Ash walked up to his side as everyone found a seat, he already had a plan going forward but this kind of made things easier, well not easy per say.
Blaine would probably be the toughest Gym leader due to pure experience if it weren't for Psychic being broken in Kanto due to no Dark types and only like 2 good bug types.
But anyway to know his plan first you need to understand that Ash used the Mints, yes the nature-changing ones he finally got all the ones he needed and planted them to grow, he used it on some but not everyone but the only ones that are relevant at the moment are.
–
[✨Gyarados✨(M)]
Lonely → Adamant
[Kingler (F)]
Naive → Adamant
[Blastoise (M)]
Impish → Modest
–
1st he did change the Natures of a few more Pokemon but he also didn't have a lot left since they took a bit to grow so it's not relevant right now, and 2. Yes Krabby evolved, it only took like a day of training.
Anyway, that was the team he was going in with, he already knew which Pokemon Blaine was planning on using, so he held his first Pokeball to get ready.
Blaine spoke up, "Very well, this will be a handicap-style battle, the challenger Ash will be allowed 3 Pokemon and I will only be allowed 1, the winner is decided when one side has no usable Pokemon left, let us begin!"
Then Blaine released his Pokeball as Ash did the same, revealing a single crab Kingler who had a Life Orb vs a Charizard with an ornate necklace and a stone fixated on the center, a Charizardite Y.
Ash took the first move, "[Agility] then [Hone Claws]!"
Kingler's figure began to blur as she jumped from side to side and her claws began shining.
Blaine adjusted his glasses, "Charizard let's do this [Thunder Punch]"
Charizard's fist began to ignite in electricity as he dashed forward and aimed to send a punch straight to Kingler's head, but before that Kingler's figure disappeared and a moment later she reappeared above Charizard.
Ash looked up, "Now [Crabhammer]"
Kingler's big claw started growing as she sent a punch down directly for the back, but before that Charizard quickly flipped its body and caught the claw as it was slammed down to the field. Charizard did take damage but it managed to muffle the impact.
And fun fact, that was Life orb boosted, and thanks to Kingler's ability, Sheer Force, she didn't take any damage.
"Charizard [Seismic Toss]" Blaine commanded raising his good arm
Charizard was on its back but even still it didn't let go of Kingler's claw despite the fact that she tried pulling out, so Charizard used that momentum and threw Kingler into the air leaving her defenseless.
"Now [Brutal Swing]"
Ash heard this and grit his teeth, "Quick counter with [Brick Break]"
Charizard's fist glowed black as Kingler turned around and made her claw glow red, and when they got close they both clashed with their attacks, creating a shock that caused the changes to rattle.
But despite everything Charizard seemed relatively fine, Kingler was the one who was hurting more, just goes to show the difference in power, that this Charizard who is built to be a special attacker can still beat Kingler on Physical output.
But neither Ash nor Kingler stood down, "Kingler [Liquidation]"
"Charizard counter with [Slash]"
Kingler's large claw began to be covered in water as Charizard's arm glowed white, then they both ran at each other, clashing their attacks trying to gain the upper hand, then with one final attack they lashed causing them both to slide back.
"[Razor Shell]"
"[Iron Tail]"
Kingler turned around and with her small claw she aimed for Charizard's side, meanwhile, Charizard flipped around its tail glowing silver, and crashed with the claw, sending Kingler sliding back.
Blaine nodded in approval, "Not bad, but not good enough, I suppose we should get serious now," then he raised his sleeve revealing a Mega bracelet, and with his bandaged arm he taped it, "Mega evolve!"
Charizard's form was covered by a bright light, the energy coming off made the field begin to shake as the magma below began bubbling harder, and even though they were all inside the feeling of a bright sun loomed down on them.
Flying in the center was now Charizard Y, and its ability Drought created the effect of Sunny Day.
