Kanto League Championship 9

The next day was quite exciting. There were fireworks and several small events that weren't happening during the morning while they were getting the place ready for the semi-final match. The league made a big deal out of Ash vs. Gary's game. 

Everybody was super excited to see the other runners-up. Who was going to be facing off against Liam in the next match? Liam had a hoodie on the whole time so people could barely see his face, and the picture that they had posted up was an old picture of him when he had dreads on this head, so if he ever took off his hood, people would not be able to recognize him.

Liam could be seen in a lounge, hanging out with the rest of the gang as they were having breakfast. Liam was getting ready to watch the match between Ash and Gary. They had already left and were having breakfast somewhere else so that they wouldn't interrupt each other. 

The stadium filled up extremely fast. Everything was broadcast local because the league didn't want other regions to find out about their young trainers until the national youth tournament. That's when people from all around different areas would come and compete against each other, but that was not happening until a year later, so everybody had time to train and prepare. 

Ash and Gary could be seen getting on the stage. At the same time, this caused everybody to stop what they were doing and start cheering for them. Ash was smiling from ear-to-ear ready for this match as he has been longing for it for the longest time. Gary wasn't so enthusiastic but still wanted to face Ash. 

The person who wanted to face Liam the most was Gary; he tried to defeat Ash and move quickly. Since he hadn't faced Ash in a long time, he didn't know that Ash had also gotten stronger. 

The announcer excited the match as he introduced the Challengers and announced the start of the game. 

Gary proposed to Ash that they should start from weakest to strongest, which Ash agreed. Gary sent out his Arcanine, who came out blowing fire and roaring at Ash. Ash was left in a daze by the heatwave that Arcanine caused before summoning his Blastoise. 

Gary got annoyed then asked Ash what this was about. Ash quickly told him that Blastoise was his lowest level Pokémon. This shocked Gary because Blastoise was one of his most reliable, and he hated that Ash had a Blastoise and didn't train him seriously; the match had started. 

Arcanine used Quick Attack while Blastoise used Ice Beam on the ground, causing it to freeze. Blastoise blasted Arcanine with a Hydro Pump causing significant damage, Arcanine struggled to get back up, but Blastoise didn't give him a chance. Blastoise used a quick Water Gun Attack and knocked him back down as Arcanine had fainted. 

Gary was shocked by this, but then he remembered that he was at a disadvantage from the beginning, and Blastoise isn't someone that you can easily win against, especially when there was a type advantage there. Gary calmed down and summoned his Alakazam, who was the same level as Blastoise level 60. 

Blastoise used Hydro Pump on Alakazam. Alakazam used Psychic to split the Hydro Pump in half and barely missed it as he teleported behind Blastoise and used Psybeam right on his back. Thanks to Blastoise's shell, he was hardly damaged. 

Blastoise turned around and used Bite Attack, making Alakazam flinch due to being surprised by the attack. Blastoise then charged up a powerful Crunch Attack as the projectile smashed right into Alakazam, causing significant damage due to it being his weakness. 

Alakazam couldn't do anything due to still being flinched. Hence, Blastoise ended it by using Hydro Pump to blast Alakazam right off the stage, Gary ground his teeth as he returned Alakazam before he fainted. Everybody was surprised by this because they all had their money on Gary winning it but didn't expect Ash to be this strong.

Gary summoned his next Pokémon, Nidoking. It was more durable than Blastoise by only five levels. At this point, Blastoise was running out of energy. He started by using Hydro Pump. Nidoking dodged it and ran behind Blastoise and used Slash Attack. 

Right after using Poison Sting on Blastoise's foot, that way, the poison can spread out instead of the shell protecting him. Blastoise was now hurting in his feet as he was being drained. Nidoking then used a powerful Earthquake, knocking Blastoise down and finishing him off with a Slash Attack.

Ash was still happy that he was able to take out two of Gary's Pokémon with one. Ash then summoned his Venusaur, which made Gary frown because Venasaur was also a strong Pokémon. But he ignored that and started the battle. 

Venusaur started with a Razor Leaf, which Nidoking quickly blocked with his arms, but before he could do anything else, he was stuck. He hadn't noticed that Venusaur used Vine Whip on him as he couldn't move. Venusaur then used Leech Seed as a couple of seeds were implanted on Nidoking, his energy was starting to get drained out while Venusaur was getting even more energetic and healing. 

Nidoking then decided to use Earthquake to free himself from the vines. Venusaur seemed like he was not affected by this attack. He used his grapes to throw Nidoking in the air, but he wasn't able to get him that far up due to Nidoking being extremely heavy. 

Venusaur started to use Petal Blizzard as a bunch of petals that were sharp and started to attack Nidoking in the air. Nidoking's hard skin was able not to take much damage from this attack, but Venusaur had already charged up long enough for a Solar Beam as he unleashed it right up in the air. 

Nidoking was falling so he couldn't dodge it, so he unleashed his own Hyper Beam as they both caused an explosion. However, the Solar Beam had passed right through the Hyper Beam and had hit Nidoking square in the stomach, making him fly off the stage, giving Venusaur the win. 

Gary was pissed at this point. He decided to bring out his Pidgeot but then remembered the deal he had with Ash from weak to durable, making him grind his teeth as he summoned his next Pokémon, Magmar. Ash was surprised by this and could only smile because he knew how powerful Gary's Magmar was. 

He quickly started to charge up another Solar Beam that way; he could at least weaken Magmar up for the next person. Magmar promptly went in for a Fire Punch, but then Venusaur started spreading Poison Powder and Sleeping Powder at the same time. But as Magmar approached, his body seemed to heat up as all the powder that was in the air seemed to melt away from the heat that Magmar was emulating. 

Magmar struck Venusaur square in the face as it did a lot of damage. Venusaur was almost knocked unconscious, but he held strong as his Solarbeam had finally charged up, and he unleashed it on Magmar. Magmar dodged the attack but was still hit on his leg, causing some small damage to it as he limped away.

Venusaur was also tired but quickly absorbed the sun and used synthesis to heal himself. Gary was shocked by this as Ash smirked and told him that "he had to do better than that." Gary got mad and tried to calm himself down. He came way too far for this. 

If he couldn't even beat Ash, he'll feel ashamed of himself. He told Magmar to get serious. Magmar started charging up a Flamethrower and blasted it at Venusaur. Venusaur quickly used Petal Blizzard to try to block the view of Magmar due to so many petals in the air. Magmar exploded right through the leaves as he was shooting Flamethrower to try to get to Venusaur. 

Magmar stepped it up a notch and unleashed a Fire Blast, which burned everything to a crisp and even hit Venusaur. The show was almost over as Magmar had appeared next to him and used Fire Punch to knock him out, causing him to faint. Everybody was cheering after seeing such a fiery match. Magmar was hurt quite a bit and was still limping on the one leg that was hit by the Solarbeam.