Gary and Green walked back into the waiting room, Gary already got the Blastoisinite from the ground where it was thrown and Green was looking more upset than anything.
As they entered they saw Ash sitting on the couch of the lounge, "So, Gary ended up winning huh,"
"Did you expect anything else," Gary said smugly.
Green sighed, "It's not fair, I mean you pulled out that second Mega stone that we didn't even know you had,"
"Yeah, never mind that's exactly what you did against that Alolan Girl, Mina," Ash said rolling his eyes.
"Hey, that's different!" Green said defensively.
"How?" Ash asked
She shrugged "I dunno, but it was worth a shot,"
Gary sighed, "Well serves you right, you tried to keep me from Mega evolving, so you don't get to complain,"
"Hey it's not my fault you're salty about my perfect plan if you didn't conveniently have another one I would have won," Green argued
"Yeah well not my problem that you can't accept it, but look on the bright side, you can at least fight for 3rd place," Gary said smugly.
As they continued the banter with each other from the door, Remo walked in and walked up to them, catching their attention.
He smiled and leaned down looking at Gary, "So you're the one I'm going to face during the final, grandson of Oak, didn't expect I'd find 1 person much less 3 with Mega Evolution, but it should make the finals interesting."
Ash's eye twitched, "Hey, you do realize you're fighting me next, why are you already talking about the finals."
Remo chuckled, "Ha don't make me laugh kid, your Mega Beedrill stand no chance against me, this battle will be a cakewalk, but hey at least you can battle with your little girlfriend for 3rd place."
Green slightly finched at that, but Ash rolled his eyes at Remo's remark, "Right, because that's Totally my only Mega, oh how scared I am of the big man fighting a 10-year-old."
Remo clearly didn't understand the sarcasm and laughed, "Now you're getting it," then he slapped Ash on the shoulder, "But don't feel too bad, you can always say you lost to the future strongest Dragon master!"
Then before they could say anything he walked off to enter the field laughing, leaving the 3 of them to lock at his back with a deadpan expression.
"Man, he is cocky ain't he," Gary said, "And did you hear what he said, Dragon master? He has 1 dragon type, at least Lance's look like dragons."
"Tell me about it," Ash shook his head, "He probably came to Kanto expecting to be the top dog and he probably wants to go challenge the elite 4."
"Yeah, welp shame he's not going to," Ash said, getting a chuckle from Gary.
Gary walked out and grabbed Green by the back of her Hoodie's hood to pull her out behind him, "Well good luck and all that stuff, anyway see you in the finals,"
—
Ash was standing on the red corner as Remo stood on the green holding his umbrella and smiling.
"Everyone it is time for the second and last match of the top 4, we both have trainers that have come far for this so let's not waste any time." the announcer said as enthusiastically as ever.
"On this side, we have the last of the rookie trio, Ash of Pallet Town!"
"And on the other we have Remo coming all the way from the Kalos region!"
"Who among these 2 will come out victorious, well you all know the rules by now, so both trainers may send out their Pokemon!"
"Grano, let's do this!"
"Kingler I choose you,"
On Remo's side, Grano the Granbull stomped on the ground and on the other Kingler hopped up brandishing her claw.
"Begin!"
Ash took the first move "Kingler use [Metal Claw]!"
Kingler's big claw glowed silver as she rushed forward her trusty Life Orb on her as always glowing, then as she rushed forward she swung the big claw down,
"Grano jump back and [Brick Break]," Remo commanded.
Grano managed to barely dodge the incoming hit but the shockwave from Kingler's claw hitting the ground left a cracked ground making Grano stumble for a moment before sending a punch at Kingler's face.
Kingler noticed the punch coming and as if on instinct her body glowed a sliver Colour as she used [Iron Defense] without being told, making the damage minimal.
Ash smiled, "[Rock Tomb] and make distance!"
Kingler slammed her claw into the ground and pulled out a comically large stone out of the ground and threw it at Grano, Grano managed to catch it but it did hit him and sent him sliding back.
