Indigo League 1: Crush

**"Indigo League 1: Crush"** is the forty-fourth (forty-sixth in Archive of Our Own and Royal Road) chapter of *Pokémon Reset Bloodlines.*The Indigo League Conference begins, which unlike the Old Timeline now has a larger amount of competitors, but like in the old timeline, Ash has to go first through the preliminary rounds in the secondary stadiums. His first round opponent is a girl who had to postpone her journey due to family issues, while in the second round he faces a self-proclaimed Rookie Crusher who delights in defeating rookie trainers and breaking their spirits. Meanwhile, Hilda and the Bloodliner Prince watch Ash's matches, and the latter notices something off about Ash and would like to learn more about it.

## Plot

The opening ceremony of the Indigo League Conference unfolds under the lit flame of Moltres, while Charles Goodshow gives the opening speech and welcomes the participants to the competition. Over a thousand trainers have gathered, which is more than usual for this league, making him think about his argument with Electra Artisan about the reasons for the sudden increase. He then proceeds to explain the general rules for the competitions: first, the trainers will have to go through the four preliminary rounds in the secondary fields of Water, Rock, Grass and Ice before moving on to the championship tournament in the Indigo Stadium. The battles through the preliminaries up to the Top 32 will be of three-on-three, and starting on the Top 16 to the finals it'll be full battles. He ends the speech encouraging everyone to fight with all the skill and spirit they have, and learn from the experience regardless of whether they win or lose, and everyone cheers him on.

Later, Ash and his female companions decide to go to a restaurant to have a big meal together, and Iris decides to ask Ash what he plans to do if he wins the league. Ash replies that, after he's done celebrating, he wants to see more of the world and keep traveling, and given all they've gone through together, he wants to stick with the girls for as long as they want to. Iris then states that it'll be forever, causing them all to blush, but they nonetheless seem to agree. Fortunately, a waiter offers them a refill of icy water breaking the tension, and Iris states that she'll tone down on the training, though she plans to keep doing morning runs.

The first round goes underway with several matches going one after another: Red has his first match on the Ice Field, and does a clean sweep of his opponent using only his Snorlax; Alexander Silph's Raichu uses Electric Terrain to electrify the Water Field to cripple his opponent's Kingdra and finish it with a Thunder, winning using only Raichu and Golisopod and without losses; Ritchie battles using his Eevee, Chase, on the Rock Field and manages to pull a win against his opponent's Golem, but struggles against his Haunter before going down. Ritchie sends out his Taillow, Rose, and takes advantage of her Scrappy ability to catch Haunter off-guard with her Normal-type attacks, quickly gaining momentum on the match and turning the tide to win. Ash and Pikachu watched the match from the stands, with the mouse commenting that, given how things have gone, Ritchie is probably now amongst Ash's siblings. Ash ignores that for now and decides to focus on his own upcoming match on the Grass Field. The Pokédex reveals his opponent is a girl named Pava Gilbane, but there's no more information (legally) available on her, so Ash decides to focus on deciding his team for the match.

Ash's first round match takes place on the Grass Field, and he quickly notices that his opponent is very nervous, so he offers her some encouragement words to help her calm down. Pava sends out a Beedrill, and Ash sends out one of his Tauros. Pava attempts to begin setting up Toxic Spikes, but Ash orders Tauros to use Incinerate to shoot them down, additionally damaging Beedrill in the process. Beedrill attempts to fire Pin Missile, but Tauros defends with Protect and counters with Incinerate for more super effective damage. As the fire attack scorches Beedrill's wings and sends it going down, Tauros charges in with a Headbutt and knocks it out, winning the first bout for Ash. From the stands, Misty and Pikachu cheer loudly, while Anabel feels something off from the battle. Iris meanwhile is grateful to have ear plugs to drown out the noise, but still feels uncomfortable at being surrounded by the crowd, and wonders if it's only going to get busier, and the Indigo Stadium will probably be even more.

