The group reached Viridian City after staying at Brock's house for three days, training and practicing. They were preparing to face Blue one of the strongest battlers in Kanto, how could Ash not challenge him. He didn't mind having nine badges and Blue was a strong opponent, it would be good for him Pokemon to know just how strong opponents could be in the league. He would be using Lucario, Pikachu, Fearrow, Primeape and Jigglypuff for this battle.
Referee, "This is an official five on five match between gym leader Blue and trainer Ash. The rules are, no substitutions, it is only when the Pokemon has fainted, that you can return them. Please choose your Pokemon, gym leader will go first."
Blue smirked, "It's good to see you make it this far kid, show me what you have got. Let's go Cleffable."
Cleffable, "Clef!"
Ash grinned, "I definitely will, let's go Jigglypuff."
Jigglypuff, "Jigglypuff."
Blue's eyes twinkled, "A fairy type against fairy type eh? Let's see who is the better fairy."
Cleffable, "Fable!"
Ash, "Oh we will."
Jigglypuff, "Jigglypuff."
Referee, "Begin!"
Blue, "Double slap."
Ash smirked, "Ice beam."
Blue's eyes widened, "Counter with fairy wind! Ice beam? I didn't realize they could use it."
Ash, "You need to master Icy wind first but yeah, it is possible."
Blue, "Impressive!"
The fairy wind hit ice beam and it burst into pink, yellow and white coloured particles that glistened under the light. Tomo, Misty and Jessilina were mesmerized by the beautiful sight and Ash had another idea for the Grande Festival opening. Brock and Jameson were also very impressed by it and wondered if Ash would use it.
Blue, "Go in for double slap!"
Ash, "Counter with yawn!"
Jigglypuff yawned the moment Cleffable reached her but Cleffable despite feeling sleepy managed to hit Jigglypuff twice making her whine. Jigglypuff noticed her opponent was sleepy however and gave a mischievous grin. Jigglypuff took a deep breath and used screech surprising the other Fairy type so badly she jumped and fell on her back. Cleffable looked dazed before she noticed Jigglypuff was laughing at her before getting up angry.
Ash, "Jigglypuff now fire punch!"
Blue, "Cleffable counter with your fire punch!"
Blue watched as the two went at it, "Your Jigglypuff is quite the prankster, isn't she?"
Ash chuckled sheepishly, "Only against her opponents, and it gives me really good advantages sometimes."
Blue, "I see, use thunder punch!"
Ash, "Drain punch Jigglypuff!"
The thunder and the drain punch hit both Pokemon and despite being hit by the electric attack Jigglypuff managed to take some of the strength from Cleffable to get going. On the other hand Cleffable was not happy about loosing some of her strength and turned to Blue to motion she wanted to go all out.
Blue, "Let's end this Solar beam!"
Ash, "Jigglypuff thunder wave full power!"
The solar beam and thunder wave hit creating a very powerful blast that sent both Pokemon flying backwards. Cleffable was out like a light while Jigglypuff got up panting, before she started to glow. The moon stone Ash had tied around Jigglypuff started to glow as well making everyone gasp when Jigglypuff became bigger and turned into Wigglytuff.
Wigglytuff, "Tuff wigglytuff."
Ash, "Congratulations Wigglytuff! You good to continue battling?"
Wigglytuff nodded, "Tuff, tuff!"
Referee, "Cleffable is unable to battle, Wigglytuff wins the match. Gym leader please choose your next Pokemon."
Blue, "Return Cleffable, congratulations Ash Wigglytuff, but don't think the match is over yet. Let's go Pidgeot!"
Misty gasped seeing the Pidgeot, "That's an albino."
Tomo, "Look Growly, just like you."
Growlithe barked, "Rowf!"
Referee, "Begin!"
Blue, "Quick attack!"
Ash, "Sing!"
Wigglytuff started to sing however Pidgeot was faster and hit Wigglytuff hard making her fall to the ground hard. Being stubborn she got up again and stood her ground.
Ash, "Okay Wigglytuff, I know you are not used to battling in your new body yet so let's do our best to counter!"
Wigglytuff nodded, "Tuff!"