Before Ash could issue a command Charizard flew in and grabbed Kingler and helped her as it breathed a smoke he recognised a [Defog] into Kingler, resetting her boosts.
Ash grit his teeth, "Kingler [Hammer arm]"
Kingler raised her claw as it glowed red and she brought it down on Charizard, sending it back to the ground and onto a knee.
"Now [Rock Tomb]"
Kingler then brought her claw down, slamming the platform causing pillars of stone to rapidly approach Charizard and slamming it across the face
Blaine stepped in, "[Roost] then [Focus Blast]"
Charizard lowered his wings as he started resting and brought his arm forward, starting to shoot spheres of red energy toward Kingler.
Kingler and Ash knew that she didn't have much left, but they weren't going out without a fight, "[Liquidation] and cut through!"
Kingler's large Claw became a club, and her small claw grew a blade made of water as she began rushing forward, blocking and slashing at the spheres as they came, some hitting her but she still moved through until she got close.
Then with a flourish she jumped and sent a slash at Charizard's cheek and a punch to its chest.
"Now do [Rain Dance]"
Blaine frowned, "I won't let you, Charizard finish this with [Solar Beam]"
Kingler raised her claw to begin the move, but Charizard was faster as it instantly shot a pale green beam into Kingler and sent her crashing into one of the chains and on her back.
Everyone immediately thought Kingler was unable to battle, so Blaine nodded, "Quite impressive, to do that much is rare even for a water type, but no matter, send your next Pokemon."
But Ash just smiled, "But it's not over yet," then he snapped, Kingler weekly raised her claw and shot an orb into the air, creating a cloud, and it began raining, after that Kingler finally went down with spirals in her eyes.
Ash returned Kingler to her ball, meanwhile, the sound of water touching magma was heard, "She did her job, so it's time they don't make it a waste, Gyarados!"
From the Ball the familiar sight of the red sea serpent arose as he looked down at Charizard, however, Charizard didn't see Gyarados as stronger.
Blaine also remained stoic, "Well played, Charizard [Thunder Punch]"
Ash smiled back, "As if, [Dragon Dance] into [Iron Tail]"
Gyarados's eyes glowed purple for a moment as he spun around with his tail glowing silver and slashed into Charizard's fist. Turning the air heavy from the crash.
Ash didn't back down, "Now [Aqua Tail]"
Gyarados shifted his tail as it began to be covered in water, Charizard noticed but it was too late as Gyarados flipped his body using his weight to slam Charizard to the ground.
Ash didn't let him recover, "[Crunch]"
"Get back into the sky and [Air Slash]"
Charizard used its arms and moved itself out of the way before spinning and going airborne again and flapping its wings sending blades of wind into Gyarados' side.
"Now [Hyper Beam]"
Charizard raised its head and shot down a yellow-orange beam of energy from its mouth that collided with Gyarados, sending him back down crashing and making the chains rattle more.
Charizard had to take a moment to recover as everyone watching looked holding their breaths seeing if Gyarados was still up.
After a moment indeed Gyarados returned from the smoke and started flying through the air after Charizard, though there was a distinct yellow juice from a Figy Berry he had in his mouth.
"You didn't think it would be that easy, [Stone Edge]"
A light gray ring of stones appeared around Gyarados' tail, and then with a flick he started shooting them at Charizard who couldn't evade when he was out of stones he flipped and slapped it back down.
Charizard stumbled to get back up, it felt that one, and it wasn't pleasant so it looked up for Blaine's order, "[Roost] then [Ancient Power]!"
Charizard went back to the ground as it tried to recover, meanwhile, stones began circling around its body.
But Ash looked at Blaine and smirked "Big mistake, [Earthquake]!"
Blaine was surprised, and before he could tell Charizard to cancel the command, Gyarados flipped around and sent a til slap directly to the ground creating a small quake and a mini explosion under Charizard.
Charizard was sent back and started sweating as it was being pushed back, the only redeeming part about this was that Gyarados was also breathing heavily. But both sides still wanted to continue.
