The Champion Of the Mountain

Chapter 7: Moving Up The Ladder

Ash's POV
"Alright folks!" Charles announced "The time has come for the semi finals!" The crowd went wild, cheers and whistling were heard everywhere. Charles raised his hand up to silence them "Alright so this is how it works! Each trainer has to win 5 battles in a row in order to progress into the semi finals! Trainers must have only 3 Pokémon! If a trainer loses even one battle, they can't get in. So count your lucky stars and let the battling begin!"

"Hope your ready! Vaporeon let's go!" My opponent called out as the water type eeveelution appeared on the field. "Pikachu, I choose you!" I shouted as he jumped off my shoulder.

"Let the battle begin!"

"Vaporeon! Use hydro pump!" My opponent commanded as his vaporeon shot a beam of water from its mouth. "Pikachu, use thunderbolt." I calmly said and Pikachu enleashed a powerful bolt of electricity, cutting through the hydro pump and hitting vaporeon directly, making it faint.

"Vaporeon is unable to battle! Pikachu is the winner!"

The crowd made some noise as my opponent sent out his next Pokémon, which was a Infernape. A powerful Pokémon indeed, but every Pokémon has its flaws.

"Infernape let's get this over with fast! flame wheel!" He called as infernape charged towards Pikachu at a surprising speed. He trained his Pokémon well. "The speed of that move was impressive, but speed isn't everything. I informed him, making him pretty confused. "Pikachu quick attack." As soon as I finished my command Pikachu surged ahead, his body disappearing as if he teleported, but he didn't. If you look hard enough you can tell. Infernape was now standing in the center of the field and Pikachu was circling him. The fear in his eyes, it was the same fear I once showed, all those years ago. "Pikachu stop circling it and use electro ball." I said and Pikachu stopped right in front of Infernape. Before Infernapes trainer could command him to do anything, he was already fainted on the ground. His trainers eye twitched with annoyance as he recalled his Pokémon.

"Alright folks! Trainer Cole is down to his last Pokémon!" The referee announced and the crowd went wild "The Champion Of The Mountain, Ash Ketchum, hasn't even lost one Pokémon! Will Trainer Cole make a comeback?!"

"Staraptor, give me strength!" Cole called as he released his final Pokémon. "Staraptor use Brave bird!" By his command, Staraptor flew up into the air and powerdived, generating a blue flame. Soon Staraptor charged at Pikachu, showing no fear.

"Pikachu, wait for Staraptor to get close, then use Iron tail!" I shouted and Pikachu just stood there, determined to win. Then, once Staraptor was close enough, Pikachu leaped into the air, frontflipped, and used the moment him to smack him with his tail toward the ground, fainting it.

"Staraptor is unable to battle! Pikachu is the winner! The winner is The Champion Of The Mountain!" The referee announced and the crowd went wild "This boy is very mysterious! I wonder what other mysteries he holds!"

As I walked towards the center to shake friends with Cole I noticed he was crying a bit. "It was a great battle." I said in an effort to cheer him up, but he kept crying "Are you ok?"

"No. I didn't make it. As you probably know, the prize money is 200,000 pokedollars. I wanted to win the tournament to get the money, not because I'm greedy, but because of my little sister. She needs surgery and we don't have enough funds, so I tried to get them by entering this tournament." Cole explained and I understood why he was crying.

"How much do you need?" I asked, surprising him "I have traveled all across the regions, winning gym battles and competing in tournaments. I can spare a couple thousand pokedollars."

"You would...help me?" He asked surprised "But you hardly know me, you don't even know if I'm telling the truth." I chuckled and explained to him that I'm an aura guardian. "Oh. Well we need 50,000 pokedollars."