Gotta Catch That One

Chapter 67: Doom and Hope

When Serena returned to their seats at the end of the intermission, she sat between Dawn and Sawyer. The two of them were visibly shaking with nervous excitement. Serena supposed that neither of them had ever actually seen Ash perform at this level. Even though Dawn had seen Ash make the semi finals before, and Sawyer had often been steamrolled by his idol.

"I really wish Ash had fought like this in Sinnoh," Dawn whispered, as Ash made his way back out to his position in front of the new ice field that had been brought up. "He would've won for sure."

"Well maybe he just learned from what went wrong," Sawyer suggested, holding his notebook close to him.

"And it seems that travelling with you has helped," Serena said to Dawn. "He's done some pretty creative moves that I bet would work perfectly in a contest."

Dawn gave a bit of an embarrassed laugh. "Yeah, I guess we gave each other some ideas."
She then narrowed her eyes at Serena and smirked. "We all know what's really got him going this time around, though."

Serena just politely laughed and turned her attention back to the field. It was about to start again. Both Ash and Malva had pokeballs in their hands. Malva threw hers out first and a large, white fox Pokemon with nine tails emerged. A Ninetales. Serena narrowed her eyes, remembering the last time she'd seen one.

Ash wasn't fazed, though. He quickly tossed out his pokeball, shouting, "Bayleef, I choose you!" With a flash of light, his long necked grass type emerged.

"He's obviously got a plan, but a grass type against Malva's fire types is really risky,"
Sawyer said nervously. "He did well with Heracross despite the type disadvantage, but risking that kind of matchup twice is really pushing it."

Serena shook her head. "It's just Ash's style. He'll be fine."

"It's starting!" Dawn hissed, pointing to the field, where the referee seemed to be signalling to both trainers. Serena squinted and focused. Ash could really take control by winning this battle. And winning with a grass type would be a tough one for Malva to take.

Malva made the first move. "Ninetales, start with Quick Attack!"

"Bayleef, use Vine Whip on the ice pillars and use it to speed up and counter," Ash shouted quickly.

Ninetales quickly lowered itself in preparation to run, and then shot forward, having no problem running on the ice. Bayleef moved just as quickly, though, shooting out her vines and wrapping them around an ice pillar in front of her. She then tugged hard and whipped forward, sliding quickly on the ice to counter Ninetales. The two Pokemon clashed midway, but Ninetales was the one to get sent spinning away, crashing hard into an ice pillar as it slid. Bayleef's weight had proved to be too much, in combination with her buildup of speed.

"Wow, Bayleef isn't a Pokemon known for its speed, but a smart use of the field by Ash and she gets the edge," the announcer called out, sounding impressed.

"Now, let's keep it up, Bayleef," Ash encouraged. "Razor Leaf!"

"Burn through it with Flamethrower!" Malva countered.

Bayleef quickly pulled herself into position, still using her vines to pull herself along the ice, and then got herself in position to attack. She whipped her head forward and razor sharp leaves quickly started to shoot towards Ninetales. The fox Pokemon was ready, though, quick to fire of its jet of scorching hot flames. Serena saw the leaves immediately disappear as the attacks clashed, and then Bayleef was struck hard by the super effective attack and flew back, falling onto her side as she hit the ground hard in front of Ash. Serena was worried that would be it, but Bayleef shook her head and then quickly got to her feet, her determination pulling her up.