It took a moment, and everyone who didn't know just stayed silent. Also, as usual, this was being live-streamed and recorded to be put on the League website like all battles, so other people were seeing this with different reactions.
Pidgeotto was standing there with a stoic face. For a moment, everyone thought it was because he wasn't afraid, but a close look made everyone realize that Pidgeotto was just frozen in fear, sweating bullets.
Ash smiled and pushed his hat up, "Well, let's keep this party going!"
Falkner still had his mouth agape, but he shook his head and took a breath, "U-um, that's quite the Pokemon you got there,"
"Oh, this guy, yeah, he's kinda special," Ash said as Onix flexed his shimmering body, "Anyway, we can talk after this is a battle,"
"O-ok, yeah, you're right, Pidgeotto, let's do our best…." Falkner said as Pidgeotto was still frozen, but as he heard Falkner, he took a gulp and nodded, flapping higher into the sky and making Onix face to face.
Pidgeotto had a Silk Scarf, and Onix had an Eviolite
Falkner took a breath and got serious again, "Pidgeotto [Air Slash!]"
Pidgeotto gulped and started flapping his wings, shooting blades of air, even though it was resisted, Falkner knew Onix had notoriously bad special defense, so it would at least hurt.
As the blades came, Onix didn't try to dodge, and Ash didn't try it either as it clashed and did….nothing, well almost nothing, but far less than an Onix should take. Brock, specifically, who was an expert in Onix, was surprised with how well Onix took that attack.
Brock knows from experience that an Onix around Ash's level should at least get staggered a little, but it looked like Onix didn't even feel it.
Ash smiled, "Alright then, [Curse] then let's go in for a [Bind]!"
Onix's Body simmered a purple color as he started sliding across the ground, approaching Pidgeotto like a serpent.
"Pidgeotto! Fly into the sky then [Twister]!" Falkner commanded quickly
Pidgeotto spun around in the air and flew up as Onix jumped up and tried to catch him, as he flew up, he flipped around as his wings glowed purple and shot out a purple twister, sending it into the side of Onix.
Onix took it to his side but didn't flinch as Ash called out, "Let's give them something new, [Crystal Throw]"
Onix roared into the air as debris and rocks on the ground began turning into Crystal and floated as, with a slam of his tail, he sent the chunks of Crystal at Pidgeotto, which was by surprise.
Pidgeotto took multiple stones at his body and wing as he struggled to stay up, but he did and fixed his own position even with the pain in his wing.
Falkner took a breath and analyzed the area, looking for a way he might be able to win, Pidgeotto was not in good shape, one or two more of those and Pidgeotto would be out, so he had to think, and that's when he got an idea, " Pidgeotto [Whirlwind] on the ground!"
While people were confused by the change in strategy, Pidgeotto didn't hesitate and created a strong gust of air into the ground, creating strong winds around the battlefield.
Ash was looking around to see what Falkner's game plan was; this wasn't one of the strategies he was familiar with, so he gave a rare frown, "Onix, stop them now, [Crystal Throw] again!"
Onix slammed his tail on the ground again, shooting up small chunks at Pidgeotto. However, Pidgeotto didn't stop flapping his wings, creating strong wings, as he did it, the pieces of Crystal stopped flying and joined in the momentum of the winds in the area.
"Now or never, Pidgeotto, get close now!" Falkner commanded as Pidgeotto road the winds and quickly appeared around and behind Onix at a speed they didn't expect as Falkner made his do or die, "[Toxic]"
As Ash's eyes widened, he couldn't even tell Onix to run, and the [Curse] made it nearly impossible, Pidgeotto flapped his wings, shooting out toxic spores from his body that hit Onix and poisoned him.
Onix coughed as the spore came into his body. He tried to swing his tail to swipe at the bird, but he used the strong winds to move out of the way quickly and flew away.
Falkner didn't give them a moment to relax, "Pidgeotto hit and run! [Return]"
Pidgeotto began riding the wind and going in and out, swiping at Onix from each side, running if Onix tried to retaliate, all the while, the poison was doing most of the work.
