No Return (The Return Series)

The Finals

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A Day Before it Begins:

Ash found it slightly amusing that he was versing Sawyer in the first round of the finals. It was amusing because like Alain, Sawyer did not know of his survival. Ash was on the arena, Pikachu and Eevee on his shoulders, waiting for the ref to arrive. And it was Emily. Ash sighed. He really did not want to deal with her after what happened last night. Now Ash had nobody but Team Rocket. Emily have a knowing smirk towards him. Ash just looked at her. Bored. She spoke, "this battle is between Red of Pallet Town, Kanto and Sawyer of Littleroot Town, Hoenn. Trainers please send out your first Pokémon," she announced. Sawyer eyes studied the trainer whom he thought was dead. Blackish camo pants that looked like they came straight from the military and went straight down and stopped at his ankles. Or that's what Sawyer assumed because he couldn't actually see because of the also black army boots Ash wore. Strangest of all he wore an inside out black jacket. And a black sweat shirt. But underneath that. Sawyer could only assume but it looked an awful lot like a bulletproof vest. "Go Slaking," Sawyer yelled, "Greninja," Ash yelled, throwing a Pokeball in the air. "Battle began," Emily yelled. Ash didn't give a command. And Greninja didn't move. His plan was to throw Sawyer off his game. His game with his Slaking. So Ash would move slowly. And cautiously. "Double Team," Ash said calmly. Greninja began to multiply, surrounding Slaking. But other than that it didn't move. "From your position use Water Shuriken," Ash said. "Ninja," all the Greninja cried as the threw their Water Shuriken from where they were standing. All of the Water Shuriken collided with Slaking causing smoke to appear where Slaking was struck. "Slaking use Slack Off," Sawyer yelled. "Slaaaa," Slaking yawned as it healed itself. Ash smirked. He had the perfect plan. "Run up and use Night Slash," Ash yelled. Sawyer smirked, which conformed Ash's suspicions. "Slaking use Hammer Arm," Sawyer yelled, "Greninja use Haze," Ash yelled. White smoke covered the battlefield, but Ash held the advantage because Slaking could not move much. "Double Team," Ash yelled, "then Night Slash." Ash couldn't see through the smoke but he could hear the cries of Greninja as it duplicated. Nobody was sure what had happened but Ash when he saw black smoke emerging from the top of the white smoke. The audience waited in anticipation for the smoke to clear. When it finally did Slaking was on its back in the same place where it started with swirls in its eyes. "Slaking is unable to battle, the winner is Greninja. Will Trainer Sawyer please send out their next Pokémon," the ref/Emily announced. "Go Aegislash," Sawyer yelled, "Aegislash," the Pokémon cried as it came out of its Pokeball. Ash said nothing again, breaking Sawyer's strategy of slow and steady. Finally Ash have a command, "use Night Slash," Ash said cautiously as if testing for something. Sawyer didn't say anything. He waited for Greninja, "Aegislash use King's Shield," Sawyer yelled, "pull back," Ash yelled back. Greninja landed on the ground looking up at Aegislash who was floating above. The gears had already began to turn in Ash's head on how to beat Aegislash. "Use Haze," Ash yelled. White smoke moved to cover where Greninja was. "Greninja," Ash yelled out, "battle plan number four." Sawyer tilted his head. 'What was battle plan number 4.' Greninja came running out of the white smoke running. "Aegislash use Shadow Ball," Sawyer yelled, "Aegiii..." Aegislash hesitated because it saw another target running out of the smoke. Then 2 more. Then another 4. "Use Night Slash," Ash yelled. "King's Shield," Sawyer yelled back. Ash watched as all the Greninja collided into Aegislash. "Now use Water Shuriken," Ash yelled. Only one Greninja pull back and threw a line water Shuriken that curved under King's Shield and hit Aegislash. "Aegislash is unable to battle, the winner is Greninja. Will Trainer Sawyer please send out their next Pokémon," the ref/Emily announced. "Go Clawitzer," Sawyer yelled, "use Aqua Jet." "Use Night Slash," Ash yelled. Greninja jumped meeting Aqua Jett with Night Slash. Clawitzer was trying hard to not be overpowered but it was struggling hard. "Greninja, pull back," Ash yelled. "Clawitzer use Aura Sphere," Sawyer yelled. Ash felt a jolt in hit body like he had just received an electric shock. Ash realised why, he had felt aura for the first time in years. 'If I can feel aura again then maybe my powers are coming back," Ash thought to himself. When Ash focused on the battle again Greninja or where Greninja stood was covered in smoke. Obscuring Ash's vision. Ash could only assume that Greninja was in the same spot as he last saw it. "Track backwards 4 and a half metres then use Water Shuriken 80 degrees up, 14 degrees to the right," Ash said so Sawyer couldn't hear. Ash watched as Greninja threw a blue Shuriken through the smoke. Ash could barely make out Clawitzer through the smoke but it looked like his plan had worked fine, "Clawitzer use Dark Pulse," Sawyer yelled. Ash watched as Greninja ran into the smoke again. Ash looked he could see the silhouette of Greninja as it caught Clawitzer by surprise and landed behind it as it hit it with Night Slash. "Clawitzer is unable to battle, the winner is Greninja. Will Trainer Sawyer send out their next Pokémon," the ref/Emily announced. "Slurpuff let's go," Sawyer yelled, "slurpuff," Slurpuff cried as it exited its Pokeball. "Slurpuff use Energy Ball,"
