League Preparations Complete I

With a smile on his face, Ash makes his way to the Viridian City ready for his battle with Giovanni. Dropping from the sky, Ash dismounted Blaze as he landed in front of the gym.

Reaching the door, he pushed it aside as he stepped in.

"Hello."

"I have been expecting you Ash," a voice called out and all the lights in the gym turned on. His voice gave away his commanding presence but seeing him in person, Ash could feel the amount of aura emanating from his person.

"Um… I don't know what to say."

"Well you could start with a simple greeting in recognition of your father's old friend."

Ash shook his head as he snapped out of it. "Good day."

"I assume you're here for a gym battle."

Ash nodded.

"… and I trust you won't disappoint me. I'd expect nothing else from the son of Ash Ketchum. He gave me the battle of my life during our first conference. I expect that level of battling skill from you."

"I'll try to do my best sir."

"Very well, let's proceed."

He gestured unto the raven-haired trainer who followed behind him. Ash seemed to notice the absence of any league staff in the Gym. He had to ask.

"Where are the employees of the gym?"

"I gave them a day off. After my battle with your friend Gary yesterday, he told me you would be coming today so I took the liberty of giving them a day off so it would be just you and me… and my son Silver."

Ash blinked. "Silver?"

"Yes Silver. He will be turning ten next year and he intends to start in Johto, his mother's home town and while. I see it necessary that he get first-hand knowledge on the battles."

"Oh." Ash however did notice that there was a slight pause in Giovanni's pitch when he mentioned Silver's mother.

They reached the field which was pretty plain, something Ash expected. From his father's and Blue's story about Giovanni, the man didn't appear to be someone who liked a lot of extravagance.

Ash also saw a red-haired kid sitting on the edge of the field.

"That is my son Silver, and he will be the one refereeing this battle. Silver!"

The red-haired boy got up at the sound of his father's voice and from the looks of things, he had already informed Silver of what was to take place that day.

As Silver took his spot, Giovanni walked up to his side of the field where a machine was. Ash took the side opposite to his and stood facing the Ground Gym Leader. It would seem he already had his pokemon prepared for the day.

Silver took a look at Ash as though evaluating him in his head. Seeing that both trainers were prepared, he decided to make his call.

"This pokemon battle is for the Earth badge. The challenger is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town against the Gym Leader, Giovanni. This battle will be a six-on-six battle and will end in forfeit or if all six pokemon on one side are unable to battle. The Gym leader has the first pick while the challenger has the first move. Begin."

The mechanical case next to Giovanni opened up and he released one of the pokemon from the pokeball. With a screech, a purple bat-like pokemon emerged from the light. Its tail was reminiscent of a scorpion's.

Recognizing the Gliscor in front of him, Ash releases his Golduck. Both pokemon eye each other and Ash makes the first move.

"Shadow pulse," Ash called, intent on starting the battle with one of the moves Golduck had been working on.

Ghost energy met water and he sent the swirling orb at Gliscor.

"Night slash."

The tip of Gliscor's tail was enveloped in a bright purple light as it met Golduck's attack in a brilliant display of black and purple light before swatting the orb into the ground where it exploded.

Ash thought it was over but before he could call out his next move, Gliscor blurred away before reappearing behind Golduck as it slashed at him.

"Confusion."

A wave of psychic energy escaped the water type and slammed into Gliscor but the attack seemed to barely do enough damage. It merely stumbled back in response to the attack, before gaining its balance.

"Now water pulse."

"Dodge and stone edge."

Moving out of the way of the sphere, Gliscor slammed its tail on the ground causing it to erupt into a barrage of spiked rocks as they headed for Golduck.

"Dodge with hydro pump."

The vortex of water erupted from Golduck's mouth, launching him into the air. Gliscor anticipated this and drove a night slash into Golduck's back, sending him into the path of the rocks.

"Quick attack and thunder fang."

A trail of white light was left in Gliscor's wake as its fangs sparked with electricity.

"Ice beam."

As Gliscor got close, a beam of ice struck it square in the face and sent it reeling back from the force.

Giovanni was taken aback by that action. Ash had clearly trained his pokemon well and they could function even without direct commands from him.

Ash on the other hand was thinking something entirely different. He had a chance and he just needed Giovanni to make a big move to capitalize on it.

"Gliscor earthquake."

Ash couldn't resist the smirk that played on his features as the dual ground and flying type hovered in the air before descending in an instant, slamming his body on the ground. The impact caused the gym to shake and the field to vibrate before exploding, sending earth flying.

"Hydro pump to dodge it and future sight."

The vortex of water once again escaped Golduck's beak as he launched himself out of the range of the earthquake attack before projecting a psychic attack into the future.

