The Road to our Destiny

Chapter 26

Marowak catches its bone and starts spinning it up into the air until a large Fire Blast comes out. The Fire Blast flies high to the ceiling until it explodes into several tiny balls of fire. The audience and the judges stare at the display until they suddenly roar with applause. Giselle smirks proudly before she and her Marowak take a bow and leave.

"I hate to admit it for Serena's sake, but that was a good performance," Brock says.

"Yeah, I didn't know Marowak could know Fire Punch and Fire Blast?" Ash asks.

"Alright, the judges have made their choices, so look at the screen to see who will be moving on to the next round," she says.

Ash, Brock, Pikachu, and the rest of the audience watch the screen intently. Giselle's picture is the first to appear, followed by several others. Ash, Brock, and Pikachu start to worry about Serena until her picture appears third to last. They sigh in relief before cheering for the honey blonde girl as the audience applauds for everyone who is moving on.

"Alright, now we'll randomly decide who will compete against each other in the battle stage," Lilian announces.

The pictures on the screen get mixed together and move around until a bracket appears to show Giselle battling someone first and Serena's picture appearing on the other side.

"Okay, first up for battle is Giselle and George," Lilian announces.

The crowd applauds again, and Giselle enters the stage proudly while a younger boy with orange hair appearing on the other side of the field.

"Golem, time for battle," Giselle announces as she tosses her ball, and it opens to reveal a Golem.

"Hey, I think that Golem is the same Graveler she used against Misty's Starmie," Ash says.

"That's a safe bet, Ash," Brock says.

"Doduo, let's go," the orange-haired boy named George says.

"Alright, five minutes are on the clock, so let's battle," Lilian says.

The clock on the screen starts to count down from five minutes, and Giselle and George make their battle poses.

"Doduo, use Drill Peck," George calls out."

"Oh please," Giselle says with a boastful smirk. "Golem, use Defense Curl."

Golem pulls its arms and legs into its shell and hides its head just before Doduo jumps into the air and lands right on Golem's shell, beaks first. The two-headed bird Pokemon backs away in pain while Giselle grins.

"Golem, use Earthquake," she commands.

Golem jumps high into the air and crashes into the ground feet first causing a large earthquake. George's Doduo gets hit and is flown into the air, and the poor boy grows nervous, has his points bar lowers slightly.

"Doduo, use Quick Attack," he says desperately.

"Golem, use Defense Curl again," Giselle says with an uncaring sigh.

Golem hides its arms, legs, and head again as Doduo charges at it with rapid speed. The bird Pokemon rams into Golem only for it to back away in pain.

"Now use Stone Edge," Giselle says.

Golem raises its hands, and large borders appear and fly toward Doduo. The Twin Bird Pokemon is too distracted from hurting itself to dodge, and so the boulders slam on top of it. The impact creates a cloud of dust that slowly disappears to reveal Doduo on the ground with swirly eyes. George looks at his poor Pokemon devastated while the judges press their buzzards.