Pava sends out a Machoke as her second Pokémon, while Ash keeps Tauros. Pava decides to take the first attack and orders Machoke to grab Tauros by the horns. Tauros escapes using Double Team and then uses Headbutt, before firing Incinerate while Machoke is recovering from the surprise strike. Machoke deflects the fireballs using Karate Chop before trying to grapple Tauros into a Submission, but Tauros once again shields himself under a Protect, leaving Machoke's arms open and his torso exposed for a Headbutt. Pava tries to take advantage of the damage taken to use Revenge, but Tauros escapes again using Double Team, before delivering another Headbutt to end the bout. At the stands, Misty again cheers again, commenting that she didn't expect Ash's Tauros to be so strong, but Iris comments that this isn't Ash's strongest Tauros, and while the Machoke was stronger than the Beedrill, it's nowhere near the strength level of Ash's Pokémon, leaving the redhead to wonder how she made it to the league.

Back on the field, Pava comments that she hoped it didn't come down to this, but she doesn't want to lose so early, and sends out her third Pokémon hoping for a miracle. Said Pokémon turns out to be a Dragonair. Tauros fires an Incinerate for a test turn, and the Dragonair fires a Dragon Pulse that knocks him out in a single hit. As he returns Tauros, Ash briefly considers using Togepi for type advantage, but not knowing what other moves the Dragonair might have and unsure of its strength level, he decides against it. He sends out a second Tauros with a different moveset, beginning with an Ice Beam that Dragonair counters with Flamethrower, both attacks colliding evenly matched against each other. Ash decides to charge in for a close range attack, and Tauros' Zen Headbutt clashes against Dragonair's Aqua Tail and both Pokémon are knocked back. Tauros fires another Ice Beam that hits for super effective damage, boosted by Sheer Force but without the freezing effect. As Dragonair prepares another Dragon Pulse, Ash orders Tauros to bat it back using Iron Tail, much to Pava's shock. Dragonair manages to fire a Flamethrower to nullify the attack, causing a huge explosion and a lot of smoke. Pava begins encouraging Dragonair, hoping that it's still standing after that, and once the smoke clears, Dragonair is revealed to have evolved into Dragonite, and has learned a new attack that hits the surprised Tauros in the face, quickly shown to be Focus Blast, as well as keeping all of its previous moves to break the limit. Dragonite charges in with Iron Tail, which Tauros counters with Zen Headbutt, and this time they're evenly matched. Dragonite breaks off the attack to launch a Flamethrower from above, defeating Tauros and evening the scores for both trainers. In the stands, Iris comments that she could tell the Dragonair had been ready to evolve for a while, and the girl's words were the final push it needed. Misty wonders if Ash can beat it, and Iris guesses Charizard would be Ash's best bet, but doesn't know whether he brought him for this match.

Back on the battlefield, Ash sends out his final Pokémon, this time his strongest Tauros to match Dragonite in power, and capitalize on the damage it took from the previous attacks. Ash orders Tauros to use Rock Slide above Dragonite to pin it down against the ground, and then use Fissure. Dragonite tries to fire a Flamethrower, but the attack remains unstoppable and knocks it out, winning the match for Ash. Immediately, Ash looks at Pava, who breaks into tears and then runs away before he can even say a thing. The group goes off to celebrate Ash's first victory, but Ash doesn't feel quite cheery about it after he inadvertedly made his opponent cry after he defeated her.

