Pokémon Legacy: Come Back to Me

Chapter Forty

The second day of knockouts breezed by, with wins for Ash, Naomi, and Gary. Later today would be the start of the quarterfinals, with the remaining 8 trainers and their battles.

"Are you guys ready for another day of battling?" Gary asked Naomi and Ash, grinning. The latter two nodded, smiling.

"Are you gonna just use Pikachu again?" Bonnie asked curiously. Ash shook his head. "Lucario?" Ash grinned and shook his head again, grabbing his paper.

Greninja. Ash wrote.

"Oh wow, are we gonna get to see Ash-Greninja then?" Dawn asked, leaning forwards towards Ash. She was wearing a rather low cut top, and Serena rolled her eyes at the obvious move. To her joy Ash didn't even glance at her. He just nodded, looking down at his food.

"We should get going then, the battles will start soon" Clemont chimed in, looking down at his Battle Program. The gang nodded and stood up, following Ash, Naomi, and Gary to the arena.

~~

"And with that, Naomi's Espeon wins! That means Naomi is moving on to the semifinals!" Naomi cheered and ran to hug her Espeon, happy with the result. Now it was just Ash left, Gary's battle was earlier in the day, which he finished with a win.

"Our next battle is Ash versus Kain! This is bound to be a very exciting battle!" The announcer exclaimed once the arena was cleared. After he finished, Ash took one side of the field while Kain took the other. Ash had been watching Kain since the beginning. He was very strong, but also very reckless. A dangerous opponent, because he does whatever he needs to in order to win.

"Salamence! Let's go!" The huge dragon type burst from its pokeball, causing Ash to raise an eyebrow. Salamence are strong, and that one looks very well trained. Ash tossed his pokeball out, exposing Greninja.

"Battle begin!" The ref called.

"Salamence, Mega Evolve!" Kain touched a stone on his wrist, and the beams of light reached out for the ones coming from the stone around Salamence's neck, turning the already powerful Pokémon into an even more powerful form.

Let's show them what we can do! Lucario barked the command. Ash closed his eyes while Greninja did the same. A huge waterspout engulfed Greninja, flaring out and settling on his back in the form of a Water Shurikan. He could now see what Greninja saw, and feel what he could feel. Ash didn't need Lucario for translation anymore.

"What?!" The announcer yelled. "It looks like a mega evolution, but there aren't any stones! This is incredible!"

"That's a neat trick, but my Mega Salamence can't be beat." Kain bragged. Ash and Greninja smirked as they settled into a battle stance. "Use Dragon Pulse!" A multicolored Dragon-shaped Beam of light exploded from Salamence's mouth, speeding towards Ash and Greninja.

They dodged, jumping quickly to the side, and the attack hit the ground next to them, sending up a plume of dirt and smoke.

Night Slash! They formed a sword-like beam of dark energy in their hand and jumped towards Salamence quickly. Bringing their arm down, the attack landed with deadly accuracy. Salamence sped towards the ground, crashing in a huge cloud of dust.

"Salamence! Get up and use Dragon Rush!" Salamence roared and glowed blue, and sped towards Greninja and Ash quickly. They didn't have time to dodge, and the attack hit them in the stomach hard.

Ash let out a painful gasp as they doubled over, and Greninja slid back a little. His almost newly re-healed ribs throbbed painfully, causing Ash to grimace.

"Uh oh! Ash can feel everything Greninja can when they're synced like that, and that was a hard hit, look how they're doubled over." Bonnie said anxiously. Serena was just worried about his ribs. Even though she knew he didn't take any physical damage from the attack, he's got to be feeling that where it hurts.