"Thunder fang."

Gliscor's fangs sparked as it blurred to where Golduck was still suspended in the air and bit down on him, eliciting a cry of pain.

"Use disable now."

Golduck's eyes glowed as psychic energy invaded Gliscor's brain and halted its body functions.

Silver could see the smile that Giovanni spotted. It seemed he was enjoying the battle.

"Shadow pulse."

Golduck concentrated as he formed the sphere of otherworldly energy and water before hurling it at Gliscor's form.

"Finish it up with ice beam."

"Quick attack into steel wing."

Gliscor evaded the beam of ice as its body was enveloped in a streak of white light and its wings glowed with steel energy.

Just before Gliscor could get near Golduck, a wave of psychic energy slammed into it and knocked it off path.

"Impressive," Giovanni muttered as Golduck's hands glowed a bright orange and white before it slammed it into Gliscor's form.

The combine focus punch and brick break did the trick and the fang scorpion was out for the count.

"Gliscor is unable to battle, the winner is Golduck. Gym Leader, send out your next pokemon."

"That was nicely fought Ash." Giovanni recalled Gliscor and placed it in the compartment before taking out another pokeball and tossing it onto the field.

The light coalesced into a huge behemoth of a pokemon. It was covered in brown fur and from its mouth, two huge tusks were seen. Ash instantly recognized the Mamoswine that stood in front of him as a threat to Golduck.

"You still in buddy?" The response he got was a quack.

"Golduck vs. Mamoswine. Gym Leader has the first move. Begin."

"Ancient power."

"Hydro pump, blast it away."

Mamoswine glowed a bright white as a silver ball of energy was launched at Golduck. The duck pokemon's response was a jet of water that bested ancient power.

"Ice shard."

In an instant, multiple chunks of ice were formed in front of Mamoswine and all of them were hurled at Golduck who couldn't do much to protect himself from the attacks.

"Hang in there Golduck. Use surf."

"Stomping tantrum and take down."

As Golduck summoned the water for his tsunami, Mamoswine began to stomp the ground with speed that was unbefitting such a behemoth. Chunks of the earth were sent flying and the pattern disrupted the surf attack as Golduck began to fall from atop his wave.

Mamoswine took the moment to begin its charge as it became enveloped in energy before ramming into Golduck and sending the duck pokemon into the psychic barriers.

"Golduck is unable to battle, the winner is Mamowswine. Challenger, send out your next pokemon."

Ash recalled Golduck, thanking him for his strength before releasing his Scizor.

Giovanni raised his eyebrow at the choice of pokemon but he didn't make any comments about it.

"Challenger has the first move. Mamoswine vs. Scizor begin."

"Agility."

"Ice shard."

As the waves of psychic energy enveloped Scizor, he began to dart around, trying his best to avoid the shards of ice that were hurled at him as he temporarily lightened his body weight.

"Now bullet punch."

As Scizor's pincers shone a bluish white, the force of attraction of the move sent him flying at Mamoswine before slamming into the ice and ground type again and again and again, eliciting multiple cries of pain.

"Protect and takedown."

"Take to the skies and use iron spear slash."

The emerald shield appeared before Mamoswine, halting Scizor's attack before it began its charge. As the influence from light metal kicked in, Scizor began its temporal flight.

Gaining a suitable momentum, he used iron defense and metal claw before spinning like a drill and sending himself hurtling at Mamoswine's back.

"Mamoswine defend," Giovanni called after remembering that Ash's Scizor was reported to be capable of flight.

He was too late however as Scizor made his mark before Mamoswine could defend and the impact of the attack knocked Mamoswine off of its feet.

"Can you go on Mamoswine?"

The response was somewhat light as the behemoth swayed on its feet. The attack was unexpected and it packed a lot of power, but it came at a disadvantage to Ash because Scizor still hadn't perfected it yet. Nevertheless, the super-effective move had done its job.

"Earthquake."

Mamoswine gave a bellow at the command and in an instant, it raised its front legs up and brought them down, sending a tremor that erupted throughout the field and tossing a vulnerable Scizor into the air.

"Scizor!" Iron spear slash was a gamble and Scizor had put in enough energy to knock out most pokemon and it had left him drained of energy. "Try to gain your balance."

"Sandstorm."

"Vacuum wave."

Mamoswine bellowed a loud one as his voice picked up a huge amount of sand and dust, obscuring the field.

In response, Scizor threw a spinning punch at the storm rapidly until he cleared the sandstorm, but what he and Ash saw after the sandstorm cleared was completely unexpected.

"Mamoswine's form, enveloped in pure energy, slammed into Scizor with enough force to bring down buildings. The result was obvious.

