Gotta Catch That One

Chapter 76: The Championship Continues

Serena felt her heart pounding as she watched Hawlucha brace himself for the fight against Weavile. She was shocked at how furious he looked, but also couldn't help but feel a little proud of him. He really wanted to defend Noivern's honour. He wanted to win this battle for his surrogate brother and best friend. It was just the kind of battling spirit that made him perfect for Ash's team and a perfect choice to go up against a trainer like Alain in the finals.

"Oh isn't that sweet?" Delia squeaked loudly. Serena glanced over to where Ash's mother was sitting, next to Misty and Professor Oak a few seats down. "Hawlucha looks like he really wants to win this one for Noivern."

"That battling spirit will win this one for sure," Professor Oak said confidently. "And with Ash calling the shots, he and Hawlucha will have it done in no time."

Serena smiled and held back a laugh at seeing Ash's oldest supporters. Two of the first to have heard him speak of his dream to become a Pokemon Master. Now, they were finally seeing him get closer to that reality. If he could win this, he'd be well on his way to being able to truly be a Pokemon Master. And the two of them, well really the entire group, weren't going to stop telling themselves it was going to happen. As nervous as they all were, believing in Ash made them all feel like they were making a difference in the match. As long as Ash was focused, they didn't need to be nervous, though.

That was something Serena was a little worried about. Ash seemed to be somewhat off. He'd looked pretty down after both Talonflame and Noivern had gone down, and he was usually much better at handling those situations. Sure, he'd seemed to bounce back, and maybe he was bouncing back here, but he didn't seem to be as...joyful about it.

She finally brought her attention back to the field, and it was just in time, too. The referee made the signal to resume the match, and Ash was quickly moving his arm forward to order an attack. "Brick Break, let's go!" he yelled loudly.

"Metal Claw!" Alain quickly countered.

Serena tensed up as she saw Hawlucha burst forth, pulling back his fist, which glowed brightly. He leaped up and slashed it downwards, just as Weavile stepped back quickly, and shot out its arm, its claw also glowing. The attacks smashed together, and immediately both Pokemon bounced away from each other, the outburst of energy from the clashing attacks shooting them both backwards. Serena could tell feel the strength of Pokemon just from that one exchange of attacks.

"Ice Beam, straight ahead now!" Alain shouted, pointing forward, desperate to land the supereffective hit on Hawlucha.

"Defend with X-Scissor!" Ash countered, mimicking Hawlucha as the fighting type crossed his arms in front of himself, preparing the attack.

"Lucha!" Hawlucha yelled, rapidly uncrossing his arms and slashing outward with them, as the icy energy shot towards him. A blast of energy in the form of an 'X' fired forward and struck the Ice Beam midway between the two Pokemon. The attacks exploded on impact, causing dust and smoke to spread around the field.

"Use the smoke and hide yourself. Then use Double Team!" Alain ordered. Serena clenched her fists in frustration, knowing it would be difficult for Hawlucha to find Weavile in not only the smoke, but also the copies once the smoke had cleared.

Eventually, the smoke did clear, and Serena saw Hawlucha staring around wildly, clearly quite confused about where his opponent was. She glanced at Ash, though and was almost unsurprised to see him smiling, just narrowing his eyes and scanning the field. His calm demeanour seemed to make Hawlucha relax as well, because the fighting type looked back at Ash, and then stopped his rapid head movements.

"Just relax, Hawlucha," Ash said calmly. "You can find Weavile. You just need to focus." Serena was amazed at how Hawlucha instantly looked completely zoned in, somehow more focused than when the match started. He just stood still, eyes slowly moving across the field. The Weavile copies would sometimes move and sometimes stay still, trying to throw him off, but it didn't make a difference. He was going to find his target, and he would do it soon.