"Emergency update. Emergency update. Contestant Fergus has collapsed from heatstroke. Nurse Joy has entered the field, and Fergus has been carried out. He'll receive treatment at the Pokémon Center."
"There will be a ten-minute intermission. The performance troupe will now enter the field. The second knockout match of Group A will begin in ten minutes."
The battlefield split open down the middle, and a pool the size of the entire field appeared beneath it. The Cerulean sisters, dressed in swimsuits, slowly rose from the center of the pool and waved to the audience, instantly making every creep in the stands lose their minds.
"Misty, those are your sisters!" Ash tugged at Misty's sleeve, clearly finding the whole thing pretty exciting.
"Ah, it's been so long since I saw those three beauties. Sniff, sniff." Brock cupped his face in both hands, completely lost in bliss. "They changed perfumes…"
"Are you a dog? How can you smell that from all the way up here?" Misty found him disgusting and immediately smacked him on the head, knocking him into a slump.
"Hey, Pikachu, where are you going?" Ash could only laugh awkwardly when Brock got hit, but then Pikachu jumped down from his arms. He quickly stood up and chased after it.
"Ash, your match is about to start! Don't run off!" Delia shouted after him when she saw him leaving.
"I know!" Ash called back, then left the stands and ran into the spectator passage.
Outside the stadium, the Team Rocket trio was already making their escape. Meowth was dressed up as a fake Pikachu, using itself as bait to lure Pikachu out.
"Meowth, is it following us? Hurry up and grab Pikachu. We have to catch it before Boss Giovanni gets here…"
"It's out, it's out! Hide!"
"Bad news! The twerp came out too!"
"Doesn't matter, meow. Grab Pikachu first…"
"Stop! Who are you people?" Ash saw them running and immediately shouted for them to stop.
"Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it double!"
"To protect the world from devastation…"
Then came the same old motto. Ash remembered who they were right away, but by the time he reacted, Team Rocket had already finished their speech, trapped Pikachu in a shockproof cage, and sped off.
With Team Rocket causing trouble, Ash had no choice but to send out Pidgeotto and chase them. Team Rocket ran, and Ash chased. Their car got smashed, so they switched to a cable car. The cable car got knocked out, so they moved to a hot-air balloon. After who knew how long, Ash finally caught up, rescued Pikachu, and sent Team Rocket blasting off.
By then, though, match time had already arrived. Ritchie had entered the field, and Ash was the only unlucky kid still missing.
When the deadline was almost up and Ash still hadn't appeared, the referee was about to rule him absent and send Ritchie into the next round. But Ritchie asked them to wait.
Faced with Ritchie's request, and sensing how sincere he was, the referee and the organizers agreed to wait another ten minutes.
"I can't believe this. This is unbelievable! Contestant Ritchie is asking the referee to wait for Contestant Ash…"
"Ash has a really good opponent," Brock said after hearing the announcer. He couldn't help thinking Ash had made a good friend.
"Seriously, what is Ash doing?" Misty muttered. She argued with Ash all the time, but when it mattered, she was still worried about that idiot.
"Ash has made a good friend," Professor Oak said as he heard the request for extra time. He was happy Ash had met someone like that.
"Pelipper, go find Ash," Reiji said, releasing Pelipper. He knew where Ash had to be. Team Rocket had definitely held him up. He just hoped Pelipper could make it in time.
"Thanks for helping," Brock said when he saw Reiji send out Pelipper. He also took out a Poké Ball. "Golbat, please help us look for Ash."
The two Pokémon flew off, and the ten minutes dragged by one second at a time. Just as the extra time was almost up, Reiji heard a cry from the sky.
"Peli! Peli!"
"It's Pelipper." Reiji saw Pelipper carrying Ash and Pikachu in its claws. It dropped them onto the battlefield, then flew back to his side.
It was already noon, and the sun was blazing overhead. Reiji had no idea how Pelipper had found Ash in that heat. He fed it several Pokéblocks and let it rest. Once Ash's knockout match ended, Reiji's own match would be next.
There was no way he could use Pelipper today. It had already spent too much energy, and he wasn't going to make it fight on top of that.