"Scizor is unable to battle, Mamoswine is the winner. Challenger, send out your next pokemon."

The knockout was surprising for Ash. Mamoswine was a lot faster and stronger than it looked. He had to choose his next pokemon well.

"Your Scizor fought well. He was a formidable opponent. I hope the next pokemon you choose lives up to this."

"Thank you, and I hope so too," Ash said with excitement in his voice as he tossed the pokeball to release the monster inside.

The light revealed Venusaur who came out with a thunderous roar.

"I hope you considered the terrain when you chose your pokemon." Giovanni gestured to the rugged terrain the field had become after been on the receiving end of multiple earthquakes and a stomping tantrum.

"Challenger has the first move. Venusaur vs. Mamoswine begin."

"Ingrain and sunny day."

Roots burst forth from Venusaur and planted themselves into the ground as he released a miniature sun.

"Earthquake."

"Solar beam."

Mamoswine was fast but he wasn't as fast as Venusaur's attack speed, not to mention the fact that his speed was boosted by sunny day. Solar beam slammed into Mamoswine and knocked him onto his back before his forelegs could smash the ground.

"Vine whip, send it into the air."

Vines shot out from Venusaur's flower and he wrapped Mamoswine before sending the ice and ground type into the air.

"Petal dance. Let's end this."

Multiple pink petals burst out from Venusaur's flower and slammed into Mamoswine before the Tusk Pokemon fell to the ground in defeat.

"Mamoswine is unable to battle, Venusaur is the winner. Gym Leader, send out your next pokemon."

Giovanni recalled Mamoswine wordlessly before turning to face Ash and looking at the sun.

"I believe this pokemon should be fast enough," Giovanni said as he took a new pokeball and released the monster from its confines.

It was a large, black pokemon reminiscent of a mud statue. The pokemon was hard to miss.

"Gym Leader has the first move. Claydol vs. Venusaur begin."

"Light screen."

"Solar beam again."

Ash was banking on heavy hitting moves. His status based moves won't be of much effect.

Solar beam charged fast and was launched with light screen breaking in the process unable to contain the attack.

"Razor leaf."

The barrage of leaves flew through the air but Claydol erected another light screen and this time they held true, deflecting the razor leaves.

"Psybeam."

The beam of psychic energy shot out from one of Claydol's arms and slammed into Venusaur. The grass type roared in pain but his defences didn't fall.

"Earth power."

"Into the air with vine whip."

At that moment, sunny day faded and Venusaur forced his entire bulk into the air with his vines as he avoided the air that exploded beneath him.

"Vine whip again, pull it close."

The vines on Venusaur's body wrapped around Claydol and he pulled the clay doll down.

"Rapid spin."

Claydol spun fast, lifting Venusaur off of his legs and sending the grass type flying.

"Sunny day."

"Earth power."

Ash's call came fast because he saw an opening. Venusaur launched the miniature sun into the sky once again, illuminating the entire place.

In response to this, Claydol's earth power erupted, launching the grass type into the air once again.

"Full power psybeam."

Both arms on Claydol's side charged up and two beams of pure psychic energy were launched at Venusaur's aloft body. The beams merged into one gigantic one as it made way towards the grass type.

Taking advantage of Venusaur's position, Ash ordered the best attack that would work. "Solar beam and don't hold back."

The beam launched far faster as Venusaur was closer to the miniature sun. A more powerful solar beam erupted from his flower and met Claydol's psybeam in a battle for dominance.

Both beams clashed in the center of the field and neither pokemon was letting up even until Venusaur touched back on the ground. Both pokemon held their ground until the impact caused an explosion of dirt power and rubble. The dust cleared to show both pokemon knocked out.

"Both pokemon are unable to battle, this match is a draw. Trainers send out your next pokemon."

Ash and Giovanni both recalled their respective pokemon before facing each other.

"I am impressed Ash," the ground type gym leader spoke up. "The strategies you have showed so far in this match have all been top notch. You really are Red's child."

Ash flipped his cap backwards in response to the statement. "I'm just getting warmed up."

Both trainers tossed their pokeballs on the field at the same time, unleashing the pokemon held within from their confine.

On Ash's side, the light revealed his trusty Blastoise. On Giovanni's side, the light revealed a hulking pokemon with a huge drill on its head. Ash would be an idiot to not recognize this pokemon. As a matter of fact, anybody from Kanto would be an idiot if they didn't recognize the pokemon in front of them. It was the pre-evolution of the ground type Gym Leader's ace. It was a Rhydon.

It roared to announce its presence as it stared down Blastoise. Blastoise did not appear fazed by the action and instead flexed his cannons in response.

"Challenger has the first move. Blastoise vs. Rhydon begin."