"Charizard use [Dragon Pulse"]
"Gyarados use [Thunderbolt]"
Both fake dragons shot out a respective blast they collided in the center, both fighting to see which one could overpower the other, but it was quite clear, as the purple fire began to push through and reached Gyarados.
As soon as it did, the area where he stood exploded in purple and blue fire, and Gyarados fell over with spirals in his eyes.
Ash returned Gyarados as Blaine nodded approvingly, "Quite impressive, I can't remember the last time someone pushed this Charizard so far, I can see why you lot were able to beat 3 admins."
"Thanks for the praise, but this isn't over, I still have 1 final Pokemon," Ash threw out his last Pokeball, and from it came a large turtle who made the chains rattle from its weight, Blastoise.
Blaine nodded as everyone watching was surprised to see this since none of them knew Ash had evolved Wartortle yet.
Blaine raised his arm, "Charizard let's keep going, [Hurricane]"
Charizard started flapping its wings violently creating multiple crescent-shaped energy blades flying towards Blastoise.
Blastoise smirked as he herd Ash's voice, "[Shell Smash] then [Jet Punch]"
Blastoise's body was covered in a white light that then cracked leaving him weakened, that is until he bit down on the White herb he had in his mouth, getting rid of the Defence drop.
Then as the blades approached him he retracted his feet and began shooting out jets of water moving through the air and dodging the blades surprising everyone, then with a flick, Blastoise aimed a water-covered fist to Charizard's face.
Charizard felt the pain but didn't back down, but what really surprised everyone was that Blastoise stayed in the air, he was constantly shooting water out of his feet so he remained airborne.
Blaine threw his good arm forward, "[Focus Blast]!"
Charizard snapped out of his trance and started shooting multiple orbs through the air aiming to send Blastoise back down.
The blasts crashed into his shell but he didn't fall, as Ash yelled up, "[Aura Sphere]"
Blastoise retaliated by sending one of his own back toward Charizard, but this wasn't aimed to damage it but to slow down its movements since it was aimed at its wing.
Charizard noticed too late as its left wing got shot forcing his right to put in more effort, Blaine started looking for a way to turn this situation around, but Ash didn't stop.
"Now [Hydro Pump]!"
Blastoise pulled out his cannons and shot forward a powerful blast of water that sent it falling to the ground only barely touching itself before it crashed.
"Quickly [Roost]!"
"Wrong move!" Ash rescinded with a smirk, "Let's end this [Gamera Spinner (Rapid Spin + Aura Sphere+Water Pulse)]
From the air, Blastoise curled back into his shell and he started spinning while releasing Aura and Water creating blades around his body, then without his propulsion, he started falling towards Charizard.
Charizard just gave up his ability to fly, so even though it tried it also failed to get out of the way as Blastoise crashed down.
The stadium shook and cracks appeared across it, the chains looked like they were barely still holding on, but they did and for a moment everything remained silent until the smoke cleared.
From it Blastoise walked out dusting off his shell and looking into the crater revealed Charizard, just Charizard as he was knocked out of his Mega form.
Then clapping came from the side as everyone started clapping, some more enthusiastically than others since Ash managed to win.
Blaine even joined in as he walked forward, "Congratulations, you have emerged victorious." Then he grabbed the Badge from the table and represented it to Ash, "So then, it is my honor to award you the Volcano Badge,"
Ash took it, almost feeling a certain someone warning him to not do something stupid again then he turned to everyone and especially Gary and Green.
"Yeah, I Earned the Volcano Badge!" really emphasizing on the word 'Earned'
---
Important question, so I was looking back at the earlier chapters and when I reread them, I gotta say I kinda want to rewrite them, but at the same time I don't want to erase all the comments since I do like reading them.
I just want your guy's opinion, since I think we can all agree I am a better writer now than I was a year ago.