knew what it was thinking and frowned.
"Don't."
Latios shook its head, shoving the stupid thought out of its head and looked back at the battlefield once again.
Ash dusted himself as he got up. "So Latias?" he asked as the pokemon looked at him curiously. "What do you say about a battle?" he said gesturing to his opponents.
Latias looked at the direction and in an instant, there was a confident smile on its face as it gave Ash a nod.
Ash smiled back as both the eon pokemon glared at each other in a battle stance, to win this battle at all cost for their masters.
"Latios vs Latias, Battle Begin."
"Use Dragon Pulse," Tobias called the first move as Latios shot the powerful attack.
Ash nodded as Latias used its speed to dodge the move and shot its own Dragon Pulse at Latios.
"Dodge it and use Luster Purge."
Latios dodged the upcoming attack and let loose a brilliant and damaging burst of light at Latias.
Ash looked around and saw that the battlefield was a rocky terrain, as an idea came to his mind. Latias read his mind and knew what to do. Its eyes glowed blue as the rocks around the battlefield started levitating to the air. It then threw the rocks at Latios who collided with it, resulting in stopping its signature move.
The crowd applauded at the remarkable strategy.
"You alright?" Tobias asked as Latios shook its head before nodding.
He smiled. "Impressive strategy Ash, but the battle has just started."
"Way ahead of you, use Mist Ball," Ash called out before Tobias could react.
A mist-like flurry of down enveloped Latios, damaging it.
'Tch. Latias's signature move lowers an opponents special attack, using Luster Purge won't do any good,' Tobias thought and decided to call for a super effective move.
"Use Ice Beam," he said as Latios shot the beam of Ice at Latias.
"Counter with Mystical Fire," Ash said as Latias shot out a special hot burst of flames cancelling the attack.
"It knows that move?" asked Serena surprised.
"Yes. Apparently its possible for both Latios and Latias to learn that move if they are trained well enough for it," Clemont said.
"Use Dragon Claw," both trainers called at the same time as the eons were now combating with speed and power no one has ever seen. They passed blur across the stadium as they collided every time in a shockwave. After several moments of the combat, both dragon types went back to their position, panting and exhausted.
Both trainers noticed this and they knew they had to finish the battle quick.
"Use Future Sight," Ash said as Tobias copied his command.
Latios and Latias shot some psychic energy through a hole that appeared out of nowhere, as it disappeared instantly.
"Use Confusion," Tobias said as Latios let loose the peculiar rays at Latias.
"Evase that with Agility," Ash countered as Latias dodged the attack and got close to Latios in an instant.
"Zen Headbutt."
Latias concentrated all of its will power to its head and striked Latios directly, causing a lot of damage.
"While its close, use Ice Beam," Tobias said immediately as Latias was striked back with the super effective attack.
"Are you ok?" asked Ash worriedly as Latias nodded with a smile. Both pokemon were very exhausted. The trainers thought about considering this battle when suddenly, a blast of psychic energy smashed the eons to the ground from above. The trainers were dumbfounded, but then realised it was the Future Sight attack from before.
"Both pokemon were hit with their respective Future Sight attack. Will they be able to continue?" the announcer asked.
Surely enough, both eons raised their head from the ground and gazed at each other. They gave it everything they got in this battle. But looks like it has come down to this. The duo smiled at each other before they fainted.
"Latios and Latias are unable to battle."
That call was a shock to both the trainers and the whole crowd, but nevertheless, they cheered and praised the pokemon for an outstanding battle.
Tobias sighed and returned Latios. "You battled well," he muttered.
Ash ran to the battlefield to check on Latias. He used a full restore on it and after some seconds, Latias was healed. He hugged the eon. "Thank you Latias. You were amazing," he praised the Psychic Dragon who squealed and hugged him back. Ash returned it and went back to his positon.
"Aww I wanna hug it too," Bonnie said with a pout.
"Maybe later Bonnie," Clemont said chuckling.
"That was one fabulous battle alright," Dawn said.
"Yeah, almost took my breath away," said Serena with a smile.
"Dragon types are just the coolest," said Iris.
"Will the trainers send out there next pokemon?" the referee asked as the crowd once again turned their attention to the battle.
Tobias threw another pokeball, and out came one of the powerful and well known Electric Type Legendary.