Luckily, he had plenty of backup Pokémon. Letting Pelipper rest for a day wouldn't hurt him.
"Rai, thank you so much." Delia stood up when she saw Pelipper bring Ash back. Then she looked at Pelipper worriedly. "Pelipper looks exhausted. Will this affect your match?"
"No. I have plenty of backups. I can use Pelipper tomorrow instead," Reiji said with a smile, reassuring her. He had eight main Pokémon. Losing one or two for a day wasn't a big deal.
Besides, Butterfree and the others were all Advanced tier too. They were more than enough for a knockout match.
"Rai, why don't you come over for dinner tonight? That boy Ash only ever causes trouble for you." Delia still felt bad, so she invited Reiji to dinner.
"Sure, Delia. Let's watch first. Ash's match is starting." Reiji accepted with a smile and turned back toward the field.
Even though Ash had made it in time, his Pokémon had definitely spent a lot of energy fighting Team Rocket. Pikachu had been forced to keep discharging electricity, Pidgeotto had chased them nonstop, and the other Pokémon that helped beat Team Rocket were not at full strength either.
In that state, Ash only had a chance against Ritchie if Charizard actually listened to him. And Reiji knew better than anyone what kind of pain in the ass that Charizard was.
Brock and Misty were worried too. They knew exactly what Charizard was like. This match looked bad.
While they were worrying, Professor Oak kept stealing thoughtful glances at Reiji. Every now and then, he nodded, his eyes full of approval.
Daisy Oak, who was sitting beside Professor Oak, was also quietly watching Reiji. Seeing him help Ash even when it might affect his own match, she typed a line on her keyboard and hit send.
The match began. Ash and Ritchie each sent out their first Pokémon: Ritchie's Butterfree and Ash's Squirtle.
The two sides fought hard, neither giving the other any room, until Squirtle was put to sleep by Butterfree.
Back in Gen I, sleep lasted two to five turns. In the anime, though, the staff had ruled Squirtle out as soon as it fell asleep. This world was different, so that kind of situation was handled properly, just like when Gulzar used Sleep Talk before.
Since Squirtle didn't know Sleep Talk, Ash only needed it to hold out for a couple of turns.
Obviously, that wasn't happening.
Ritchie wasn't about to give Squirtle that chance. Butterfree caught it in Electroweb, and Squirtle was shocked unconscious before it could sleep through five turns. Ash lost his first Pokémon.
Ash was still thinking about who to send out next when Pikachu took matters into its own hands and rushed onto the field. It launched a surprise attack on Butterfree, slammed into it, and pinned it down.
Butterfree struggled free and flew back into the air, but Pikachu held onto its foot and hit it with Thunderbolt, knocking it out. Ritchie lost his first Pokémon too.
But after using just Tackle and Thunderbolt, Pikachu was already panting hard. It looked like being captured had taken a lot out of it. Either that, or the little actor was at it again.
Seeing Pikachu's fatigue, Ritchie sent out Charmander. Pikachu went down to a single Tackle, and Ash lost his second Pokémon.
After losing two Pokémon in a row, Ash thought for a moment, then sent out the strongest Pokémon he was so proud of.
Charizard.
Zard.
"Char!" Charizard came out, saw the tiny Charmander across from it, and immediately lost interest. It had no desire to bully a Charmander. When Charmander answered with a weak little flame, Charizard fired back with a towering blast of fire.
The size difference was too obvious. Ritchie recalled Charmander and sent out his third Pokémon, Pikachu.
Against Ritchie's Pikachu, Charizard only stomped once. Then it beat its wings and whipped up a gale that Pikachu couldn't withstand, blowing it away.
When Pikachu steadied itself and charged again, Charizard simply lay down. It had no will to battle at all.
"Hey, what is it doing?"
"We came here to watch a Pokémon battle, not a nap!"
"Yeah, take this seriously!"
The referee saw that Ash couldn't command Charizard. This was common enough among rookie Trainers, so he raised his flag and called, "Charizard has lost the will to battle. Contestant Ash, please recall Charizard."
"What? How can that happen?" Ash tried everything to beg Charizard to get up and fight, but Charizard ignored him completely. In the end, it was ruled defeated.
