Pokemon Journeys: Masters 8 Tournament

Chapter 41 - Ash vs Leon Part 4: Kung Fu Fighting

Ash (3): Lucario (0), Charizard (1), Pokeball (0), Pokeball (0), Sceptile (1), Gengar (1)

Leon (2): Urshifu (1), Pokeball (0), Pokeball (0), Dragapult (0), Aegislash (1), Mr. Rime (0)

The judge observed Lucario and Urshifu on the field. Both faced each other, doing their own fighting stances and waiting for the opposite side to move. Urshifu placed its punches in front of his torso, trying to be as aggressive as it could be; while Lucario protected his body by placing his palms in front, seemingly more defensive in his play.

Leon was watching the field with anger in his eyes. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, seemingly wanting to fight Lucario on his own. Urshifu's willingness to win and obsession to kill had corrupted Leon's mind, and Leon had been too mentally weak in this match that he couldn't counter this effect. The Wushu Pokemon had a feeling that Lucario was different from the previous pokemon that it had battled: there was this unknown energy inside Lucario waiting to be used.

On the other hand, Ash was very calm. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the vision and senses Lucario shared with him through their Aura abilities. Ash knew how this felt. It was the same as him and his Ash-Greninja fighting together. Ever since the day Lucario returned to Ash, they had been training in syncing their aura and strengthening their physiques. But they had yet to try going all out because they were afraid their combined powers could destroy the entire Oak's Lab. For the same reason, he didn't train Nebby much.

Could they battle as one and defeat the martial arts pokemon in front of them together?

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The judge waved his flag, "Let the battle continue!"

Urshifu ran forward and charged a quick punch. It was so agile that only a dark red blur could be seen on the battlefield. But Ash and Lucario were more than ready. A pale green aura of energy cloaked Lucario as he moved sideways and pushed Urshifu's punch away. Urshifu quickly turned around and followed with a second punch, but with amazing aura-sensing abilities, Lucario dashed backward at high speed and raised his arm to block the attack.

The two pokemon were incredibly fast. The audience could only see a small green blur of light being chased by a larger red blur of light. Shockwaves of impact could be heard here and there, but there were no explosions.

Except for not running around, Ash was basically doing the same blocking and pushing as Lucario since they were synced with each other. Ash knew very well that if it wasn't for Lucario's Extreme Speed just now, there was no way Lucario could keep up with this powerful pokemon. Luckily Lucario had been working with Greninja for the True Root cutting project: he was trained to maintain Extreme Speed for an extended time.

Urshifu's right punch was marginally blocked by Lucario's left arm. It comboed into a left uppercut, but this boxing combo was anticipated by Lucario, who prevented the assault by pushing it down with his right paw.

That, however, didn't stop Urshifu from jumping up and doing a back kick at the dog. Even though the wolf-dog instinctively raised his knee to defend, the kick was still powerful enough to send Lucario a few meters away. Thanks to intensive training, Lucario adjusted by doing a backflip immediately, facing Urshifu in an upright position once again. He was not going down this easily.

Ash thought to himself while "battling" defensively, "But there is another problem. Urshifu is a lot taller than Lucario and with stronger muscles, and the crazy part is that it is fast. This is a gene thing that could not be overcome just by training. In close combat, Urshifu has longer limbs, so it could hit Lucario, but Lucario could not hit it. We would not win by attacking, and could only buy some time by staying defensive."