A Brand New Journey

Chapter 20 : "I won't lose again!"

Ash's POV

"And now the next matchups will be displayed on the board! Good luck trainers!" Everyone's eyes immediately turned to the board as it lit up, showing next round's matchups. I looked at it, trying to find my face. And I soon did, I smiled happily. At least this time, my match was somewhere in the middle. It's about time! I've been longing to battle someone.

"So we meet again."

Before I even had the chance to see who I was up against, a voice said to me. I turned around and looked in shock at who it was.

"Trip?"

"It's been a long time Ash. You better be ready to lose once you fight with me." As he said that, he walked away. I looked to the board again, and just my luck, I was up against Trip. Of course.

I thought back to the Unova League and my battle with Trip during the preliminaries. That was a really long time ago. I smiled at the memory.

Unbeknownst to him, Trip, who had just left, had much different thoughts. 'Ash Ketchum...' he thought, anger boiling inside of him. 'I will defeat you this time!'

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3 hours before the match...

I walked towards the dark alley, following the instructions the man had given me. To say I was only a little bit scared would be a huge understatement. 'Why did I come here again?' I thought, gulping as I walked deeper into the alley. Actually, the reason I came here was because I had heard some people talking about a legendary pokemon here that could help you win all your battles. But in this alley, there is also lurking a bunch of strong and violent wild pokemon, which makes it hard to get close to the legendary pokemon. Curious, I thought that since my battle wasn't going to start now, and since I had about 3 hours, I decided to go and have a look.

I heard some shuffling beside me, and I quickly took out a pokeball. An Energy Ball came towards me. I jumped to the side, dodging it and throwing the pokeball. From inside of the pokeball, came out Krookodile. "Krookodile, use Stone Edge!" Krookodile punched the ground with its fist, blue stones emiting from the ground where Krookodile's hand was. The opposing pokemon slithered around it, easily dodging the attacks. 'This pokemon sure is fast...' I thought, gritting my teeth as I tried to think of a way to damage it.

"Frenzy Plant!" 'Wait, this pokemon has a trainer?'

"Wait stop!" Silence. "I'm not trying to pick a fight. I just came here to find the legendary pokemon." Silence. 'Did they not hear me?' "Hey-" 

The person walked out of the shadows, and I finally got to see him. "Trip? You're here too?" He nodded, and his Serperior came out beside him as well. 'No wonder that pokemon was fast...Looks like it might be tougher to beat Trip this time.'

"You came here to find that legendary pokemon too?" Trip looked at me for a second, before turning around and walking deeper into the alley. "Trip! Hey! Wait up!"

I managed to catch up with him, and I walked beside him as we entered even deeper. Krookodile was walking beside me, making sure that there were no pokemon nearby trying to attack us. Serperior was doing the same. "So Trip, how've you been?" No reply. I was starting to think he was ignoring me. 'Well if he's going to ignore me, then I'll just ignore him!' I thought, pouting as I looked the other way.

Nidoqueen...

I turned around. Trip did the same. "Krookodile, use Dragon Claw!" "Serperior, Energy Ball!"