Ash could only recall Charizard. On the big screen, the third portrait on his side, Charizard's, turned gray.
At this point, Ash still had three Pokémon left, while Ritchie had five. The match continued.
Against Ritchie's Pikachu, Ash sent out his fourth Pokémon, Muk. In the end, he still had to rely on Muk to save the situation.
With its toughness, Muk endured the attacks and defeated Ritchie's Pikachu with Body Slam. Ritchie then sent Charmander back out, and Muk was knocked out by Charmander's flames.
Seeing Muk go down, Ash recalled it and sent out his fifth Pokémon, Kingler, to face Ritchie's Charmander.
This time, Ritchie's Charmander lost. Ritchie didn't have Ash's gift for flipping bad matchups. Charmander couldn't overcome the type disadvantage against Kingler.
After that, Ritchie sent out his fourth Pokémon, Lombre.
Against Lombre, Kingler's Water-type moves were useless, and its movement was restricted by Leech Seed. It was eventually defeated by Giga Drain.
For Lombre, Ash sent out his last Pokémon, Bulbasaur.
Both Pokémon were Grass-type, but Bulbasaur's Poison-type moves had the advantage against Lombre, while Lombre knew Ice Punch, which was strong against Bulbasaur. In the end, Lombre was poisoned, and Bulbasaur managed to stall it out.
Ash had only Bulbasaur left. Ritchie sent out a Flying-type Spearow and had it stay in the air, firing gusts down at Bulbasaur.
Bulbasaur was already worn down from the previous fight. It failed to dodge in time and was defeated.
This knockout match ended with Ritchie's victory. Ritchie had used five Pokémon, while Ash had used all six.
Ritchie's team had been Butterfree, Charmander, Pikachu, Lombre, and Spearow.
Ash's team had been Squirtle, Pikachu, Charizard, Muk, Kingler, and Bulbasaur.
"Man, looking at the lineups, Charizard could have swept all six by itself. Too bad it wouldn't listen." Reiji sighed helplessly. In the end, Ash still stopped at the Top 16 of the Indigo Plateau Conference, just like he had in the anime from Reiji's previous life.
"Ash!" Misty and Brock had already run down to the field to comfort him after his loss. Misty would never say it out loud, but she was the one most worried about that idiot.
"That boy…" Delia sighed when she saw Ash lose. This loss would probably hit him hard.
"The Group A knockout matches are over. Contestants Shun and Reiji, please prepare for the first match of Group B. You will enter the field in ten minutes."
"It's my turn…" Reiji took one last look around the main stadium stands. The moment the audience heard his name and Shun's name, the crowd clearly got much livelier.
One was a commoner dark horse. The other was the student of Elite Four member Bruno. Naturally, everyone was interested in their match.
"Rai, it's your turn. Do your best!" Delia raised a fist to cheer him on. She thought Reiji was a good kid, and she hoped he would win.
"I will." Reiji nodded lightly and stood up to head for the field. Ash, Misty, and Brock happened to be coming back up, and they saw him getting ready to leave.
"Rai-nii, that Trainer's Poliwrath has crazy burst power. We watched his match yesterday. Be careful," Ash said. He had just lost, but there was still a smile on his face, and he still remembered to warn Reiji.
He didn't say it out loud, but everyone could tell he was forcing that smile.
"I will. I'll win your share too." Reiji smiled and waved, leaving only his back behind as he left the stands and entered the competitors' tunnel.
The match bell rang.
With his little Eevee perched on his shoulder, Reiji walked into the arena.
The crowd erupted.
When he and Shun stepped onto their platforms, the noise around them seemed to fade away. Both of them shut out everything else. The only thing in front of them was their opponent.
Reiji-nii. We're finally facing each other again, Shun thought quietly. He didn't say it out loud. Unless Bruno asked him directly, he didn't want to make his relationship with Reiji public.
"Shun, so you're an Elite Four member's student now. You've changed a lot." Reiji wore a faint smile, genuinely happy for Shun. Being Bruno's student gave him a serious leg up if he planned to build his future inside the League.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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