Sawyer yelled, "use Water Shuriken," Ash yelled. Water Shuriken sliced through Energy Ball. Literally. It headed straight for Slurpuff. "Slurpuff use Protect," Sawyer yelled. Water Shuriken met the protect for a few seconds pushing it back but after about 6 seconds Water Shuriken evaporated, turning into water vapour and going up into the clouds. "Slurpuff use Dazzling Gleam," Sawyer yelled, Slurpuff let off a whitish-pink glow of light the went for Greninja, "Greninja use Night Slash," Ash yelled. Greninja hit the light with Night Slash and the light disregarded physics and instead of going around Greninja it stayed in place where Greninja was hitting it. "Water Shuriken," Ash yelled, "Slurpuff use Flamethrower," Sawyer yelled. Water Shuriken cut through Flamethrower with ease and struck Slurpuff. "Slurpuff is unable to battle the winner is Greninja. Will Trainer Sawyer please send out their next Pokémon," the ref/Emily announced. Ash glanced over at Emily and she winked at him. Ash sighed before focusing on Sawyer again. "Go Salamence," Sawyer yelled, "use Dragon Rush." "Greninja use Night Slash," Ash yelled. The blade of Night Slash was caught in Salamence's mouth. Greninja began a free fall to the ground. Salamence followed. "Use Flamethrower," Sawyer yelled, "Water Shuriken," Ash yelled back. Greninja landed running with Salamence in hot pursuit. "Flamethrower again," Sawyer yelled, "Water Shuriken," Ash yelled. Greninja jumped a bit and flipped over throwing the blue Shuriken at Salamence before going back to running. "Salamence use Dragon Rush," Sawyer yelled, "Double Team," Ash yelled back. Salamence went straight into the ground where a copy of Greninja had been. Salamence roared before coming back up to fly. That's when it happened, a Greninja seemed to materialise out of thin air and struck Salamence in the neck with Night Slash before hitting Salamence across the stomach with a large arc before Salamence fell to the ground, defeated. "Salamence is unable to battle, the winner is Greninja. Will Trainer Sawyer please send out their last Pokémon," the ref/Emily announced. "This is it," Sawyer whispered to the Pokéball in his hand, "Go Sceptile," Sawyer yelled, "Sceptillleeee," the green lizard cried as it came out of its Pokéball. "Use Leaf Blade," Sawyer yelled. Sceptile ran at Greninja, "keep your distance," Ash yelled. Greninja took off it the opposite direction, running away from Sceptile. "Evasive manoeuvres," Ash yelled. Without looking back, Greninja threw a Water Shuriken that curved and landed right in front of where Sceptile had been. Key words had been. At the last second it rolled out of the way to avoid damage. "Dive for it, Sceptile," Sawyer yelled. Sceptile raced after Greninja and grabbed its foot managing to send them both tumbling. "Use Leaf Blade," Sawyer yelled. Greninja matrix dodged and kicked Sceptile straight in the gut sending it back. "It's time," Sawyer yelled as he pulled his pen from his notebook. Ash remembered what was connected to that pen. "Sceptile Meg evolve," Sawyer yelled, "Sceptileeee," Sceptile cried as it glowed and changed forms. When Sceptile stopped glowing it had a Christmas tree as a tail and a rainbow symbol in front of it. "Sceptile use Leaf Blade," Sawyer yelled, "Greninja use Night Slash," Ash yelled. Greninja slammed Night Slash into the ground using it like a shield to block Leaf Blade. Sparks flew from where the attacks connected and both Sceptile and Greninja were send flying back. Sceptile used its claws to slow itself down as it slid along the ground and began running towards Greninja. Meanwhile Greninja had used Night Slash to slow itself down and didn't see Sceptile running towards it. Just as Greninja stood up Sceptile slammed into it as one claw held Greninja up by the throat and the other kept Greninja steady. Using momentum like on a swing, Greninja swung one way then the other using the momentum gained to slam Sceptile to the floor. Face first. "Use Night Slash," Ash yelled, Greninja hit Sceptile in an upwards motion in the jaw sending it flying back. Sceptile lay on the ground with swirls in its eyes just as it changed forms back it it's original. "Sceptile is unable to battle, the winner is Greninja so the match goes to Red of Pallet Town, Kanto," the ref/Emily announced.