Blue, "Ariel ace!"
Ash, "Safeguard!"
The safeguard protected the user from attacks from the front however not from other sides. Blue smirked making Ash wary before Pidgeot appeared behind Wigglytuff and knocked her out by hitting her with a steel wing.
Referee, "Wigglytuff is unable to battle, Pidgeot wins the match."
Ash, "Return Wigglytuff, I'll get you to the centre as soon as this battle is done. Let's go Fearrow."
Blue, "A flying type against a flying type, Ash, if I didn't know better, I say you are trying to tell me something."
Ash, "Uhhh.... Not really I just think your Pidgeot is fast and Fearrow here is my fastest flyer, right Fearrow?"
Fearrow puffed up proudly at that, "Row!"
Referee, "Begin!"
Blue, "Quick attack!"
Ash, "Mirror move!"
Pidgeot moved fast, too fast for Ash to see where he was going and Fearrow used mirror move to keep up with him. Ash frowned he would need to be careful, Blue's Pidgeot was popular for a reason as a seven year Sky Ring Champion and a heavy weight carrier. Ash nodded and got ready to use moves he had actually saved for coordinating contest.
Ash, "Fearrow, agility, quick attack and drill."
Blue blinked before smirking, "Heh! So you are gonna fight as both trainer and coordinator."
Ash shrugged, "I plan on winning."
Fearrow sped up using agility and attacked using quick attack which Pidgeot dodged before Fearrow turned to attack using drill peck which hit Pidgeot.
Blue, "Roost."
Ash, "Roost."
Misty, "They are evenly matched."
Brock nodded, "Ash has come really far."
Jessilina was making notes mentally, 'Looks like I'll have to bring my A team, Blue is one of the strongest and he is definitely not holding back. Now that I think about it, two of the Gym leaders, Janine and Blaine did not hold back either'
Jameson, "Food for thought."
Jessilina, "I just realized Janine and Blaine didn't hold back their strength against Ash, they both used their second best team before using a Pokemon who was part of their A team."
Brock wanted to refute but after thinking about it nodded, "They have been watching him."
Misty blinked, "You think so?"
Tomo, "Can they do that?"
Jameson, "Sometimes when there is a promising trainer yes, they can. And Ash did perform really well for someone who has not even spent one year yet into his journey."
Misty, "What? Wait.... We spent two and half months travelling through Viridian, Pewter and Cerulean cities, if I remember right."
Brock, "Almost a month and a half, traveling from Vermillion to Saffron city then another two and half months from Celadon to here."
Jessilina, "Hmm, so a total of seven and half months worth of traveling then.... Huh! Time sure flies fast."
Jameson mumbled, "To think we are back in Viridian City already."
The two Pokemon who were hurt and panting respectively from the attacks sat down and roosted to regain their strength. Ash in the mean time came up with a strategy to beat Pidgeot, it was a long shot but if they were careful they could win. The two Pokemon woke up and took to the Sky of the open arena of the remade Viridian Gym.
Blue, "Steel wing boosted by quick attack."
Ash, "Aerial wing."
Pidgeot used steel wing with quick attack to make himself faster while Fearrow used aerial ace and steel wing. The two steel wing hit making a large cling sound that made Brock wince a bit.
Blue, "Hyperbeam!"
Ash, "Focus energy, mirror move."
Fearrow's eyes glowed with the focus energy, as he locked on to Pidgeot before he created his own hyperbeam. The two Pokemon released their attacks at the same time Fearrow managed to dodge the hyperbeam from Pidgeot. Fearrow's hyperbeam hit Pidgeot on his wing getting a shriek from the older male.
Blue, "Pidgeot roost quick!"
Ash, "Don't hold back, drill run."
Fearrow followed up his previous attack and hit Pidgeot with a drill run before he could roost.
Blue, "Retaliate with whirlwind then roost."
Ash bit back a curse as Fearrow was caught in the middle of a whirlwind while Fearrow took the chance to recover, "Fearrow fly up quick."
Blue, "Get ready big guy, hyperbeam, full power."
Ash, "Hyperbeam full power!"
