Chapter 4

Black Jack and Ash stood in their respective spots of the battlefield. Ash had two available pokemon left while Black Jack had three and his Salamence was standing on the field waiting for his next opponent.

Ash picked out another pokeball of his belt. “Go! Charizard!”

He tossed out his pokeball and Charizard came out, letting out a big roar. Salamence roared back in response. Both dragon-like pokemon kept on roaring to each other louder and louder to intemidate each other.

“Roaring is not going to get us anywhere,” Black Jack said. “Salamence! Reach for the skies!”

Salamence flew high in the skies.

“You too, Charizard!” Ash yelled. Charizard also took flight.

In the skies, Charizard used his flamethrower attack at Salamence. But he dodged the attack and tackled Charizard in the belly. Charizard retaliated by punching Salamence in the face heavily.

Salamence used his flamethrower at Charizard, but it was blocked as he used a flamethrower attack of his own.

This time, Salamence shot out a Fire Blast attack. Charizard realised that his flamethrower wouldn’t be able to stop it, so he used paws to stop the attack. Charizard used his strength to hold the attack away from him.

Suddenly, he finally found the strength to push it right back at Salamence. Salamence became shocked and could do nothing but dodge the attack. The Fire Blast attack was coming down on the audience. They stared in fright, but the attack disappeared before it reached them.

“Scary, wasn’t it?” Black Jack asked as he looked at the disappearing Fire Blast. He then turned his attention to the battle. He knew that neither he nor Ash were able to command the pokemon while they were air-borne as they were too far away to hear them.

Both Salamence and Charizard kept on tackling other and each tackle had given out more pain than the last.

As Charizard charged at Salamence, Salamence shot out his flamethrower to surprise and hurt him. But Charizard saw that coming and dodged the attack. While dodging the attack, Charizard quickly grabbed hold of Salamence flew around the stadium while taking Salamence with him.

“That Charizard has got Salamence!” Black Jack thought as he sweated. “And there’s no way to get out of that hold!”
“We’ve got him now, Charizard!” Ash yelled. “Slam him now!”

Charizard dived down and slammed him on the ground, head first! The blue dragon was knocked unconscious.

“Salamence is no longer able to battle!” the ref announced. “Ash and Black Jack draw once again four-all!”

“Well done, Ketchum,” Black Jack said. “Not only you have avenged your Meganium, you’ve also taken out one of the rarest, but one of my best pokemon as well.”
“I told you that I would play rough, Black Jack!” Ash replied. “Why didn’t you believe me?”
“I guess you can be unpredictable too. Now it’s time to fight fire with fire.”

Black Jack picked another pokeball off his belt and tossed it out. “Blaziken! You got what you wanted! A match against Charizard!”
“I knew you would use Blaziken against Charizard,” Ash said. “This is what he wanted too.”

As Blaziken and Charizard stood face-to-face, their eyes burned with passion, a passion to battle each other.

“Be careful, Charizard,” Ash said. “We have battled a Blaziken before, but this one’s different.”

Charizard growled in reply and Ash understood what that meant.

“Charizard! Flamethrower attack!” Ash cried.
“Blaziken!” Black Jack yelled. “Hi Jump Kick!”

Charizard flew high in the air and shot out a lick of flame out of his mouth at Blaziken, but missed as Blaziken leaped into the air to dodge the attack and performed a Hi Jump Kick attack at Charizard in the head, knocking him down.

Chrizard quickly picked himself up and punched Blaziken in the gut, knocking him down. Charizard held his hurt head, while Blaziken held his hurt gut. Both pokemon delivered heavy damage to each other already.

“Charizard may have received some damage from Salamence from the last round,” Ash thought. “But Blaziken added more. We have to be careful. Otherwise, Pikachu will be my last hope of saving the legendary pokemon.”

“Charizard have received damage from Salamence and Blaziken,” Black Jack thought. “But by looking at Blaziken right now, there may be a chance that Blaziken may be knocked out after Charizard’s next attack cos he is strong… but knowing Blaziken, he would never let anyone down.”

“Blaziken!” he yelled. “Low Kick attack!”

Blaziken ran at Charizard, attempting to perform a sliding kick at Charizard but missed as Charizard flew up into the sky, putting Blaziken at a disadvantage.

“Now, Charizard!” Ash yelled. “Seismic Toss!”

Chariazrd swooped down on Blaziken and grabbed hold of him. As he held him tightly he flew around the stadium multiple times, making Blaziken grow dizzy. He then attempted to drive Blaziken’s back to the floor.

“Blaziken! Counter that now!” Black Jack yelled.

To everyone’s shock, Blaziken countered by flipping Charizard over, slamming Chariazrd on his back. Charizard’s stomach also got damaged when Blaziken landed onto his when he countered the attack, but Blaziken also suffered the same damage.

Everyone’s mouths were wide open.

“I have never seen that counter before!” Gary said.
“Unreal!” Max commented. “Just before Blaziken was about to be slammed to his defeat, he flipped Charizard over!”
“I bet Mane never saw that coming!” John thought to himself.

Elsewhere in the audience balcony, Mane was watching the match with interest. “Shame on you, Ashy boy,” he said. “You never saw that coming did you?”

Both Blaziken and Charizard lay on the floor trying to catch their breath after Blaziken’s counter. They started to get up slowly. As Blaziken turned round, Ash saw the chance to finish him off.