As Grano was sent back Ash took advantage, "[Swords Dance] then [Liquidation],"
Swords appeared around Kingler, then her small claw became a sword and her large one a hammer, and then she ran after Grano.
Remo noticed Kingler rushing forward and raised his arm out, "Grano, [Fling]!"
Grano took the comically large stone and threw it back at Kingler, everyone expected her to take it and crash into the ground, but the next thing that happened shocked them.
Kingler jumped up and slashed at the rock, slicing it in half and coming down to deliver another slash at Grano as the 2 slices of stone crashed behind her.
Grano felt the pain of the slash but he held himself up and stomped on the ground herring Remo's command, "[Play Rough!]"
Grano jumped forward crashing and fighting dirty with Kingler pulling at her legs and stomping on her head, but Kingler's attack didn't fall, in fact, Grano has the ability Intimidate, but Kingler didn't lose attack then either.
How is that possible you may ask, well remember back when Ash got some Ability Capsules from Team Rocket, well he used one on Kingler and it ended up unlocking her other normal ability Hyper Cutter.
So her attack was not cut, but Grano will be, as Kingler managed to throw him off of her and punch the dog with her big claw.
"[Close Combat] Grano," Remo commanded.
The pink dog got up yet again and started punching and kicking Kingler multiple times, but also it ended with his defenses being dropped.
Ash saw the twitch in Remo's hand as he realized he was going for his Pokeball so Ash called out first, "Don't let them escape, [Whirlpool]!"
Kingler extended her claw and from it a tornado of water was made and caught Grano inside of it, sending the poor dog spinning and not letting Remo get a clear shot to return him.
Ash pointed towards the top, "Jump up and use [Crabhammer]!"
Kingler followed and jumped on one of the sliced pieces of rock as leverage before jumping to the top where Grano was spinning around, then her claw glowed blue as she sent a downward slam sending them both through the [Whirlpool] and back to the ground.
When the water dispersed there they could all see Kingler with her claw over the unconscious pink dog.
Remo looked flabbergasted that the first Pokemon to go down was his, but he quickly shook his head and retired Grano and bright his next Pokmeon, his Bouffalant, who he named Bouffo.
Kingler was already kinda tired from Grano so Remo called out, "Bouffo use [Head Charge]!"
Bouffo shook his head and puffed out air from his nose heavily, before charging at the Crab, and with his ability Reckless it was even stronger,
Ash pointed straight forward "Meet him halfway, [Crabhammer]!"
Kingler's claw glowed blue again as she ran forward and sent a punch directly at Bouffo's head as they clashed for a moment creating a pulse of air to shoot out as a result of their clash.
Maybe if Kingler wasn't already hurt she could have overpowered Bouffo, but instead, Bouffo pushed just harder than her and sent her back flying, and knocked her out as he took some recoil.
Ash returned Kingler, already expecting this one since she was going against a fresh Bouffalant, but he already had his next Pokemon Pidgeot who flew onto the field.
Remo narrowed his eyes but still smiled, "Alrught Bouffo [Iron Head]!"
Bouffo the Bouffalant's head glowed silver as he started charging forward aiming to bash the bird to the ground.
"[Air Slash]!" Ash commanded.
Pidgeot raised his wings and Flapped creating multiple small Blades of wind that started crashing into Bouffo one after the other, slowing him down but not completely as Bouffo sent a weak bash into Pidgeot.
"Use [Return]," Ash commanded.
"You do the same!" Remo said.
Pidgeot flew up as he brought his talons down aiming to slash at Bouffo's face, but Bouffo shook his head and sent a headbutt into Pidgeot's stomach, but as he did Pidgeot pecked Bouffo in the face.
Then as Bouffo was forced to close his eyes to protect them in case Pidgeot continued, Pidgeot flew up and used his talons to jump off Bouffo's face.
"Fly up and [Heat Wave]!"