The two attacks hit creating a ball of energy that blew up blowing both flying types out of the arena. The two hit the opposite walls hard getting winces from everyone who heard it.
Referee, "Pidgeot and Fearrow are unable to battle, both sides have lost two Pokemon and have remaining five Pokemon. Please choose your third Pokemon at the same time."
Blue, "Pidgeot return, you did great big guy."
Ash, "Fearrow return, get some rest."
Blue, "Not bad, Ash, last time your Pokemon could barely keep up with my Pidgeot."
Ash grinned at the praise, "Thanks Blue, we have been training really hard."
Blue, "Let's go Machamp."
Ash, "Primeape I choose you."
Blue laughed, "Looks like it's type vs type day."
Ash rubbed the back of his neck, "At least it's not the same Pokemon, that would have been a little awkward."
Blue chuckled, "Indeed!"
Referee, "Begin!"
Ash, "Thunder punch!"
Blue, "Fire punch."
The two elemental punches hit the other Pokemon making them wince from being shocked and burned. The two separated before going in with a flurry of thunder and fire punches flying at each other. Ash and Blue watched the fight quietly waiting for the other Pokemon to give an opening.
Blue, "Now mega punch."
Ash, "Protect quick followed by head butt."
The mega punch hit the protect shield before Primeape retaliated using head butt to hit Machamp and make him stumble back.
Blue, "Machamp?"
The older fighting type shook his head and took a fighting stance again getting a smirk from Blue, "Alright then let's do this brick break."
Ash, "Primeape dodge and use earthquake."
The earthquake caused Machamp to loose his footing and almost fall but the fighting type regained his balance and jumped and got out of the range of the earthquake. Ash bit his lip thinking how to beat Machamp, he had seen him in TV once, he had won the Grand Prix tournament two years ago. Ash had shown Primeape the video of Machamp winning and Primeape had taken it as a challenge to try and win against Machamp, then he could have a chance to win the Grand Prix belt as well.
Primeape huffed and looked at Ash who nodded, "Alright then, Fire, thunder and ice punch go for it."
Blue smirked, he had been observing Ash and his expressions were adorable, but he was probably being biased here, "Mega, fire and thunder punch Machamp. Let's go full power."
Machamp grinned and nodded attacking Primeape airheaded the elemental punches while Primeape did the same. Tomo watched with twinkling eyes as the two fighting types went all out dodging and punching, hitting and missing each other. They could see the two were evenly matched then it came to strength, this would be a test of will power at the end.
Ash, "Now Primeape use hyperbeam."
Blue, "Counter with reverse rock tomb."
Brock perked up, "Reverse rock tomb"
Machamp nodded at Blue and covered himself with rock tomb. Primeape's hyperbeam hit the rock tomb breaking the top part off. Machamp came out of the lower part of the rock tomb grinning at the monkey Pokemon making him pissed.
Misty, "I didn't know rock tomb could be used that way."
Jessilina nodded, "It's a clever use of an offensive move."
Ash, "Primeape use rage, let all the anger out, okay?"
Primeape's eyes glinted and he jumped on Machamp.
Blue, "Oh no you don't. Machamp absorb the first hit then revenge."
Machamp took the first hit and unleashed revenge again Primeape's rage. Lucario watched a little intrigued and yet scandalised as the two went against each other.
Lucario, 'Thank goodness, Meema has not learned to use aura to figure out what exactly the Pokemon are saying. Do they need to curse each other that way?'
Misty, "I wonder what they are saying."
Brock looked at Lucario who looked a scandalised, "I'm not sure we want to know."
The aura Pokemon had used his aura to make ear muffs to cover the younger Pokemon's ears making the humans startled. They didn't remove the earmuffs however realising there were some unsavoury words being exchanged between the two Pokemon. Ash was looking a little red in the face, even if he did not understand what they were saying exactly he definitely understood the rude hand gesture. The two Pokemon stopped punching and kicking each other after ten minutes and separated from each other panting before nodding and respect and fainting because of exhaustion.
[A. N. : OMFG! 100 chapters and on top of that I'm very happy to announce my book gets added to collections everyday.
So I guess it has not been completely restricted yet. That's an awesome thing in my opinion.]