With Dawn and May:
After that encounter with Kenny, Dawn cried a lot. Like imagine that you just found out your entire family was killed. Dawn cried 10 times harder than that. May was sitting next to her with an arm around Dawn saying comforting words like "it's not your fault," and "Kenny's to blame," but Dawn knew who was to blame. How could she of been so blind. Now Ash had left her. Again. And ignored her and whenever she tried to approach when he was with Jimmy and Paul they would just glare at her like she was the reason for everything that had just gone wrong, their eyes seemed to say, "this is your fault. Do you want to make it worse?" So Dawn stopped trying when they were around. She would approach when he was alone and that's where she found him. Waiting for his next battle, on a bench, looking at his Pokédex. She sat down next to him, he didn't flinch. With a shock she realised he was messaging someone. Dawn tried to look over but at that moment he chose it put it away. Ash got up to go his next battle but Dawn grabbed his arm. "Please speak to me Ash," Dawn cried, "every time I try to speak to you. To explain, you ignore me. And your friends Jimmy and Paul look at me like it's my fault." Ash was silent, his face cold, his eyes dark. This was not the Ash she knew. Something was wrong. Ash yanked his arm away, "I told you Ash Ketchum is dead. The one you knew anyway. I hold no love for you, Dawn Berlitz," Ash's voice was full of venom, "I was merely a tool for you. To increase you own fame. To increase your status. And you even tried to blame it on someone else." "Kenny did do it! It was Kenny's fault," Dawn cried. Ash's was silent, his face unreadable. She saw something in his eyes. Hope. Like he wanted to believe here. But as fast as it appeared it was gone. "Even if he did initiate the kiss, you did not stop him and from the position you were in you must've been kissing for at least 5 seconds. That is more than enough time to pull away," Ash stated the facts. "I-I was shocked, I didn't think he would kiss me," Dawn cried, "please you must believe me." "I told you, I harbour no love for you. Leave me alone before I do something I regret," Ash said calmly before getting up and leaving to his next battle. Dawn did not stop him.

30 Hours Later
With Ash and White:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, trainers and Pokémon. I welcome you the the quarter finals of the Pokémon masters tournament. 8 trainers are left. The very best here, they have proven themselves in this tournament by never dropping out of top 8 and now the best 8 trainers will compete to win 100 million Pokedollars. Now to welcome the competitors. On field one we have 1st place, White of Floccessy Town, Unova facing off against 5th place, Red of Pallet Town, Kanto. On field two we have 6th place, Paul of Veilstone City, Singh facing off against 2nd place, Green of Pallet Town, Kanto. On field three we have 8th place, Blue of Pallet Town, Kanto facing off against 3rd place, Silver of Viridian City, Kanto. And finally on field 4 we have a battle between two people of the same town. We have 4th place Gold of New Bark Town, Johto facing off against Jimmy of New Bark Town, Johto. I wonder who will win and walk away with 100 million pokedollars," Mr. Goodshow yelled into the microphone dramatically. Ash rolled his eyes. "This battle is betw..." the ref was cut off because there was suddenly several very loud screams. That's when he saw it. The red and black vines. White looked at him cautiously. That's when she heard him say something. Somehow above all the screaming she heard him say three words, "it has begun."

2354 Words.