A bit later, Anabel checks her Salon Maiden blog, and finds a comment that she quickly deduces came from Pava. Rather than trying to reply on the blog itself, she decides to go out and talk to her directly, borrowing a spare hat and hoodie from Ash and donning a pair of sunglasses to go out incognito. She goes out strolling across the Indigo Stadium grounds, and uses her telepathy to try and find her, and manages to pinpoint Pava in the Pokémon Center area as she took her Pokémon for healing. She follows her back to the cabin area, wanting to talk to her in private after she learns she'll stay one more night before heading back home. Anabel knocks on her door and reveals herself as the Salon Maiden, much to Pava's surprise before inviting herself in so they can talk. Pava reveals that she's always wanted to meet a real Bloodliner in the flesh, so Anabel makes a quick demonstration of her powers before getting down to business. Pava feels ashamed for the way she ran after she lost, but she didn't want to be knocked out of the competition on the first round, and then explains her story: her Pokémon journey was interrupted due to her father suffering a work accident, as she had to go back home and help with the family's construction business. Thus, she was unable to properly train her Pokémon team and has had to rely mainly on her Dragonair, now Dragonite, to win her battles, even having to earn an instant-entry badge to qualify for the league. Anabel however assures her that she has the makings of a good trainer and once she gets the chance, can properly train her team, as well as talk to her family about what she wants to do once her father recovers. The chat is interrupted by her Pokégear Monodex beeping, with Ash sending a message for her to come over for dinner. Pava thanks her for her advice and Anabel requests that she keeps this meeting a secret between them, which Pava agrees to.

The following morning, Ash gets up and heads to the bathroom to take a shower, only to run into a naked Iris who's just coming out. While she isn't bothered in the least, the shock instantly wakes Ash out of his sleepy state, and he quickly goes in to snap out of it. Iris for her part assumes that Ash might have thought she intentionally waited foe him there, but it was just a (fun) accident.

Meanwhile, other trainers are going through their own second round battles: A.J.'s Butterfree defeats a Pidgeot on the Water Field, winning the match for them. Jeanette Fisher's Beedrill falls against a Golem on the Rock Field, albeit after defeating two Pokémon already and with Golduck on standby. Jeanette sends out her Bellsprout, defeating the Golem by flipping it around, much to everyone's shock. On the Grass Field, Otoshi battles with his Electabuzz against a Machamp, still keeping his ace in the hole with Marowak's Break Evolution for the next rounds, and he's satisfied with all of his Pokémon's performance so far.

Ash has gone to the bathroom for a break, still having a few hours before his match and having just watched Paul's latest one, as he moved forward to the next round. Suddenly, his future opponent, the Rookie Crusher walks up to him to "greet" him, which is clearly an attempt to intimidate him, as well as praise him for sending his previous opponent into tears, which Ash finds disgusting. The Rookie Crusher then states that he's looking forward to their match, though he has the slightest feeling that Ash isn't a rookie and thus won't be as enjoyable as he expects, before finally leaving him alone.

After Ash heads for the Ice Field for his second round match, he manages to catch a few cheers directed to the Rookie Crusher, who seems ready for the match and ignores the booing from the rest of the crowd who is on Ash's side. The Crusher sends out an Exeggutor, while Ash sends out Yanma. Ash orders Yanma to start out with an Aerial Ace, while the Crusher tells his Exeggutor to use Double Team, filling up the field with dupes. After some hide-and-seek game, the Crusher pulls out a pair of sunglasses before Exeggutor unleashes Flash, amplified by the multiple dupes emitting light at once, as explained by Ash's Pokédex. Ash tries to get Yanma to shatter the duplicates using his sonic waves, but Exegguttor charges in using Zen Headbutt. After trying a Quick Attack, a rain of Seed Bomb quickly stops him on his tracks. Meanwhile on the stands, Misty takes notice that this is strange, as Yanma is much faster than Exeggutor yet doesn't seem to be reacting normally, and wonders if they're using some Psychic move to boost their speed. Iris points out to a brief flicker on the field, and they quickly realize what happened, as does Ash: the Crusher used the Flash as a cover to set up Trick Room, thus inverting the Pokémon's speed and giving Exeggutor the edge. Ash prepares to switch Yanma out, but the Crusher anticipates and has Exeggutor use block to prevent escapes. However, Ash has taught Yanma the move U-Turn since the battle against Giovanni, and after dodging a Zen Headbutt with Detect, Ash orders Yanma to use it, bypassing the Block and allowing him to successfully switch out, on top of hitting Exeggutor before leaving the field. Ash then takes Goodra's Heal Ball to send him out, deciding to capitalize on the Crusher's own Trick Room to turn the tables. Goodra begins with a Rain Dance, which exposes the Exeggutor dupes as the droplets fall through them, revealing the real one's location. The Crusher assumes Goodra is a Water-type and orders Exeggutor to use a Seed Bomb, which Goodra counters with Sludge Wave, neutralizing the Seed Bomb and knocking Exeggutor out.

