Pokemon Journeys: Masters 8 Tournament

Chapter 29 - How do you like my Z-move?

A/N: I wonder how many people actually read the Easter Egg I placed after "Narrative"... Maybe you have even missed the Easter Egg in the previous chapter too...

--------------------------

Previously, Ash and Cynthia managed to take out one of the pokemon in the opposing team, and it seemed that Ash was catching up. Is Ash slowly gaining momentum, or is everything under Cynthia's plan?

--------------------------

"Cynthia's next pokemon choice is Glaceon, the pokemon who chilled Diantha for a long time. In front of Ash stands Pikachu. The pokemon who was referred to as Ash's ace, but did not appear in his match against former Masters 8 member Raihan, and didn't do much against Alain's Hisuian Zoroark," the commentator flipped through some of his notes, "Is Cynthia going to use Hail and hide Glaceon in the snow?"

"Pikaaa..." Pikachu kept stretching his short limbs. It was such a good feeling to be out of the Pokeball. No more confinement, no more discomfort. It's free real estate.

"Glaceon, use Hail!" Cynthia raised her right hand.

"Wow! I should be a prophet!" the commentator raised his eyebrows, "I swear I didn't read the scripts!"

Glaceon screeched, and clouds formed on the top of the Stadium. It started to snow heavily, gradually covering the ground in slippery snow. The weather was turning chill and cold due to the snow as well.

"Don't let her, Pikachu! Use Quick Attack!" Ash pushed his hand forward.

"Pika!" Pikachu dashed to Glaceon at blinding speed, but just before Pikachu could hit Glaceon, the ice Eevee somersaulted over Pikachu. The yellow rodent turned around only to see a white snowing background. Glaceon was nowhere to be found. Neither Pikachu nor Ash could locate Glaceon since it hid in the Hailing environment.

"It's the Hail technique again. Why am I so stupid to wear the short-sleeved shirt and the shorts into the battle?" Ash started running on the spot to keep himself warm, doing his best to avoid the mistake made by Diantha, "How did I forget she has a Glaceon?"

"Ice Beam!" Cynthia suddenly shouted.

Ash snapped back into reality from Cynthia's shout, "Dodge it!"

"Pika?" Pikachu started to run in random directions since he couldn't locate Glaceon. But he quickly slipped and fell on the icy ground due to the slipperiness of the snow. Glaceon's ice beam eventually reached Pikachu, forming a pile of ice that completely surrounded and froze Pikachu. Now, Pikachu was just a stationary target for Glaceon to hit.

"Send him off with Giga Impact!" Cynthia nodded at Glaceon.

Glaceon clenched its muscles and gathered orange energy around its body, ready for the high-speed charge-in impact at Pikachu. Even though Ash and Pikachu could not locate Glaceon's location, they both knew when Glaceon struck, Pikachu would be in big trouble, especially when Pikachu was frozen in place and could not move.

Ash cupped his hands by his mouth, "Pikachu! Break through the ice with Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu gathered electricity and released, but the surrounding ice did not break. Not knowing when and where Glaceon was going to charge at him, more and more anxiety started to build up in the yellow rodent's mind.

"Now!" Cynthia pointed.

"More power! MORE POWER! You can do it!" Ash yelled.

"PIKACHUUUUU!" Pikachu amplified his volts, and a crack in the ice started to show in front of him. Glaceon suddenly appeared in front of Pikachu, who was dashing at him with an orange glow at a high speed. Pikachu quickly aimed all of his electricity at the ice crack, causing all of the ice to break at the last second. Pikachu immediately jumped into the sky, narrowly avoiding Giga Impact.