Ash's Pokémon Journey

Chapter 81-85

May and the others in the seats were happy that Ash won, especially May. Harley returned his Cacturne and walked off in a huff. He also vowed to defeat May and Ash when they meet at the Grand Festival. Ash's final opponent was a girl named Jill and she owned Bellossom. Jill and Bellossom did what they could against Ash and Grovyle, but Ash and Grovyle were stronger than them, and Bellossom was soon defeated.

So Ash was the winner of the Dusk Contest and was presented the Dusk Ribbon. "Ash, this is your fifth contest ribbon right?" asked Mr Contesta. "Yes sir it is" answered Ash. "Well then Ash, this means you have the right to enter the Grand Festival," said Mr Contesta "I look forward to see your performances there". Ash was happy to hear that as well as happy to have earned five contest ribbons. Brock, Tomo, May and Max were happy for Ash. "And now I just need one more ribbon for the Grand Festival" said May. She was willing to earn her fifth ribbon and enter the Grand Festival at any costs.

Sometime after the Dusk Contest, the gang had left Izabe Island and had come to a city called Sootopolis Gym. This city was where Ash could earn his final gym badge for the Hoenn League. "Finally I can earn my last gym badge," said Ash "then I can register up for the Hoenn League". "I wonder what this gym leader is like" said Tomo. Brock took a look in the guidebook. "Well it says here that the gym leader is a man named Juan and he uses water type pokemon, just like Misty in Cerulean City," said Brock "oh and it says here that Juan was a coordinator in his time and he became top coordinator". "Well this is going to make the gym battle more interesting" said Ash. "There is something else here about the Sootopolis Gym," said Brock "it says that the gym used to be run by a man named Wallace". "Oh yeah I've heard of Wallace," said Max "he was a coordinator too before he became the gym leader and he too became top coordinator. But he's now training to aim to become the new champion of Hoenn". "That means he's going to try to beat Steven, which of course won't be easy for him" said Ash. Ash and the gang knew that Steven was not an easy trainer to beat.

The gang soon arrived at Sootopolis Gym and to their surprise the gym looked like a big concert hall and it had a big garden. "Wow," said May "this is the fanciest gym that I have ever seen". "I wonder what it's like inside" said Max. Just then a butler came up to the gang. "Greetings I am Sebastian the butler of the Sootopolis Gym," he said "what business do you kids have here?" "We are here so that I can battle the gym leader of this gym" said Ash. "I see," said Sebastian "then please follow me and I will take you to meet the gym leader".

Sebastian led the gang to inside the gym; the battle room was huge and it had a huge swimming pool as a battle field. It was nearly the same as the Cerulean Gym. A man, who dressed like a conductor, stood near the pool; this man was the gym leader Juan. "Master Juan, this young man wishes to challenge you to a gym battle" said Sebastian. Ash introduced himself to Juan and Juan accepted Ash's challenge. "I look forward to seeing on how you battle Ash" said Juan. Ash and Juan took their places on the trainer boxes, which were in fact diving boards of the pool. Sebastian, who was the referee, explained the gym rules. These rules were different to the rules that Ash normally heard. This time it was a five on five pokemon battle, but the gym battle was in two rounds. The first round was to be a double pokemon battle and once the challenger defeated the gym leader's two pokemon, it will be a normal three on three battle with the last three pokemon. Ash was surprised with the rules, but he still couldn't wait to battle especially since he intended to win the gym badge.

Juan called out his two pokemon first, a Sealeo and a Seaking. "Since Juan uses water types, it's clear that Ash will be using his electric and grass pokemon" said Max. The others agreed. Of course Ash did send out Pikachu first and for his second pokemon, he called out Corphish. "Why use Corphish?" asked May. "He's using Corphish to save his other pokemon for last," explained Brock "we don't know what attacks Juan's pokemon will use, so Ash is using Corphish first for back up". Ash ordered Pikachu to use thunderbolt on Seaking, but Seaking used horn drill. And when it did that, Pikachu's thunderbolt got repelled by Seaking's horn and it bounced back at Pikachu. "Use protect Corphish" said Ash. Corphish went in front of Pikachu and used protect; so both Pikachu and Corphish didn't get hit by the thunderbolt. "That was good defense indeed Ash," said Juan "but you will have to do more than that to defeat me". Ash decided to try something else rather than use Pikachu's electricity. "Okay Pikachu use swift," he said "and Corphish you use sword dance". Corphish's pincers glowed blue and Corphish stretched them into the air, making him feel stronger, which Pikachu used swift which hit both Sealeo and Seaking. "A good move Ash," said Juan "but let's see how you handle this. Sealeo use your blizzard". Sealeo blew a strong blizzard attack at Pikachu and Corphish. Pikachu of course didn't like it and neither did Corphish, although being a water type Corphish wasn't fazed as much by the blizzard as Pikachu was. "Okay Corphish let Pikachu ride on you so that both of you can attack Seaking and Sealeo together" said Ash. Pikachu jumped onto Corphish's back, as Corphish jumped into the pool, and rode on him in like a surfboard. "Okay, Pikachu you use thunder punch and Corphish you use metal claw". Corphish swam towards Seaking and Sealeo, while he and Pikachu got ready to do their attacks. "A straight forward move huh?" said Juan "a very brave move. Okay Seaking you use hyper beam and Sealeo you use aurora beam". Sealeo and Seaking fired their aurora beam and hyper beam attacks towards Corphish and Pikachu. "Dive Corphish" said Ash. Corphish dived under the water, with Pikachu still on his back, and the two attacks missed them. Then Corphish and Pikachu came out of the water and then Corphish struck Sealeo with metal claw and Pikachu attacked Seaking with thunder punch.