Elsewhere, Giovanni watches the match via streaming, and seems pleased to see that Ash learned something from their Gym Battle. Back at Indigo, the Rookie Crusher sends out his second Pokémon, a Snorlax, mentioning that he got the idea from another rookie who did the same in the previous round (Red). Snorlax slides towards Goodra, with the Trick Room boosting its speed, while Goodra prepares a Bide attack. The Crusher tries to prevent this by ordering Snorlax to use Yawn, but Goodra's Hydration washes away the effect thanks to the Rain Dance still being active. Snorlax then attempts a Thunder Punch, but the attack doesn't hurt as much as they expected, since the Crusher still believed Goodra was a Water-type. Ash quickly proves him wrong by ordering Goodra to use Dragon Pulse right on Snorlax's face, and then delivering a Thunder with the last remnants of the Rain Dance to finish it off. The Rookie Crusher becomes enraged at the thought of getting crushed himself by a rookie trainer, and starts throwing a tantrum about how Ash is a "fake" rookie, which both Ash and Pikachu exchange glances with one another as he's technically not wrong. However, the referee gives the Crusher a warning to continue the match, and then sends out a Wigglytuff, whose creepy demeanor makes Pikachu suggest it might be related to Harley's. Ash asks Goodra if he wants to keep going or take a breather, and much to his surprise, he's able to understand Goodra's words perfectly when he says he wants to rest.

The match then resumes with Ash sending out Ambipom. Wigglytuff decides to float up to stay out of Ambipom's attack range and then shoot a Fire Blast at the field to melt it. Ambipom however deflects the attack using a Counter Shield, and an even more enraged Crusher orders Wigglytuff to use Sing. Ambipom destroys the musical notes using Shadow Claw, and to break the stalemate, she starts firing a Swift just above Wigglytuff, using a similar tactic to how May defeated Harley's Wigglytuff: namely, aiming for behind Wigglytuff with two streams of Swift stars that knock him onto the field and leaving it helpless and open for a Double Hit. As Wigglytuff bounces off the ice and back up, Ambipom continues to hit it with Power-Up Punches one after another to rack up damage, but seeing it about to try another Fire Blast to break the pattern, Ambipom delivers a decisive Focus Punch, sending Wigglytuff smashing through the ice and then floating back up unconscious. The match is over, Ash has moved on to the next round, and the Rookie Crusher is so shocked that medical personnel has to pull him out after he's not responding.

Somewhere else, Hilda and the Bloodliner Prince are watching the match via phone stream. Hilda disregards the Rookie Crusher as a washout, while the Prince takes notice that Ash's data, compared to others, makes him an outlier, and he's considering that the Crusher's words about Ash not being a rookie might not be as misplaced as everyone thinks. Hilda doesn't think so, since Ash has made his mistakes and she's been watching his Pokémon since Fuchsia and can tell they're not veterans of battles, but nonetheless agrees to the Prince's request to keep an eye on Ash, whether it is so she can see what he sees, or as a chance to prove him wrong.

## Continuity

* The Indigo League Conference begins, going through the first and second preliminary rounds.
* First appearances of Pava Gilbane and the Rookie Crusher.
* Goodra is revealed to have gone past the fifth move limit. Also, he's become the first of Ash's Pokémon in the new timeline who Ash can understand without memory restoration.