Ash sighed and shook his head, "Oh, you have to be kidding me, stall, really,"
"Gotta do what you gotta do," Falkner said
"You know I have a friend who always said there's a special place in hell for Stall strategies, but I guess I can scold you for that later,"
"You're saying that like you're planning on winning right now. You can't even hit my Pidgeotto," Falkner said, smiling.
But Ash only smiled back, "I don't need to,"
Before anyone could question what he meant, Ash called out, "Onix [Crystal Edge] right…..now!"
The reason Ash wanted for a moment was so that Pidgeotto would be in the perfect position, so as Onix got the command, he slammed his tail into the ground as a hunk of Crystal shot out and made a pillar,
Due to the position Pidgeotto was in and the wind pushing him along, he could not move as he crashed directly into the Crystal, making Falkner's face fall.
Ash smirked back, "Now let's end this, Onix, [Crystal Tomb]"
Onix slammed his Tail into the pillar of Crystal as it broke off chunks, Pidgeotto tried to run, but crashing onto the wall made him dizzy. As the Crystal came, he was buried under them.
It took a moment, and the ref ran over and checked, confirming Pidgeotto was knocked out, Onix helped move the Crystal, and Falkner returned him back to his ball.
"Not bad, actually scratch that, really good, I didn't see that coming; you've got me down to my last Pokemon, and you know what, I'm excited!" Falkner said, holding his last Pokeball
"Well, come on, bring it out, or do you want the poison to knock out Onix first,"
Falkner chuckled, "No, here we go," he said as he threw out his last Pokemon, a Skarmory, but it wasn't the one he had from before. This was a different one, and it had a, Leftovers.
"Alright, Onix, let's do as much as we can, [Crystal Throw]," Ash commanded
Falkner followed up, "Let's do this, [Steel Wing]!"
As Onix slammed his tail into the round, shooting up chunks of Crystal, Skarmory's wings glowed brightly as it dive-bombed down, as it did, Skarmory began slicing into the Crystal, cutting some, slicing others. It managed to avoid most, but it did take some damage.
Then it arrived next to Onix and sliced across Onix's face, making him grunt in pain, as the poison was still doing most of the work.
Ash quickly commanded, "[Bind]!"
Onix's tail came by surprise and grabbed Skarmory and began to squeeze as he stared down at the metal bird.
Ash made one last command, "Now use [Dragon Pulse]"
Onix raised Skarmory close to his face as a purple energy formed in his mouth, then, at that moment, the poison finally took Onix down, but at a last moment, he shot out the beam, hitting Skarmory as Onix fell over.
Both Onix and Skarmory fell onto the ground, but Skarmory got back up, all be it a bit extra crispy, but it was fine.
Ash returned Onix and quickly put an Antidote on the rock snake, then put him away, getting his last Pokeball, "Alright then, you like surprises, let's give you everything we got,"
Ash threw out his Pokeball, and out of it came Fuecoco with another Eviolite, who stretched his little body and looked around.
"Coco?" Fuecoco said as he looked back, seeing Ash and another Pokemon. He realized that this was the battle Ash told him about and started bouncing and singing.
Yet again, those who didn't know were surprised to see another Pokemon they hadn't seen, but right now was no time to ask questions that could come later,
"Alright, Fuecoco, use [Ember]!" Ash commanded
Fuecoco bounced around and started spitting out small flames at the metal bird,
"Skarmory, take to the sky and use [Aerial Ace]!"
Skarmory spun around and dodged the flames and then shot down again, taking into Fuecoco's side.
As Fuecoco took it, he didn't stagger back. Instead, he bit down on the wing that hit him and didn't let go, even when Skarmory went into the sky.
"Get him off of you, [Peck]" Falkner commanded
Skarmory began to start pecking at Fuecoco, but he took all of it and didn't let go, even when they flew higher.
Ash yelled out as they were in the sky, "Fuecoco [Fire Fang] and spin!"