Pidgeot flew above Bouffo and sent orange wind down at Bouffo, making Bouffo get pushed back from the air struggling to keep his eyes open.
But Remo held his hand out, "Bouffo use [Rock Slide] to hit that bird!"
Under the heat of the attack, Bouffo runs to a Nearby rock and delivers a hind kick sending it flying up and hitting Pidgeot making him drop concentration and start to fall.
Remo then smiled, "Now full power, [Head Charge]!"
Ash also made a command, "Pidgeot [Brave Bird]!"
As Pidgeot was falling he recovered and spun around as he shot down with his wings back aimed like a missile, making his Body get covered in flames, and on the other side Bouffo started charging as his afro started glowing red.
When they both reached each other the clash caused Rocks to go flying and dust to be stored up, one was trying to overpower the other no matter how much it was hurting them just as much.
Then with 1 final push, they both fell to the ground kicking up a dust cloud, when it cleared Bouffo was down and Pidgeot was just barely still up.
Remo returned Bouffo and Ash decided to do the same for Pidgeot, then Remo looked at Ash, "Not bad kid, this is actually more fun than I thought, but you're still going to lose, go Gurdo!"
From the Pokeball came Gurdo the Gurdurr, who stomped on the ground holding his metal beam.
Ash already had a Pokemon in mind even before seeing Gurdo as he sent out Machamp who came onto the field excited for battle.
"Alright! [Bulk Up] then [Brick Break]," Remo said, spinning his umbrella and pointing it at Machamp.
"Alright [Power-up punch]!" Ash commanded back
Gurdo's muscles pulsating as they grew and he ran forward ready to slap Machamp with the steel beam.
Machamp however ran forward and with his top 2 hands caught the beam and with the bottom right he sent a glowing red punch, because then with the bottom left he sent yet another glowing punch, and yes they both gave him +1.
Gurdo pulled his beam out of Machamp's grip and he used it as a spear to poke into Machamp's chest.
Ash raised his arm, "Ok then [Fire Punch]!"
Machamp pushed the beam to the ground as he closed the distance delivering 2 Separate flaming punches directly into Gurdo's face sending him sliding back, and when he looked up suddenly he felt the burns on his face, he got Burned.
But in this situation, Gurdo and Remo smiled since now that he was Burned Guts activated, as his veins started pulsating more and steam came out of his mouth.
"Gurdo [Drain Punch]!"
Gurdo used the beam as a Leverage as he managed to spin around the air and then bright the beam down like a hammer hitting harder than Machamp expected and healing Gurdo a bit.
But then Machamp's hand came out from below and grabbed the Beam and there everyone could see Machamp was smiling, after all, before this he wasn't taking this seriously, but now that he deems Gurdo a worthy fight with Guts he got the +1.
"Use [Dynamic Punch]!" Ash commanded.
Machamp still held Gurdo's beam as he brought his fist down and punched him, then a second fist came in sending him back, and also making him confused.
Gurdo got back up using the beam as a cane then spun it around and puting it over his shoulder breathing heavily.
Remo called out, "Use [Low Sweep] then [Hammer Arm]!"
Gurdo swung his beam at Machamp's legs causing him to fall over onto his back, as then Gurdo brought the beam back up ready to use it as a hammer, but just before it landed Machamp brought his hands up catching it before it could land on him.
"Get up with [Rolling Kick]!"
Machamp used 2 hands as leverage and 2 more to hold the beam as he spun his body around, kicked Gurdo across the face, and then flipped back to his feet.
"Now end this with [Close Combat]!"
Machamp dashed forward and started repeatedly punching and kicking Gurdo multiple times with each of his arms before finally sending one final punch and sending Gurdo face-first into the ground with his beam falling on him.
This means that now Remo was down 3 Pokemon putting him at a disadvantage.
For the first time, Remo thought that this battle was going to be harder than he originally thought.
--
Quick thought, how long do you guys think I spend on a chapter? I'm genuinely curious