“Charizard!” Ash cried. “Mega Punch attack!”
“Dodge it, Blaziken!” Black Jack yelled.

Charizard ran at Blaziken to punch him in the face, but Blaziken ducked it. “Blaze Kick now!” Black Jack yelled.

Blaziken spun round and gave Charizard a flaming roundhouse kick to the face. The impact was so hard that most of the audience members felt it. Charizard felt dizzy as he fell on his front. He was down… and out!

“Charizard is no longer able to battle!” the ref announced. “Black Jack leads again and Ash has one last pokemon left!”

Blaziken slowly walked over to Charizard and tapped him on the head. Charizard woke up and saw what he would call from that day forward, a new rival. Charizard picked himself up and smiled. Blaziken also smiled as they tapped paws in respect.

Ash and Black Jack smiled at the sportsmanship between the two pokemon that had fought valiantly against each other. Charizard turned round and smiled at Ash, giving a light growl.

“I’m very proud of you,” Ash said as he took out his pokeball. “Charizard, return!”

Ash placed the pokeball on his belt. “Ready, Pikachu?” he asked in an encouraging tone.
“Pika!” Pikachu cried in return as he ran on to the field.

“Pikachu’s is evolved form of Pichu,” Black Jack thought. “But he is also one evolution away from being a Raichu. Out of all the pokemon that Ash has captured, Pikachu’s the most experienced in his group. But I can’t tell whether he’s the strongest or weakest, therefore, I must not underestimate him.”

He looked at his Blaziken with concern as Blaziken was still feeling great pains in his gut. “Blaziken,” Black Jack said. “Do you want to battle Pikachu?”

Blaziken turned his head to Black Jack and nodded.

“Pikachu!” Ash cried. “Thundershock attack!”

Pikachu leapt into the air and gave massive cry as a bolt lightning was shot out of his body, aiming for Blaziken.

“Dodge it, Blaziken!” Black Jack cried.

Blaziken was barely able to dodge the attack. If Blaziken’s gut wasn’t hurting anymore, he would’ve avoided it more easily.

“Blaziken!” Black Jack yelled. “Hi Jump Kick!”

Blaziken leapt into the air to perform the attack. “Pikachu!” Ash cried. “Thunderbolt!”

Blaziken saw the attack and was about to dodge it, but he suddenly felt the pain in his gut again, distracting him from dodging the attack and making the electric struck him.

“Blaziken!” Black Jack yelled in a worried tone.

As Blaziken fell on his front, everyone thought that he was knocked out but he struggled to get to his feet and was still holding his gut, trying to stop the pain.

“That Blaziken’s not giving up!” Ash said. “But we’re not giving up either, right, Pikachu?”

“Pikachu!” Pikachu cried.

“Blaziken!” Black Jack yelled as he took out his pokeball. “Re…”

Blaziken raised his hand to stop him. Black Jack understood what Blaziken wanted to do. Blaziken wanted to battle strong opponents but he also wanted to help Black Jack bring back his brother’s family. Respecting Blaziken’s wishes, he decided to let Blaziken to possibly finish the round and the battle.

Ash noticed what was going on. “Black Jack doesn’t like a lot of people,” he thought to himself. “But he loves his pokemon. Even though he doesn’t want Blaziken to get hurt anymore, he never failed to respect his wishes.”

“Pikachu!” he yelled. “Finish him off with a quick attack!’

Pikachu yelled out another cry and dashed towards Blaziken.

“Mega Punch attack!” Black Jack yelled.

Blaziken aimed his punch directly at Pikachu, but barely missed as Pikachu dodged out of the way and hit Blaziken in injured part of his body. Blaziken staggered backwards as he held his mid-section again.

Pikachu leapt again and spun round to give Blaziken an Iron Tail attack to the face, knocking him down. Black Jack gasped in shock.

Blaziken fell on his back. He struggled to pick himself up. “Blazi…” he whispered to himself, which meant “master”. Then, he fell unconscious.

“Blaziken is no longer able to battle,” yelled the ref. “Pikachu wins!”

“Way to go, Pikachu!” Ash cried happily.
“Pikachu!” Pikachu cried happily in reply.

“This is my last chance,” Black Jack thought in a low tone as he picked another pokeball.

“Go! Tyranitar!” he yelled as he tossed out the pokeball. Tyranitar came out of the pokeball and gave a loud roar.

That roar did not intimidate Pikachu one bit. “Pika!” he cried in determination.

Black Jack looked at both Tyranitar and Pikachu. “Ketchum,” he said. “Pikachu won the last round because Blaziken was weakened from his battle with your Charizard. But now, from the looks of this situation, it seems that there is a high chance that Tyranitar will knock the stuffing out of Pikachu. Why don’t you just give up?”

Ash clenched his fist. He was nowhere giving up, and he knew that Pikachu was nowhere near it either. “No way, Black Jack,” Ash replied. “We have gone too far to give up now!”
“That’s it! That’s the answer I was looking for!” Black Jack shouted. “I was expecting no less from you, Ketchum! I’d rather take you down when you fight your hardest!”
“Everything is at stake here,” Ash thought as he closed his eyes. “The tournament, Black Jack’s family, the rare and powerful pokemon, no matter how strong Black Jack and no matter how many cheating ways Mane has, I have to win to save to everyone.”
“Pikapi!” Pikachu cried, catching Ash’s attention.

Pikachu also knew what was on the line, and Ash noticed that. “Let’s finish this, Black Jack!” he yelled.
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