Fuecoco's mouth ignited in flames as he bit down harder, causing Skarmory pain, then Fuecoco hushed his small legs and momentum from the small shock of pain to hold Skarmory's wing behind him and spin to the ground.
Skarmory came crashing down, and Fuecoco rode on its back laughing as they crashed, Fuecoco's used Skarmory to take the damage as he jumped off completely fine, laughing and treating this as a game.
Skarmory struggled but managed to get up and was understandably annoyed.
Falkner saw that this was much more complicated than they thought, such a small Pokemon causing a big problem Ash had the advantage, so he had to change his strategy, "Skarmory use [House of Murder!]"
Skarmory spread into multiple afterimage clones that flew up and surrounded the sky, blocking the glass ceiling's light, as Fuecoco looked around, a Skarmory came down and hit him with a strong hit, and then another came down when Fuecoco bit it it was nothing more than a clone.
Brock was the only one who knew about this move since he was there and saw how effective it was against even Entei. He wanted to say something, but one, he didn't see a weakness with this attack, and another, Ash was Ash he didn't want advice in the middle of battle, even if it meant he would win or lose. He could give it, but if Ash even listened, it was a different story.
Ash was looking around, analyzing the scene before him. He could cheat with Aura, but that would be too easy, he wanted to find another way, as Skarmory kept coming down, hitting Fuecoco, then more came down that was just fake, a thought came to Ash's head.
They were fake, that's how he could do it, Ash smiled, "This is a nice move, but I've just mastered it,"
Falkner's eyes widened at Ash's words; this was an attack his father taught him; he himself said that no one has ever been able to break out of it, yet Ash says he found a way.
Ash smirked, "Fuecoco use [Stomping Tantrum]"
Now, People were confused, that wouldn't deal any damage, even though flying types and Levitate weren't perfect, Skarmory was in the sky, so this seemed useless.
But while they thought that they didn't realize the point of this wasn't to do damage, as Fuecoco began stomping on the ground, rocks, and dirt were spread everywhere, and dust began floating everywhere in something that resembled a smoke screen.
As he did that, another clone came in, but Ash and Fuecoco didn't make a move as that one fizzled out as it was another clone, then another one and another clone, and again and again, when suddenly another Skarmory came down, and this time it was different.
Every time one of the clones came down, the dust wouldn't move, but as this one came down, the dust started to split, meaning this one was real. At that point, everyone realized the actual point of the attack was to expose which one was real because the clones were just fake things, they never existed.
"Now!" Ash commanded as Fuecoco turned around and shot a [Incinerate] point blank at Skarmory.
Skarmory's eyes were covered, and the leftovers were destroyed, Fuecoco jumped to the side as Skarmory crashed into the ground.
"Now, end this!"
Fuecoco jumped up and shot another [Incinerate] at Skarmory's back, causing the bird to Screech in pain before finally falling over unconscious.
Once the battle was over, Fuecoco began jumping and singing, "Co~coco~co ~!" he ran up to Ash and jumped into his arms.
Everyone was silent after that battle; they saw a lot of things they didn't expect, and now, after that, Ash was being silly with Fuecoco….. classic Ash.
Falkner walked up to Skarmory and kneeled, putting Skarmory back in his ball, "You did good,"
Then he walked up to Ash, who was chuckling as Fuecoco was dancing on his shoulder, he got in front of Ash and gave a smile.
"I have to say, I knew you were a good battler, but this was something else, I didn't think I'd ever see what you showed me here, you more than earned this," Falkner said as he held out the Zephyr Badge.
Ash took it and smiled as it shined, "Alright, first badge here in Johto,"
As he was looking at it from the bleachers where everyone was watching, Yellow was clapping as Chuchu was taking care of Pikachu, and Brock and Misty were also clapping.
As this was happening, Green looked over at Silver, "So, think you're ready, if you are, we can go right now~" she said teasingly.
Silver coughed and looked away, "Well, I guess…I could use a little more training, but not much, ok?"
Green chuckled and patted Silver's head, "Sure, keep telling yourself that little bro,"